How the Web of Cultural Change Was Built

When creating the Web of Cultural Change, I was confronted with a multi-faceted problem. First, I wanted to show all of the relationships on a radar diagram. Doing this allows the users to see the connections among the eight elements. Second, I wanted to show the relationships of the eight elements of change to each of the four elements of culture separately. Although I saw value in a single web diagram — so that you could see each of the eight element’s scores in a composite — I also wanted to show the relationship of each of the four elements of culture separately compared to the eight elements on the diagram’s spokes.

I accomplished this multi-faceted goal by creating sixteen questions for each of the eight elements of change. These sixteen questions are divided up into four sets of questions, one set for each of the four elements of culture. The first four questions relate to organizational values, the second set to role models, the next set to rites and rituals, and the last set of four questions to the cultural infrastructure. In this manner, by looking at any group of four questions across the eight elements, we can create a web diagram for just that element of culture related to the eight elements of change. Figure 17-2 shows the way that the web of cultural change questions were developed.

With the questions set up in this fashion, we can obtain either an overall web diagram or individual web diagrams for each element of culture as it relates to the eight elements of change. These web diagrams will provide a multi-faceted view. The analysis of these views will be discussed in Chapter 18.

Rather than have everyone create their own webs, I have included a CD with this text. The CD has a number of beneficial tools in addition to the web model. The key item on the CD is an Excel spreadsheet that includes a separate tab for each of the eight elements of change, including all of that element’s questions and a place for you to enter your scores for each.

As you go through this process of answering the questions, a separate tab within the spreadsheet is creating your overall web of cultural change diagram as well as a separate diagram for each of the four elements of culture. This tab is labeled Baseline because it is your starting point for the process. There is another tab that is labeled Reassessment; this tab will be used for future survey scores. By having both a baseline and a set of scores after you have had a chance to do some cultural change work, you will be able to see where you improved as well as those continuing or new areas for improvement.

Within the baseline tab, there is a good deal of information. All of the scores from the individual tabs are summarized and an average is created for use in several of the charts. There is also a section where the groups of scores related to the four elements of culture are summarized so that these individual charts can be created as well. This tab has been password protected so that it can not be altered. Each of the sub tabs has also been password protected in order to preserve the web model and allow it to work as designed.

17.3 The Charts

The charts are also represented in both the baseline and the reassessment tabs. The baseline shows your original scores. The reassessment shows both the original scores and the scores that you obtain when you retake the survey after undertaking some cultural changecorrective action.

The baseline tab has the following eight charts:

Cultural Web of Change

Figure 17-3 shows a representative chart in which the total score for each element is provided. These scores are based on the answers to the sixteen questions provided for that element. Because each question can receive a maximum of 5 points, the maximum score for any element is 80. If every answer is scored as “strongly disagree,” then that element will have the lowest score of 16. I have made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to have a very poor score – the inner circle on the web. My reasoning is that I do not believe that any firm is that poor. Yet any scores that received a strongly disagree score of 1 will stand out for future analysis.

Actual Score vs Average Scores

Figure 17-4 shows how the scores for each element compare with the average total score. The process of cultural change needs to proceed uniformly; any score with significant deviation from the average is either changing too fast or too slow when compared to the others.

Actual Score vs Maximum (80 Points)

This chart gives the users a different look at the data. It simply represents the scores as bars with the maximum being the score of 80 points per element.

Actual Scores – Deviation from Average

This chart provides another way to look at how the scores for each of the elements deviate from the average. In this case, the chart shows both plus and minus deviation because it uses the average score as the baseline. This chart will give you a clear indication if any of the elements is out of alignment with the others.

Additional Charts

The other four charts are individual web diagrams for each of the four elements of culture. The only difference between these four charts and Figure 17-3 is that each of these is for a separate element of the culture – organizational values, role models, rites and rituals and the cultural infrastructure.