Organisational culture: The Family organisational culture

In the blog last week, we explored one of the least common organisational constructions variously known as the Incubator, People, or Adhocracy culture. This week, we will move on to examine the Family culture that is common in most initial small business ventures.

Strengths of the Family culture

This organisational culture functions in a very similar way to the Handy’s Power culture that was explored in the previous blog.

At the centre of the organisation, we typically find some ‘patriarchal’ founding figure as in many new start-up and small businesses. They tend to be charismatic characters who seem to influence daily activities even when they are not actually present. Then, the power base of the leader is legitimised by the members because of their personal respect and loyalty.

They are also characterised by very close relationships between members while intuitive knowledge of others is valued over rational knowledge such as educational or professional qualifications.

Then, motivation is based on personal appreciation and praise, especially from the central leader, that is itself based on effective performance in a particular role as well as by demonstrating positive supportive relationships with other members.

Weaknesses of the Family culture

The Family culture has two main weaknesses. First, bottom-up change is limited due to the centralisation of personal power dynamics around the ever-present leader. Next, as the organisation expands triggered by success, inefficiency can begin to creep in as the central character can no longer maintain personal day to day communication with every employee or supervisory control over events that require immediate decision-making.

Overall, many members find these family cultures very exciting places to work as each day seems to bring new challenges and nothing ever seems to stay the same. Put simply, this is a form of antibureaucratic culture that suits those with strong personalities, high levels of energy, a need for independent decision-making, and a willingness to take risk.

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Question 1

What type of person would be less likely to successfully match such a cultural context?

Question 2

Would people with experience be content with decisions being made without their consultation?

Question 3

Can small scale organisations offer long-term development plans for employees such as graduates?

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We shall explore Question 3 in the next blog.

Reference

Trompenaars, F. & Hampden-Turner, C. (1997). Riding the waves of culture: understanding cultural diversity in business. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.