Discussion Response Capstone
Write a response paper for the following:
Colleague 1- OlukunleAkinjagunla
Healthy Organizational Practices
A healthy organization should not be defined solely by profitability or longevity. In my view, organizational health reflects the ability to achieve strong performance while maintaining ethical leadership, strategic clarity, employee engagement, adaptability, and respect for stakeholders. Financial results remain important, but they are more sustainable when employees understand the organization's direction, trust its leadership, and feel supported in carrying out their responsibilities. Starr (2020) similarly presents organizational health and strong performance as complementary outcomes rather than competing priorities.
Example of a Healthy Organizational Culture
One healthy culture I observed was within a midsized project-services organization. To protect confidentiality, I will refer to it as "Organization Alpha." The company delivered planning and operational support for complex client projects. Its culture was characterized by accessible leaders, clearly defined expectations, cross-functional cooperation, and a willingness to learn from project challenges.
One practice contributing to Organization Alpha's health was leadership clarity. Senior leaders consistently communicated the company's purpose, immediate priorities, and standards for employee conduct. Managers reinforced these messages during team meetings and project reviews. This practice aligns with Lencioni's emphasis on establishing organizational clarity and repeatedly communicating it throughout the organization (HSMAmericas, 2010). Employees were consequently better able to connect their individual responsibilities to broader organizational objectives.
A second healthy practice was the company's use of collaborative problem-solving. When a project experiences schedule delays or resource constraints, managers invite employees from different functions to examine the problem and recommend corrective actions. The discussion focused on improving the process instead of assigning blame. This approach supported psychological safety, encouraged employees to raise concerns early, and allowed the organization to respond more effectively to changing circumstances. Bregman (2009) explains that cultural change becomes more practical when organizations influence behavior through specific actions and working relationships. Organization Alpha's collaborative reviews translated its stated values into observable workplace behavior.
The organization also demonstrated adaptability by treating unexpected conditions as opportunities for learning. Suarez and Montes (2020) associate resilience with an organization's ability to respond productively to uncertainty rather than depending exclusively on fixed plans. By encouraging employees to reassess assumptions and revise project approaches, Organization Alpha improved both employee confidence and operational responsiveness.
Example of an Unhealthy Organizational Culture
An unhealthy culture I encountered existed within another service organization, identified here as "Organization Beta." Although the organization had capable employees and a recognizable market presence, its internal practices weakened morale and created avoidable operational problems.
The first unhealthy practice was inconsistent communication from leadership. Priorities frequently changed without adequate explanation, and employees sometimes received conflicting instructions from different managers. This environment created duplicated work, delayed decisions, and uncertainty about accountability. Coleman (2013) identifies vision, values, practices, people, narrative, and place as important components of a strong corporate culture. In Organization Beta, the disconnect between stated values and daily management practices weakened employees' confidence in leadership.
To improve this practice, the leadership team should agree on a limited number of organizational priorities and communicate them through a consistent management process. Leaders could use recurring departmental meetings, written decision summaries, and clearly assigned responsibilities to reinforce expectations. They should also answer fundamental questions concerning why the organization exists, how it behaves, what it does, how it succeeds, what is most important, and who is responsible for specific work. Lencioni (2024) maintains that clarity around these critical questions helps align employees and leadership teams.
A second unhealthy practice was the use of unrealistic workloads combined with a punitive response to mistakes. Employees were expected to manage competing assignments with limited input into deadlines. When errors occur, managers concentrate on individual faults rather than examining workload, procedures, or supervisory decisions. This practice discouraged employees from reporting emerging problems and increased the likelihood that small issues would become larger operational failures. Geller (2017) indicates that organizational circumstances and systems can influence otherwise responsible employees to engage in poor decisions. Therefore, management cannot assume that misconduct or errors result only from individual character.
