The Managerial Foundation

Student ID: 100327 39 The actual measurement of culture comes through the questionnaires, the intent of which is to, through the use of OCAI and CVF, search for any common cultural features relating to whether or not Lean has been implemented successfully.

This approach should be considered an initial approach to answer the problem statement, and the full use of, for example, an OCAI-based survey throughout a suitably sized population in the Armed Forces should be considered if a measurement of the actual organisational culture, per-ceived and desired by the employees, being the ones who experience and create the culture, is desired (Andersen, 2009).

Since I, as the author of the paper, am employed in same organisation I am to analyse, this can cause unintended selective perceptions and deductions, derived from my personal perceptions and understanding of the culture within the Danish Armed Forces (Andersen, 2009).

Since it has not been possible to find other cultural research of the armed forces, a comparison with the findings of others, and thereby a strengthening of the validity, will not be conducted.

Student ID: 100327 40 The managerial approach can, from many perspectives, be seen

as an operationalisation of the CVF presented by Cameron and Quinn (Cameron, et al., 2006), described in the following para-graphs.

The management style promoted in the managerial foundation comes from the managerial philosophy and the managerial ethic, which together create the norms under which the manag-ers are to conduct their leadmanag-ership. (Danish Defence Command, 2008). The foundation of the approach is visualised in Figure 16.

The philosophy is defined by four managerial functions as fol-lows: 1) Ensure results, 2) Develop relations, 3) Encourage re-newal, 4) Maintain stability. These four functions are described as a focus which can both be on the external as well as the inter-nal tasks. In this context, the time perspective becomes im-portant for the manager in an effort to ensure the use of the cor-rect function in relation to their current situation.

The philosophy is task-centric in accordance to Figure 17. In ac-cordance to the managerial foundation, the mission/task is al-ways at the centre of good managerial practice. However, it is also recognised that it is the “…people that form the management and people who are being formed by the management.” (Danish Defence Command, 2008) The directive describes the employees at all levels as not only the most important resource for the or-ganisation but also the most important potential for better solu-tions in the future. A good management approach is described as a balanced and holistic managerial approach. The holistic

ap-proach in regard to the four functions is the precondition to _{Figure 18}

The Danish Armed Forces Mana-gerial approach – Balance Figure 17

The Danish Armed Forces Mana-gerial approach – Task centric

Figure 16

The Danish Armed Forces Mana-gerial approach – Approach

Student ID: 100327 41 ensure a balanced focus on both the employees’ needs as well as the needs of the organisation (Danish Defence Command, 2008). See figur 18.

Hereby the philosophy of the managerial approach within the Dansih Armed Forces recognises the need for individual managerial assesments of the specific situation in which they act as

managers. The task and mission may be at the centre; however, from the long-term perspective, if the managers are not paying attention to the indivual needs of their employees, their ability to maintain effectiveness as an organisation will become at risk.

In this context, the philosophy acknowledges the need to act as both a manager and an organisation in respect to the current conditions faced. Seen

in relation to the CVF presented by Cameron and Quinn (Cameron, et al., 2006), the presented models, to some extent, even by its appearence, share attributes. See Figure 19. Barring resemblence to the CVF, the model presented by the Danish Defence Command in relation to how to act as a manager within the organisation, the Armed Forces is subsequently telling its managers to balance their

managerial approach to both the short-term and long-term goals as well as in reference to the employees and the actual task at hand.

Comparing this approach to that of the CVF, it can be argued that the managerial approach presented by the Armed Forces is not stating one best practice for its managers to follow in respect to a desired organisational culture. Instead, it sets the preconditions for the managers to act in reference to their own understanding of the situation.

This is also in line with the basic trademark of a large organisation, which will be charaterised not by one all-encompassing organisational culture, but rather by several cultures within cultures, some being more prevalent than others in the different departments throughout the organisation, which is in perfect line with the findings of Cameron and Quinn (Cameron, et al., 2006).

Figure 19

The Competing Value Frame-work (CVF)

Student ID: 100327 42 In Figure 20, the CVF and the Armed Forces Managerial

Foundation can be seen in a mixed figure visualising the similarities of the CVF and the Managerial

Approach presented by the Danish Defence Command.

The ethic is described as the trademarks of good management. The nine trademarks are: strength, courage, vision, vigour, coherence, credibility, insight, community and development, which together describe the Armed Forces' leadership ethics. That is to say, the spirit under which management must be exercised in order to fulfill the nine characteristics of good

management. Any executive officer in the Armed Forces is faced with a number of requirements for the

exercise of management, but also contributes to creating conditions for the exercise of leadership by others (Danish Defence Command, 2008).

The trademarks presented can be compared with the areas of focus of the four quadrants presented in the CVF. Seeing the trademarks of courage, vigour, credabillity and community as the main characteristics of the four quadrants and the other four trademarks presents the transition between the quadrants, the functions.