what is the culture of your organization essay

Essay on Organizational Culture

Organizational culture: essay introduction, project management & organizational design, the importance of culture in an organization: formal management vs parent company, organizational culture: essay conclusion.

Culture in an organization refers to the values, beliefs, history and attitudes of a particular organization. Culture also refers to the ideals of an organization that dictate the way members of the organization relate to each other and to the outside environment.

An organization’s culture defines its values; the values of an organization refer to the ideology that the members of an organization have as pertains their goals and the mechanisms to be used to achieve these goals. The organization’s values map out the way employees are required to behave and relate to each other in the workplace (Allan, 2004).

There is a very important need to develop healthy cultures in all organizations whether they are religious, commercial or institutional. The culture of an organization determines how it is perceived both by its own employees and its stakeholders. The managers of an organization are said to be able to influence the culture of the organization. This can be done by the implementation of various policies that lead to a culture change.

Many organizations have two types of cultures, the culture that management wants to enforce and a culture that dictates the relationships of the employees among each other. Many institutions have been found to have a persistent and hidden culture among the employees. This is the biggest task to organizational management; how to replace the employee culture with the desired culture (Young, 2007).

There are two types of culture; namely strong culture and weak culture. Strong culture is whereby the actions and beliefs of the employees are guided by the values of the company. Such a culture ensures smooth and efficient flow of an organization’s activities. Strong cultures result in successful and united organizations.

Weak culture on the other hand refers to instances where the activities of the employees are not guided by the values of the company. A weak culture results in the need for a strict administration that is bureaucratic so as to ensure that the company’s activities flow well. Weak cultures result in increased overheads and under motivated employees.

Fig. 1: Organization culture (Burke, 1999).

There are five dimensions of an organization’s culture namely power distance, risk taking tendencies, gender issues and employee psychology. The power distance aspect refers to the mentality among the employees on who wields more power and how much power they wield.

This will vary among organizations as some have more powerful managers as compared to others. Risk taking tendencies refers to the willingness of the employees and the organization to take risks in an attempt to grow and improve (Jack et al, 2003). Employee psychology on the other hand is an aspect that covers issues such as individualism and collectiveness mentalities in an organization. Companies that have a collective psychology have been found to work and do well as compared to individualistic ones.

The individualistic psychology has been found to cause a lack of coordination and flow of activities in organizations. Lastly the gender dimension refers to the mentality of an organization’s employees towards members of the male and female genders. Companies that view women as weaker and disadvantaged sexes have been found to discriminate among each other and result in a reduction of the employee cooperation levels (Jack et al, 2003).

There are four types of cultures in modern day organizations, role cultures, power cultures, person cultures and task cultures. Role cultures exist in organized and systematic organizations where the amount of power that an employee has is determined by the need that they fulfill in the organization.

Power cultures are those that have a few powerful individuals who are required to drive and direct the rest of the organization. Person cultures are cultures that exist when an organization’s employees feel superior to the company; this is a common culture in most law firms and firms that are formed by individual professionals who merge with others to form organizations. A tasks culture is a culture that is geared towards accomplishing tasks and doing things.

It is very important to understand the culture of an organization so as to enable an organization to map out the type of management that suits it. Culture as mentioned, is the accepted standard in which the employees of an organization relate to each other and to the stakeholders.

There are several factors that affect the culture of an organization. These include technological exposure, environmental conditions, geographical situation, organizational rules and procedures and influence of organizational peers on a subject. Such factors affect the culture of an organization and in the long run its management structure (Johnstone et al, 2002).

Organizational cultures can have both positive and negative effects on the organization. Negative and unwanted cultures are those that oppose change in an organization. These cultures have the tendency of inhibiting the innovation and implementation of change in an organization. Therefore the understanding of an organization’s culture can be used to determine:

• Why certain projects of the organization have failed or are failing
• Aspects of the culture that hinder innovation and change
• What needs to corrected so as to improve how the organization operates
• The origin of certain culture within an organization
• Measures that can be taken so as to introduce new culture or improve on the current culture

An in depth understanding of an organization’s culture is important so as to allow project managers and other managers to affect the mode in which activities are carried out. To influence the performance of the organization an understanding of its cultures is very necessary so as it enables the management to filter its employees and choose performers from non performers (Johnstone et al, 2002).

The proper understanding of organizational culture and its use in deciding a suitable management structure cannot be stressed further. The success of a project depends on how it is managed. There are three major types of project management namely; project, functional and matrix management structures.

Functional management refers to the type of management that focuses on specialty areas and skills. The departments and responsibilities are determined by the skills of the members. There is vertical and horizontal communication between the departments. To allow operation of all arms of the organization bureaucratic means are used so as to ensure smooth flow of the business.

This type of management tends to reduce operational costs and encourage the specialization of labour. Specialization in turn leads to better efficiency and standardization of activities. Disadvantages of the functional approach include the integration of budgets, operational plans and procedures into the project activities making it cumbersome to implement (Kloppenborg, 2009).

Fig.1: Functional project management (Young, 2007).

Project based organization on the other hand is whereby the activities of a company are organized according to its ongoing projects. This type of management is based on the objectivity principle that emphasizes the importance of solid objectives in improving the efficiency of an organization’s processes.

This principle is used in scenarios that require the efficient management of projects that involve activities from different disciplines e.g. medicine, engineering, law.

The advantages of such management techniques include the fact that power and responsibility is decentralized and is carried out by managers of different teams. Such a management technique also allows for the proper utilization of time, leads to reduced cost and enhanced quality levels. Such a management technique is suitable for certain company profiles and cultures, for example:

• Management of large projects and organizations that require the delegation of responsibilities
• Situations with restricted cost and specification parameters
• Situations that require the coordination and completion of projects from different but interrelated disciplines
• In cultures that value responsibility and accountability of ones actions / decisions
• Cultures that encourage communication among all management levels

Fig. 2: Example of a project based management (Allan, 2004).

The project based management structure also faces a few limitations like any other structure. Limitations include the inability of a project manager to mobilize all the resources of a company as he has direct control of only what falls under his area of specialty. Employees and managers of such projects have been found to become slack towards the termination of projects due to the fear of losing their jobs once their projects have been completed (Kloppenborg, 2009).

Due to the limitations of both the operational and functional management structures the matrix was developed. This structure combines both structures to form a hybrid structure. In this type of structure there are two types of managers, namely functional and operational who work together in the same system.

The functional managers are responsible for the distribution of resources in their specialty departments and the operational managers coordinate and manage the activities of their departments. The functional managers are also responsible for overseeing all the technical decisions that fall under their departments.

This method of management has its advantages such as: the project manager oversees all activities that fall under his department. He has all authority and power and thus this eliminates the wastage of time as a result of quarrels and conflicts among the top levels of an organization.

Secondly the manager is able to use organization resources in facilitating the execution of the intended goals and objectives of the company. Disadvantages include the conflicts and coercion between project managers and functional managers that is bound to occur in such a setting. This kind of relationship has an eventual effect on employee motivation as it often results in the demoralization of employees (Young, 2007).

Fig. 3: Matrix management structure (Burke, 1999)

There are various factors that are considered when choosing the management structure of a project. These include the type of activities to be carried out, their importance / order of priority, the human skill required, the amount of time needed and the resources that are required to accomplish the set targets.

Situations that require extensive cooperation and interaction of the functions of an organization require matrix types of management. However there is no optimum type of organization and the organization must strive to come up with solutions to its unique needs and situations.

For a project to be well managed a healthy culture of communication must be developed. Communication theories propose that the project manager should always be like the hub of a bicycle. This means that the project manager acts as a focal point through which suggestions and results are received from various stakeholders.

The project manager also acts as the supporting point for the communication wheel. It is therefore very important for project managers to assist in maintaining a good communicative culture within the organization (Burke, 1999).

Factors such as nature of businesses in which the organization is in, size of projects and type of projects will also have a strong impact on the type of management structure that an organization may use.

Formal management has an overall effect on the operations of an organization. The type of management that an organization has ultimately affects how its activities are carried out. Formal management is important in an organization as it serves as a foundation on which an organization’s goals and principles are guided. There are various guidelines that dictate the behavior and characters of managers in formal systems.

Managers in formal managements are required to have high integrity / moral standards, should be an effective communicators and listeners of others. Managers serve as the basis through which a formal management system is enforced. The project manager should also relate well with people.

He should have the ability to motivate and influence his workers positively. The project manager is also bestowed with the responsibility of ensuring that all aspects and stakeholders of a project work together for the common good of the organization. The manager is also responsible for setting time frames and ensuring that the project adheres to the set schedules.

This serves the purpose of ensuring that there is timely flow of an organization’s activities. Project managers are also required to make assessment of risks that could affect a project and try to manage the risks. In summary, project managers make up the backbone of any formal project management system and the performance of any project depends on the managers themselves (Burke, 1999).

There are three distinct characteristics that define a formal management structure; formality, the presence of groupings and the implementation of various systems. There exist rules and regulations that govern the relationships of the members of the organization. These rules also guide the reporting mechanisms of the members and the responsibilities / power which each member holds. These rules and regulations form the basis of all relationships and activities within the organization.

Formal organizations also group their members into teams and taskforces that are designed to suit various needs within the organization. For example accountants will usually be grouped together, designers with fellow designers and so forth. The groupings form departments and many departments form the organization.

However formal management has been said to be a very rigid mechanism by which an organization / project should be kept in check. This is because failure on the part of the managers would result in the total collapse of the organization. This is because managers are expected to provide guidance, direction and ensure that all members perform their duties.

Culture on the other hand is a better driver as it does not need to be enforced by anyone. Culture is self driven and once the members of an organization have adopted a desirable culture they will conduct themselves in accord to the culture without being supervised by a manager (Johnstone et al 2002).

Culture is also a better means of ensuring that a project is completed as it allows people to go out of the set boundaries and make innovations. Culture driven projects are better as they allow for unified and independent thinking at the same time. Whereas a formal management structure relies on the manager to make decisions a culture driven project accepts all decisions as long as they fall under the culture boundaries of the organization.

Formal management structures are slow and time consuming. This is because all major decisions and control is dependent on the managers. This leads to a very slow decision making process as the managers have to receive reports from members, deliberate on the reports and then give their recommendations. In cases where the manager is slow or is not presence this hinders the further development of the project (Young, 2007).

Many organizations that employ the formal type of management usually group their employees into departments. The departments are usually made up of people with common skills and areas of expertise. However such departmental setups hinder the exchange and sharing of ideas between people of different areas of expertise.

Due to the formal setup members from different departments lack a common factor that would enhance cooperation between the departments. This leads to poor coordination between the departments. In culture driven organizations, the members are unified by the common culture and this enhances the cooperation levels of the employees. Culture driven projects are therefore much more organized and have a better flow of activities as compared to formal projects (Kloppenborg, 2009).

Formal management of projects requires the mapping out and development of clear cut systems that will ensure the smooth flow of the project. These systems are essential in ensuring efficient execution of the project and its activities. Culture driven projects however do not need such a system so as to run smoothly. The culture itself forms a dynamic system through which all the activities are executed effectively.

Strategic management is a major component of formal management systems. It involves the science and methodologies of formulating cross functional parameters that enable an organization to achieve its objectives. Strategic management involves the development of missions and visions, mapping out of objectives and the making of critical decisions for the company (Allan, 2004).

Projects in formal management are stepping stones on which a firm uses to achieve its goals and objectives. The project development processes of a firm are driven by its strategic development goals and objectives. Examples of strategic elements include mission, objective, goals, programs and workable strategies.

Formal management is however beneficial as it promotes proper and sober decision making as compared to culture based management. This is because decision making and planning activities in a formal management are usually done after careful consideration and assessment. Culture based management is however prone to errors and misguided actions due inadequate consideration and thinking.

From the study it is evident that culture is an important aspect of any organization. Culture has been found to affect the behavioral attitudes of a company’s employees and the manner through which these attitudes are manifested. The strong impacts of culture have resulted in the need for managers to find ways to affect the culture of their employees and of the work places.

By influencing the culture of an organization the managers are therefore able to influence the way the organization operates. Culture is an unsaid norm which the members of an organization abide to (Jack et al, 2003).

Organizations implement different types of organization structures. The type of organization structure implemented depends on the size and project characteristics. The type of project management has an effect on the eventual delivery of the project. The study has shown that there is no perfect method of management.

Managers of projects are therefore required to assess and identify the appropriate structure for their specific conditions. Project management structures have a great effect on the quality and effectiveness of the organization’s activities (Allan, 2004).

The study has brought to light the importance of proper culture in an organization. Culture has been found to be a better determinant of employee behavior as compared to formal management. Formal management is dependent on the enforcement of those in authority / wield power.

Culture on the other hand is enforced by the members themselves as they are part and pertinent of the culture. Formal management has also been found to be excessively bureaucratic and procedural and thus its implementation is rather cumbersome and expensive. Culture has therefore been found as the most appropriate way of managing a project.

Allan, B., 2004. Project Management: tools and techniques for today’s ILS professional. London: Facet Publishing.

Ashish, D., 2010. Project management Module. Hull: University of Hull.

Burke, R., 1999. Project Management, Planning and control Techniques. Chichester: Wiley.

Jack, M. & Mentel, S., 2003. Project Management: A Managerial Approach. New Jersey: Wiley and Sons.

Johnston, R. Chambers, S. & Slack, N., 2002. Operations management . Essex: Pearson Publishers.

Kloppenborg, T., 2009. Project management A Contemporary. Chicago: Xavier University.

Young, T., 2007. The Handbook of Project Management, A practical Guide to Effective Policies and Procedures . Washington: Kogan Page publishers.

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What is Organizational Culture? Understanding and Driving a Strong Culture

Kristin Ryba

July 14, 2022 | 6 minute read

So what is organizational culture? And how can you harness company culture to engage employees, improve performance, and make your company a great place to work?

In this article, we’ll answer what organizational culture is, why it matters, and how you can build a strong and engaging culture.

What is organizational culture?

Organizational culture is the way that organizations get things done. It’s how we make decisions, how we communicate, and how we celebrate employees. It’s the daily actions, attitudes, and behaviors that individually and collectively make up our organization.

Why is organizational culture important?

Your company culture impacts everything within your organization. It can help or hinder you, depending on how intentional you are with it. An engaging organizational culture helps you:

• Attract high quality talent
• Boost employee engagement
• Increase employee retention
• Strengthen employee performance
• Adapt to change
• Accelerate business outcomes

Your workplace culture is a key driver of the employee experience. It can have a positive, negative, or neutral effect on key business metrics like retention, recruitment, and engagement.

65% of millennials rank a strong workplace culture as more important than salary.

Workplace culture matters to prospective employees . For millennials, it matters more than money! A positive and engaging culture can help you attract top talent.

Employees who say their culture is positive are 3.8x more likely to be engaged.

Company culture and employee engagement are inextricably linked. If you want to improve employee engagement, take a look at your culture.

An engaging culture connects, equips, and empowers employees to do their best work.

Employees who say their culture has improved since the pandemic are 2.9x more likely to be highly engaged.

Workplaces have been through a lot of change since the pandemic—and so have their employees and cultures. Employees have taken notice of improvements in those organizations that have been intentional about shaping their culture in this new world of work.

Disengaged employees are 2.6x more likely to leave their company for a better culture.

Company culture and engagement are sticky factors that make employees want to stay. A Glassdoor survey says 7 in 10 employees would look for a job elsewhere if their workplace culture were to weaken. Culture is a critical retention strategy.

70% of high-performing organizations agree or strongly agree that culture is what drives their success on organizational and business outcomes.

There’s a reason company culture has become a top priority for leaders— especially leaders at high-performing organizations . They understand the connection between culture and success.

How organizational culture has changed

Workplace culture has historically been defined as organizational norms, rituals, and values. But how employees perceive company culture has changed.

35% of employees say their culture has changed dramatically since the start of the pandemic.

As the workplace has shifted since the pandemic, culture has shifted too. Some employees say it's changed for the better—others say for the worse. Whether or not you’re actively investing in your culture, someone or something is shaping it. 

