Believing Is Seeing: A Look At the Affect of Technology on Organizational Culture

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Believing Is Seeing A Look At the Affect of
Technology on Organizational Culture
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Culture Is A Pipeline To The Heart

• It is with the heart that one sees rightly what
  is essential is invisible to the eye.
  -Antoine De Saint-Exupery The
  Little Prince

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Culture Defined

• The way we do things around here!

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The Lasting Influence Of Cultural Experiences

• The culture of an enterprise plays the dominant
  role in exemplary performance. Highly respected
  organizations have evolved a shared system of
  informal folkways and traditions that infuse work
  with meaning, passion, and purpose. (Deal and
  Peterson, 1999)

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The New Magic Pencil

• There is no power like the power of an idea whose
  time has come!

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If
Machiavelli said, It should be borne in mind
that there is nothing more difficult to handle,
more doubtful of success, and more dangerous to
carry through than initiating changes
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And
Yep! And Machiawhatever his name is, went on to
say, The innovator makes enemies of all those
who prospered under the old order, and only
lukewarm support is forthcoming from those who
would prosper under the new.
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You gotta be kidding! I cant do that.
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This, too, shall pass!
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I guess its time to retire!
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So
The target of change is typically the structure
of schools!
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Therefore, Introducing New Technology Into a
School Is To
CHANGE the way we do things around hereto
change the CULTURE!
How dya spell it?
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Cycle of Change
Hope/Possibility
Informed Optimism
Informed Pessimism
Public Withdrawal
Private Withdrawal
Success/Completion
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Whats Happening

• Organizational Charts
• Job Descriptions
• Policy Manuals
• Schedules
• Rules
• Procedures
• Goals

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Lets talk about whats happening.

• In small groups, talk about how new technology
  affects the attributes of whats happening in
  the organization.

• Organizational Charts
• Job Descriptions
• Policy Manuals
• Schedules
• Rules
• Procedures
• Goals

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Whats Going On

• The Informal Organization
• Storytellers
• Priests
• Whisperers
• Gossips
• Secretarial Sources
• Spies
• Historians

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Lets talk about whats going on!

• In small groups, talk about how new technology
  affects the attributes of whats going on in
  the organization.

• Storytellers
• Priests
• Whisperers
• Gossips
• Secretarial Sources
• Spies
• Historians

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The Typewriters Tale A True Story

• A business teacher working on a new mission
  statement that included emerging technology
  said, The typewriter was good enough for me!
• Several of her colleagues applauded.

Applause!
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An Innocent Red Pencil

• So powerful and enduring are many of the customs
  encountered in our public schools that the
  emotional effect often stays with us long after
  the initial experience.

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The Typewriter As Symbol

• The nonprofit leader who is sensitive and
  responsive to the organizations culture will not
  act precipitously to change it, even if such a
  change is on his eventual agenda. (Dobbs and
  Nanus, 1999)

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The Old Masters Prints

• Only time will tell if the reported actions of
  Lotta Change (a pseudonym) can be characterized
  as a precipitous act. In a recently published
  story Lotta cleared the school of all art and
  other decorations, including a number of prints
  that had been accumulated over 70 years.

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The Old Masters Prints

• A forty-year veteran teacher and principal at the
  school was not pleased. She said
• If we dont appreciate and respect the past, how
  do we expect our children to respect and
  appreciate what we have done.

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Master Metaphors!

• The correct metaphor can help sustain and enhance
  the core values of an organization by eliciting
  assumptions and behaviors that advance the
  organizations real purpose.

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The New Sawdust!

• The rabbit could not claim to be a model of
  anything, for he didnt know that real rabbits
  existed he thought they were all stuffed with
  sawdust like himself, and he understood that
  sawdust was quite out-of-date and should never be
  mentioned in modern circles. (The
  Velveteen Rabbit)

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We all know that

• Evidence abounds that metaphors can dramatically
  affect our lives and influence our behaviors
• A chicken in every pot.
• Fly the friendly skies.
• The Pepsi generation.
• Just do it.
• People are our most important product.

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So, why not

• A world in every classroom!
• The world at your fingertips!
• Your childs magic carpet!
• A doorway to the stars!
• A childs ride on a rainbow!

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Powerful stuff this culture thing

• Diving headlong into the pool of beliefs, values,
  and assumptions, history, stories, and tribes,
  storytellers, healers, and gossips makes ones
  head reel.
• It means examining our basic beliefs and values
  about work, play, and family.

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History, Stories, and Rituals

• In the culture of any organization, nothing
  spawns experiences and emotions more readily than
  the accessories of its history, described and
  kept alive in many ways, but especially through
  stories.

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The Velveteen Rabbit

• What is real? asked the rabbit one day. Does
  it mean having things that buzz inside you and a
  stick-out handle?
• The Skin Horse answers

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A Final Wordor two!

• Organizations, especially schools, need leaders
  who can understand and apply the power of culture
  and the emerging technology to increase student
  success.
• Shame on anyone who would neglect the values,
  beliefs, and assumptions that lead to the success
  of our children.

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After all

• Children are a cherished message we send to a
  time we shall never see.