Organizational Harmony: A fresh framework to navigate tensions

June 2024 Issue

Dr. Marc Correa, Visiting Scholar at the Leadership & Happiness Lab and Professor at ESADE Business School

If you lead a team, a business unit, an organization, or simply work within one, you’ve likely faced myriad challenges over the past twelve months. Among those, you might have had to choose between two equally unappealing options of many varieties. Perhaps you had to manage conflicting demands from various stakeholders, achieve goals without compromising a positive work environment, empower teams while maintaining control, or balance a long-term vision with short-term needs. These tasks—which feel at odds in their very nature—can feel daunting and nearly impossible to accomplish.

These situations often provoke stress, anxiety, and discomfort. The literature on goal conflict reports a negative association between goal conflict and well-being. And it's natural to experience these feelings when navigating such complexities. After enduring these situations, it is common also to question yourself: "What am I doing wrong to counter such tensions?" However, it is important to recognize that these tensions are not a result of personal shortcomings. Instead, they are inherent to the nature of organizations.

This shift in mindset changes our relationship with tensions. Since tensions are inevitable, our responsibility—as leaders of teams, business units, organizations, or as organizational members—is to first acknowledge this reality. We must then devote time, resources, and strategies to navigate these tensions. The temptation might be to try to solve, fix, or overcome them. However, we argue that this is not possible, because tensions are a fundamental, ever-present part of organizations. What we can do is navigate these tensions and create an organizational context that accommodates them in a way that people can manage effectively. The result will be a higher level of serenity, calmness, and tranquility, rather than stress, anxiety, and discomfort.

Creating such contexts means striving for organizational harmony. Organizational harmony is an essential concept for improving the well-being of people in any tension-filled organization. It removes obstacles and, among other things, fosters a better organizational climate wherein everyone is committed to collaboration and mutual support.

What is Organizational Harmony?

There is no consensus on the answer to this question, as the current literature reveals substantial and notable discrepancies. So, then, we must drive at a more fundamental question: what is harmony?

In Western cultures, the concept of harmony has only recently begun to receive more attention, contrasting with its deep-rooted tradition in East Asian countries. There are significant etymological and philosophical differences between the Western and Eastern conception of harmony.

The term "harmony" originates from the Proto-Indo-European root *ar, meaning "to fit," evolving through Proto-Greek "harmos" to denote "joint." This term expanded to encompass structure, agreement, pleasing sounds, and stable governance. Greek philosophy emphasized the concept of balance and proportion, extending harmony beyond music to life and the cosmos. For figures like Pythagoras and Plato, harmony meant the fitting together of different elements to create a coherent and aesthetically pleasing whole, reflecting a static order akin to musical chords within a structured framework, but always considering the presence of heterogeneity. It is not a coincidence that the Greek goddess Harmonia was the daughter of Ares, the god of war, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love. It had to symbolize the union of opposing elements.

In Chinese philosophy, "he" (和) signifies harmony through the blending of diverse elements, such as musical notes or culinary ingredients, highlighting dynamic relationships and continuous interaction. Confucianism, Taoism, and Mohism present harmony as an adaptable process, emphasizing the integration and cooperation of different forces. Unlike the static Greek perspective, Chinese traditions view harmony as an ongoing cycle of balancing diversity. This dynamic understanding underscores that true harmony arises from the continuous adjustment and engagement with diverse elements, achieving balance through mutual interaction and synergy. Harmony in the Chinese tradition is not merely the absence of conflict but a perpetual dance of intertwined elements.

Although it may seem that Western and Eastern definitions are antithetical, complementarity exists. While the approach generated by Western tradition sees harmony at a specific moment in time, and therefore as static, the Eastern perspective conceives it as a process because it takes the temporal perspective into account.

The theory of organizational harmony is the theory of fitness, emphasizing interdependence and the mechanisms needed to manage heterogeneity with a focus on integration. Put differently, it is a seamless integration of Western and Eastern conceptions of harmony. As such, organizational harmony aims to reconcile tensions without eliminating differences between competing elements; it also aims to embrace and navigate heterogeneity rather than eradicating it. Integrating the semantic, etymological, philosophical, and organizational traditions, organizational harmony, then, is defined as the active integration of heterogeneity within an organization while preserving part of it.