It’s important for leaders to keep a pulse on company culture to ensure they’re driving the right changes at the right times.

1 in 3 employees has neutral or negative perceptions of their organization’s culture.

Many organizations have successfully navigated turbulent pandemic times and have adapted to remote and hybrid work. However, about a third of employees have poor perceptions of their workplace culture. This is a tough number to swallow considering the connection between culture, employee engagement, and employee retention.

50% of employees experience culture most strongly through their organization’s approach to employee performance.

In today’s employee-driven work environment, the way you manage performance has a strong impact on engagement and culture. Building a high performance culture is key. 

Our workplace culture research shows that how managers create alignment, communicate, recognize, and give feedback all shape how employees experience your culture.

Only 28% of employees experience culture most strongly through the physical workspace.

Many leaders have expressed thoughts about the importance of the physical workspace on culture. But our research shows it’s least important to how employees experience culture.

Remote and hybrid employees are more favorable toward workplace culture.

Remote and hybrid work environments are becoming the norm—and this shift has impacted employee perceptions of culture . 70% of remote and hybrid workers believe their company has a strong and positive culture, compared to 65% and 58% of on-site employees, respectively.

Tips for shaping culture in a remote/hybrid work environment

Culture cannot and will not look the same as it once did. Forward-thinking, adaptable leaders need to shape their culture strategies with remote and hybrid employees in mind. These 10 strategies, backed by our research, will help you build an engaging culture for all employees .

• Listen to your employees through surveys
• Evolve your approach to employee performance
• Make culture part of your business strategy
• Promote activities that build connection
• Recognize and celebrate your employees
• Find opportunities to deepen understanding of your mission and values
• Rethink how you onboard employees
• Develop your managers to thrive with remote and hybrid teams
• Consider new ways of communicating and collaborating
• Prioritize flexibility and autonomy

Learn more about shaping company culture in a remote work environment >>>

Why leaders are responsible for organizational culture

WeWork describes culture as an employee-powered concept . It truly takes every person inside your organization to build an engaging and successful culture.

But employees say leaders and managers are primarily responsible for creating and shaping culture. Culture starts at the top. Leaders should clearly define culture, communicate about it regularly, set a good example, and tie business outcomes to company values. This will empower all employees to develop, practice, and evolve cultural norms.

Tips for developing a strong organizational culture

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is your culture. A positive, culture-centric organization takes time to develop. 

To cultivate the kind of culture that inspires action, engages employees, and drives performance, you need to approach it thoughtfully and intentionally.

An article by the Harvard Business Review describes culture as dynamic —shifting incrementally and constantly in response to change. This requires a flywheel approach to collecting feedback, analyzing it, and acting on your culture. 

Ask: Gather employee feedback on culture.

You can’t rely on your gut to understand your culture. You need to ask employees about their experiences at work—they’ll tell you what they think and what they need from you. Collecting their feedback will help you understand what’s working and what’s not. 

To develop an employee listening strategy that helps you measure and improve your culture , you should gather feedback at many milestones in the employee journey. 

Don’t simply rely on your annual employee engagement survey. Supplement your listening with regular pulse surveys and employee lifecycle surveys to capture feedback at key moments like onboarding and exits.

Not sure what to ask? Here are some recommendations for employee survey questions about culture : 

• The work I do contributes to fulfilling our organization’s mission.
• I see behaviors displayed across our organization that are consistent with our company’s core values.
• I have a good understanding of our organization’s mission, values, and goals.
• Our organization constantly looks for ways to improve products and services.
• The pace of work at our organization enables employees to do a good job.

Our culture supports employees’ health and wellbeing.

Aha: Analyze your culture regularly.

Once you’ve got some data from your employee feedback, dig into it. Don’t analyze the feedback in a silo—connect it to other data and metrics like turnover and performance conversations. The goal is to paint a picture of what’s happening across the organization.

Figure out what an engaging culture should look like and plan goals and initiatives to get there.

Act: Develop a culture action plan.

Show employees you are committed to improving your culture by making meaningful changes that better the employee experience and help everyone reach their goals. When your employees are successful, you will be successful too. 

A healthy culture drives employee engagement first and foremost. When you evaluate “how work gets done” at your organization, try to understand how each aspect could impact employee engagement. You want to ensure employees feel connected to their work, team, and organization through your culture strategies.

Find the right tools to help you improve your culture.

A robust employee engagement, performance, and people analytics platform will outline the big picture behind your culture and help you understand where to focus and when. 

With the right tools, you can uncover deep insights, measure employee perceptions, and create a thriving culture. Here are the top benefits of a robust culture platform: 

• Understand employee perceptions of culture
• Explore culture metrics and trends 
• Recognize employee success
• Create conversations around culture 
• Align employees and teams by elevating what matters

How Quantum Workplace can help

Focus on what matters when it comes to culture. Download a copy of our  2022 Organizational Culture Research Report   today.

Published July 14, 2022 | Written By Kristin Ryba

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Organizational Culture: Definition, Examples, & Best Practices

By: Grace He | Updated: December 10, 2023

You found our article on organizational culture: definition, examples, & best practices .

Organizational culture is the rules, values, beliefs, and philosophy that dictate team members’ behavior in a company. The culture consists of an established framework that guides workplace behavior. Examples include integrity, teamwork, transparency, and accountability. The purpose of organizational value is to differentiate your organization from others and act as a model for decision-making processes.

The ideas in this article are similar to improving company culture , employee engagement activities , having fun with employees , and creating a positive work environment .

This article includes:

• definition of organizational culture
• types of organizational culture
• organizational culture examples
• organizational culture best practices
• importance of organizational culture
• workplace culture examples

Let’s get started.

Definition of organizational culture

Organizational culture refers to the shared values, beliefs, norms, behaviors, and practices that characterize a particular workplace or company. This culture is the collective personality of an organization that shapes the way employees interact, make decisions, and approach their work. Essentially, corporate culture serves as a blueprint for how business is done within the organization and influences the overall work environment and employee experiences.

At its core, company culture reflects the company’s history, leadership style, and values. These cultural elements create a sense of identity and belonging among employees, as they collectively align their actions with the established norms and expectations. Office culture can be explicit, with clearly defined and communicated values. Alternatively, this culture can be implicit, existing in the unspoken behaviors and attitudes of employees. Either way, this system greatly influences employee perceptions of roles, camaraderie, collaboration, problem-solving approaches, and the organization’s external reputation.

Understanding and managing this culture is crucial because it directly affects employee engagement, performance, and overall organizational success. A positive and healthy culture can foster employee satisfaction, motivation, and loyalty, increasing productivity and innovation. On the other hand, a toxic or misaligned culture can result in high turnover, internal conflicts, and hindered performance. Organizations that actively shape their culture tend to have a more engaged and cohesive workforce. In turn, this system helps firms navigate challenges and adapt to changes more effectively.

Several factors can determine your company’s culture, including the following.

1. Leadership Principles

Leadership principles are like the guiding rules that leaders follow to shape an organization’s culture. Good leaders are honest, open, and accountable. These supervisors encourage open communication and value different ideas. Additionally, good leaders believe in the strength of a diverse team. Strong leaders inspire and empower their teams, setting an example of continuous learning and adaptability, which promotes a culture of growth and resilience. In essence, leadership principles are the foundation of an organization’s culture.

2. Type of Business

The type of business greatly influences its organizational culture. For example, a tech startup often fosters an innovative and agile culture that encourages experimentation and risk-taking. In contrast, a more traditional, established company may prioritize stability and hierarchy. Similarly, service-oriented businesses often focus on customer-centric cultures, while creative industries emphasize individuality and creative expression. Regardless of the business type, the firm’s values and practices shape the culture, influencing how employees interact, collaborate, and innovate within the organization.

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3. Clients and Staff

Clients and staff significantly impact work values. Clients influence culture by shaping products, services, and communication based on their preferences. Positive client experiences foster excellence and innovation, while challenges can prompt cultural shifts. Staff contribute to culture through values, behaviors, and collaboration. Engaged employees create a culture of teamwork and dedication, with leadership playing a key role. Prioritizing employee well-being cultivates a culture of empowerment and growth.

Types of organizational culture

According to professors Robert Quinn and Kim Cameron at the University of Michigan, there are four main workplace culture types. These types are the Adhocracy Culture, Clan Culture, Hierarchy Culture, and Market Culture.

1. Adhocracy Culture

This culture type is characterized by innovation, risk-taking, and adaptability. Organizations with an adhocracy culture value creativity, experimentation, and a dynamic approach to problem-solving. These firms thrive in fast-changing environments and encourage employees to explore new ideas and initiatives. Flexibility and a willingness to take calculated risks are key features of this culture.

For instance, Google is known for its adhocracy culture. The company encourages employees to pursue innovative ideas and projects, even allowing them to dedicate some of their work time to personal initiatives. This culture of experimentation and risk-taking has led to the development of products and services beyond its core search engine, such as Google Maps and Google Glass.

2. Clan Culture

Clan culture centers around collaboration, teamwork, and a sense of community. Organizations with a clan culture prioritize employee engagement, open communication, and mutual support. There is a familiar atmosphere where employees often refer to each other as a “family.” This culture values employee well-being, personal growth, and long-term relationships.

Zappos, an online shoe and clothing retailer, is often cited as an example of clan culture. The company places a strong emphasis on employee happiness and engagement. The firm’s core values include “Deliver WOW Through Service” and “Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit.” Zappos’ commitment to creating a positive and collaborative work environment is a hallmark of clan culture.

3. Hierarchy Culture

Hierarchy culture is characterized by structure, stability, and a strong focus on processes. Organizations with this culture type have clear lines of authority, well-defined roles, and standardized procedures. These firms often value efficiency, predictability, and maintaining stability through established protocols.

IBM is an example of a company with a hierarchy culture. With a history of engineering and technology, IBM emphasizes structured processes and a clear chain of command. The company’s approach to innovation is often more planned and methodical, focusing on research and development driven by a defined hierarchy of expertise.

4. Market Culture

The market culture emphasizes competition, results, and achievement. Organizations with a market culture prioritize goals, performance metrics, and the bottom line. These firms encourage individual initiative, assertiveness, and a strong focus on delivering customer value. This culture type is often associated with a results-driven and competitive environment.

Amazon is a prime example of a market culture. The company is highly results-oriented and customer-focused, prioritizing efficiency, productivity, and competitive success. Amazon’s leadership principles, such as “Customer Obsession” and “Bias for Action,” underscore its market-driven approach to decision-making and achieving results.

Organizational culture examples

Adopting a positive team spirit affects a company’s success. It is little wonder why several companies develop cultures that align with their goals. Here are five examples of companies with great work cultures.

Netflix has an admirable work culture. The entertainment company is popular for its culture that emphasizes people over process. At Netflix, all employees can participate actively in important decision-making processes. There are no inhibiting rules, and staff members can communicate freely and directly. Netflix chooses employees based on integrity, teamwork, passion, humility, innovation, and selflessness.

2. Microsoft

Microsoft has a commendable work culture mainly focused on a growth mindset. The company is popular for employees dedicating their skills, time, and money to help make a difference in the world. This difference contributes to employee diversity and inclusion, considering Microsoft has employees from all backgrounds and walks of life working to ensure customer satisfaction.

3. Patagonia

Patagonia, an outdoor apparel and gear company, is renowned for its commitment to environmental sustainability and social responsibility. The company’s work culture deeply aligns with its core values, which include advocating for environmental causes and encouraging employees to live purposeful lives. A sense of purpose and a mission-driven approach to business categorize Patagonia’s culture. The firm encourages employees to participate in environmental activism, and the company supports their involvement through initiatives such as paid environmental internships.

4. Salesforce

Salesforce, a leading customer relationship management software company, is known for its Ohana culture. This system emphasizes inclusivity, philanthropy, and community engagement. The company’s strong commitment to social impact is reflected in its 1-1-1 model, where it donates 1% of its equity, time, and products to charitable causes. Salesforce fosters a culture of innovation and creativity by encouraging employees to think outside the box and take risks. The company’s work culture promotes continuous learning through its Trailhead platform, which offers various courses and resources for skill development.

Adobe is a multinational software company and has cultivated a culture of creativity, innovation, and employee development. The company’s culture encourages employees to explore their passions and experiment with new ideas. Adobe’s “Kickbox” initiative provides employees with resources to pursue innovative projects, fostering a culture of experimentation and risk-taking. The company promotes diversity and inclusion and provides platforms for employees to share their unique perspectives. Adobe also values work-life balance, offering various programs to support employees’ well-being. This culture of creativity and employee support has contributed to Adobe’s reputation as a leader in creative software and a desirable workplace for creative professionals.

6. Nordstrom

Nordstrom, a high-end fashion retailer, has a strong customer service culture and commitment to employee empowerment. The company values a customer-centric approach and empowers employees to make decisions that prioritize customer satisfaction. Nordstrom’s culture is built on trust and autonomy, allowing employees to take ownership of their roles and contribute to the company’s success. The company also focuses on employee development, offering opportunities for advancement and growth within the organization.

7. Wegmans Food Markets

Wegmans is a regional supermarket chain known for its culture of employee development, community engagement, and work-life balance. The company places a strong emphasis on treating employees like family and providing growth opportunities. Wegmans offers extensive training programs, mentorship opportunities, and pathways for advancement within the organization. The company’s culture features a supportive and collaborative environment. Leaders encourage employees to excel and contribute to the community. Wegmans also prioritizes employee well-being through initiatives such as flexible work schedules and wellness programs.

Organizational culture best practices

Many companies seek best practices to help adopt a healthy culture. However, this process involves more than printing your new values on the office handbook, distributing it to employees, and expecting an instant change. Adopting a thriving work culture does not work like magic. Rather, culture building requires consistency and a roadmap that helps build these best practices. Here are useful organizational cultural best practices to help you rebrand your company culture.

1. Communicate with your Employees

Communicating with your employees is the first step in adopting a healthy work culture. You should discover what employees like or dislike about the work process, leadership, and environment. You should also find out what motivates team members and redesign the existing work culture that is not serving these needs. Similarly, it would help if you encouraged employees to engage more in decision-making. If you can get employees to feel great working with you, then there is a high chance you will notice an increase in productivity.

2. Encourage Creativity and Innovation

A company that encourages employees to be risk-takers, creative, or innovative will likely experience more growth. A single idea may be all you need to launch your company to the next level, and it could be sitting in an employee’s head. You can make a difference in your corporate culture by encouraging employees to undertake personal tasks that align with the company’s goals.

3. Create a Diverse Workspace

Companies like Microsoft did not just become influential overnight. Diversity is a major part of workplace culture. You can incorporate diversity by creating a fun and inclusive workspace where workers from different walks of life can collaborate on impactful projects. By encouraging an equitable onboarding process, you can create a diverse company culture that encompasses all employees and gives them a sense of belonging. You can also conduct confidential surveys or meetings where employees candidly communicate their feelings.

4. Hire Employees With Similar Values

To promote a long-lasting and successful business culture, hiring workers with similar values is one practice you should take seriously. You cannot sustain a positive work culture if new hires think and act differently from existing employees. Hiring based on qualifications or talent is not enough. You should also pay attention to your worker’s personal beliefs and principles, like honesty, innovation, passion, and creativity. You should ensure employees have what it takes to treat clients in a way that mirrors the company’s culture. Before hiring new staff, these questions should always be on your mind.

5. Recognize and Reward Culture-Aligned Behavior

Recognizing and rewarding culture-aligned behavior is like a boost for the right workplace atmosphere. When leaders praise employees for showing the values that the company believes in, it makes a big impact. Sometimes, this praise can be public, like in team meetings, or it can be in private one-on-one talks. Sometimes, managers can offer actual rewards like bonuses, making the connection between good behavior and appreciation even stronger. Doing this process consistently creates a cycle where leaders encourage good behavior, and workers begin to act accordingly.

