Examples of Dysfunctional Organizational Culture

 Dysfunctional Organizational Culture

According to Balthazard, Cooke, and Potter (2006), dysfunctional organizations are characterized by lower effectiveness, efficiency, and performance relative to equivalent agency counterparts. Culture can have a profound impact on an organization.

On the one hand, leadership strategies, styles, and skills can communicate that collaboration, cross-agency feedback, and strategic learning is valued; thereby, producing and reinforcing a more constructive culture striving for continual improvement.

On the other hand, an organizational culture can support passivity, aggression, and defensive behaviors that are detrimental to an agency (ibid). The following examples demonstrate the effects of dysfunctional agency culture.

In Need of Writing Services? Contact us for Quality Work!

Responsible for the nation’s space program and aeronautics research, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) core functions require balancing innovation and risk-taking with safety and controlled outcomes. On January 28, 1986, the world watched as the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just seconds after launching over Florida’s coast (CNN.com, 1996). Seven years later, similar devastation was experienced as the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentry (National Geographic News, 2003).

A nine-year study of NASA’s internal operations and procedures revealed that in both instances, specialized personnel did discuss critical information indicating significant flight risks; however, that information was not adequately communicated to senior decision makers and those same decision makers were unwilling to internalize the warning messages that were delivered (Balthazard, et al., 2006). While an immediate reaction to the disastrous events was to identify individual blame, analysis revealed both incidents were not due to intentional misconduct. Instead, NASA’s organizational culture allowed for processes that desensitized signals of danger and reinforced risky-outcomes (Vaughan, 1996; Balthazard, et al, 2006). Conformity to norms institutionalized tunnel vision and prevented the presentation of evidence that conflicted with or jeopardized desired outcomes, which ultimately led to the fatal errors.

A second example of dysfunctional organizational culture revolves around the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the petroleum industry’s history, this catastrophe resulted in loss of human life, marine, life, and wildlife habitats across thousands of square miles (Telegraph Press, 2010). Like the NASA incidents, the oil spill exposed an organizational culture that supported extreme risk taking, ignored expert feedback, hid facts indicating agency errors, and overlooked signs that were contradictory to embraced mental models (Corkindale, 2010). Additionally, governmental emergency response agencies and political officials not only underestimated the level of aid required but also were unable to respond with haste, which could have mitigated the severity of the event’s consequences (ibid). 

While dramatic, both examples demonstrate how ingrained patterns of thinking and behavioral norms influence an agency’s ability to respond effectively to changing and unexpected situations. In both cases, key leaders reinforced personal mental models that prevented the dissemination of information contradictory to a desired outcome. While individual personnel may have attempted to question operating standards, the feedback was not accepted. Finally, both examples resulted in several studies recommending cultural modifications as a critical solution to remedying organizational inadequacies in the long-run.

Key Terms
dysfunctional organizational culture
examples of dysfunctional organizational culture
dysfunctional corporate culture
when is organizational culture considered dysfunctional