This practice could be refocused by implementing realistic capacity planning, establishing safe mechanisms for reporting concerns, and evaluating the organizational conditions surrounding mistakes. Managers should distinguish between negligence, skill gaps, unclear procedures, and system failures before determining corrective action. Schwartz (2013) emphasizes that an ethical corporate culture requires multiple reinforcing elements rather than relying on a written code alone. Accordingly, Organization Beta should combine leadership accountability, ethics training, reporting channels, fair enforcement, and consistent recognition of responsible behavior.
A third unhealthy practice was resistance to employee feedback. Decisions were primarily made at the senior level, even when frontline employees possessed relevant customer or operational knowledge. The organization could improve this condition by creating structured feedback sessions, cross-functional improvement teams, and short pilot programs that test employee recommendations. Borg (2020) connects agility with an organization's capacity to respond to change, suggesting that employee knowledge should be incorporated into timely organizational decisions.
Ultimately, a healthy organization produces results without sacrificing ethical conduct or employee well-being. Organization Alpha demonstrated how clarity, collaboration, and adaptability can strengthen both culture and performance. Organization Beta illustrates that communication failures, excessive workloads, punitive management, and resistance to feedback can undermine even an organization with talented employees. Sustainable improvement would require its leaders to align stated values with management practices, establish ethical safeguards, and treat employees as informed participants in organizational success. Need Assignment Help?
References:
Borg, L. (2020, July 17). The essential role of agility in business success. LinkedIn.
Bregman, P. (2009, June 25). A good way to change a corporate culture. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles.
Coleman, J. (2013, May 6). Six components of a great corporate culture. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2-4.
Geller, L. W. (2017, January 30). Why good employees do bad things. Strategy+Business, (87).
HSMAmericas. (2010, September 22). Patrick Lencioni on the four disciplines of healthy organizations [Video]. YouTube.
Lencioni, P. (2024, November 25). The six critical questions by Patrick Lencioni [Video]. YouTube.
Schwartz, M. S. (2013). Developing and sustaining an ethical corporate culture: The core elements. Business Horizons, 56(1), 39-50.
Starr, P. (2020, September). Having it all: How to have both a healthy organization and strong performance. Smart Business Cleveland, 32(1), 20.
Suarez, F. F., & Montes, J. S. (2020). Building organizational resilience. Harvard Business Review, 98(6), 47-52.
Colleague 2 - Sean Brim
Healthy Organizational Culture
One example of a healthy organizational culture is a graduate health sciences university which I am familiar with. The organization serves students preparing for careers in healthcare and relies heavily on collaboration among faculty, academic leadership, student-support personnel, and administrative departments. What makes the culture relatively healthy is the organization's emphasis on shared purpose, professional development, collaboration, and student success. Coleman (2013) explains that strong organizational cultures are often built around clearly communicated values, purpose, teamwork, and employee development. Similarly, Lencioni (2024) emphasizes that healthy organizations benefit when employees understand why the organization exists, how it operates, and what priorities matter most.
One practice that contributes to organizational health is the use of collaborative decision making. Faculty and staff are regularly involved in committees, workgroups, and cross-functional initiatives that allow individuals from different roles to contribute to organizational improvement. This approach can strengthen engagement because employees have opportunities to participate in decisions that affect their work. Starr (2020) argues that organizational health and strong performance can reinforce one another when leaders create environments characterized by trust, communication, and employee involvement. Collaboration is particularly important in higher education because student outcomes depend on the contributions of multiple departments rather than one individual or unit.
A second healthy practice is the organization's emphasis on professional development and continuous improvement. Employees are encouraged to participate in training, scholarly activities, leadership opportunities, and initiatives designed to improve teaching and student support. These practices contribute to organizational health because they communicate that employees are valued beyond the immediate tasks they perform. Goldman (2018) suggests that healthy organizations often experience stronger performance because employees understand expectations, remain engaged, and are better positioned to contribute to organizational goals. Providing opportunities for growth can also support retention and help the organization adapt to changing educational and healthcare environments.