6. Let Leadership Reflect the Company’s Culture

If you want a healthy company culture, then you must model it yourself. It is advisable to access your personal values and work behavior to ensure they align with the new work culture you want. Your HR team and other high-ranking executives should also mirror these new values. For instance, you cannot encourage punctuality in employees when you are always the last to arrive at work. Healthy culture practices work when team members obey the rules and regulations. Your employees tend to follow suit if the leadership structure embraces this healthy work culture.

7. Invest in Employee Development

Investing in employee development is like putting effort into helping employees grow. For instance, offer training and chances to learn new skills. Also, show employees how they can move up in the company to give them a reason to work hard. Implementing mentoring programs where experienced employees guide newer ones and discuss performance can also help. When companies take care of work skills and overall well-being and balance, it shows they really care about employees. These steps build a culture where employees want to stay, work hard, and succeed together.

Importance of organizational culture

Aside from increasing a company’s success rate, corporate culture produces a well-structured and highly functional workspace. Here are some reasons why culture is important for every company.

1. Improves Your Brand Identity

A company’s culture influences its inner workings and how others see it, affecting its reputation. A positive corporate culture should focus on more than just satisfying your employees. Your culture can also be a great marketing strategy because customers who share similar values will want to do business with you. A workplace culture speaks volumes and helps you stand out from your competitors.

2. Boosts Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is a vital pillar of a successful business climate. When employees care about customer needs and the company prioritizes quality, it leads to loyal customers who spread the word. A culture that focuses on customer satisfaction encourages employees to go beyond meeting expectations, striving to exceed them. This belief leads to repeat business and bolsters the organization’s reputation and market presence.

3. Encourages Ethical Behavior

Ethical behavior forms the moral compass of a robust office culture. When a company values honesty, openness, and integrity, it creates a workplace where employees consistently choose what is right. An ethical culture emphasizes that the means are just as important as the ends, guiding employees to act ethically even when faced with challenges. Such a culture builds trust with customers, partners, and stakeholders while also ensuring compliance with laws and regulations. Ethical behavior is the backbone of an organization’s credibility and long-term success.

4. Retains Employees

It is rare for employees to quit a company that caters to their emotional and physical well-being. A strong culture builds an employee experience that eliminates the need to quit. Some of the most influential companies have the best performers in their industries as employees. These companies have created a workspace that values every skill and helps employees reach their full potential. Besides, a good environment reduces the turnover rate and human and financial resources depletion.

5. Fosters a Healthy Workspace

A great team atmosphere eliminates disputes, chaos, or animosity between team members. A healthy culture encourages a collaborative atmosphere where employees work to achieve the company’s goals. A workspace that caters to workers’ needs and sees others as more than just colleagues is important for a company to stand out from others. A healthy workspace accelerates the decision-making process, fuels purpose, and outlines clear expectations. Therefore, you can expect top-notch results that will benefit both the company and its customers.

Organizational culture is one of many factors that determine a company’s success. A company’s culture greatly influences the perception of others about you and your team. Thankfully, this article provides a concise overview of corporate culture and its importance. Learning about the different types and best practices can shape your current work culture for the best.

Next, check out our guide to creating a strong remote work culture .

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FAQ: Organizational culture

Here are some commonly asked questions about organizational culture.

What is organizational culture?

Organizational culture refers to the values guiding the behavior of team members in a workspace. Corporate culture is a collection of practices that reflects the company’s philosophy and expectations.

What are the best examples of organizational culture?

The best examples of workplace culture include Netflix, Microsoft, and Wegmans.

How do you improve organizational culture?

You can improve your own culture by encouraging open communication with your employees. Creating a diverse and inclusive workspace as well as encouraging innovation and creativity also helps.

Author: Grace He

People & Culture Director at teambuilding.com. Grace is the Director of People & Culture at TeamBuilding. She studied Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, Information Science at East China Normal University and earned an MBA at Washington State University.

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Understanding and Developing Organizational Culture

The key to a successful organization is to have a culture based on a strongly held and widely shared set of beliefs that are supported by strategy and structure. When an organization has a strong culture, three things happen: Employees know how top management wants them to respond to any situation, employees believe that the expected response is the proper one, and employees know that they will be rewarded for demonstrating the organization's values.

Overview Background Business Case What Is Organizational Culture? Factors That Shape an Organization's Culture Creating and Managing Organizational Culture Practices to Develop Culture Communications Metrics Legal Issues Global Issues

Employers have a vital role in perpetuating a strong culture, starting with recruiting and selecting applicants who will share the organization's beliefs and thrive in that culture, developing orientation, training and performance management programs that outline and reinforce the organization's core values and ensuring that appropriate rewards and recognition go to employees who truly embody the values.

This toolkit covers the following topics:

• The importance of having a strong organizational culture.
• The employer's role in fostering a high-performance culture.
• Definitions of organizational culture.
• Factors that shape an organization's culture.
• Considerations in creating and managing organizational culture.
• Practices to ensure the continuity and success of an organization's culture.
• Communications, metrics, legal, technology and global issues pertaining to organizational culture.

See  SHRM Resource Hub Page: Organizational Culture . 

An organization's culture defines the proper way to behave within the organization. This culture consists of shared beliefs and values established by leaders and then communicated and reinforced through various methods, ultimately shaping employee perceptions, behaviors and understanding. Organizational culture sets the context for everything an enterprise does. Because industries and situations vary significantly, there is not a one-size-fits-all culture template that meets the needs of all organizations.

A strong culture is a common denominator among the most successful companies. All have consensus at the top regarding cultural priorities, and those values focus not on individuals but on the organization and its goals. Leaders in successful companies live their cultures every day and go out of their way to communicate their cultural identities to employees as well as prospective new hires. They are clear about their values and how those values define their organizations and determine how the organizations run. See  What does it mean to be a values-based organization?

Conversely, an ineffective culture can bring down the organization and its leadership. Disengaged employees, high turnover, poor customer relations and lower profits are examples of how the wrong culture can negatively impact the bottom line. See  Toxic Culture Top Reason People Quit .

Mergers and acquisitions are fraught with culture issues. Even organizational cultures that have worked well may develop into a dysfunctional culture after a merger. Research has shown that two out of three mergers fail because of cultural problems. Blending and redefining the cultures, and reconciling the differences between them, build a common platform for the future. In recent years, the fast pace of mergers and acquisitions has changed the way businesses now meld. The focus in mergers has shifted away from blending cultures and has moved toward meeting specific business objectives. Some experts believe that if the right business plan and agenda are in place during a merger, a strong corporate culture will develop naturally. See  Managing Organizational Change and Managing Human Resources in Mergers and Acquisitions.

Business Case

If an organization's culture is going to improve the organization's overall performance, the culture must provide a strategic competitive advantage, and beliefs and values must be widely shared and firmly upheld. A strong culture can bring benefits such as enhanced trust and cooperation, fewer disagreements and more-efficient decision-making. Culture also provides an informal control mechanism, a strong sense of identification with the organization and shared understanding among employees about what is important. Employees whose organizations have strongly defined cultures can also justify their behaviors at work because those behaviors fit the culture. See  Toxic Workplace Cultures Hurt Workers and Company Profits .

Company leaders play an instrumental role in shaping and sustaining organizational culture. If the executives themselves do not fit into an organization's culture, they often fail in their jobs or quit due to poor fit. Consequently, when organizations hire C-suite executives, these individuals should have both the requisite skills and the ability to fit into the company culture.

See  SHRM Inclusive Workplace Culture Specialty Credential

What Is Organizational Culture?

An employer must begin with a thorough understanding of what culture is in a general sense and what their organization's specific culture is. At the deepest level, an organization's culture is based on values derived from basic assumptions about the following:

• Human nature. Are people inherently good or bad, mutable or immutable, proactive or reactive? These basic assumptions lead to beliefs about how employees, customers and suppliers should interact and how they should be managed.
• The organization's relationship to its environment. How does the organization define its business and its constituencies?
• Appropriate emotions. Which emotions should people be encouraged to express, and which ones should be suppressed?
• Effectiveness. What metrics show whether the organization and its individual components are doing well? An organization will be effective only when the culture is supported by an appropriate business strategy and a structure that is appropriate for both the business and the desired culture.

Culture is a nebulous concept and is often an undefined aspect of an organization. Although extensive academic literature exists relating to the topic of organizational culture, there is no generally accepted definition of culture. Instead, the literature expresses many different views as to what organizational culture is.

Organizational culture can manifest itself in a variety of ways, including leadership behaviors, communication styles, internally distributed messages and corporate celebrations. Given that culture comprises so many elements, it is not surprising that terms for describing specific cultures vary widely. Some commonly used terms for describing cultures include aggressive, customer-focused, innovative, fun, ethical, research-driven, technology-driven, process-oriented, hierarchical, family-friendly and risk-taking. See  6 Ways to Become a More Empathetic Organization .

Because culture is difficult to define, organizations may have trouble maintaining consistency in their messages about culture. Employees may also find it difficult to identify and communicate about perceived cultural inconsistencies. See  Defining Organizational Culture and Culture Conversation Starters .

Factors That Shape an Organization's Culture

Organizational leaders often speak about the unusual natures of their company cultures, seeing their domains as special places to work. But organizations such as Disney and Nordstrom, which are well-known for their unique cultures, are rare.

Most company cultures are not that different from one another. Even organizations in disparate industries such as manufacturing and health care tend to share a common core of cultural values. For example, most private-sector companies want to grow and increase revenues. Most strive to be team-oriented and to demonstrate concern for others. Most are driven, rather than relaxed, because they are competing for dollars and market share. Some of the cultural characteristics that distinguish most organizations include the following.

At the heart of organizations' cultures are commonly shared values. None is right or wrong, but organizations need to decide which values they will emphasize. These common values include:

• Outcome orientation. Emphasizing achievements and results.
• People orientation. Insisting on fairness, tolerance and respect for the individual.
• Team orientation. Emphasizing and rewarding collaboration.
• Attention to detail. Valuing precision and approaching situations and problems analytically.
• Stability. Providing security and following a predictable course.
• Innovation. Encouraging experimentation and risk-taking.
• Aggressiveness. Stimulating a fiercely competitive spirit.

Degree of hierarchy

The degree of hierarchy is the extent to which the organization values traditional channels of authority. The three distinct levels of hierarchy are "high"—having a well-defined organizational structure and an expectation that people will work through official channels; "moderate"—having a defined structure but an acceptance that people often work outside formal channels; and "low" —having loosely defined job descriptions and accepting that people challenge authority.

An organization with a high level of hierarchy tends to be more formal and moves more slowly than an organization with a low level of hierarchy.

Degree of urgency

The degree of urgency defines how quickly the organization wants or needs to drive decision-making and innovation. Some organizations choose their degree of urgency, but others have it thrust on them by the marketplace.

A culture with high levels of urgency has a need to push projects through quickly and a high need to respond to a changing marketplace. A moderate level of urgency moves projects at a reasonable pace. A low level of urgency means people work slowly and consistently, valuing quality over efficiency. An organization with high urgency tends to be fast-paced and supports a decisive management style. An organization with low urgency tends to be more methodical and supports a more considered management style.

People orientation or task orientation

Organizations usually have a dominant way of valuing people and tasks. An organization with a strong people orientation tends to put people first when making decisions and believes that people drive the organization's performance and productivity. An organization with a strong task orientation tends to put tasks and processes first when making decisions and believes that efficiency and quality drive organization performance and productivity.

Some organizations may get to choose their people and task orientations. But others may have to fit their orientation to the nature of their industry, historical issues or operational processes.

Functional orientation

Every organization puts an emphasis on certain functional areas. Examples of functional orientations may include marketing, operations, research and development, engineering or service. For example, an innovative organization known for its research and development may have at its core a functional orientation toward R&D. A hospitality company may focus on operations or service, depending on its historical choices and its definition in the marketplace.

Employees from different functions in the company may think that their functional areas are the ones that drive the organization. Organizational leaders must understand what most employees perceive to be the company's functional orientation. 

Organizational subcultures

Any organization can have a mix of subcultures in addition to the dominant culture. Subcultures exist among groups or individuals who may have their own rituals and traditions that, although not shared by the rest of the organization, can deepen and underscore the organization's core values. Subcultures can also cause serious problems.

For example, regional cultures often differ from the overall culture that top leadership tries to instill. Perhaps aggressiveness that is common in one area may not mesh with a culture emphasizing team building. Or an organization with a culture built around equality may have trouble if the national culture emphasizes hierarchy and expects people to bow to authority. Employers must recognize those differences and address them directly.

Creating and Managing Organizational Culture

An organizational culture tends to emerge over time, shaped by the organization's leadership and by actions and values perceived to have contributed to earlier successes. A company culture can be managed through the cultural awareness of organizational leaders and management. Managing a culture takes focused efforts to sustain elements of the culture that support organizational effectiveness. See  Addressing the Six Sources of Workplace Cultural Conflicts .

How culture develops

An organization's customs, traditions, rituals, behavioral norms, symbols and general way of doing things are the visible manifestation of its culture; they are what one sees when walking into the organization. The current organizational culture is usually due to factors that have worked well for the organization in the past. See  How to Create a Culture of Civility .

Founders typically have a significant impact on an organization's early culture. Over time, behavioral norms develop that are consistent with the organization's values. For example, in some organizations, resolution of conflicts is hashed out openly and noisily to create widespread consensus, whereas in other places disputes are settled hierarchically and quietly behind closed doors.

Though culture emerges naturally in most organizations, strong cultures often begin with a process called "values blueprinting," which involves a candid conversation with leaders from across the organization. Once the culture is framed, an organization may establish a values committee that has a direct link to leadership. This group makes sure the desired culture is alive and well. For values blueprinting to work, organizations must first hire people who live the values and have the competency needed to perform the job.

Sustaining a culture

The management of organizational culture starts with identifying a company's organizational culture traits or "artifacts." Artifacts are the core business activities, processes and philosophies that characterize how an organization does business day-to-day.

Identifying these traits—and assessing their importance in light of current business objectives—is a way to start managing culture. Three broad concepts help identify the traits specific to a culture:

• Social culture. This refers to group members' roles and responsibilities. It is the study of class distinctions and the distribution of power that exists in any group.
• Material culture. This involves examining everything that people in a group make or achieve and the ways people work with and support one another in exchanging required goods and services.
• Ideological culture. This is tied to a group's values, beliefs and ideals—the things people view as fundamental. It includes the emotional and intellectual guidelines that govern people's daily existence and interactions.

Leaders and managers within an organization should approach culture management by initially gaining an understanding of the common traits found in all businesses. Then, they should take the following steps to manage their organization's culture:

• Identify common artifacts or traits, including those from the standpoint of an organization's social, material and ideological culture.
• Convene groups of employees—representatives from all levels, functions and locations of the organization—to assess the validity, significance and currency of key artifacts.
• Subject those traits to a rigorous assessment of their underlying shared assumptions, values and beliefs.
• Summarize findings and share them with all participants to solicit additional insights.
• Create a culture management action plan. The plan should enhance traits that support corporate growth or organizational effectiveness and correct traits that might hinder a company's advancement.

Typically, shared assumptions and beliefs originate with an organization's founders and leaders. Because those beliefs proved successful (otherwise the company would not exist and the leaders would not be in their positions), often they go unchallenged; however, those assumptions and beliefs might be outdated and may hinder future success. See 6 Steps for Building an Inclusive Workplace and The Relationship Between Culture and DE&I .

Practices to Develop Culture

When an organization does a good job assessing its culture, it can then go on to establish policies, programs and strategies that support and strengthen its core purpose and values. In aligned organizations, the same core characteristics or beliefs motivate and unite everyone, cascading down from the C-suite to individual contributors.

There are many tools for developing and sustaining a high-performance organizational culture, including hiring practices, onboarding efforts, recognition programs and performance management programs. The biggest challenge is deciding how to use these tools and how to allocate resources appropriately.

Hiring practices

Effective hiring practices can help an organization capitalize on its culture. Traditionally, hiring focuses primarily on an applicant's skills, but when a hire's personality also fits with the organization's culture, the employee will be more likely to deliver superior performance.

