The Importance Of Understanding Organizational Culture And Its Assessment
Culture is the only constant in any given organization. Every now and then, new people join the organization, bringing new perspectives to the table. A good and successful organization acknowledges the changes that come its way and make appropriate culture assessment at the right time to facilitate success. This article discusses the core aspects of company culture and its assessment.
Organizations that reach the peak of success have cultures based on a widely accepted set of beliefs backed by structure and strategy. It is employees that play a crucial role in building a company’s culture. Culture embraces an organization’s vision for itself and its employees.
An organizational culture assessment is an evaluation that helps organizations differentiate between ideal culture and the organization’s true (existing) culture. It analyses a business’s cultural aspects such as expectations, philosophy, experiences, and values that shape employees’ behaviors in an organization. Ideally, organizational culture is created through firm beliefs, attitudes, and regulations in place over time. Therefore, the need for corporate culture to be assessed is to create a healthy culture in the workplace.
Knowing Organizational Culture to Assess it
In order for leaders to assess a company’s culture, it is crucial to identify the culture in a workplace. What values generally determine the culture of an organization? Even though your team may not be observable at once, finding a set of values can help develop how you want your team to operate.
As an organization leader, you may need a company culture assessment to know what kind of culture is being followed in your organization. Remember, no culture is good or bad before you finish creating the culture you want in your organization.
No two company cultures are the same, which is why; there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach. Thus, it indicates the need to create your desired culture instead of copying one.
How to Identify Your Company Culture?
It makes sense that you know the different cultures to identify your company’s desired culture.
Innovative Culture
Organizations that follow innovative culture are flexible, adaptable, and open to experimentation with new strategies to bring change. As a result, these organizations see themselves downplaying hierarchies, titles, and designations.
Aggressive Culture
Organizations that tend to have aggressive cultures aim to outrun their competitors. Competition is a core value for these organizations. They tend to take the “do or die” approach. As a result, it could be possible for them to fall short of Corporate Social Responsibilities.
Result-oriented Culture
Organizations that follow vigorous cultures emphasize actions as opposed to quality. They are sales-oriented, where they only value figures and numbers. They hold their managers accountable for success and often use systems that reward employees for their achievements.
Stable Culture
Organizations that have stable cultures are bureaucratic. They tend to function at their best when the work environment is stable and predictable. Therefore, they may not be able to adapt to dynamic market conditions and may prevent quick actions.
As business leaders, if you want to assess your company’s culture, first identify the specific core values and culture types. Thus, you can understand where you stand at present and where you wish your company to be in the long run.
Understanding Organizational Culture
Through the organizational culture assessment, you learn about the work environment you provide for workers. If you are to enhance that culture, it is imperative to understand your existing culture. A 360 degrees view of an existing culture can help support your goals.
It may seem difficult for an organization to assess its culture in the first place. However, once done right, it will help organizations support their accomplishment of objectives and missions.
Assessing your Organizational Culture Regularly
As your organization’s culture can have an impact on employee productivity and performance, it is worth assessing the existing culture from time to time. While there is no hard and fast rule to follow, evaluating your company’s culture regularly helps organizational leaders retain top talent and facilitate success.
Suppose you are not keen to assess your workplace’s culture regularly. In that case, you set your organization up to the path of degradation where employee disengagement is a constant headache.
Dr. Karen Walker
Personnel Research Psychologist at Department of Justice
Founder of KW Productions