Creating a Harmonious Context

In today’s fast-paced organizational landscape, a plethora of tools[1] exists to measure individual and team behaviors, states, and attributes. However, few instruments are available for assessing organizational-level functioning. This shortage stems from the inherent complexity of developing reliable metrics for entire organizations.

This gap is particularly critical for executives who require comprehensive assessments that assume an organization is more than the sum of its parts. From a managerial perspective, it is essential to evaluate harmony within the entire organization rather than focusing solely on the individual harmony of each organization member. The collective harmony of individuals does not necessarily equate to organizational harmony.

At the Leadership and Happiness Laboratory, we are developing a tool to measure organizational harmony, which is showing promising preliminary results.[2] Our preliminary data indicate a positive relationship between organizational harmony and several concepts that form the foundation of harmony.

In our view—and as our literature review and preliminary data suggest—three antecedents precede organizational harmony. Organizations will be able to create a harmonious context if they are first able to share a common purpose, if they are willing to collaborate and help each other, and finally, if their members feel that the organization is a safe environment where they can express their thoughts and feelings. Let us now turn to each antecedent.

Shared Purpose

A shared purpose is the essential foundation for building the edifice of harmony. Data underscores the critical importance of organizational purpose. According to Gallup research, a mere 10% improvement in employees' connection to their organization's mission or purpose results in an 8.1% reduction in turnover and a 4.4% increase in profitability. Yet only two in ten U.S. employees feel connected to their company's culture, which is one of the most vital ways for organizations to bring their purpose to life.

A clear and compelling purpose aligns everyone in the organization toward a common goal, providing direction and meaning in their work. This shared vision fosters harmony by inspiring employees, giving their work a sense of significance. Purpose also serves as a guiding principle for decision-making and behavior, helping employees understand the rationale behind organizational policies and actions. This clarity facilitates agreement and enhances flexibility when navigating competing demands, as everyone shares a unified direction. Furthermore, working toward a shared purpose enhances employees' sense of belonging and commitment to something meaningful.

The reality is that only three in ten employees strongly agree that the purpose of their organization makes them feel their job is important. Managers are uniquely positioned to assist each team member in identifying and expressing the aspects of their work they find most meaningful. They should initiate conversations by asking questions about what each team member cares about the most and how it aligns with the company's purpose, as well as what team members do best and how it impacts what they care about. This dialogue helps team members articulate their personal connection to their work and understand how they contribute to the organizational purpose.

Willingness to Collaborate

Organizational harmony requires a second antecedent: the willingness to collaborate and help others. This trait is fundamental to fostering a harmonious environment within any organization. However, research indicates that this is not always the prevailing trend among organizational members.

Take, for instance, recessionary periods: When organizational citizens perceive a potential economic downturn, it often triggers a belief that the success of one individual comes at the expense of others. This zero-sum mentality, where one person's gain is seen as another's loss, significantly diminishes the inclination to offer help and support within the organization.

Collaboration is about the ethics of contribution. Without the ethics of contribution in the organizational members' mindsets, which emphasizes the importance of behaviors that advance the collective purpose beyond individual roles, navigating tensions becomes difficult. This ethic extends beyond merely performing well in one's designated responsibilities; it involves actively seeking ways to contribute to the broader goals and success of the organization beyond the team level. In such environments, individuals who step out of their specific roles to solve larger problems and drive the collective purpose forward are highly valued.

This ethic contrasts with traditional models that prioritize individual performance and autonomy. Instead, it focuses on group effort and harnessing the best contributions from each member for the common good. Trust within these communities is built on the belief that all members are committed to furthering the shared purpose rather than on personal relationships or individual achievements. This approach fosters a culture where members are continuously engaged in collaborative efforts, ensuring their contributions align with collective goals and enhance organizational performance.

This behavior will be even more important now than in the past. As hybrid work becomes the norm, data shows that collaboration in the workplace is decreased.