On the other hand, ill-fitting hires and subsequent rapid departures cost approximately 50 percent to 150 percent of the position's annual salary. Unfortunately, nearly one in three newly hired employees' leaves voluntarily or involuntarily within a year of hiring, and this number has been increasing steadily in recent years.

Some hiring practices to ensure cultural fit include:

• Looking at each piece of the organization's vision, mission and values statements.  Interview questions  should hone in on behaviors that complement these areas. For example, if the organization works with a lot of intensity, then job applicants should display that natural intensity to be considered for hire.
• Conducting a cultural fit interview. Ask questions that elicit comments about organizational values such as honesty or integrity. If a candidate's description of the worst place he or she ever worked sounds just like the organization where he or she is interviewing, the candidate probably will not be successful.
• Leaving discussion of company culture for later. Do not tell candidates about culture up front. First, listen to what they have to say about their experiences and beliefs. This tactic will reveal more candid responses to help determine whether they are a fit for the organization.
• Making sure at least three people are involved in the hiring process. Different people will see and hear different things. These varied perspectives give a clearer understanding of the person being considered for hire.

Searching for employees who will fit in seamlessly can have drawbacks. The biggest mistake an organization can make is to paint an inaccurate picture of itself as it tries to attract candidates. If new hires discover they have been sold a bill of goods, they will not be happy; they will probably not stick around, and, while they are around, morale will decline.

Another possible drawback is that people are more reluctant to take negative actions against people like themselves. As a result, mediocre workers are more likely to stay employed if they share the cultural values. Similarly, although an organization's comfort level is palpable when the culture is aligned, experts say, too much comfort can result in groupthink and complacency.

Onboarding programs

Onboarding teaches newcomers the employer's value system, norms and desired organizational behaviors. Employers must help newcomers become part of social networks in the organization and make sure that they have early job experiences that reinforce the culture. See  Understanding Employee Onboarding .

Reward and recognition programs

These programs are key mechanisms employers can use to motivate employees to act in accordance with the organization's culture and values. For example, if teamwork is a core value, bonuses should value teamwork and not be based on individual performance. Employers should also put the spotlight on those who personify the company's values. See  Employee Recognition Tech Must Align with Company Culture .

Performance management programs

Employees who share values and aspirations tend to outperform those in environments that lack cohesiveness and common purposes. Performance management programs can greatly affect corporate culture by clearly outlining what is expected from employees as well as by providing a feedback tool that informs employees about proper behavior. See  Performance Management That Makes a Difference: An Evidence-Based Approach .

Communications

Conflicting messages regarding corporate culture may create distrust and cynicism, which can prompt, or help employees justify, actions as deleterious as embezzlement. Experts say that cultural inconsistencies may also cause workers to grow discouraged, to believe management is disingenuous, to doubt statements from higher-ups and to be less inclined to give their best effort.

Organizations may be investing significant time and money in creating a culture but may not be reaping the commensurate rewards—especially if executives, supervisors and rank-and-file employees have differing perceptions of the company's culture. Employers must therefore ensure that the organization clearly and consistently communicates its culture to all employees. See  HR's Role in Creating a Culture of High Trust: Q&A with Richard Fagerlin.

Assessing organizational culture is a crucial step in developing sound strategies that support enterprise objectives and goals. But how do you measure something as potentially tough to describe as culture? After identifying the key dimensions of culture such as values, degree of hierarchy, and people and task orientations, performing these next steps will help organizations assess culture:

• Develop a cultural assessment instrument. This instrument should enable members of the organization to rate the organization on the key cultural dimensions, as well as on aspects of the organization not covered on the assessment.
• Administer the assessment. Survey respondents should include individuals at all levels, functions, divisions and geographical units of the organization.
• Analyze and communicate about assessment results. Leaders and managers should discuss areas of agreement and disagreement about the organization's culture.
• Conduct employee focus groups. Just because top management leaders agree on organizational culture does not mean that all employees see things that way.
• Discuss culture until consensus forms around key issues. Focus on "Who are we?" and "What makes us who we are?" Organizations that decide that where they are now is not where they want to be may need to look at moving the organization to embrace a different culture.

Cultural assessments, and other activities such as cultural audits and 360-degree feedback, may also help uncover cultural inconsistencies. Then leaders can eliminate the inconsistencies. For example, if customer service is a focus of the company's culture, evaluate how much time employees spend visiting customer sites, how much interaction they have with customers, what customer service training they receive and other indicators of a customer service focus. See  The New Analytics of Workplace Culture and Building a Data-Driven Culture Health Index .

Legal Issues

Employers that emphasize cultural fit in their recruitment and selection process can be vulnerable to discrimination claims if they are not careful. Employers should ensure that hiring practices and selection decisions based on a cultural fit rationale do not result in discriminating against any applicants who may not be "just like" the selectors.

Employers should also be aware that certain types of organizational cultures (for example, cultures that are highly paternalistic or male-dominated) may tend to perpetuate disparities in promotions, compensation and other terms of employment. Those disparities may violate anti-discrimination laws. 

Global Issues

Research suggests that national culture has a greater effect on employees than the culture of their organization. Organizational leaders should understand the national cultural values in the countries in which the organization operates to ensure that management and company practices are appropriate and will be effective in operations in those countries. National cultural differences should be considered when implementing organizational culture management initiatives in global businesses.

Managers must be able to respond to nuances in communication styles, as well as deal with different expectations that employees have of their leaders across national cultures. Not meeting those expectations may doom the global organization's chance for success in particular countries.

These issues become even more complex in global business mergers. Success in international mergers depends on the merged organization's willingness to enable people with different cultural perspectives to engage in meaningful and valuable discussions about the new business.

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Company Culture Is Everyone’s Responsibility

• Denise Lee Yohn

A top-down approach doesn’t work anymore.

A top down approach to building company culture no longer works for several reasons. For one, Covid-19 has upended how leaders interact with employees and how coworkers connect with each other. Next, company culture has grown in importance, thanks to recent high-profile crises at big name companies. A new culture-building approach is already in place at some organizations, one in which everyone in the organization is responsible for it. Importantly, this model doesn’t relegate culture-building to an amorphous concept that everyone influences but no one leads or is accountable for. And it weaves in perspectives from employees to customers, from middle managers to the CEO.

Here’s how organizational culture might have been handled in the past: The CEO commissions the Human Resources department to produce an effective company culture. HR designs a campaign to tout a mission statement and core values that the CEO and senior management developed. HR also implements some employee perks like free snacks in the break room or monthly birthday celebrations. Maybe they also field an annual employee engagement survey and report results back to the CEO. And then with their culture-building to-do lists completed, the CEO and HR move on to other priorities.

• Denise Lee Yohn is a leading authority on positioning great brands and building exceptional organizations, and has 25 years of experience working with world-class brands including Sony and Frito-Lay. Denise is a consultant, speaker, and author of What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest and the new book FUSION: How Integrating Brand and Culture Powers the World’s Greatest Companies .   

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How Does Leadership Influence Organizational Culture?

• 02 Mar 2023

Organizational culture is a powerful driver of success. Yet it’s difficult to quantify and track, making it an intimidating but necessary challenge leaders must face.

How can you, as an organizational leader, shape a strong culture? Before exploring how, here’s a primer on organizational culture and why it matters.

What Is Organizational Culture, and Why Is It Important?

Organizational culture is the collection of values, beliefs, assumptions, and norms that guide activity and mindset in an organization.

Culture impacts every facet of a business, including:

• The way employees speak to each other
• The norms surrounding work-life balance
• The implied expectations when challenges arise
• How each employee feels about their work
• The permissibility of making mistakes
• How each team and department collaborate

Having a strong culture pays off financially: It can impact employees’ motivation, which, in turn, influences their work’s quality and efficiency, ability to reach goals, and retention rates. Having a culture that fosters innovation can also pay off in the form of new product ideas and creative solutions to problems .

It’s not possible to opt out of having an organizational culture—if you don’t put effort into crafting it, a negative one can emerge. If you’re an organizational leader —especially at a large company—you can’t directly speak to every employee, so you must influence culture from a high level.

Here are three ways you can influence organizational culture, the importance of effective communication, and how to build your skills.

Access your free e-book today.

How Do Leaders Influence Organizational Culture?

1. ensuring alignment on mission, purpose, and vision.

One way you can influence your organization’s culture is by ensuring everyone’s aligned on its mission, purpose, and vision.

Think of this communication as laying the foundation for culture. What customer need does your company fulfill? How does it make a positive impact? What’s its vision for the future, and what strategies are in place for getting there?

Additionally, ensure every employee understands how their daily work contributes to your organization’s success. According to a Salesforce report , more than 70 percent of U.S. employees say connecting to their company's culture and values motivates them to do their best work.

“Leading at scale and scope requires you to treat communication as a tool to reach out to people, captivate heads, and move hearts, so those you’re leading understand your actions and goals,” says Harvard Business School Professor Joshua Margolis in the online course Organizational Leadership . “And, perhaps more importantly, so they understand where they fit and why their work matters.”

2. Inspiring Confidence in the Face of Challenges

The way you react in times of tumult can powerfully impact culture. How do you pivot your company’s goals? Do you visibly panic, keep everything under wraps, or communicate with thoughtful transparency? Your reaction sets the tone for your team.

One example of a strong leader who crafted culture during crisis is explorer Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton’s original mission was to traverse Antarctica. But when his ship, the Endurance, was trapped and crushed by icebergs, it suddenly became irrelevant. The new mission was to get his team of 28 men home alive. One important part of doing so was managing the team’s culture.

“Critical to accomplishing his mission, he had to convince the crew that, individually and collectively, they can do it,” says HBS Professor Nancy Koehn in a sample business lesson on resilient leadership . “That they, under his leadership, are going to do that.”

Shackleton not only focused on increasing morale but on containing any doubts in the group. He asked the few men uncertain of success to sleep in his tent to influence their morale and keep them from spreading skepticism to the rest of the crew. His efforts paid off, and he led his team to safety.

Although not every challenge is a life-or-death situation like Shackleton’s, you can influence culture by letting your employees know their safety and well-being are a priority and that you’re confident in their ability to endure crises .

Related: How to Become a More Resilient Leader

3. Leveraging Mistakes as a Source of Learning

If you want to foster an innovative organizational culture, embracing and learning from mistakes is crucial.

“You can’t wave a wand, dictate to people that they need to be more creative, and wake up the next day to find people taking risks and trying new things,” says HBS Professor Anthony Mayo in Organizational Leadership .

If you chastise or punish employees for making mistakes, they’re far less likely to try new ideas. To unlock innovation’s potential, make it clear that experimentation is something to celebrate—regardless of its outcome. If an experiment fails, frame it as a chance to learn what worked and what didn’t.

If encouraging experimentation and failure feels too risky for your core business, designate a space or team specifically for testing innovative ideas.

The Importance of Communication in Shaping Organizational Culture

While each organization’s culture is unique, the common thread between strong ones is effective leadership communication .

When seeking alignment, inspiring confidence, and fostering innovation, how you choose to communicate determines whether your messages have their intended impacts.

In Organizational Leadership, Margolis and Mayo present five dimensions of communicating organizational direction , which you can use to shape culture, too:

• Know your audience: Have a firm understanding of your audience’s perspective. What information do they already know? What questions or concerns do they have? What factors matter most to them?
• Cater the content: Based on your audience, craft your message’s content to align with what they want and need to learn.
• Align on purpose: Determine your communication’s purpose. Is it to inform, meant to solicit input, gain approval, or motivate your audience?
• Design the process: Logistically, decide how you’ll deliver your message. Consider timing, frequency, channel, and who’s responsible.
• Compassion: Do you show your audience you care about their perspectives?
• Clarity: Do you communicate clearly to those unfamiliar with the message?
• Conciseness: Is the message short enough to internalize?
• Connection: Do you emotionally connect with your audience?
• Conviction: Do you demonstrate your commitment to the good of your organization?
• Courage: Do you demonstrate confidence in your ability to lead through uncertainty?

For example, consider how you might communicate mass layoffs to affected employees. How would your organizational culture be impacted if you sent a generic email to them rather than delivering the news face-to-face?

What about messaging the employees who aren’t being laid off? If you communicate the reasons for the decision and show empathy toward those impacted, you can build a culture of trust—which will be crucial to maintain with your remaining employees.

Every communication you deliver can shape organizational culture; it’s up to you to decide how to use it.

Building Your Leadership Skills

While shaping organizational culture can be challenging, all leaders face it. If you aim to build your leadership skills in this area, search for courses that include real-world examples.

In Organizational Leadership , you’re presented with real-world business cases —featuring leaders from companies including General Mills, McAfee, Medtronic, and Levi Strauss & Company—and prompted to consider how to handle each situation. Afterward, you discover how each leader approached challenges, gaining insights and perspectives you can apply to your organization.

By learning from others, communicating effectively, and making purposeful choices, you can leverage your leadership skills to shape organizational culture.

Are you interested in elevating your leadership skills? Explore Organizational Leadership —one of our online leadership and management courses —and learn how to communicate direction and lead at scale.

About the Author

Workplace Dynamics

What is organizational culture and why is it important, here's how to transform your workplace culture to skyrocket performance..

Posted December 9, 2023 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

• Organizational culture is the collective mindsets and behaviors of a company.
• A positive workplace culture increases employee engagement, motivation, and retention.
• The seven strategies for creating a positive culture include celebrating achievements to boost morale.

Organizational culture is like the personality of an organization. It's about how everyone, from leaders to the newest hires, thinks and acts. It shapes how work gets done and how people treat each other.

Organizational culture includes the unwritten rules and shared beliefs that guide people's behavior. For instance, a company that values open communication might have meetings where everyone is encouraged to speak their mind, leading to better ideas and stronger performance.

Alternatively, if an organization has a culture where only the most senior employees' ideas are welcomed in meetings, it might lead to frustration and apathy for everyone else because others may feel their voice doesn't matter.

Culture: The Unique DNA of Every Organization

Culture is the underlying DNA of every organization—it's what makes employees feel connected and invested in their jobs. When a company has a strong, positive culture, it can foster greater engagement, which means people care more about their work and go the extra mile. Positive cultures boost motivation , leading people to do their best and be happier in their jobs. Such feelings of connection and satisfaction can lead them to stay longer with the company, reducing turnover and building a strong, experienced team.

When a culture encourages new ideas and open-mindedness, employees are more likely to come up with the kind of breakthroughs that can change the game for a business. In such an environment, teams work better together, share more ideas, and push each other to be the best they can be, which often leads to greater success for the whole organization.

Seven Strategies for Creating Positive Organizational Cultures

There are many ways to foster a positive business culture. Managers and leaders can focus on the following:

Vision and Mission Clarity : A compelling vision and mission statement act as the psychological contract with employees, offering a clear narrative about what the company stands for and its aspirations. When a company like Google pledges to "organize the world's information," it sends a powerful message about its purpose, aligning the workforce towards a common goal. Leaders can facilitate workshops and discussions to ensure these statements resonate deeply with every team member, thereby internalizing these guiding principles.

Values in Action: Core values are the psychological pillars of an organization's culture. When the online retailer Zappos emphasizes "delivering WOW through service," it's not just a statement but a call to action that employees live by so they deliver exceptional service. Leaders can make these values tangible by embedding them into performance reviews, hiring criteria, and daily operations, ensuring they're not just words on a wall but principles that drive decision-making and behavior. It's also important that leaders themselves act in a way that's consistent with the values they want to see enacted more broadly.

Habitual Practices: The power of culture is often expressed in the small, repeated actions that become habitual. For example, Pixar's practice of holding candid "braintrust" meetings where creative ideas are dissected and debated creates an environment where innovation is routine. Leaders can create rituals or regular meetings that reinforce openness and collaboration , turning them into powerful symbols that reinforce the organization's culture.

Learning and Development: Cultures that prioritize learning communicate to employees that growth is both expected and supported. Amazon's " Career Choice" program is a testament to its investment in employee development, covering tuition for in-demand fields. Leaders can foster a culture of learning by actively investing in employee development and creating clear pathways for career advancement.

