Monday day 11/2: I really do appreciate the Schein text. What he writes resonates with me – about 95% of the time. Fro this remaining 5%, I feel he can over complicate his point by dividing things up into lists/groupings… I don’t have the text in front of me as I’m typing this so trying to go from memory. At times he’s just a bit hokey. Let me try to make myself clearer. It’s when Schein provides lists of items as if they’re the only possibilities that exist. As I read these lists or tables he includes things like:
- Assumptions
- Categories
- Evolutions…
- Dimensions
- Etc.. *(typographies)
I think I’ll need to come back to this with the book in front of me.
Tuesday day 11/3: Okay. I felt like a heal last night when I was reading Chapter 10. Its like he heard what I was frustrated by and decided to defend his use of the terms bulleted above! He explained how assumptions can be grouped into categories to form typographies which are theories to help us understand things. That sentence I just wrote is a bit convoluted – but I think that’s the premise of what Schein’s use of the terms explains.
When I was reacting to Jennifer’s blog, I found myself describing how ‘on the outside’ of my team’s culture I’ve felt most of this year at work. As my job was dissolved back in January, I’ve extended my employment through mid-December as a project manager on 3 different temporary projects in different departments. I’ve much enjoyed each role and the challenge/excitement that always comes within a new job’s learning curve. One of the issues such temp work evokes in me however is a feeling of not being part of the permanent team. I’ve realized it’s a big deal for me to feel part of things. To help motivate my teammates. To suggest things for the group to do. To feel valued and important. Its good to know what’s important to me in a work environment. I look forward to finding that in whatever my next job is. And what I’m realizing now is that part of why I feel external is because in each of these three short-term temporary projects, I didn’t understand the culture – there wasn’t time to have it ingrained in me.
Whenever I find my next role, I want to proactively enter it with my eyes open to uncover the cultural artifacts initially, recognize them for what they are, and then ask questions (as appropriate) to see how I can uncover the underlying assumptions that create its culture.
