What is Organizational Culture?
Characteristics of organizational culture
Seven fundamental characteristics make up organizational culture. These include:
1. Financial stability
Financial stability is the first level in the hierarchy. It alludes to a business’s emphasis on ensuring the financial stability of all parties. It includes increasing profits, corporate expansion, profit margins, and a clientele that is expanding.
2. Harmonious relationships
The second level of the hierarchy emphasizes the value of harmony within the workforce. Members who work together harmoniously have open communication. They are devoted to one another, and the workplace frequently exhibits the highest levels of client and employee satisfaction.
3. High performance
High performance is a developmental level. It includes a culture that prioritizes excellence, quality, and pride in one’s work. This level entails determining the company’s and its employees’ strengths. Additionally, it queries how they can best utilize their strongest qualities.
4. Continuous renewal and learning
The emphasis at level four of organizational culture is on ongoing improvement and education. It involves maintaining innovation as the organization’s top priority. The level requires changing with the times to move forward. This level includes motivating members to advance as well as setting and achieving new goals.
5. Building an internal community
Members at this level must share similar values and a sense of purpose. A strong internal community requires a certain level of imagination, faith, and passion. Another essential value is for members to cooperate by having open lines of communication.
6. Making a difference
Making a difference is when an organization connects with other organizations with a clear vision of its values and purposes. The organizations collaborate in an effort to change the world.
7. Service to humanity and the planet
An organization will have ascended to the top of the hierarchy at this level. Here is where a company will think about its social responsibility. It does so by considering its impact on future generations. On a larger scale, members will use compassion, ethics, and wisdom at the seventh level to encourage internal changes. These changes will help a company safeguard future generations.
What is organizational culture?
An organization’s culture consists of a set of values, norms, ethics, and practices. An organization’s psychological and social personality is comprised of these four characteristics. These characteristics assist in directing the behavior of all members, from senior executives to entry-level employees.
A company’s culture is reflected in how its employees interact with the outside world. It can be seen in their self-perception, professional conduct, and interactions with coworkers and stakeholders.
How do you communicate and promote organizational culture?
Your behavior must be consistent if you want to communicate and advance organizational culture. In doing so, other members can emulate your actions. The 12 methods listed below will help you spread organizational culture:
How to create organizational culture
With the help of the following five steps, you can influence the organizational culture at your place of business. These include:
1. Review the current company culture
Whether it was created on purpose or not, your company already has a culture. The first step to establishing the company culture you desire is to recognize both its positive and negative characteristics. For instance, as a sales organization, your culture may result in effective sales pitches. But the business might also encourage unhealthy rivalry among the sales teams.
Some ways you can recognize your current company culture include:
2. Conduct research
Once you are aware of how to improve your organizational culture, it is time to consult with others. You can pick up tips from businesses with successful company cultures. You could start a program if there are issues with employee friendship and loyalty. It might be possible to pair up employees from various departments once a week for lunch. It is a means of encouraging new friendships and perhaps new partnerships.
3. Work with stakeholders
The best way to encourage employees to uphold these values is to have those in positions of authority promote the company’s culture. This step entails educating leaders about the organizational culture’s most important value. They must understand why it is essential to the company.
You can establish the steps to follow these principles if you can persuade the leaders to do so. Be prepared to provide leaders with useful advice on how to accomplish this. For instance, leaders must act similarly if you want to see members be more open with one another.
4. Implement changes
It would be ideal if you changed the organizational culture at all levels and across all departments. Sending everyone a thorough document is a great way to implement change. Remember to highlight the benefits that employees can expect. For this step, being open and consistent with the new changes is essential. For better results, get employees to help during implementation. You can accomplish this by setting up gatherings where anyone may ask questions.
5. Monitor results
After implementing change, you must keep an eye on your organizational culture to make sure everything is going as planned. You can measure effectiveness by tracking the turnover rate. An influential organizational culture has a low turnover rate. You can evaluate the results by using surveys or interviewing people. Remember to use the feedback given to fix any issues.
How can organizational culture change, and why?
An organizational culture can change even without a strategic plan. A company’s organizational culture can change for the following six major reasons. These include:
What are the types of organizational culture?
When creating the corporate culture for your company, you should take into account the following four types of organizational culture. These include:
1. Clan culture
Teamwork and mentorship are the primary focus of clan culture. This type of organizational culture is people-focused. Here, collaborative work environments are essential and everyone is valued. Due to its highly flexible environment, Clan culture has high rates of employee engagement.
2. Adhocracy culture
Innovation is the primary focus of adhocracy culture. In order to produce cutting-edge work, such environments encourage employees to take a chance and occasionally break the rules. This culture leads to high-profit margins. Companies that adopt this corporate culture gain recognition for their achievements.
3. Market culture
A market culture values growth and competition over other traits. Businesses that adopt this culture put profitability, stability, and success first. Members in this group are externally focused, and the bottom line is the shared objective.
4. Hierarchy culture
This type of company culture values stability and structure. It primarily emphasizes internal organizational dynamics and the value of integration. Traditional corporate hierarchy systems are used by organizations that adopt this type of culture. They are multi-tiered and concentrate on the main goals of the organization.
