{"id":3961,"date":"2022-12-08T08:00:37","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T06:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stefduplessis.com\/?p=3961"},"modified":"2022-12-26T14:34:26","modified_gmt":"2022-12-26T12:34:26","slug":"culture-and-buas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stefduplessis.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/08\/culture-and-buas\/","title":{"rendered":"Culture and ‘BUAs’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much of the work on organisational culture is thwarted due to people\u2019s lack of understanding of it<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We\u2019ve written much about the fact that people cannot manage what they do not understand – and culture is often conceived only in complex ways. While we hope that UGRs\u00ae help shed a light on culture, we\u2019d like to introduce the concept of \u2018BUAs\u2019…<\/p>\n

In an article titled \u2018Analysing and realigning organizational culture\u2019 (Leadership and organization journal, 22\/1, 2001, 40-43), authors Buch and Wetzel discuss the concept of \u2018BUAs\u2019, or \u2018basic underlying assumptions\u2019.<\/p>\n

BUAs are most often unconscious, taken-for-granted beliefs, thoughts and feelings. Because of their deep rooted nature, they typically can only be inferred.
\nOther aspects of culture described by the authors are \u2018espoused values\u2019 and \u2018artifacts\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018Espoused values\u2019<\/strong> are the words that are spoken in a firm. These include the justifications goals, philosophies, slogans and strategies that are spoken and heard.<\/p>\n

\u2018Artifacts\u2019<\/strong> are visible and physical. These include dress codes, physical structure and layout, newsletters, signs and banners.<\/p>\n

\n

Knowledge of BUAs helps people understand culture – which helps people improve it!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The authors propose that espoused values often do not reflect reality. Sometimes, espoused values are \u2018wish lists\u2019 representing the way people would like things to be. When there is a difference between artifacts, espoused values and BUAs, we have cultural misalignment.<\/p>\n

The authors propose the need for a \u2018cultural audit\u2019 to infer the BUAs from the artifacts and espoused values. Based on this audit, the company can initiate changes where needed.
\nA major component of the cultural audit involves observation to identify the espoused values and artifacts.<\/p>\n

The authors recommend a field trip that includes visits inside and outside the organisation. This may even include areas such as the car park!<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Much of the work on organisational culture is thwarted due to people\u2019s lack of understanding of it We\u2019ve written much about the fact that people cannot manage what they do…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[83,81,87,88,82,89,90,80],"class_list":["post-3961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-workplace-culture","tag-corporate-culture","tag-culture","tag-leadership","tag-leading","tag-organisational-culture","tag-ugrs","tag-unwritten-ground-rules","tag-workplace-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefduplessis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefduplessis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefduplessis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefduplessis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefduplessis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3961"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefduplessis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4789,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefduplessis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961\/revisions\/4789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefduplessis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefduplessis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefduplessis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefduplessis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}