Chapter 3: Measuring and Changing Culture
The Challenge: Culture is Intangible
Culture exists at three levels in organizations (Schein 1985):
- Basic assumptions — unconscious, hard to articulate, “the way things are”
- Values — collective norms that can be discussed and debated (the “culture” we usually talk about)
- Artifacts — visible: mission statements, technology, procedures, heroes, rituals
The book focuses on organizational values (level 2), using Ron Westrum’s model.
Westrum’s Three Organizational Culture Types
Westrum studied human factors in safety-critical systems (aviation, healthcare) and identified how information flows predict safety and performance outcomes.
| Pathological (Power-Oriented) | Bureaucratic (Rule-Oriented) | Generative (Performance-Oriented) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooperation | Low | Modest | High |
| Messengers | Shot | Neglected | Trained |
| Responsibilities | Shirked | Narrow | Risks shared |
| Bridging | Discouraged | Tolerated | Encouraged |
| Failure | Leads to scapegoating | Leads to justice | Leads to inquiry |
| Novelty | Crushed | Leads to problems | Implemented |
Key insight: The culture type predicts how information flows through an organization.
Three Characteristics of Good Information Flow
- Provides answers to the questions the receiver needs answered
- Is timely
- Is presented in a way that can be effectively used by the receiver
Measuring Culture with Likert Scales
The Westrum continuum forms points on a scale, making it measurable. Survey respondents rate 1–7 (Strongly Disagree → Strongly Agree) on statements like:
- Information is actively sought
- Messengers are not punished when they deliver bad news
- Responsibilities are shared
- Cross-functional collaboration is encouraged and rewarded
- Failure causes inquiry
- New ideas are welcomed
Score = mean of all item scores. The construct is valid and reliable (confirmed statistically across years).
In 2016: 31% pathological, 48% bureaucratic, 21% generative.
What Westrum Culture Predicts
- Trust and cooperation — generative culture reflects high collaboration and trust
- Higher quality decision-making — better information availability + decisions easier to reverse
- Better people management — problems discovered and addressed rapidly
Research confirmed: Westrum organizational culture predicts:
- Software delivery performance (lead time, release frequency, MTTR)
- Organizational performance (profitability, productivity, market share)
- Higher job satisfaction
Google’s Research (Project Aristotle) Convergence
Google studied 200+ teams over 2 years. Expected to find individual skills as the key factor. Found instead: how team members interact matters more than who is on the team.
This mirrors Westrum’s insights — culture and team dynamics trump individual talent.
How Organizations Handle Failure
- Pathological: Look for a “throat to choke” — find the responsible person and punish them
- Complex adaptive systems reality: Accidents almost never result from a single person. They emerge from complex interplay of factors.
“Human error should be the start of the investigation, not the end.”
The goal: improve information flow so people have better/more timely information, or find better tools to prevent failures.
How to Change Culture: Behavior First
John Shook (Lean transformation at Toyota NUMMI plant): “The way to change culture is not to first change how people think, but instead to start by changing how people behave—what they do.”
This means: implement technical and management practices first. Culture will follow.
Research shows that Lean management + continuous delivery practices directly impact organizational culture (Westrum score improves).
The Delivery Performance Construct (Statistical Note)
When building a construct for software delivery performance, the researchers found:
- Lead time, release frequency, and MTTR form a valid and reliable construct
- Change fail rate does not pass all statistical tests as part of the construct, but is strongly correlated with the construct
So when the book says “software delivery performance predicts X,” it’s using the three-metric construct. Change fail rate moves with it but is reported separately.
Key Takeaway
You don’t have to wait for culture to change to improve it. Implementing continuous delivery and Lean management practices will change culture as a side effect. The causal arrow runs:
Technical Practices + Lean Management → Culture → Performance