Unhealthy Organizational Culture
An example of an unhealthy organizational culture is a high-volume outpatient healthcare organization with which I am familiar. The organization provides needed rehabilitation services to a large number of patients and serves an important community function. However, the culture can become unhealthy when productivity expectations dominate employee experiences. Clinicians may feel pressure to manage several patients simultaneously, maintain demanding productivity targets, and prioritize volume over individualized interaction. Although these practices may contribute to short-term financial performance, they can also create stress, burnout, and the perception that organizational priorities are inconsistent with professional values.
One unhealthy practice is excessive emphasis on productivity without sufficient consideration of employee workload. When performance is measured primarily through the number of patients treated or visits completed, employees may begin to believe that quantity matters more than quality. Geller (2017) explains that organizational systems and pressures can sometimes cause otherwise ethical employees to engage in behaviors that conflict with their professional values. Schwartz (2013) similarly argues that ethical culture depends on leadership, organizational systems, incentives, and consistent expectations. If employees believe that productivity is rewarded more strongly than quality, teamwork, or patient experience, organizational culture may gradually reinforce behaviors that were never explicitly intended.
A second unhealthy practice is limited employee input into operational decisions. Employees who interact directly with patients often understand workflow problems, scheduling challenges, and patient needs in ways that senior leaders may not. When these employees feel that their concerns are not heard, disengagement can increase. Bregman (2009) notes that cultural change is more likely to occur when organizations focus on specific employee behaviors and provide opportunities for people to participate in creating new practices. An organization that expects employees to adapt continuously without involving them in improvement efforts may unintentionally create resistance rather than engagement.
Refocusing Unhealthy Practices
The productivity-focused culture could be improved by broadening how performance is measured. Rather than relying heavily on patient volume, leadership could incorporate measures such as patient satisfaction, functional outcomes, employee engagement, quality indicators, and teamwork. This would still allow the organization to monitor financial performance while communicating that success includes both productivity and quality. Schwartz (2013) emphasizes that ethical cultures are strengthened when reward systems and organizational expectations reinforce the behaviors leaders claim to value.
The organization could also improve its culture by creating more structured opportunities for employee participation. Regular frontline advisory groups, anonymous feedback mechanisms, team-based process-improvement meetings, and employee representation on operational committees could provide leadership with better information while improving employee engagement. Suarez and Montes (2020) explain that resilient organizations are able to adapt because they develop structures that help employees respond to uncertainty and change. Including employees in problem solving can therefore improve both organizational health and operational performance.
Finally, leadership could strengthen organizational health by treating employee well-being as a strategic concern rather than an individual responsibility. Workload expectations, staffing patterns, scheduling, and opportunities for recovery should be reviewed regularly. Goldman (2018) argues that organizational health can directly support stronger financial and operational performance, suggesting that employee well-being and business performance should not be viewed as competing priorities. A healthier culture would still emphasize productivity, but it would balance that objective with quality, ethical practice, employee engagement, and the long-term sustainability of the workforce.
Overall, healthy organizational cultures are not necessarily those without stress, conflict, or performance expectations. Rather, they are organizations in which expectations, leadership behavior, incentives, communication, and employee experiences remain aligned with the organization's values and purpose. When unhealthy practices emerge, organizations can improve by changing the systems and behaviors that reinforce them rather than relying solely on employees to adapt.
References:
Bregman, P. (2009, June 25). A good way to change a corporate culture. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2-4.
Coleman, J. (2013, May 6). Six components of a great corporate culture. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2-4.
Geller, L. W. (2017, January 30). Why good employees do bad things. strategy+business, (87).
Goldman, J. (2018, July 26). How to grow revenue and profit by focusing on organizational health. Inc.com.
Lencioni, P. (2024, November 25). The six critical questions by Patrick Lencioni [Video]. YouTube.
Schwartz, M. S. (2013). Developing and sustaining an ethical corporate culture: The core elements. Business Horizons, 56(1), 39-50.
Starr, P. (2020). Having it all: How to have both a healthy organization and strong performance. Smart Business Cleveland, 32(1), 20.
Suarez, F. F., & Montes, J. S. (2020). Building organizational resilience. Harvard Business Review, 98(6), 47-52.