One of the most important things about organizational cultures is the extent to which they rely on rules and regulations. Obviously, every organization needs to have some rules. But trust is something that differentiates cultures. Let's compare the two. Trust and and rules run counter to each other. That is, an organization imposes a rule to attempt to make something happen or prevent something from happening. Rules primarily affect people. Therefore, we impose rules because we don't trust that people will make the right decisions.
For example, in an organization we trust that people will act nicely to each other because they care about each other. Consequently, we don't necessarily place rules about what we can say and what we can't. If we don't have that trust, or too many people violate the "unwritten" rule, then we impose the written rule. What is often called "political correctness," is the result of a lot of rules being passed because people don't trust that others will talk without offending.
The problem is that rules all have unintended consequences. The collaborative culture tends not to have as many rules. The bureaucratic culture has more rules. They both have some rules. The distinguishing factor about the cultures is where is the primary trust. In the collaborative culture, the person is trusted more, and consequently, there are fewer rules. In the bureaucratic culture the rules and regulations tend to be trusted more.
The recent news article about the Eagle Scout who was suspended from school for 20 days for having a small pocket knife locked in the mess kit in his locked car is a great example. The school system had a "no tolerance" policy about weapons on the school ground. Consequently, they were forced to carry out the policy regardless of what might have been "right" under the circumstances. The amount of negative publicity they received about this incident points out some of the negative consequences about the decision.
The primary thing is that the school board must ask themselves. Does the "no tolerance" policy really create a more safe school system, or was the rule placed there to protect the school system either from lawsuits or criticism from people. That is a question only the board can answer.
When passing a rule for our organization, we must ask questions about the cost of enforcing the rule, the unintended consequences of the rule, why the rule is being proposed, and if will really accomplish its intended purpose.