Psychological Safety: At the heart of a thriving culture is the sense of psychological safety, a term coined by Harvard University professor Amy Edmondson, which describes an environment where individuals feel comfortable expressing themselves without fear of retribution. Google, for example, found that its teams with high psychological safety were more successful than those with lower psychological safety. Leaders can cultivate this by modeling vulnerability, encouraging open dialogue, and celebrating learning from failures.

Recognition and Rewards: A culture that celebrates achievements—both big and small—can significantly boost morale and productivity . Salesforce, through its "Ohana Culture," has created a sense of community and belonging where recognition is part of the everyday experience. Leaders can implement recognition programs that allow peers to acknowledge each other's contributions, making recognition a regular part of the organizational rhythm.

Agility and Resilience : The most adaptable cultures are those that embrace change. Leaders can promote agility by encouraging a mindset of continuous learning and by designing systems that are flexible and responsive to feedback, ensuring the organization can navigate and thrive amidst disruptive change.

Creating a High-Performance Culture

Creating a culture that promotes high performance requires a deep psychological understanding of human behavior within a business context. By carefully crafting and nurturing the elements that constitute culture, leaders can foster an environment that not only drives innovation and high performance but also leads to a sense of purpose and belonging among its members. Building a cohesive community focused on achieving purposeful goals is a critical imperative for making organizations and the world a better place.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-it…

Edmondson, Amy and Lei, Zhike (2014). Psychological Safety: The History, Renaissance, and Future of an Interpersonal Construct, Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, Vol. 1:23-43.

Kaplan, S. (2017). The invisible advantage: How to create a culture of innovation . Greenleaf Book Group Press.

Soren Kaplan, Ph.D. , is an author, keynote speaker, leadership development consultant, and affiliate at the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California.

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The 4 Types of Organizational Culture and Their Benefits

Organizational culture influences the success of your company, directly affecting the sort of candidates you attract and the employees you hold onto. There are several different types of organizational culture too; so you have to find the one that works best for you.

What Is Organizational Culture?

Organizational culture, or company culture, is the shared values, attitudes and practices that make up the identity of an organization. It largely shapes employee behavior and interactions within a company. 

Organizational culture, also known as  company culture , is defined as the shared values, attitudes and practices that characterize an organization. It’s the personality of your company, and it plays a large part in your employees’ overall satisfaction.

Having a strong organizational culture is important because it helps attract the right candidates and it keeps them engaged as employees. According to a 2019 Glassdoor study , 77 percent of adults would evaluate a company’s culture before applying to an open position, with more than half ranking an organization’s organizational culture as more important than compensation. And an SHRM study from 2021 revealed that 94 percent of people managers believe a positive workplace culture helps retain employees.

Creating a winning organizational culture takes a lot of time and effort — your culture must accurately reflect your values and align with your overall mission. It’s a big to-do, but don’t get discouraged: your efforts will pay off in the long run.

While any given organizational culture will evolve with time — especially as the team grows and onboards more people — you can take steps to tailor your culture to better fit your organization’s values and mission. But first, you need to understand the type of organizational culture your company has.

Related Types of Diversity in the Workplace You Need to Know

4 Types of Organizational Culture

There are four main types of organizational culture, which come from Robert E. Quinn and Kim S. Cameron of the University of Michigan, who investigated the qualities that make businesses effective. From a list of 39 attributes, the researchers identified two key polarities: (1) internal focus and integration vs. external focus and differentiation, and (2) flexibility and discretion vs. stability and control.

Types of Organizational Culture

• Clan Culture: emphasizes collaboration across teams and a horizontal structure. 
• Adhocracy Culture: allows individuals to share ideas and encourages the company to take risks. 
• Market Culture: focuses on financial success and how each employee contributes to revenue. 
• Hierarchy Culture: emphasizes career paths and provides clear managerial processes.  

These qualities are visually represented within the Competing Values Framework, which is part of the validated and widely-used Organizational Cultural Assessment Instrument . Although there are several types of organizational culture, Quinn and Cameron’s four types are generally accepted and appear to influence any variations. These four types of organizational culture are neither good nor bad, but they do provide frameworks that company leadership can lean on. 

Understanding what type of organizational culture your company has can help you identify what makes your company stand out to candidates. When you know why your organization’s culture is unique, you can highlight these attributes in your recruitment marketing materials. Recognizing the type of company culture you have can also help you write your core values and mission statement . 

Related 21 Company Culture Examples to Get You Inspired

Type 1: Clan Culture

Primary Focus: Mentorship and teamwork.

Motto: “We’re all in this together.”

About Clan Culture: A clan culture is people-focused in the sense that the company feels family-like. This is a highly collaborative work environment where every individual is valued and communication is a top priority. Clan culture is often paired with a horizontal structure, which helps to break down barriers between the C-suite and employees, and it encourages mentorship opportunities . These companies are action-oriented and embrace change, a testament to their highly flexible nature.

Clan Culture Definition

• Clan culture is a collaborative model usually paired with horizontal company structure.
• Communication is key to this type of culture. 
• Companies can implement clan culture by asking for direct feedback for employees and taking action based on their suggestions.

Advantages of Clan Culture:  Clan cultures boast high rates of employee engagement , and happy employees make for happy customers. Because of its highly adaptable environment, there’s a great possibility for market growth within a clan culture.

Disadvantages of Clan Culture:  A family-style corporate culture is difficult to maintain as the company grows. Plus, with a horizontal leadership structure, day-to-day operations can seem cluttered and lacking direction.

Where You’ll Find Clan Culture: It’s no surprise that clan cultures are often seen in startups and smaller companies. Young organizations that are just starting out put a heavy emphasis on collaboration and communication, leadership looks to employees for feedback and ideas and companies prioritize team-building. 

For companies with a large percentage of employees working remotely like HR tech provider Hireology , creating an empathetic and communicative organizational culture is key to success. “When you have a blended team, your local staff can help bridge gaps and build empathy,” Joel Schlundt, vice president of engineering at Hireology, said. The team coordinated job swaps to help employees better understand and appreciate their peers’ roles.

How to Create Clan Culture Within Your Organization: To cultivate a clan culture within your company, your first step is to turn to your employees. Communication is vital to a successful clan culture, so let your team know that you’re open to feedback. Find out what they value, what they’d like to see change, what ideas they have to help push the company further. Step two: take their thoughts into account and put them into action.

Type 2: Adhocracy Culture

Primary Focus: Risk-taking and innovation.

Motto: “Risk it to get the biscuit.”

About Adhocracy Culture: Adhocracy cultures are rooted in innovation and adaptability. These are the companies that are on the cutting-edge of their industry — they’re looking to develop the next big thing before anyone else has even started asking the right questions. To do so, they need to take risks. Adhocracy cultures value individuality in the sense that employees are encouraged to think creatively and bring their ideas to the table. Because this type of organizational culture falls within the external focus and differentiation category, new ideas need to be tied to market growth and company success.

Adhocracy Culture Definition

• Adhocracy culture puts a focus on employees adapting and innovating. 
• This culture helps companies take risks and invites individuals to share their ideas. 
• Companies can implement adhocracy culture by hosting strategy and brainstorming sessions.   

Advantages of Adhocracy Culture: An adhocracy culture contributes to high profit margins and notoriety. Employees stay motivated with the goal of breaking the mold. Plus, with a focus on creativity and new ideas, professional development opportunities are easy to justify.

Disadvantages of Adhocracy Culture: Risk is risk, so there’s always a chance that a new venture won’t pan out and may even hurt your business. Adhocracy cultures can also foster competition between employees as the pressure to come up with new ideas mounts.

Where You’ll Find Adhocracy Culture: Think of Google or Apple — these are companies that embody the external focus and risk-taking nature of adhocracy culture. They run on creative energy and doing what hasn’t been done before. Adhocracy cultures are commonplace within the ever-changing tech industry where new products are being developed and released on a regular basis.

How to Create Adhocracy Culture Within Your Organization: Depending on your industry, it may be hard to develop an authentic adhocracy culture that includes a high-risk business strategy. However, implementing strategy and brainstorming sessions provides employees with the opportunity to share big ideas that can help to propel the company further. Rewarding successful ideas encourages teams to think outside of the box, too.

Related Culture Fit: More Harm Than Good? 12 Experts Share Their Take.

Type 3: Market Culture 

Primary Focus: Competition and growth.

Motto: “We’re in it to win it.”

About Market Culture: Market culture prioritizes profitability. Everything is evaluated with the bottom line in mind; each position has an objective that aligns with the company’s larger goal, and there are often several degrees of separation between employees and leadership roles. These are results-oriented organizations that focus on external success rather than internal satisfaction. A market culture stresses the importance of meeting quotas , reaching targets and getting results. 

Market Culture Definition

• Companies with a market culture are focused on financial success and meeting goals and targets. 
• Each employee working within market culture plays a distinct part in reaching the company’s larger goals. 
• Companies can implement market culture by analyzing each role within the company and determining the ROI of each role. Rewarding top performers will motivate employees.

Advantages of Market Culture: Companies that boast market cultures are profitable and successful. Because the entire organization is externally focused, there’s a key objective employees can get behind and work toward.

Disadvantages of Market Culture: On the other hand, because there’s a number tied to every decision, project and position within the company, it can be difficult for employees to meaningfully engage with their work and live out their professional purpose. There is also risk for burnout in this aggressive and fast-paced environment.

Where You’ll Find Market Culture: The goal of a market culture company is to be the best in its industry. Because of that, these are often larger companies that are already leaders of the pack. They’re looking to compete and beat out anyone else that may compare.

For an industry leader like Bluecore , a retail marketing platform that utilizes AI technology , providing employees with clear objectives helps the team provide all-star customer service. “Our team is clear on its goals, and we are incentivized through compensation structure and recognition,” Kim Surko, vice president of customer success, said. “With that foundation, we can apply our personality and values to define how we will accomplish those goals.” 

How to Create Market Culture Within Your Organization: Because every aspect of a market culture is tied to the company’s bottom line, start by evaluating each position within your organization. Calculate the ROI of every role and ascribe reasonable benchmarks for production. Consider rewarding top performers to encourage similar work.

Type 4: Hierarchy Culture

Primary Focus: Structure and stability.

Motto: “Get it done right. ”

About Hierarchy Culture: Companies with hierarchy cultures adhere to the traditional corporate structure. These are companies focused on internal organization by way of a clear chain of command and multiple management tiers that separate employees and leadership. In addition to a rigid structure, there’s often a dress code for employees to follow. Hierarchy cultures have a set way of doing things, which makes them stable and risk-averse.

Hierarchy Culture Definition

• Companies with hierarchy culture have a clear chain of command and detailed career paths within the organization. 
• These companies tend to avoid risk and focus on internal organization. 
• Companies can implement hierarchy culture by ensuring each department and team has clear and concise processes and managerial structure.   

Advantages of Hierarchy Culture: With internal organization as a priority, hierarchy cultures have clear direction. There are well-defined processes that cater to the company’s main objectives.

Disadvantages of Hierarchy Culture: The rigidity of hierarchy cultures leaves little room for creativity, making these companies relatively slow to adapt to the changing marketplace. The company takes precedence over the individual, which doesn’t necessarily encourage employee feedback.

Where You’ll Find Hierarchy Culture: Hierarchy cultures can be found at both ends of the corporate spectrum, from old-school organizations to those of the customer service industry, such as fast food restaurants. These are companies that are hyper-focused on how day-to-day operations are carried out and aren’t interested in changing things up anytime soon.

How to Create Hierarchy Culture Within Your Organization: The first step to establishing a hierarchy culture is to button up your processes. If the chain of command has some gaps, fill them. Consider every team and department to ensure they have clear long- and short-term goals.

Learn About Recruiting 12 Recruitment Strategies and Examples to Hire Top Talent

Other Types of Organizational Culture

Outside of these four main categories of organizational culture, there are a few more worth noting. 

Purpose Culture

Purpose culture focuses on a company’s mission and core values. These aspects drive the culture. Often companies with this culture will have a mission of changing an industry or community for the better. One example of this can be seen in Patagonia ’s mission statement : “We’re in business to save our home planet.” 

Coaching Culture

In a company with a coaching culture senior leadership is responsible for mentoring their employees and ensuring that individuals advance in their careers. Various coaching techniques, such as providing assessments on specific projects or one-on-one meetings where expectations and personal goals are discussed, typically drive this style of culture. 

Related 5 Companies With Interesting Organizational Cultures

Accountability Culture

Accountability culture means that everyone within the organization, including the CEO and senior leadership, are responsible and held accountable for their own actions and performance. This can look like employees taking ownership of their mistakes and openly questioning how they can learn from them as well as recognizing colleagues when they have excelled in their role.

Learning Culture 

Companies with a learning culture put a special emphasis on learning and development opportunities . These organizations often have company-wide workshops and encourage employees to learn skills outside of what is immediately required for their role, providing stipends for various educational opportunities . 

Go Deeper 7 Leadership Lessons From Netflix CEO Reed Hastings

How to Identify Your Organizational Culture

Your organizational culture says a lot about your team and what you value, and job seekers can pick up on that almost immediately. If you’re not sure where your organization lands on this list, you’re not alone. Cameron and Quinn developed an assessment tool that helps companies identify their organizational culture. 

Once you evaluate your existing organizational culture, take stock of what truly matters to your organization: Where are you aligned? What are your areas for improvement? 

If you think a different kind of organizational culture would work better for your company and employees, take steps to shift it . While that looks different from company to company, you’ll generally want to start by defining and assessing the current culture, financial goals, company structure, mission and core values. Then continually evaluate your culture and the progress you’ve made toward your organizational culture goals.

Join us to discover actionable strategies to align your employer brand with tech and convert sought-after tech talent.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is organizational culture.

Organizational culture, or company culture, is the shared values, practices and attitudes that characterize an organization. It defines the overall personality and working environment of a company, and has a significant impact on employee behavior and satisfaction.

What are the 4 types of organizational culture?

The four main types of organizational culture include:

• Clan culture 
• Adhocracy culture
• Market culture
• Hierarchy culture

What does a good organizational culture look like?

A good or positive organizational culture is often one that fosters mutual respect, growth opportunities and shared goals amongst employees. This kind of organizational culture also reflects a company's core values and aligns with the company's overarching mission.

What are the 7 characteristics of organizational culture?

The seven characteristics of organizational culture include:

• Attention to detail 
• Emphasis on outcome and results 
• Emphasis on people and relationships
• Aggressiveness or competitive nature

Organizational cultures are comprised of all of these characteristics to some degree. However, the prioritization and value put to each characteristic will vary depending on the company and its type of culture.

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What is workplace culture? Importance, Benefits & Tips

With the pandemic forcing organizations to radically change how they work, creating a positive work culture has become an urgent priority for businesses everywhere.

A massive shift in workplace culture is underway in the wake of COVID-19. With the move to remote and hybrid working because of the pandemic, 57% of companies say they anticipate significant changes to their culture. 1

It’s a chance for organizations to re-evaluate their priorities and build work environments where employees can feel safe, engaged, inspired and productive, whether they’re at home, sometimes in the office, or on the frontline.

Learn how global HR leaders build company culture

Download these 6 expert tips to discover the link between employee engagement and company culture.

What is workplace culture?

It’s important to define what we mean when we talk about workplace culture. But it’s not easy to pin down. Is it a set of values? Behaviors? Attitudes? Or customs and traditions? Well, it turns out it’s all these and more.

Forbes describes work culture as, "the environment that surrounds us all the time." The jobs website Indeed says it’s a "collection of attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that make up the regular atmosphere in a work environment."

Perhaps the simplest explanation comes from celebrated US management guru Marvin Bower, who describes it as "the way we do things around here."

However we define it, work culture can be tricky to measure in any tangible way. It’s how it feels to be at work rather than a set of written rules. Every organization has its personality and atmosphere – and that’s not something easy to engineer.

