The Risk and Reward of Organizational Rituals

Yasmina Khelifi is a French project manager with 3 PMI certifications. She has been working in an international environment for more than 20 years. Yasmina can speak 6 languages and has an MSc in Mobile Telecommunications. She is a passionate PMI volunteer. Yasmina's new co-authored book 'The Volunteering Journey to Project Leadership' (CRC Press). is now available. Connect with her to continue the conversation.

  Organizational Culture  

I remember my first day on the job as a fresh graduate. My official desk wasn’t yet free, and I was in another office with the manager of another team. At noon, she went to eat and I waited at my desk, wondering if my new boss would pick me up.

I forgot to ask him how things worked at lunchtime. I finally found my way to the canteen by myself.

The Importance of Organizational Culture
An organization's culture consists of the practices, symbols, values and assumptions that its members share with regard to appropriate behavior (Schein, 1990). This broad definition encompasses so many influential factors to your projects, and in this article, I’d like to think about it through the lens of rituals.

Organizational culture is not an abstract notion, born out of a vacuum. It is grounded in:

• the given country
• the history of the company
• the people who are part of the company

Organizational culture is steeped in tacit knowledge, the unwritten and unspoken rules. And yet, you need to grasp them and decipher them for two main reasons:

1. Your projects will operate in this environment, so you need to understand the boundaries (i.e., what is and is not allowed).
2. You need to assess your level of compatibility with the organization to thrive.

I’m not a big fan of tacit knowledge, but I can understand that writing down all the rules and …

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