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Organisational/corporate culture

A big challenge in most organisations is whether they know what their culture is - and whether it is the right culture to support their strategy!!

If you know you want help with identifying your corporate culture or developing a culture to support your strategy this in your organisation e-mail us or use the contact form.
organisational culture
Check these for your own organisation:
  • How would you describe your organisational culture?
  • How would the workforce describe it?
  • Would this be the same as the directors and top management think?
  • How would your clients, customers, users and suppliers describe it?
  • What is the does this mean about the way the organisation operates?
  • Does this culture support or sabotage your strategy?
  • What are the clues which tell people about your strategy?




More on corporate culture!

There are a number of definitions of corporate culture; perhaps one of the simplest, yet most effective is the one which came from McKinsey's - "The way we do things around here".

For many organisations the culture is just this - and it is something that people seem to accept and just get on with their day to day work.  This does not have to be the case.  It is possible to evaluate or measure your organisational culture and think about what it means for the strategy or any changes in direction.

There are a number of tools and models you can use to assess your corporate culture.  Several work on measuring various factors on continuums (or continua!) such as Hofstede which assesses:
  • individual ---------------   collective orientation
  • power --------------------  distance orientation
  • uncertainty --------------  certainty
  • dominant values ------  concern for others
  • short-term --------------   long-term
Once these have been measured across the organisation, choices can be made about what dimensions to address and change.

Another way to look at it, which can be facilitated through workshops or with small groups is the Johnson and Scholes cultural web.
Johnson & Scholes Cultural Web
The cultural web contains 6 inter-related elements:
  1. Rituals and routines - are concerned with the day-to-day behaviour of people in the organisation e.g. the way customers are dealt with or the existence of privileges for certain staff.  They are things that are taken for granted by existing staff but have to be learned by new people.  They often present significant barriers to change, if people are protective of their 'customs'.  Rituals such as training programmes or personnel procedures can reinforce the perception of how things are done, and demonstrate to staff what behaviour is desirable and valued by senior management

  2. Stories - within the company focus upon past events in the organisation and are told to people both outside and inside the organisation.  They communicate something of the organisation's culture.  Company 'heroes', such as charismatic leaders of the past, and mavericks can be perceptions of 'normal' behaviour.

  3. Symbols. - Logos, language, status symbols e.g. company cars, office carpets etc can all provide a visible reflection of company culture.

  4. Power structures. - Directors and senior managers, or groups of directors and senior managers with the most power, are likely to have the most influence.

  5. Organisational structure. -  Both the formal structure (as found on the organisation chart) and the informal structure are likely to reflect power structures and play an important part in influencing the core values of an organisation.

  6. Control systems - the measurement and reward systems used in the organisation
There are a number of behaviourally focused tools, such as OCI, which look at the culture through the behaviours of the managers and leaders.  These can provide a platform for identifying what development is required to move towards a positive, performance culture.  However, it does not necessarily focus on business oriented outcomes, but more on the personal criteria.

A tool which enables you to measure your corporate culture in an objective way and provides a huge amount of information to work with is the Denison Organisation Culture Model.  (We use this with a number of our clients.) This measures along two axes:


Internal focus - External focus                                                         Flexible - Stable

and breaks these into 4 culture traits which are known to have an impact on an organisation's performance.  This is based on over 16 years of research since Dr Dan Denison developed the model, and the tool is benchmarked against 1600 organisations.
Denison
The Denison Organisational Culture Survey has 60 items that measure specific aspects of an organisation's culture in each of the four traits and twelve management practices identified in Dr. Denison's research.   Individual surveys are collectively tabulated into a graphic profile that compares your organisation's culture to that of higher and lower-performing organisations.  The results are presented in a typical circumplex with reports being produced in bar charts.


Denison Organisational Culture


The results you get can start to shape the way to take the organisation.

High Performing Companies  

Weak Performing Companies  
Denison High Performing Companies Denison Weak performing Companies

Composite of companies
that had an ROI of 30%

Composite of companies
that had an ROI of 9%
See the case study section for examples of what can be achieved with this tool.

To find out more about how we can support you with an organisational culture assessment use the form below or e-mail us.

For more information about Denison itself, go to www.denisonculture.com.

Please Contact Us

For more information about how we can support your organisation with assessing, developing or changing your culture, please complete the form below.