Peter Drucker, the renowned management consultant and writer, said: "Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” And in the wake of unprecedented changes to working life, organizations are waking up to the fact that you can have the greatest strategy and the best people in the world, but it doesn't matter if your culture isn't right.

Culture is the very air you breathe. If it's toxic, your organization dies.

Why is work culture important?

That’s why a focus on culture is the highest priority for organizations looking to transform how people work - and how they feel about work. Here are some specific reasons it's so important, the areas it can impact, and how you can effect positive changes to your company culture.

1. Employee wellbeing

Does your organization value mental health to the same degree as physical health? Work culture has a significant impact on employees’ wellbeing, and the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled employers to put more thought into keeping workers safe and healthy.

Wellbeing was the top-ranked trend of importance in the 2021 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends study , with 80% of leaders identifying it as important or very important to their organization’s success.

Many organizations have moved to remote working and installed measures to give their people a better work-life balance, including flexible hours based around childcare. This can help staff feel supported and valued.

2. Employee performance and productivity

Work culture influences the way people perform , which, ultimately, can directly impact your bottom line. A happy, supportive workplace energizes people to come to work each day and boosts mood and concentration. Organizations with stronger cultures are generally more successful and have high productivity levels.

In fact, happy workers are 13% more productive than unhappy ones , according to research by Oxford University.

3. Communication

Good communication helps create mutual respect and trust, regardless of individual roles and responsibilities. Workplace cultures where people can’t ask questions, float ideas or easily connect with each other are less transparent and might not get the best from people. To achieve engagement, communication needs to involve open, two-way conversations.

4. Transparency

Transparency in business is key to creating trust. If you can create a more open working environment, people feel empowered to communicate in constructive ways. Meetings and brainstorming sessions become more valuable as organizations hear real opinions - and fresh ideas - from every corner of the business. And ultimately, that’s good for business.

5. Recruitment

Organizations with a strong culture and brand identity are more likely to attract the right talent. Having a website that clearly defines your core values and objectives makes it easier for job candidates to weigh up whether they’d be a good fit for your business. It’s also your opportunity to convince top talent that your values and your culture are the right ones for them.

6. Engagement and retention

A positive culture is one that values its people and their contribution to the success of the business. Employees who feel they’re part of a community rather than a cog in a wheel are more likely to stay with an organization. Companies with healthy cultures are 16 times more likely to retain their Generation Z employees . This not only leads to long-term loyalty but also cuts the costs involved in continually having to recruit new talent.

7. Teamwork

The most successful organizational cultures bring together people from all backgrounds and nurture a sense of team spirit. Even people with very different outlooks and personalities can gel if they have a common purpose to get behind. The highest performing teams are increasingly insisting that diversity of all kinds is critical for success.

As the latest Diversity and Inclusion thinking from McKinsey suggests , the most diverse companies are now more likely than ever to outperform their more monocultural peers when it comes to profitability.

A thriving collaborative culture can break down boundaries between teams . On the flip side, a toxic environment can make employees selfish and cultivate a blame culture.

8. Quality of services

A healthy culture motivates people to strive for the best quality in their work. It’s easier to get the most out of people who feel comfortable at work and are empowered to make decisions. This builds a high-performance culture that strengthens the whole organization and helps to ensure products and services meet the highest standards.

9. Reputation

We’ve all seen posts on job boards and social media sites giving companies a hard time. Many of these come from ex-employees. People judge organizations based on their interactions with them, and a negative image can do a lot of damage. Businesses with a strong social conscience who follow ethical working practices and support staff wellbeing tend to attract more business and the best talent.

Research by the CBI shows that 69% of the UK public believe that treating staff well is the most effective way to improve business reputation.

Getting these things right can have a hugely positive effect on business, but a toxic culture has the potential to do just the opposite. Over time, an environment where employees dread going to work and don’t feel their supervisors support them can bring a business to its knees.

10. Boosting morale

Culture and morale are intrinsically linked. Like culture, staff morale isn’t always an easy thing to pin down - it’s a mix of engagement, attitude and mood - but you’ll almost certainly know when it’s low. Creating a positive culture that focuses on wellbeing and Diversity & Inclusion can help build morale by making each member of staff feel heard and valued.

But it’s not just about bolstering individual employees. Positive workplace culture is a vital ingredient in building team morale by enabling teams to feel confident and empowered in the work they do while encouraging individuals to be themselves and voice their valuable opinions.

Understanding workplace culture

Are you ready to take a deeper look at the culture that exists within your organization? Be warned – you might not like what you find.

To make change happen and improve your culture, you first need to see and be honest about what’s happening now. Many organizations have gone through a tough time during the pandemic, and for some, just surviving is a challenge. But with adversity comes a chance for a cultural reset.

More than ever, leaders realize that culture isn’t just about physical stuff like a ping-pong table and snack machine. It’s about connecting people to a common purpose. It’s about connecting them with each other when working remotely or together in the physical workspace.

There are several ways to take the temperature of your current culture climate:

Observe culture in action

You can get a good idea about work culture by looking at how people interact and treat each other. Are people respectful and welcoming? Does everybody feel empowered to speak up? How are dissenting ideas tolerated? If you're a manager, what kind of behavior do you role model in the way you talk to people? What norms or expectations do you set?

And although the physical workspace is a factor in facilitating a sense of shared space or collaboration, it’s not the most important. It’s how these elements - the tools people use, the space they work in - combine to build culture. The way people are with each other. What they feel is acceptable (or what they feel they can get away with). Or the behaviors your organization rewards or discourages.

Send out workplace culture surveys

Online surveys can give you useful information about organizational culture and employee engagement. By analyzing employee feedback, you can bridge gaps between the existing culture and the culture you hope to achieve. You can custom design a survey to make sure it’s relevant to your audience, and ask questions like:

• On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend this organization to friends?
• Do you feel respected by your team and the organization?
• What’s the one thing you’d most like to change about the organization?
• Is the organization dedicated to diversity and inclusiveness?
• Is there a culture of teamwork and cooperation in the organization?
• How long do you plan to stay in the organization?

Gauge emotions with communication tools

Team-based tools are a great way to get instant feedback on a range of topics, from the serious to the more light-hearted aspects of work. Run regular polls to gauge the general mood of your organization in real-time.

You could ask for opinions on current rewards programs or working practices to see how popular they are. A simple click on the equivalent to a thumbs up or thumbs down icon can be all it takes to get a fast response.

How to create culture in the workplace

Building a great work culture doesn’t happen overnight. It’s something that evolves and changes with every interaction with working life. But, to get you started, try focusing on these key things.

Organizational values

It’s crucial to have a set of clear core values that truly reflect the philosophies and beliefs of your organization. Employees need to know about and buy into these, so make sure you are communicating them effectively.

And make your values real . Don't just sit down with a sheet of paper and ask yourself what should be on there. Start by looking at the things your organization actually does. How do you treat employees and customers? How active are you in the community? How diverse is your leadership team? These answers will be indicative of your real values.

If you think there's something missing, add it as an aspiration and plan to change behaviors to work toward it. Likewise, if you find that your company's values aren't what you'd like them to be, decide how you're going to change course.

However you go about it, your values should be reflected in your actions today, or be part of a clear transformation strategy to change your behavior. Otherwise, they're just words on paper and your employees will quickly see through them.

Organization identity

Your identity makes your organization what it is and ensures it stands out from the crowd. It’s important because your identity is how people inside and outside the business perceive you. Maintaining a positive identity is vital if you want to demonstrate your organization’s professionalism and social responsibility.

The way leaders and managers communicate - and how they encourage teamwork and openness - is crucial to creating a positive feeling in the workplace. But it’s often an area that gets overlooked. With 6 in 10 people in one study saying their manager is why they left their organizations , it’s clear that lack of trust is hampering relationships. That’s why leaders should find ways to focus on coaching or developing and empowering their people to do great work rather than micro-managing.

Your people are your greatest asset, and a diverse pool of talent can bring different personalities, beliefs, values, skills and experiences into the mix. That’s something to be celebrated. A company culture where everyone feels comfortable and included will help unleash employees’ full potential at work.

Look beyond race, gender and sexual orientation to nurture each person as an individual. With only 32% of employees feeling like they can be their authentic selves at work and just 44% of employees saying their company’s diversity and inclusion approach feels sincere 4 , there’s a massive opportunity for organizations to improve.

Workplace norms

Workplace norms are rules and traditions that guide how people do things. They’re not usually written down. And they’re often so embedded that people can become unaware of behaviors and actions – even if they’re inappropriate. Because they’ve become ingrained in everyday routines, they help create a feeling of normality. But just because a business has always done something a certain way doesn’t mean it’s acceptable today. As workplace norms evolve, everyone needs to understand the way they should behave at work.

Company rules, decisions and policies can all shape organizational culture. Recruitment, onboarding, dress codes, recognition programs, training, performance management, wellbeing and work-life balance can all make a difference to the success of your business. In particular, having clear, transparent policies for bullying or harassment shows you take inappropriate behavior seriously.

Communication

With the rapid growth of remote working and dispersed workplaces, open communication is critical for productive workplace cultures. People need to be informed. They want to stay in the loop and know what’s going on in their organization, even if it doesn’t affect them directly. They want to access information quickly, collaborate, share ideas and solve problems wherever they are, at any time, from any device.

All teams have interpersonal conflicts from time to time, but a functional work culture will help you resolve issues quickly and professionally.

Working environment

A working environment should be a place where everyone feels safe, engaged, inspired and productive. Your workplace's physical setting is important because it affects how people do their jobs day in, day out. Lighting, noise levels, temperature and desk layout can all affect mood, whether you’re working in an office, warehouse or home. No one wants to feel uncomfortable while they’re working.

Subcultures

If you’re working for the same organization, you’re all on the same side, right? Not necessarily. A ‘them and us’ situation can often develop between different departments or teams if they don’t communicate effectively. Subcultures within your organization have the potential to disrupt the overall culture. But positive subcultures that complement each other can get everyone working together to achieve the same overall aims and objectives.

What does Workplace Culture mean for hybrid teams? Read The New Rules of Engagement to find out.

How to improve work culture

Many employers see work culture as something that forms organically. Something that organizations don’t need to define or to shape. But that’s a significant risk as you’ll have no control over how culture develops.

It’s important to understand your current situation and look at the areas where you need to pay closer attention. That way, you can move towards a more positive workplace culture that will benefit everyone.

Culture should be a priority for every manager, regardless of how big your workforce is. Make it your responsibility to help direct, shape and promote a positive work culture and act as a role model for your team.

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How to change workplace culture

You and your leaders can take a more active role in improving workplace culture.

• Get involved in the onboarding process , including training and mentoring. New recruits will get a good first impression if they see a collaborative, supportive culture from the top down
• Have a transparent policy for progression and promotion so staff know what they have to do to reach the next level. Use performance reviews and career paths to measure development
• Recognize team members who achieve success and show the positive work habits you want others to emulate. You could introduce a platform for employee recognition , where you and other team members can congratulate people on achievements and positive behavior
• Promote your company values during team meetings and events, so you regularly keep them at the forefront of people’s minds
• Get hiring right . As business magnate Jack Ma says, “You need the right people with you, not the best people”
• Focus on cultural diversity and inclusion by welcoming people from all backgrounds and celebrating their differences. A positive workplace is one where all employees are valued, supported and nurtured

Culture is always a work in progress. It’s crucial to plan for change and have the agility to adapt to unexpected events. It’s also essential to consider how different people respond to change and how to keep your workforce engaged. Building a great employee experience and a rich, vibrant company culture is vital as we all continue navigating through uncertain times.

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Organizational Culture: Definition, Importance, and Development

by Kellie Wong

Updated on June 28, 2023

Create a culture that means business™

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A great organizational culture is the key to developing the traits necessary for business success. And you’ll see its effects in your bottom line : companies with healthy cultures are 1.5 times more likely to experience revenue growth of 15 percent or more over three years and 2.5 times more likely to experience significant stock growth over the same period. Despite this, only 31 percent of HR leaders believe their organizations have the culture they need to drive future business, and getting there is no easy task — 85 percent of organizations fail in transforming their cultures.

This is a comprehensive guide to making culture a major strength of your organization, from what culture is and why it’s important to a roadmap you can follow to create a culture that delivers results time after time.

• What is organizational culture?

Organizational culture is the set of values, beliefs, attitudes, systems, and rules that outline and influence employee behavior within an organization. The culture reflects how employees, customers, vendors, and stakeholders experience the organization and its brand.

Don’t confuse culture with organizational goals or a mission statement, although both can help define it. Culture is created through consistent and authentic behaviors, not press releases or policy documents. You can watch company culture in action when you see how a CEO responds to a crisis, how a team adapts to new customer demands, or how a manager corrects an employee who makes a mistake.

• What is the importance of culture to your company?
• Improve recruitment efforts – 77% of workers consider a company’s culture before applying
• Improve employee retention – culture is one of the main reasons that 65% of employees stay in their job
• Improve brand identity – 38% of employees report wanting to change their job due to poor company culture
• Improve engagement – companies with a positive culture have up to 72% higher employee engagement rate

Organizational culture affects all aspects of your business, from punctuality and tone to contract terms and employee benefits. When workplace culture aligns with your employees, they’re more likely to feel more comfortable, supported, and valued. Companies that prioritize culture can also weather difficult times and changes in the business environment and come out stronger.

Culture is a key advantage when it comes to attracting talent and outperforming the competition. 77 percent of workers consider a company’s culture before applying, and almost half of employees would leave their current job for a lower-paying opportunity at an organization with a better culture. The culture of an organization is also one of the top indicators of employee satisfaction and one of the main reasons that almost two-thirds (65%) of employees stay in their job.

Consider Microsoft and Salesforce. Both technology-based companies are world-class performers and admired brands, and both owe this in part to prioritizing culture. Microsoft, known for its cut-throat competitiveness under Steve Balmer, has been positively transformed by Satya Nadella, who took over as CEO of the company in 2014. He embarked on a program to refine the company culture, a process that upended competitiveness in favor of continuous learning. Instead of proving themselves , employees were encouraged to improve themselves . Today Microsoft’s market cap flirts with $1 trillion and it is again competing with Apple and Amazon as one of the most valuable companies in the world.

Salesforce puts corporate culture front and center and has experienced incredible growth throughout its history . Marc Benioff, Salesforce’s founder and CEO, established philanthropic cultural norms that have guided the company over the past two decades. All new Salesforce employees spend part of their first day volunteering and receive 56 hours of paid time to volunteer a year. This focus on meaning and mission has made Salesforce one of the best places to work in America according to Fortune , and it hasn’t compromised profits either: Salesforce’s stock price has surged year after year at an average of over 26% annually to date.

Read about how organizations can create a culture of belonging at work.

How do you improve organizational culture?

Key ways to improve organizational culture include:

• Connect employee work to a purpose
• Create positive employee experiences
• Be transparent and authentic
• Schedule regular and meaningful 1:1s
• Encourage frequent employee recognition

• Qualities of a great organizational culture

Every organization’s culture is different, and it’s important to retain what makes your company unique. However, the cultures of high-performing organizations consistently reflect certain qualities that you should seek to cultivate:

•  Alignment comes when the company’s objectives and its employees’ motivations are all pulling in the same direction. Exceptional organizations work to build continuous alignment to their vision, purpose, and goals.

•  Appreciation can take many forms: a public kudos, a note of thanks, or a promotion. A culture of appreciation is one in which all team members frequently provide recognition and thanks for the contributions of others.

•  Trust is vital to an organization. With a culture of trust , team members can express themselves and rely on others to have their back when they try something new.

•  Performance is key, as great companies create a culture that means business . In these companies, talented employees motivate each other to excel, and, as shown above, greater profitability and productivity are the results.

•  Resilience is a key quality in highly dynamic environments where change is continuous. A resilient culture will teach leaders to watch for and respond to change with ease.

•  Teamwork encompasses collaboration, communication, and respect between team members. When everyone on the team supports each other, employees will get more done and feel happier while doing it.