To improve collaboration in your team, one must encourage team members to assume an appropriate level of authority and focus on what needs to be done rather than how it should be done. This approach minimizes reliance on central figures and fosters proactive problem-solving. Here are three practical rules to boost collaboration:

• Facilitate opportunities for team members to collaborate on tasks requiring diverse expertise, enhancing skill integration and teamwork.

• Clearly define decision rights and roles, and align incentives with collaborative goals to reduce confusion and ensure unified objectives.

• Engage the team in setting shared goals and reinforce these through measurable metrics.

Psychological Safety

Finally, psychological safety has emerged as a fundamental element to achieve high levels of harmony as it prevents falling into a false harmony situation. When we decide to avoid low-burning conflict in the interest of preserving a relationship, we create a surface-level peace that masks deeper issues. In cultures where harmony is a core value, this well-intentioned avoidance can lead to "false harmony," where underlying tensions and differences are ignored. This phenomenon is closely tied to the concept of politeness, which serves to protect relationships from disruption.

To move beyond false harmony, it is crucial to foster an environment where people feel safe to address existing tensions. This concept, known as psychological safety, is essential for achieving genuine harmony. Without it, important conversations about conflicting demands are often avoided, hindering true integration and balance. By creating a space where open dialogue is encouraged, cultures can achieve more authentic and lasting harmony, benefiting organizational relationships and overall well-being. Embracing psychological safety ensures that harmony is not just an illusion but a true and sustainable state.

To improve psychological safety, it is necessary to create spaces for controlled vulnerability. This practice involves the team leadership creating an environment with specific norms where vulnerability isn’t “forced”, but instead allows team members to gradually become comfortable expressing themselves without fear. As expected, such practices do not yield immediate results; it is a process that requires continued commitment over time.

In practice, consider using the first part of some regular team meetings to have a structured conversation around three questions. This should not be done in every meeting, but with enough regularity and frequency to increase psychological safety. The following three questions should be answered by all team members, starting with the team leader, who sets the tone of the conversation with their responses. The questions to be answered are: What went well for me this week? What went wrong for me this week? What did I learn this week?

One Proven Mechanism

The elements discussed so far, in our view—and as suggested by the literature review and our preliminary data—are the necessary prerequisites for integrating organizational tensions and achieving greater harmony. The challenge, however, lies in integrating these tensions in a way that maintains certain differences while simultaneously reducing tension and enhancing organizational harmony.  Let us move from the theoretical to practical literature to underscore a possible approach.

Insightful research comes from Dodd and Favaro, published in the Harvard Business Review. Over a span of more than two decades, they meticulously studied 1,000 companies, examining how these entities managed three fundamental tensions: (1) profitability vs. growth, (2) short-term vs. long-term focus, and (3) the integration of the whole vs. the parts.

Their data reveals that only 38% of these companies succeeded in achieving both profitability and sales growth within the same year. Additionally, only 44% effectively managed the balance between short-term and long-term objectives. When it came to creating value within each business unit and fostering synergy across the organization, only 45% met the mark. This indicates that less than 50% of the studied organizations were able to manage their competing demands. These statistics underscore a critical insight: managing these tensions is inherently challenging.

Historically, many companies have chosen to focus on one pole of a tension, achieving success through this singular approach. However, the evolving business environment now demands a more sophisticated strategy. Organizations must adeptly navigate these tensions to unlock their full strategic potential and thrive in today's complex landscape.

To manage these tensions, the first thing to do is to start changing our mental framework. We need to shift from an "either/or" mentality to a "both/and" mentality. We need to be structured yet flexible, compete while also collaborating, focus on both shareholders and stakeholders, prioritize results as well as processes, and balance the interests of employees with those of the organization.

The challenge is to strive to accomplish both goals simultaneously, and for this, we must train our minds to recognize that it is possible. We have always been told that two opposing goals cannot exist simultaneously. I encourage you to look at the following image.

