Knowledge must be at the center of everything the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development does and knowledge is most valuable when it is actually used—not just identified, created, stored, or shared. A hypothetical diagnosis of ICIMOD's purpose, structure, relationships, rewards, leadership, and helpful mechanisms combined with an organizational culture assessment suggested that a "preferred" culture of adhocracy might drive higher effectiveness.

1. Evolving Corporate Culture
Olivier
Serrat
2017

2. Quid?
A Hypothetical Case Study: The International
Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
• Quid?—A regional, intergovernmental learning,
knowledge, and enabling center for mountains
• Member Countries—Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
Bhutan, People's Republic of China, India,
Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan
• Vision—Men, women, and children of the Hindu
Kush Himalayas enjoy improved wellbeing in a
healthy mountain environment
• Mission—To enable sustainable and resilient
mountain development for improved and
equitable livelihoods through knowledge and
regional cooperation

3. Purview
The Hindu Kush Himalayas
• The world's highest mountains; the
largest body of ice outside the Polar
caps; 17% of the global glacial area
• The source of 10 Asian river systems;
host to 28 Ramsar sites and 4 of the 34
global biodiversity hotspots
• Ecosystem services to 210 million
people upstream and 1.3 billion
downstream
• Most Sustainable Development Goals
are relevant; mountains feature in SDG
6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and SDG
15 (Life on Land)

4. Strategic Goals
ICIMOD's strategic goals are:
• Widespread adoption of innovations developed by ICIMOD and partners to
adapt to change leading to positive impacts for women, men, and children;
• Substantial advances in the generation and use of relevant data,
knowledge, and analysis;
• Significant advances made in approaches and knowledge that promote
gender equality and inclusive human development;
• Significantly developed human and institutional capacity;
• Policies and practices considerably influenced by the work of ICIMOD and
its partners;
• Enhanced regional cooperation related to sustainable mountain
development; and
• Global recognition of the importance of mountains and the need for more
global resources made available to mountain people to ensure improved
and resilient livelihoods and ecosystems.

5. Thematic Areas Livelihoods
Ecosystem
Services
Water &
Air
Geospatial
Solutions
RegionalPrograms
Adaptation to Change
Transboundary Landscapes
River Basin Management
Cryosphere & Atmosphere
Mountain Environment
Regional Information
System
Himalayan University
Consortium
Programs & Themes

6. Knowledge should be at the center of everything ICIMOD does.
• Effective dissemination of knowledge is arguably more
important than its production.
• Knowledge is most valuable when it is actually used—not just
identified, created, stored, or shared.
• "Data smog", "infobesity", "infoxication", and "information
glut" describe the deluge of information that overloads our
brains: a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.
ICIMOD aims to:
• Encourage partners to be actively involved in the knowledge
development cycle;
• Distill and communicate relevant messages toward sustainable
mountain development at all levels; and
• Help policy makers transform the results of research into
improved decision making and practical action.
"Issues"

7. On Diagnosis
Organizational diagnosis is a process that helps organizations
enhance their capacity to assess and change dysfunctional aspects of
their culture and patterns of behavior as a basis for developing
greater effectiveness and ensuring continuous improvement.
Organizational diagnosis must be understood within a larger
organization development process (e.g., start-up, diagnosis,
intervention, and transition).
•Weisborg's Six-Box Model is relatively simple, widely used, and
so was retained for this hypothetical case study.
ICIMOD's purpose, structure, relationships, rewards, leadership, and
helpful mechanisms were examined, this to gauge the "issues" faced
by the organization, identify the factors and forces behind these, and
frame arguments to evolve the organization's culture.

8. Purpose
• There is some unease—apparent in everything ICIMOD does
(or does not do)—from harboring "local" ambitions (that are
still far from being achieved) in a region facing massive and
irreversible damage from climate change. The fitness of
ICIMOD's mission, meaning, the degree to which it is
appropriate given the environment, is questionable.
Structure
• Changes to ICIMOD's structure have been rational (if slow); a
rare occurrence, its configuration actually matches what is
(or might be) needed. A research institution by nature,
design, and universal agreement, formality predominates.
Relationships
• In hierarchies, relationships can be touchy: personnel is
tentative; managers take care not to tread on what turf is
not theirs. The units tasked with performing tasks execute
these but minimize interdependence. Since all are part of
the production process there is built-in variance that only
goodwill can assuage.
Weisbord's Six-Box Model

9. Rewards
• Supply-driven research rarely meets demand and much
painstaking research falls on barren ground. There is no clear-
cut rationale for rewarding this or that.
Leadership
• ICIMOD is a political organization, a platform for eight regional
countries. A few European partners offer directional advice
every five years and grant financing every year. Leadership's
role is to navigate power, influence, alliances, and internal
friction. In a political organization there is little or no external
competition; people turn inwards to compete.
Helpful
Mechanisms
• ICIMOD is well-equipped with what usual helpful mechanisms,
mostly formal, assist in planning, budgeting, controlling,
implementing, evaluating, etc. They are there for the specified
purposes, function in practice as they are meant to, cut across
the other five boxes, and cannot be subverted.
Weisbord's Six-Box Model