•  Integrity , like trust, is vital to all teams when they rely on each other to make decisions, interpret results, and form partnerships. Honesty and transparency are critical components of this aspect of culture.

•  Innovation leads organizations to get the most out of available technologies, resources, and markets. A culture of innovation means that you apply creative thinking to all aspects of your business, even your own cultural initiatives .

•  Psychological safety provides the support employees need to take risks and provide honest feedback. Remember that psychological safety starts at the team level, not the individual level, so managers need to take the lead in creating a safe environment where everyone feels comfortable contributing. Now that you know what a great culture looks like, let’s tackle how to build one in your organization.

• 8 steps to building a high-performing organizational culture

Creating a great organizational culture requires developing and executing a plan with clear objectives that you can work towards and measure. The 8 steps below should serve as a roadmap for building a culture of continuity that will deliver long-term benefits across your company.

1. Excel in recognition

Recognizing the contributions of all team members has a far-reaching, positive effect on organizational culture. Experts agree that when an organization makes appreciating employees part of its culture, important metrics like employee engagement, retention, and productivity improve.

Making recognition part of your culture means it should be frequent, not something saved for milestones or work anniversaries. Companies who invest in consistent social recognition see a remarkable business impact : they are four times more likely to increase stock prices, twice more likely to improve NPS scores, and twice more likely to improve individual performances.

Monetary recognition is valuable as well. Consider a points-based recognition program that will allow employees to easily build up point balances that can be redeemed for a reward that’s meaningful to them.

To nurture organizational culture, recognition should be clearly tied to company values and specific actions and supported by leadership. After all, 92 percent of employees agree when they’re recognized for a specific action, they’re more likely to take that action again in the future.

Last but not least, leadership needs to take center stage in your recognition efforts, as they’re the cultural trendsetters for your entire company. Incorporate a recognition talk track into your leadership training and share top tips with managers on how to recognize others and why it matters.

2. Enable employee voice

Creating a culture that values feedback and encourages employee voice is essential. Failing to do so can lead to lost revenue and demotivated employees .

First, collect feedback using listening tools that make it easy for employees to express what they’re feeling in the moment, like pulse surveys and workplace chatbots . Then, analyze the results and take action while the findings are relevant. This strengthens your culture and leads to benefits like higher employee fulfillment and greater profitability. According to a Clutch survey, 68 percent of employees who receive regular feedback feel fulfilled in their jobs, and Gallup found that organizations with managers who received feedback on their strengths showed 8.9 percent greater profitability. And watch for more subtle expressions of feedback, like body language. Managers should treat all conversations with employees as opportunities to gather and respond to feedback and act as a trusted coach.

3. Make your leaders culture advocates

Building a strong workplace culture is in the hands of team leaders and managers. If your workplace culture prioritizes certain values and your leadership team doesn’t exemplify them — or displays behaviors that go against them — it undermines the effort. Team members will recognize the dissonance between stated values and lived behaviors. They may even start to emulate negative behaviors, believing they are rewarded by management.

Your leadership team can help build the right culture by prioritizing it in every aspect of their work lives . This includes openly discussing the organization’s culture and values and incorporating employee feedback into their cultural advocacy efforts. While 76 percent of executives believe their organization has a well-communicated value system, only 31 percent of employees agree. When employees see leaders living your culture, they’ll follow suit.

4. Live by your company values

Your company’s values are the foundation of its culture. While crafting a mission statement is a great start, living by company values means weaving them into every aspect of your business. This includes support terms, HR policies, benefits programs, and even out-of-office initiatives like volunteering. Your employees, partners, and customers will recognize and appreciate that your organization puts its values into practice every day. You can also recognize employees for actions that exemplify your values to show that they’re more than just words and incentivize employees to build the value-based culture you want to see.

5. Forge connections between team members

Building a workplace culture that can handle adversity requires establishing strong connections between team members, but with increasingly remote and terse communication, creating those bonds can be challenging. Encouraging collaboration and engaging in team building activities — even when working remote — are two effective ways to bring your team together and promote communication.

Look for and encourage shared personal interests between team members as well, especially among those from different generations that might otherwise have a difficult time relating to each other. This can create new pathways for understanding and empathy that are vital to improving communication, creativity, and even conflict resolution.

6. Focus on learning and development

Great workplace cultures are formed by employees who are continually learning and companies that invest in staff development. Training initiatives , coaching, and providing employees with new responsibilities are all great ways to show your team that you’re invested in their success.

Workplace Coaching: What is it and how is it effective?

A culture of learning has a significant business impact. Find Courses’ most recent benchmark study found that companies with highly engaged employees were 1.5 times more likely to prioritize soft skills development. It also found that companies that had experienced revenue growth in the previous financial year were twice more likely to use innovative learning technologies and three times more likely to increase their learning and development budgets.

7. Keep culture in mind from day one

When an employee’s perspective doesn’t match your company culture, internal discord is likely to be the result. Organizations should hire for culture and reinforce it during the onboarding process and beyond. Practices and procedures must be taught, and values should be shared.

When hiring, ask questions focused on cultural fit , like what matters to the interviewee and why they’re attracted to working at your company. But these questions shouldn’t be the sole determining factor when evaluating a candidate, as the best organizations keep an open mind to diverse perspectives that can help keep their culture fresh.

You should also prioritize building social relationships during the onboarding process so that employees have the insight necessary to understand your company’s culture and values. These relationships will last throughout the employee’s time at the company, so that cultural values are mutually reinforced on a continuous basis.

8. Personalize the employee experience

As modern consumers, your employees expect personalized experiences , so you need to focus on ways to help each team member identify with your culture. Tools like pulse surveys and employee-journey mapping are great ways to discover what your employees value and what their ideal corporate culture looks like. Take what you learn and tailor your actions to personalize the employee experience for your team. Once you start treating your employees with the same care you treat your customers , a culture that motivates each individual at your organization is sure to follow.

Developing culture made easy

Organizational culture will develop even without your input, but in the absence of that guidance, it may not be healthy or productive. Keep these three basic techniques in mind when developing your company culture: communication, recognition, and action. By following the steps in this guide, you can improve communication with employees, start creating a culture of recognition, and ensure that all members of your team put your culture into action.

Your company can start practicing all three techniques with Achievers Recognize and Achievers Listen . With Achievers Recognize, your organization can leverage points-based and social recognition and create a fun and easy user experience for employees. With Achievers Listen, employees can give you valuable feedback through check-ins and pulse surveys, so you can see what aspects of your culture are working and what needs tweaking.

To learn more culture insights and techniques, access our webinar with Achievers’ Chief Workforce Scientist, Dr. Natalie Baumgartner. She shares how an aligned, thoughtful culture connects the workforce, motivates employees, and provides a cause to rally behind.

Discover the 2022 Culture Report: Tech-Enabled Employee Experience whitepaper

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The Great Recognition: How to Build a Thriving Culture to Win in the Future of Work

Organizational Culture FAQ

What are examples of organizational culture.

An organization’s culture is reflected in their actions and processes. Examples include:

• Interview process: Whether a company focuses on technical skills or puts more weight on a culture fit is reflective of their organizational culture.
• Commitment to DE&I: If an organization outlines its policies and practices around DE&I publicly, you can expect that to be a strong element of its culture.
• Wellness incentives: Companies who care about their employees’ mental and physical well-being often offer perks like: subsidized gym memberships, tuition reimbursement, paid sabbaticals, and subsidized transportation.

Why is changing organizational culture important?

Changing an organization’s culture is important because it can help a business stay competitive, attract top talent, innovative new products or services, and create a positive workplace that promotes collaboration.

Can an organization change its culture?

Yes, an organization can change its culture, but it takes time. Doing so requires support from leadership and a human-centric approach that is reflected in all organizational systems and practices and is reinforced through recognition and rewards programs.

How does changing organizational culture affect employees?

Changing an organization’s culture is often challenging, but when it’s achieved, employees will adopt new behaviors, attitudes, and work ethics that align with the goals and values desired by the organization.

How does leadership influence organizational culture?

Leaders influence organizational culture by creating and reinforcing organizational culture and workplace norms. They do this through their actions and reactions, which set an example for employees to follow.

Why do different organizations have different cultures?

What are the 4 main types of organizational culture.

Understanding an organization’s culture helps you identify what makes it unique. The four types of organizational culture are:

• Clan Culture : Cross-teams collaboration with a horizontal structure.
• Adhocracy Culture : Individuals share ideas and encourage the company to take risks.
• Market Culture : Focuses on financial success and how each employee contributes.
• Hierarchy Culture : Emphasis on career paths and clear managerial processes.

In this article:

• Organizational culture FAQ

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How Organizational Culture Influences Employee Behavior

Explore how organizational culture shapes employee behavior, with insights on improving engagement, innovation, and open communication for a thriving workplace.

Matthew Reeves

CEO of Together

Published on 

November 30, 2023

Updated on 

Time to Read

mins read time

65% of millennials and 52% of Gen Xers prioritize organizational culture over salary when measuring their job satisfaction.

Your organizational culture determines the kind of candidates you attract, how long they stay with you, and their level of engagement and performance while they work with you. It is the single most powerful factor that determines the growth of your organization.

What is organizational culture?

Organizational culture defines the shared values, beliefs, and behaviors that shape how employees act in a company. It's seen in how leaders handle crises and how teams meet new challenges. Organizational culture can either be positive or negative.

• A positive work culture is characterized by supportive leadership , open communication, and shared values between the employer and employees. It results in high engagement, improved well-being for employees, and high productivity.
• A negative work culture is marked by a lack of support from the leadership, poor communication, and a mismatch between employer and employee values. It results in diminished employee morale, and an environment that often leads to high stress, low engagement, and increased turnover.

HR professionals, managers, and leaders must have a thorough understanding of organizational culture as it drives recruitment, retention, brand identity, and employee engagement. A good culture boosts job satisfaction, productivity , and innovation. A poor one causes high staff turnover and low morale. So, understanding and molding this culture is vital for a healthy workplace and achieving organizational goals.

What is the relationship between organizational culture and employee behavior?

Sometimes, you come across people that bring out the best in you. The same goes for organizations. Some organizations make you feel motivated to the point where you want to contribute to different projects outside the scope of your job, while others make you want to minimize your efforts. That is how organizational culture influences employee behavior. 

A positive culture makes you feel included and heard. Employees in positive work cultures want to be productive and stay with the organization in the long run. Employees in negative work cultures feel invisible, burned out, and are therefore less engaged and productive. In fact, as McKinsey reports, more than 60% of negative workplace outcomes are due to toxic workplace behavior, underscoring the impact of negative work cultures on employee engagement and productivity.​

When developed the right way, organizational culture is more powerful than organizational rules and regulations.

5 Ways in which organizational culture influences employee behavior

Leaders who understand culture, and its effects on employees, can build a positive, inclusive, and innovative work environment, aligning employee actions with organizational goals. If you want to see how your culture is impacting your employees, keep an eye on the following factors:

1. Engagement and productivity

A positive and empowering culture creates a sense of belonging and motivation among employees, leading to higher productivity. If you see that motivation is down across teams in your organization, and your employees are not as engaged as you want them to be, take a closer look at your company culture.

In 2022, only 32% of US employees were engaged at work and 18% were actively disengaged. Meanwhile, some organizations achieved up to 70% engagement by using their culture and values to guide their business decisions. The lesson – live your values and you will see higher engagement and productivity. Besides living your values, you can improve engagement in the following ways:

• Identify areas that negatively impact engagement and productivity with the help of employee feedback. This way, you can act on the feedback and address the issues affecting your employees’ morale.
• Invest in training programs for leaders and managers that emphasize emotional intelligence, effective communication, and employee motivation techniques . Equip them with the skills to create a more engaging and productive work environment.
• Organize team-building activities, cross-departmental projects, and inclusive decision-making processes to enhance teamwork and collective ownership of company goals.

2. Job satisfaction and retention

A supportive and appreciative culture helps in retaining top talent by making employees feel valued and satisfied with their roles. 54% of people quit because they don’t feel valued by their employers.

If your retention is low and most of your employees are not satisfied with their roles, you may have a culture where employee contributions and well-being are often overlooked or undervalued. To change that, take the following steps:

• Implement regular recognition programs or platforms where employees can be acknowledged for their contributions.
• Encourage feedback from employees on their experiences and suggestions for improvement. Act on this feedback to show that their voices are heard and valued.
• Offer training, wellness, and mentorship programs to demonstrate a commitment to the overall development and health of your employees.

3. Innovation and creativity

If your employees have stopped coming up with new ideas and do not offer suggestions to improve current processes, systems, and products, your culture may be suppressing their creativity. 

A culture that encourages risk-taking and values new ideas promotes innovation and creativity . Such an environment allows employees to think outside the box and contribute unique solutions, driving the organization forward.

To create a culture that cultivates creativity, take the following measures:

• Create spaces and opportunities for brainstorming and experimentation, and openly celebrate creative efforts and innovative thinking.
• Set aside time for creative projects and give your employees the resources to take new initiatives. Atlassian does this by giving their employees 24 hours each quarter to work on anything they want.
• Implement rewards or recognition programs to acknowledge and incentivize creative contributions and breakthroughs.

4. Communication and teamwork

Do you think your employees communicate openly? Are they hesitant to share feedback or relay how they’re feeling? If not, your culture may be part of the problem.

A culture of open communication is marked by clear, honest, and free sharing of ideas and information. In this environment, everyone feels safe to speak their mind, give and get feedback, and talk about issues without fear. It builds trust, improves teamwork, and helps in solving problems and making decisions effectively.

To create a culture of open communication:

• Practice open and transparent communication yourself. Share information freely, be approachable, and encourage questions and discussions.
• Establish regular meetings, town halls, or discussion forums where employees can voice their opinions, share ideas, and raise concerns.
• Introduce anonymous feedback tools or regular surveys to allow employees to express their thoughts and feelings candidly. Act on this feedback to demonstrate its value and importance. Organizations that listen to their employees are 12 times more likely to retain them.

5. Collaboration and knowledge sharing

A positive work culture encourages employees to share their expertise with others. In such a culture, information flows freely across different departments, and people feel motivated to expand their own skills and share what they learn with their colleagues. 

Does that sound like your organization? If not, here’s what you should do:

• Plan regular team-building exercises and cross-functional projects that require collaboration and knowledge exchange.
• Introduce collaborative tools and platforms that facilitate easy sharing of information and ideas.
• Acknowledge and celebrate teams and individuals who exemplify collaborative behavior.

But how do you actually implement this advice? A mentoring program can help! 

A structured mentorship program , powered by Together’s software, helps you match mentors and mentees to create a culture of collaboration and continuous learning. And, to make mentorship a part of the workflow, there’s Together for Teams . With the mentoring platform embedded inside Microsoft Teams, employees don’t need to switch between apps and feel like they are getting distracted by leaving the Teams environment. Mentors and mentees can find and approve matches right in Teams, while also getting notified about upcoming sessions through Teams DMs or emails, whichever they choose.

The role of mentoring in building a positive work culture

Mentoring plays a critical role in building a positive work culture. It facilitates knowledge sharing, enhances skill development, and strengthens relationships within the organization. Through mentoring, experienced employees guide and support newer team members, promoting a culture of learning and growth. This process accelerates professional development and creates a sense of belonging and purpose among employees.

Mentors act as role models, embodying the organization’s values and reinforcing its cultural norms. Their insights and feedback help mentees navigate workplace challenges and integrate more effectively into the company culture. Additionally, mentoring encourages open communication, builds trust, and enhances collaboration, further reinforcing the work environment.

For organizations looking to implement or improve their mentoring programs, Together offers a comprehensive solution. It facilitates seamless mentor-mentee matching, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and cultural values. 

Embrace mentoring to cultivate a thriving work culture in your organization. Sign up for a demo today .

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How to answer "What are your thoughts on company values and culture?" (with sample answers)

Why Employers Ask This

The question “What are your thoughts on company values and culture?” is often asked in job interviews to assess whether a candidate’s personal values align with those of the organization, and whether they are a cultural fit for the company. Employers want to know if a candidate will be committed to the company’s vision and mission, and if their work style and attitudes fit in with the company’s culture.