How many images do you see? Some may have seen the figure of a candle, while others may have seen two faces. What is the truth? The truth is that both images exist in the same picture. We do not have to choose between one or the other. We can opt for both at the same time, and then we will see a black-and-white image. The same applies to goals that seem contradictory. We do not have to focus on seeing a candle or two faces; we can observe everything at once, but in that case, our attention will not be on one or the other but on the overall image, which will allow us to see the specific images if we so choose.

For clarity, let us translate this to an organizational example. In the tension between growth and profitability, if we wish to pursue growth, we might be tempted to sacrifice some profitability points; vice versa, if we want to pursue profitability, we might end up sacrificing some growth points. Dodd and Favaro propose that we should focus on elements that allow us to achieve both poles of the objectives we were seeking simultaneously.

For example, if we want to increase profitability and growth, a potential target could be to provide incremental value to the customer. In providing incremental value to the customer, they will be willing to pay more, which will increase our profitability, and if the increased value proposition is real, more people will want the product. As we grow, depending on the type of product offered, we might achieve economies of scale, which will in turn increase profitability again.

We can perhaps reconcile the tension between short-term execution or long-term innovation by having a pipeline of projects. A strategy in which we have projects that are completed in a year or less, some in two years or less, and some in three years or less (assuming these timelines make sense for the business) inherently works for both the present and the future simultaneously.

Finally, consider the dilemma between centralization and decentralization. The objective that allows us to reinforce both could be achieving greater organizational agility so that we can adapt based on decision-making processes close to the customers, starting from a solid purpose that provides us with cohesion and direction. Organizational agility reconciles the centralization-decentralization dilemma by allowing rapid adaptation to customers while maintaining cohesion through a solid purpose. The issue is not choosing between centralization or decentralization but creating an agile organization where some tasks are decentralized for responsiveness and others are centralized to support agility. This balance ensures quick responses to market demands (i.e., decentralization) and alignment with strategic objectives (i.e., centralization), allowing the organization to adapt effectively while maintaining clear direction.

Moving Forward with Organizational Harmony

The pursuit of organizational harmony is a continuous and essential process for the well-being of any organization. Recognizing that tensions are inherent to the nature of organizations frees us from the false perception that these are indicative of personal or leadership failures. Instead of attempting to eliminate these tensions, we should focus on navigating and managing them effectively, creating an organizational context that allows for their integration and management.

Establishing a shared purpose, fostering a willingness to collaborate, and ensuring a psychologically safe environment are fundamental. These elements are the pillars upon which organizational harmony is built. A clear and meaningful purpose aligns everyone in the organization towards common goals, increasing the sense of belonging and commitment. Collaboration, based on the ethic of contribution, and psychological safety, which allows for open and honest dialogue, are equally crucial to avoiding false harmony and fostering an environment of genuine well-being.

Furthermore, adopting a "both/and" mindset instead of an "either/or" mentality allows us to see and seize opportunities within apparent tensions. This approach guides us towards integrative solutions that reconcile seemingly contradictory objectives.

As we move forward in creating harmonious contexts, it is vital to incorporate these practices into our daily management. By doing so, we improve individual well-being and drive collective success, equipping our organizations to face future challenges with resilience and poise.

Ultimately, organizational harmony is not a static state but a dynamic journey that requires continuous and conscious management. By adopting these principles and strategies, we can transform our organizations into more serene, productive, and collaborative workplaces where every member can thrive and contribute to the achievement of common goals.

Contributing editor: Bryce Fuemmeler, Research Associate, Leadership & Happiness Laboratory

References

[1] Among others, these are some of the molt used measurement tools: MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator); Big Five Personality Traits (NEO-PI-R); Gallup StrengthsFinder; DiSC Assessment; Leader-Member Exchange (LMX); Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI); Team Diagnostic Survey (TDS); Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ); Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ); Team Role Self-Perception Inventory; Leader Effectiveness and Adaptability Description; PERMA Profiler; Authentic Happiness Inventory; Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS); Emotional and Social Competence Inventory (ESCI)

[2] We express our appreciation to the Spanish financial institutions, ING and Sabadell Bank, for taking part in this research project.