I have always wanted to be an architect. Coming into architecture school, I thought that everyone else would have been as passionate as I was. On my first day, I saw that I was part of a class of 80 and upon graduation, we barely had 30. Clearly I was wrong. Others were not as passionate as I was, let alone eager to win academic awards like me.
I recently came across an article about corporate culture in banks. One paragraph that I thought was extremely relevant read as follows:
Van den Steen (2010a) develops an interesting theory of culture based on two important ideas. The first idea, familiar from previous research, is that culture is about shared values and beliefs. The twist, though, is that beliefs may be heterogeneous, and this divergence can lead to disagreement about the right course of action.4
He argues that corporate culture “homogenizes” beliefs in three ways: screening in hiring (employees are chosen based on whether they share the beliefs that guide the organization, and they work harder knowing others do also); self-sorting (the employee’s utility depends on her manager’s actions); and joint learning. A key result is that corporate culture is stronger in older, smaller, and more successful (valuable) firms.
My question to all of you:
Do you think this paragraph rings true for academic institutions? Does it also ring true for architectural practices? What would happen if we "screened" people so that everyone shared the same values? Would we succeed more in environments where others would otherwise be less motivated, if this were done?
BulgarBlogger
Jan 14, 18 7:14 pm
Another question:
"employees are chosen based on whether they share the beliefs that guide the organization, and they work harder knowing others do also"
How do you think the idea changes if the word "students" was substituted for "employees", and "university/college" was substituted for "organization?
BulgarBlogger
Jan 14, 18 7:50 pm
David, no- I'm not saying that Architectural Education should be more like corporate banking culture. I'm asking what would happen if students and employees of similar values were selected to study at a university or work at a firm? Would that make them more driven students or employees? Driven in the sense that they would believe that their efforts have purpose and actually make sense because everyone else around them perform similarly.
randomised
Jan 15, 18 2:30 am
There are tons of reasons you ended with 30 graduates out of a group of 80. This happens in plenty of other fields too, I'm sure. Also, how many of those 30 or 80 actually came from a different field and transferred into architecture? People change, professions change, life happens, etc. But architecture is also a field that a lot of outsiders have a distorted view of, only by studying or working in the profession can you find out what it really is all about. And even then it is not what you'd expect. And what if that reality doesn't compute with your initial ideas and motivations to pursue architecture? People who like to sketch and don't suck at math are told they could be an architect, there's so much more to it. People say they always wanted to be an architect since they were little kids, even before they knew what that actually means or entails.
I have always wanted to be an architect. Coming into architecture school, I thought that everyone else would have been as passionate as I was. On my first day, I saw that I was part of a class of 80 and upon graduation, we barely had 30. Clearly I was wrong. Others were not as passionate as I was, let alone eager to win academic awards like me.
I recently came across an article about corporate culture in banks. One paragraph that I thought was extremely relevant read as follows:
Van den Steen (2010a) develops an interesting theory of
culture based on two important ideas. The first idea, familiar
from previous research, is that culture is about shared values
and beliefs. The twist, though, is that beliefs may be heterogeneous,
and this divergence can lead to disagreement about the
right course of action.4
He argues that corporate culture “homogenizes” beliefs in three ways: screening in hiring (employees are chosen based on whether they share the beliefs that guide the organization, and they work harder knowing others do also); self-sorting (the employee’s utility depends on her manager’s actions); and joint learning. A key result is that corporate culture is stronger in older, smaller, and more successful (valuable) firms.
My question to all of you:
Do you think this paragraph rings true for academic institutions? Does it also ring true for architectural practices? What would happen if we "screened" people so that everyone shared the same values? Would we succeed more in environments where others would otherwise be less motivated, if this were done?
Another question:
"employees are chosen based on whether they share the beliefs that guide the organization, and they work harder knowing others do also"
How do you think the idea changes if the word "students" was substituted for "employees", and "university/college" was substituted for "organization?
David, no- I'm not saying that Architectural Education should be more like corporate banking culture. I'm asking what would happen if students and employees of similar values were selected to study at a university or work at a firm? Would that make them more driven students or employees? Driven in the sense that they would believe that their efforts have purpose and actually make sense because everyone else around them perform similarly.
There are tons of reasons you ended with 30 graduates out of a group of 80. This happens in plenty of other fields too, I'm sure. Also, how many of those 30 or 80 actually came from a different field and transferred into architecture? People change, professions change, life happens, etc. But architecture is also a field that a lot of outsiders have a distorted view of, only by studying or working in the profession can you find out what it really is all about. And even then it is not what you'd expect. And what if that reality doesn't compute with your initial ideas and motivations to pursue architecture? People who like to sketch and don't suck at math are told they could be an architect, there's so much more to it. People say they always wanted to be an architect since they were little kids, even before they knew what that actually means or entails.