What is Organizational Culture?
Organizational culture definition:
Organizational culture refers to the character of a workplace or company shaped by the shared values, beliefs, attitudes, practices, and behaviors of the people within the organization. This culture can be explicit or implicit and influences employees' perceptions and how they interact at work, approach their tasks, and make decisions.
What is the function of organizational culture?
The function of organizational culture is to provide guidance on how things are done in an organization — what behavior is acceptable and what is not. It helps employees make sense of their work environment, sets expectations, and can provide employees with a sense of community and belonging.
Why is organizational culture important?
Organizational culture is important because it affects employee engagement, productivity, and organizational success.
Benefits of a strong organizational culture:
- Increases employee engagement and performance.
- Attracts top candidates.
- Fosters loyalty to the company and commitment to its goals and values.
- Increases employee satisfaction and retention.
- Helps to create a positive public image and reputation.
- Promotes a harmonious, productive work environment.
Types of Organizational Culture:
According to Robert Quinn and Kim Cameron’s Competing Values Framework (CVF), a model for analyzing company culture, there are four main types of organizational culture. These were identified based on the competing value sets of flexibility and discretion versus stability and control; and internal focus and integration versus external focus and differentiation.
CVF Culture Types:
Clan | This culture, named Clan because of its likeness to a family-type organization, emphasizes teamwork and collaboration, values responsiveness, and focuses on employee engagement. |
Hierarchy | Evidenced in highly formalized and structured work environments, this organizational culture is focused on stability and control, relying heavily on adherence to procedures and the prioritization of efficiency. |
Market | Market culture refers to a competitive and result-oriented environment in which performance, reputation, and success are given great importance. As such, these organizations are highly focused on customers and suppliers and improving their position in the market. |
Adhocracy | Innovators and risk-takers are leading figures in this culture, which fosters a creative, dynamic, and entrepreneurial working environment that values individual freedom and initiative. |
Another framework, identified in The Culture Factor (Harvard Business Review), classified eight types of organizational culture based on the two polarities of highly independent and highly dependent people interactions, and the flexibility and stability when responding to change.
The Culture Factor (HBR) Culture Types:
Caring | The Caring culture type is defined by a warm, sincere, relational style that fosters a strong sense of belonging among employees and is focused on teamwork, communication, trust, and employee engagement. |
Purpose | Central to this organizational culture is the commitment to a greater cause or shared ideals and tolerance. It cultivates and attracts a compassionate and open-minded workforce that values diversity, sustainability, and social responsibility. |
Learning | With a focus on openness, innovation, and exploration, the Learning culture is one that stimulates and encourages creativity, inventiveness, agility, and organizational learning. |
Enjoyment | This culture engages and unites employees through playfulness and stimulation. Their work environment is a lighthearted and creative space, and their leaders emphasize spontaneity and a sense of humor. |
Results | Focused on goal achievement and improved execution, employees in this merit-based organizational culture are united by success — the aspiration and drive to perform their best. |
Authority | Strength, dominance, confidence, and decisiveness are key characteristics of this culture. Employees in such a work environment seek to gain a personal advantage and are highly competitive. |
Safety | Preparedness, caution, and planning are primary markers of a safety culture. The work environment is predictable; its leaders' focus lies in planning ahead and being realistic; and its employees are conscientious and united by the need to be protected and anticipate change. |
Order | The Order culture is characterized by rules, structures, and traditions that value and foster a rule-abiding, respectful, and cooperative workforce. These methodical workplaces support better productivity and reduced conflict. |
Organizational Culture Building Blocks:
Elements of organizational culture.
At its core, the components of organizational culture are the organization's structure, narrative, leadership, and workplace. Across these components, elements such as language, symbols, vision and values, leadership style, and procedures influence and shape an organization's culture of shared beliefs, values, attitudes, practices, and behaviors.
Characteristics of organizational culture.
Organizational cultures typically exhibit a range of characteristics, although these may vary depending on the style of culture. Examples of characteristics include the following:
- Teamwork.
- Collaboration.
- Responsiveness.
- Employee engagement.
- Formalized work environment.
- Focus on rules.
- Strict controls.
- Competitiveness.
- Performance-driven.
- Results-oriented.
- Entrepreneurial.
- Innovation.
- Risk-taking.
- Creativity.
How to Change Organizational Culture:
Changing organizational culture does not happen overnight and requires a good deal of planning. Developing and adhering to a detailed culture change plan is key to any successful transformation, providing a structured approach to instituting lasting changes.
1. Assess your current organizational culture.
Determine your organizational culture's strengths and weaknesses through employee feedback, obtained via an organizational culture questionnaire, surveys, focus groups, and interviews. You can also use an organizational culture assessment instrument, such as the CVF model, to identify the values of your current company culture.
2. Define the desired culture.
Identify your vision for the new organizational culture. Consider any weaknesses that emerged from the data collected in the first step, as well as any aspects that can be improved further. Also, take into account the views of managers and employees in leadership roles regarding organizational culture changes.
3. Create a culture change plan.
Once you have a clear idea of what is to be achieved and the changes that need to be made, set about creating a plan of action. Define the steps to transforming your organizational culture complete with goals, specific actions to be taken to achieve these goals, the key persons involved, a timeline, and a budget.
