Collaboration is something we learn about at a very early age. In fact, Robert Fulghum, in his classic book, All I really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten, mentions it as the first lesson: Share Everything. Essentially that is what instructional collectivism is all about: the degree to which individuals collaborate and share resources in a society or culture. This is done, not necessarily for the betterment of the individual, but the betterment of the entire group.
Simple Truths.
Many organizations, as well, speak about the importance of collaboration.
The bottom line is that organizations that advocate and encourage cooperation and collaboration are more successful than ones that do not. We see it in sports quite often, with teams, who have high payroll salaries failing to have even a winning record because of clashing egos and competing personal interests.
The same holds true for corporate culture as well.
So what do cultures that have high institutional collectivism look like?
· Members assume that they are interdependent with the organization.
· Group loyalty is highly encouraged.
· The society’s economic system tends to maximize the interests of collectives.
· Groups make critical decisions.
Now compare this to low institutional collectivism cultures:
· Members assume that they are largely independent of the organization.
· Pursuit of individual goals is encouraged, even at the expense of group loyalty.
· The society’s economic system tends to maximize the interests of individuals.
· Critical decisions are made by individuals
Interestingly, the US is rated as somewhere in the middle.
Look at organizational culture through this lens. Consider the implications of a business that has a low institutional collectivism culture. The reality is that they would have little chance of survival. We saw this occur on a regular basis back in the dot.com era of the late 90s. Organizations would spend huge sums of money on salaries, lavish parties and publicity with very little to show for it. To prove my point, go back and look the companies who paid for commercials during the 2000 Super Bowl, 17 of them did it. Most do not exist anymore.
Anyone remember Our Beginning.com? Didn’t think so.
The point here is that organizations that are not in silos, cooperate toward the betterment of the overall organization and make decisions together, are far more effective than ones that don’t. Much like Fulghum’s book, this is a simple truth.
Reference
Northhouse, P.G. (2007). Leadership: theory and practice. Thousand Oaks California: Sage Publications
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