Employers also ask this question to understand a candidate’s perspective on the importance of company values and culture, and to evaluate their level of interest in contributing to the culture of the company. Candidates who are passionate about company values and culture are more likely to be engaged, productive, and committed to the company in the long run.

How to Answer the Question

When answering the question “What are your thoughts on company values and culture?” in a job interview, it is important to be honest and authentic, while also demonstrating your enthusiasm for the company and eagerness to be a part of its culture.

Before the interview, research the company’s values and culture. Try to find out what makes the company unique, and what values they prioritize. During the interview, you can refer to specific examples or programs the company has implemented that align with your personal values.

When answering the question, be sure to articulate how your personal values align with those of the company, and how you would contribute to the culture of the organization. Show that you have thought about what it would be like to work for the company and how you would approach your work with integrity, passion, and commitment to their values. Remember, your answer should be tailored to reflect your individual connection and commitment to the company, not generic statements that can be used for any company.

Sample answers

Good answer: Company values and culture are very important to me when considering a job opportunity. I always try to research and understand a company's values and culture before applying to work there. It's important to me that my values align with those of the company I work for. From my research, I can see that your company values teamwork, innovation, and community involvement, which are all important to me as well. I am excited about the possibility of joining a team that prioritizes these values.

Bad answer: I don't really care about company values or culture. I'm just here for the paycheck.

Good answer: I believe that company culture and values play a pivotal role in employee motivation and job satisfaction. When employees are aligned with the company's values and mission, they are more productive and motivated. I appreciate that your company values diversity, equity, and inclusion, and that these values are reflected in your hiring practices and partnerships with diverse organizations. As someone who believes in creating an inclusive and welcoming workplace, I would be a good fit for your company's culture.

Bad answer: I have no idea what your company culture or values are, but I'm sure they are fine.

Good answer: I think company culture and values are important to overall job satisfaction and happiness at work. From my research, I can see that your company has a strong sense of community and teamwork, which I think are incredibly important in a workplace. I appreciate that you encourage employees to share ideas and collaborate with their colleagues, which I believe is essential for the success of any company. I am eager to become a part of this collaborative and supportive team.

Bad answer: Company culture and values are just buzzwords. I don't really care about that stuff as long as I get paid.

CCSU SET Department

6 ways to build a culture of automation in your organization

In a world of persistent macroeconomic and business uncertainty, organizations are increasingly looking for ways to grow revenue without adding capacity. Hiring is expensive, takes time, and can be full of risk. It’s also increasingly difficult to do in an environment where ITOps talent is in short supply.

The simple answer to this capacity conundrum is automation. On paper, it can help to eliminate manual toil and free staff up to work on higher value, more motivating tasks—creating a virtuous circle of happy, productive employees. It can also help to ensure operations run more smoothly without adding extra cost and risk. But getting there isn’t easy. Here are six ideas for building the right culture (as shared with me by Jamie Vernon ).

1)         Start small with routine tasks

Automation is about accelerating the business with small successes. They may not be the kind of major wins that generate plaudits, but they should provide incremental success stories that increase employee satisfaction and help the organization to operate better. In fact, a recent Gartner report recommended that I&O leaders “identify the biggest areas of low-value repetitive work.” (Source: Gartner, Inc., “ Let the Robots Enhance Your ITSM Service Desk ,” Chris Laske, Chris Saunderson, Chris Matchett, 21 December 2023 ). GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

These should be the kind of tasks that you’d otherwise want a junior team member handling—whether it’s switching a network interface, restarting a Windows server, or cleaning off temporary disk space. These are the routine tasks nobody wants to do, and no one is going to benefit professionally from doing them thousands of times in their career. For your automation efforts, it’s about hitting singles every day rather than swinging for the fence: small, repeatable, and expandable wins.

2)         Get the team on board

One of the biggest challenges with transitioning to an automation-centric culture is pushback from engineers. Whether it’s automating code releases, network changes or server builds, one of the most common responses is basically “Why would I sign up to you scripting me out of a job?” That’s why it’s important not to present automation as a mandate. An ITOps manager needs the support of their team to push through a change of this magnitude.

Instead, try to sell them on the adventure. It’s about positioning this journey as one where the organization is going to eliminate all the manual, repetitive work that the team hates and replace it with a new kind of role and new, more advanced technical skills which will make them happier and more employable going forward. As Vernon notes, “People want to grow(…) especially in IT,” so it’s your job as a leader to help people understand their growth potential.

3)         Build a culture of trust

This is something that should ideally happen before embarking on that automation journey. By building trust and goodwill over several years with the ITOps team, managers can reduce the likelihood of pushback and make those initial conversations easier. That’s not something that can be achieved overnight. It comes from being on outage bridges countless times together and working through incidents.

Even after building this kind of goodwill, there are always some team members who flat-out refuse to change and continue to do things the old way. But eventually, those manual tasks become the lowest-hanging fruit to be automated. And when these people see that their colleagues get their days back and have an opportunity to work on higher value projects, in Vernon’s experience then the pushback will usually drop away.

4)         Aim to build momentum quickly

Once the function has begun its automation journey, it pays to look around the business for opportunities to demonstrate the value this approach can bring. This could mean partnering with the security team, for example, to automate and standardize incident response processes like disabling accounts following a suspicious activity alert. Something like that can demonstrate tremendous value because it locks down a potential breach faster than a human could do it, and without waking someone up in the middle of the night.

HR could be another function to benefit from more automated processes, such as rapid offboarding of high-profile/senior executives in the organization. In those situations, discretion is important so that HR can manage the story and the process more effectively. Automation ensures you’re minimizing the number of people involved in sensitive personnel change.

Wherever in the organization ITOps goes to add value, it’s a worthwhile endeavour to build momentum and demonstrate value and relevance to the business.

5)         Integrate new team members effectively

Inevitably there will be people joining the ITOps team that weren’t around when the automation journey began. And that can be something of a culture shock for them, depending on the organization they came from. But there are ways to get them up to speed pretty quickly. As part of onboarding, get them to check that the automation scripts are running properly, and if they aren’t, to look for opportunities to update them. That’s a great bridge between directly managing the network and learning how to build in automation, and it will get them used to the new way things are being done.

6)         Establish clear criteria for automation candidates

Once an automation culture is up and running, and demonstrating clear value to the organization, the last thing the ITOps function needs is to overreach. That’s why it’s important to have a clear set of guidelines, based on risk appetite, as to what processes/tasks should be considered for automation. It should include an evaluation of how mission critical the task is, how complex it is, and how many discrete technologies are involved.

Ultimately, it’s about ensuring that the ITOps team has the skill sets and the tools it needs to make a success of any new automation project. Start small, get the team on board, build momentum, and find new opportunities to demonstrate success across the organization.

To learn more, visit us here .

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6 ways to build a culture of automation in your organization

Empower your automation: strategies for cultivating a culture of efficiency and innovation in itops..

In a world of persistent macroeconomic and business uncertainty, organizations are increasingly looking for ways to grow revenue without adding capacity. Hiring is expensive, takes time, and can be full of risk. It’s also increasingly difficult to do in an environment where ITOps talent is in short supply. 

The simple answer to this capacity conundrum is automation. On paper, it can help to eliminate manual toil and free staff up to work on higher value, more motivating tasks—creating a virtuous circle of happy, productive employees. It can also help to ensure operations run more smoothly without adding extra cost and risk. But getting there isn’t easy. Here are six ideas for building the right culture (as shared with me by  Jamie Vernon ).

1)         Start small with routine tasks

Automation  is about accelerating the business with small successes. They may not be the kind of major wins that generate plaudits, but they should provide incremental success stories that increase employee satisfaction and help the organization to operate better. In fact, a recent Gartner report recommended that I&O leaders “identify the biggest areas of low-value repetitive work.” (Source: Gartner, Inc., “ Let the Robots Enhance Your ITSM Service Desk ,” Chris Laske, Chris Saunderson, Chris Matchett, 21 December 2023 ). GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

These should be the kind of tasks that you’d otherwise want a junior team member handling—whether it’s switching a network interface, restarting a Windows server, or cleaning off temporary disk space. These are the routine tasks nobody wants to do, and no one is going to benefit professionally from doing them thousands of times in their career. For your automation efforts, it’s about hitting singles every day rather than swinging for the fence: small, repeatable, and expandable wins.

2)         Get the team on board

One of the biggest challenges with transitioning to an automation-centric culture is pushback from engineers. Whether it’s automating code releases, network changes or server builds, one of the most common responses is basically “Why would I sign up to you scripting me out of a job?” That’s why it’s important not to present automation as a mandate. An ITOps manager needs the support of their team to push through a change of this magnitude. 

Instead, try to sell them on the adventure. It’s about positioning this journey as one where the organization is going to eliminate all the manual, repetitive work that the team hates and replace it with a new kind of role and new, more advanced technical skills which will make them happier and more employable going forward. As Vernon notes, “People want to grow[…] especially in IT,” so it’s your job as a leader to help people understand their growth potential. 

3)         Build a culture of trust

This is something that should ideally happen before embarking on that automation journey. By building trust and goodwill over several years with the ITOps team, managers can reduce the likelihood of pushback and make those initial conversations easier. That’s not something that can be achieved overnight. It comes from being on outage bridges countless times together and working through incidents. 

Even after building this kind of goodwill, there are always some team members who flat-out refuse to change and continue to do things the old way. But eventually, those manual tasks become the lowest-hanging fruit to be automated. And when these people see that their colleagues get their days back and have an opportunity to work on higher value projects, in Vernon’s experience then the pushback will usually drop away.

4)         Aim to build momentum quickly

Once the function has begun its automation journey, it pays to look around the business for opportunities to demonstrate the value this approach can bring. This could mean partnering with the security team, for example, to automate and standardize incident response processes like disabling accounts following a suspicious activity alert. Something like that can demonstrate tremendous value because it locks down a potential breach faster than a human could do it, and without waking someone up in the middle of the night.

HR could be another function to benefit from more automated processes, such as rapid offboarding of high-profile/senior executives in the organization. In those situations, discretion is important so that HR can manage the story and the process more effectively. Automation ensures you’re minimizing the number of people involved in sensitive personnel change. 

Wherever in the organization ITOps goes to add value, it’s a worthwhile endeavour to build momentum and demonstrate value and relevance to the business.

5)         Integrate new team members effectively

Inevitably there will be people joining the ITOps team that weren’t around when the automation journey began. And that can be something of a culture shock for them, depending on the organization they came from. But there are ways to get them up to speed pretty quickly. As part of onboarding, get them to check that the automation scripts are running properly, and if they aren’t, to look for opportunities to update them. That’s a great bridge between directly managing the network and learning how to build in automation, and it will get them used to the new way things are being done.

6)         Establish clear criteria for automation candidates

Once an automation culture is up and running, and demonstrating clear value to the organization, the last thing the ITOps function needs is to overreach. That’s why it’s important to have a clear set of guidelines, based on risk appetite, as to what processes/tasks should be considered for automation. It should include an evaluation of how mission critical the task is, how complex it is, and how many discrete technologies are involved. 

Ultimately, it’s about ensuring that the ITOps team has the skill sets and the tools it needs to make a success of any new automation project. Start small, get the team on board, build momentum, and find new opportunities to demonstrate success across the organization. 

To learn more, visit us  here .

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Your team hates your erp. here’s what to do..

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Enterprise Resource Planning. The software that touches every single part of your business takes, on average, 18.4 months and roughly 3-5% of your revenue to implement.

Companies make these big investments because ERP can deliver efficiency, productivity, visibility, better forecasting, and data security, all while reducing costs. In fact, many companies consider ERP essential to their future. Nem Fontanilla, who has spend 27 years enabling global transformations, recommends that organizations “Design the ERP with the vision in mind and leverage it to accelerate the achievement of your team’s vision, not to enable the current reality.”

Unfortunately, most companies experience a rough ride on the way to those benefits. A friend of mine is CEO of a midsized company, and is in the the second year of a promised six-month cutover. When he described the team’s difficulties closing the books due to the cutover, and the accounting teams increasing frustration, another friend chimed in. His team had a similar issue with their ERP implementation. He described their reaction as “organ rejection.”

Is your organization fighting off the ERP implementation? Here are some of the reasons.

“No time for that.” It’s more than enough to get the day-to-day work done. Adopting a new system demands attention and energy that equates to another full-time job.

“The best person for this project already has a job .” If you want the new system to work well, you need your best people on the ERP team – the folks who know your business best. So who is running day-to-day operations while they’re focused on your company’s future? The irony is that they’re so essential to the business that they can’t be spared, yet they’re probably worried they won’t have a job when the project ends. You have two obstacles to staffing your ERP team right.

“It’s good enough .” The old system and process works well enough. The team works on auto-pilot – they know what to input and where to send it. They find it hard to imagine the benefits of an operational overhaul outweighing the urgency of the moment. And frankly, some departments might be right about that. They might find the new system is worse for them even though it benefits the company as a whole.

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Feeling a little defeated? You’re not alone. It’s chaotic enough to run a business. Now you’re intentionally introducing something that might break it.

Here's what to do.

Embrace the suck. Assume employees will hate it. It’s a big change. Every living person is here because our ancestors were paranoid enough to anticipate danger and survive. Your new system is an intruder.

Resist cliché communications . Do not create a basic elevator speech. Do not create “talking head” videos of your executives saying how important this is. You will reinforce every cynical assumption your people have about this effort. Instead, create a consistent message frame that is customized by the speaker based on the audience. For more on how to communicate, go here and here.

Communicate based on impact . Employees care about when they will be affected and how. If you communicate too much, people tune out. You’re just teaching people to ignore you. For each person or team, communicate just what matters, just enough, and just in time.

Say the thing . There’s a natural tendency to hold back information that’s unpleasant or undefined. But fight that urge; the more more explicit you are, the more you dispel confusion and build trust. Spell out your scope and your timelines. If there will be layoffs, say so. Identify who is impacted and how.

Show them this time is different. Sometimes employees resist a change because they equate it to another change that “failed.” So highlight the differences between this project and others in the past. Differences might include:

• ­ New Approach
• ­ Different Team
• ­ Different Budget
• ­ Tighter or Expanded Scope
• ­ Different Focus
• ­ Different Timing

Create fresh starts. A long ERP initiative can feel like a slog. Psychologically, we respond better to beginnings and ends . Seize on any arbitrary beginning that feels real: a new quarter, a new phase, hitting a milestone, or new metrics (like testing or training numbers). Help the team and the organization feel the progress and success by celebrating those starts and ends.

Focus on one small win. For each job role, think of only one thing an employee can do to use the new system, even if it’s as trivial as logging in. Have them do it, and have them do it often. Make sure it’s easy, and that the experience is positive - for example, that the screen they’re on actually works. This gives them a sense that they can be successful and it makes the new system feel more familiar.

Double-down on From-To . Nem Fontanilla, who has spent 27 years in change and transformation, recommends that teams “(design) end-user readiness activities with (the user’s) day in the life in mind. Help them contextualize and see the change from their vantage point.” Where do your current fields appear in the new system? It’s that level of detail employees will want. Where is the data people used to use – where is it now? Document that, and train that. The more specific you are, the easier you make it for your people.

Prepare to invest in cutover twice . You’re working toward an end state. But in between here and there is a transition state. The support materials you develop differ for each state. You need temporary processes and training for employees who have the context of how they work now. These transition materials will be irrelevant once you complete the cutover. The second set, your steady state materials, are for new employees who have never known your old processes. They live on going forward. Some people try to skip the transition investment and only invest in the end state. However, that forces employees to figure it out on their own, which is a bit like interrupting a line of ants – they find a new path, but you have no way to control or predict it.

Nem Fontanilla says, “Turning on the ERP is the beginning…The functional teams need support to fully realize the value. It does not just happen because the new capabilities are available.”

Getting past the organ rejection takes focus and preparation, but it can be done. The huge investment in your ERP requires no less.

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