Chapter 2: Research design

In this section I go through the method used during this research project to answer the research question “How might we enable startups to build their culture?”. I touch on subjects like my scientific approach, implementation, analysis, diversity, and ethics, along with a…

Chapter 10: The Double Diamond of Culture

In short, what’s needed to enable startups to build their culture is setting up a habit of a reflective and experimental practice based on conversation, self-exploration and empathy where the outcome is explicit behaviors that aims to reach the…

Chapter 4: What is culture?

How do you explain culture? During my primary research and talking to people within the industry I can tell it’s hard to define. Most times people sigh deeply and say “I’m not quite sure”. Culture is very fluffy and abstract. But as soon as you throw the word “startup” into the…

Chapter 6: Reflection at work

Another big theme throughout the interviews has been reflection. Reflection is a way to look back at experiences and to understand and learn from in order to develop something, it could be yourself, a team, or an organization. Here I connect the concept to the startup reality…

Chapter 1: Introduction

For around 200 years, since the industrial revolution took place, we’ve had jobs as we know them today. This turning…

Chapter 7: The human side of organizations

Since we’re moving from the perspective of organizing as factories and assembly lines…

Chapter 5: The importance of practice

In the previous chapter I defined what culture is and why it’s important to shape. As Tess mentions, it’s important that everyone in the company has the same foundation. Culture can, when shared with a group of people, function as a stake in the ground and in the…

Chapter 3: The interviews

This is a collection of the interviews I’ve made. The majority have been published here at Medium, and although the articles are not official parts of this research project they might be of interest to you to read as they go deeper into what each person finds important about their…

Chapter 0: Abstract

How might we enable startups to build their culture?

The world of organizations is changing rapidly. The trend is moving towards self-organization and seeing the organization as a living breathing thing. This isn’t reflected in the…