4. Align policies and procedures.
Review organizational policies and procedures against the desired company culture and planned actions, reforming them where possible so that they support the cultural change process and align with the desired organizational culture.
5. Communicate the vision.
Frequently communicate the vision for the new company culture through words and actions, with individuals in leadership and management roles leading by example. This also means that these individuals must be clear on their roles in the transformation process and supported at every turn to realize the envisioned change.
6. Engage with employees.
Engage with employees at all levels, encouraging participation, feedback, and ideas, making them feel heard and part of the change project. Keep them informed of progress and successes as you move through the steps of the culture change plan.
7. Monitor and manage.
Monitor the progress of each step of the culture change plan and evaluate its success based on pre-determined key performance indicators and employee feedback. Observe the behaviors and responses of employees throughout the transformation process, taking care to identify and manage any anxieties about the changes. Allow for the flexibility to make adjustments to the plan.
Organizational Culture Examples:
Pixar.
Pixar's company culture is characterized by creativity, community, and collaboration, aligning seamlessly with its brand and reflecting its effectiveness in the company's creative outputs over the past decades. The company values originality and embraces diversity with a motto of "different is better," celebrating unique identities and ideas.
To facilitate a work environment in which its people feel valued and innovation and creativity thrive, Pixar provides its employees with a range of resources such as professional development, creative workshops, film screenings, special studio events, and personal wellness resources.
“A hallmark of a healthy creative culture is that its people feel free to share ideas, opinions, and criticisms. Lack of candor, if unchecked, ultimately leads to dysfunctional environments.”Ed Catmull, Co-founder of Pixar
Slack.
Slack fosters a people-first culture in which empathy is a key value, along with curiosity and creativity. These values are also important to Slack's products, central to which are communication, collaboration, and the mission to make work life simpler, pleasant, and more productive.
“The culture turned inward makes the product, the culture turned outward makes the brand.”Anna Pickard, Former Head of Brand Communications at Slack
Amazon.
Focal to Amazon's work culture is innovation. The company offers attractive benefits, but it demands much of its employees. While Amazon has gained the reputation of a "Work hard" environment, it is also known for developing great talent, which — for those who thrive in fast-paced, high-pressure roles — makes it an attractive employer for jump-starting a great career.
“Our culture is friendly and intense, but if push comes to shove we'll settle for intense.”Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon
Organizational culture and leadership:
A company's leadership plays a key role in influencing organizational culture through their words and actions. They demonstrate values and behaviors, effectively leading by example and helping to shape the company culture.
To ensure these align with the desired company culture, leadership needs to be conscious of how they behave, communicate, interact, and make decisions, and how this impacts the perception of values, beliefs, and norms within the organization.
12 Tips for Helping New Hires Become Part of Your Organizational Culture:
1. Make the new hire feel comfortable.
People feel a little awkward on their first day of work. They’re suddenly thrown in with a new group of people, in a new environment, probably learning new tasks, and all that’s riding on it is their financial future, and possibly their family’s.
2. Orient them to their surroundings.
No one wants to ask where the restrooms are or wander around trying to find the break room. Show them around their new workspace.
3. Make introductions.
Take them around and introduce them to everyone they’ll have daily contact with.
4. Assign a buddy.
If you won’t be with them all day, make sure they have someone who can show them around and keep them company.
5. Make sure they've got someone to sit with at lunch.
Is there anything worse than walking into a lunchroom full of strangers and having to decide who to sit by? If you can’t have lunch with them, plan it so someone else does.
6. Listen to them.
You’re going to have to do a lot of the talking during orientation, but make sure to listen when they speak. Most people have a deep need to be listened to, and it naturally makes us feel good when we’re being heard.
7. Have them do some customer service.
By doing customer service, new hires create a bond with customers, learn how basic customer problems get solved, and discover how your company communicates with its customers.
8. Show new hires how culture guides real decisions.
Show them how the company’s culture and core values helped make decisions in the past. Ideally, some of these would be high-level decisions, and some would be smaller day-to-day decisions. Give them an example for each core value — it will help values become much more than idealistic words on a page.
9. Get new hires connected before day one.
Help your employees meld with your work culture by getting them connected to your company on social media from the day they’re hired.
10. Play a team-building game to help break the ice.
There are dozens of team-building activities that are appropriate for a business setting. Pick one that you think is suitable and get the team involved on day one.
11. Find new hires who fit in with your culture.
In his book "Setting the Table," restaurateur Danny Meyer talks about questions he'd ask to get a sense if people were compatible with his style. His questions included:
- "How has your sense of humor been useful to you in your service career?"
- "What was so wrong about your last job?"
- "Do you prefer Hellman's or Miracle Whip?"
There are no necessarily right or wrong answers to these, and these might not even be the questions you should be asking. The idea, as Meyer notes, is to figure out if they're a fit for your culture. Thus, you need questions that are related to your company's style.
12. Build a private social network for your company.
New hires can log in, get caught up on what employees have been talking about, and get in on the conversation when they’re ready. Facebook groups already have this functionality. Just make sure to set your group to private.
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