10. Main
Characteristics
• ICIMOD is a controlled and structured place. Formal
procedures generally govern what people do. The
organization should aim for a greater purpose than its
mission currently describes. A "preferred" culture might
ascribe equal weight to adhocracy and market.
Organizational
Leadership
• Leadership is preoccupied with coordinating, organizing,
and smooth-running efficiency. Toward a greater
purpose, a "preferred" culture might be adhocracy.
Management
of Employees
• Management is characterized by security of
employment, conformity, predictability, and stability in
relationships. Toward a greater purpose, a "preferred"
culture might be adhocracy.
Organizational
Glue
• The glue that holds the organization consists of formal
rules and policies. Maintaining a smooth-running
organization is important. Toward a greater purpose, a
"preferred" culture might be adhocracy.
Findings of an Organizational
Culture Assessment

11. Strategic
Emphases
• ICIMOD emphasizes permanence and stability. Efficiency,
control, and smooth operations are important. Toward a
greater purpose, a "preferred" culture might ascribe equal
weight to adhocracy and market.
Criteria
of Success
• ICIMOD defines success on the basis of efficiency.
Dependable delivery, smooth scheduling, and low-cost
production are critical. Toward a greater purpose, a
"preferred" culture might ascribe equal weight to
adhocracy and market.
The Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) is most useful if it
helps frame in-house conversations in combination with other instruments. Are
there opportunities for ICIMOD to accomplish its mission/goal/objective better?
Might changes entail strengthening ICIMOD's current culture? Might changes
entail evolving ICIMOD's current culture to another? Or, might a practicable mix
of cultures be "preferred" (and, if so, in which of the six areas would one see the
greatest need for change)?
Findings of an Organizational
Culture Assessment

12. Toward a "Preferred" Culture
ICIMOD is a general hierarchy (with elements of market, clan, and adhocracy
cultures). In the 21st century, it would perform more effectively as a general
adhocracy (with elements of a market culture).
• Adhocracy—A dynamic and creative working environment. Employees
take risks. Leaders are seen as innovators and risk takers. Experiments
and innovation are the bonding materials. Prominence is emphasized.
The goal is to create and grow resources. Making new products or
services available is seen as success. The organization promotes
individual initiative and freedom.
• Leader Type—Visionary, innovator, entrepreneur
• Value Drivers—Innovative outputs, transformation, agility
• Theory of Effectiveness—Vision, innovation, resources
• Quality Improvement Strategy—Anticipating needs, surprising and
delighting, setting standards, improving continuously, finding solutions

13. •Synergizing
the Six-Box
Model and
Organizational
Culture
Assessment
Instrument,
actions in
three areas
can support a
"preferred"
culture
change to an
adhocracy.
Purpose—Reformulate ICIMOD's mission to indicate the
organization aims to (i) integrate climate change mitigation and
adaptation in mountain development in the Hindu Kush Himalayan
region, and (ii) advocate climate action elsewhere. [This would
boost SDG 13 (Climate Action)]
Relationships—Support behaviors that encourage individual risk
taking, innovation, freedom, and uniqueness in departments and
teams. Toward this, effect changes in helpful mechanisms and
rewards. E.g., Specify what ICIMOD must formally reward to fit with
the environment. Consider if helpful mechanisms help or hinder the
accomplishment of the reformulated mission.
Leadership—Exemplify and support behaviors that encourage
entrepreneurship, innovation, and risk taking. Toward this, effect
changes in leadership of departments and teams. E.g., Instruct
ICIMOD's leaders to embody the reformulated mission and embed
it in their programs.
Toward a "Preferred" Culture

14. Further Reading
Beer, M. & Spector, B. (1993). Organizational diagnosis: Its role in
organizational learning. Journal of Counseling & Development (71) 6, pp.
642–650.
Cameron, K. & Quinn, R. (2011). Diagnosing and change organizational
culture: Based on the competing values framework (3rd ed.). San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Gallant, S. & Ríos, D. (2014). The organization development (OD) consulting
process. In Jones, B. & Brazzel, M. (Eds.), NTL Handbook of Organization
Development and Change : Principles, Practices, and Perspectives (2nd
ed.), pp. 153–174. San Francisco, CA: Wiley.
ICIMOD. (2012). A strategy and results framework for ICIMOD. Kathmandu.
Retrieved from lib.icimod.org/record/28290
Molden, D. & Sharma, E. (2013). ICIMOD's strategy for delivering high-quality
research and achieving impact for sustainable mountain development.
Mountain Research and Development (33)2, pp. 179–183.

15. Further Reading
Noolan, J. (2006). Organization diagnosis phase. In B. Jones & M. Brazzel
(Eds.), The NTL handbook of organization development and change:
Principles, practices, and perspectives (2nd ed.), pp. 192–211. San
Francisco, CA: Wiley.
Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument. (2017, December 7).
Organizational culture types. Retrieved from https://www.ocai-
online.com/.
Serrat, O. (2016). Achieving impact through knowledge management and
communication in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. Retrieved from
https://www.slideshare.net/celcius233/achieving-impact-through-
knowledge-management-and-communication-in-the-hindu-kush-
himalayan-region.
Weisbord, M. (1976). Organizational diagnosis: six places to look for trouble
with or without a theory. Group and Organization Studies (1)4, pp. 430–
447.

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