1 Organizational Culture Inventory : an excerpt from the Cultural Change Situation 1 By Human Synergistics International The Situation You are the Vice President of Human Resources at Conglomerate, Inc., a diversified organization that offers a variety of products and services world-wide. After several years of steady growth in profits and the acquisition of numerous companies, your organization s financial performance has stagnated. Individually, several divisions have not experienced growth for at least two years and, together, they have not realized the synergistic results that were anticipated. The Board of Directors has requested that the top management team prepare a plan for improving Conglomerate s future performance. In response, you convinced the other top managers to take a hard look at the culture of the organization and its divisions. You hired a consultant, who recommended the administration of the Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI) and a companion survey, the Organizational Effectiveness Inventory (OEI). The OEI measures outcomes associated with culture (such as teamwork, motivation, and service quality) as well as factors that might be promoting the current culture (such as goal setting, leadership, and management practices). The OCI and OEI were administered to a cross-section of members throughout Conglomerate about three weeks ago. Interviews were also conducted with managers to gain further insights. The results of the surveys and the interviews were presented to the top management team earlier today. Needless to say, it was quite a meeting! Your consultant began by explaining that the OCI measures culture in terms of behavioral norms, or the way in which people are expected to approach their work and interact with one another. She then presented profiles depicting your organization s current culture. While the culture of Conglomerate is not strong, the dominant norms reflect expectations for Avoidance, Oppositional, and Perfectionistic behaviors. Upon hearing this, a few of the VPs stood up and declared the results invalid after all, they argued, everyone knows they have to cooperate with one another in striving for excellence in production and customer services because these expectations for more constructive behaviors are made explicit by the company s mission statement. Furthermore, this statement hangs in the foyer of every building and all members are tested on its content once a year! After convincing everyone to take their seats, the consultant went on to explain that while Conglomerate s mission statement is consistent with constructive behavioral norms, the day-to-day operating culture of the organization is determined by what is
Organizational Culture Inventory 2 Cultural Change Situation actually rewarded, punished, noticed by managers, and permitted by the organization, the division, the department, and the job. The results of the OEI revealed that many of Conglomerate s systems, structures, practices, and processes are consistent with, and most likely lead to, its current defensive culture. The culture profiles of various divisions and departments within Conglomerate were then presented. Consistent with the consultant s arguments, the norms and expectations within the divisions and departments seemed to vary with the structures, systems, and processes of those units. Additionally, there were similarities in the outcomes realized by units with the same general cultural profiles. At this point, the management team decided that the OCI and OEI results warranted further consideration. The Challenge The consultant has assigned the management team the task of first specifying gaps between Conglomerate s current and ideal culture and then identifying the factors that lead to and the outcomes that result from the cultures of different divisions and departments. Along with Conglomerate s current and ideal culture profiles, she has provided you with five additional sets of profiles. These additional profiles reflect the combined OCI results of particular divisions or departments that are similar either in terms of the outcomes of their culture or in terms of the factors that promote their culture. You note that some of the additional profiles include your top performing units while other profiles are based on units that are not nearly as effective. The consultant assures your team that by discussing how the culture of different units is related to their results along other factors, you will have identified some levers for change (in terms of closing cultural gaps) as well as defined the outcomes that should be realized from a successful change process. Since your team is scheduled to present an improvement plan to the Board next eek, you are anxious to begin analyzing the profiles.
Organizational Culture Inventory 3 Cultural Change Situation Identifying Cultural Gaps (Exercise 1 from the Cultural Change Situation ) The first profile (Profile 1a) reflects the current culture of Conglomerate as described by members throughout the organization. The second profile (Profile 1b), generated by Conglomerate s top executives, depicts how members should behave for the company to be successful (ideal culture). Profile 1a: Current Culture Humanistic/Encouraging 34% Oppositional 63% Affiliative 38% Power 41% Approval 56% Competitive 51% Conventional 55% Perfectionistic 63% Dependent 46% Achievement 41% Avoidance 71% Self-Actualizing 34%
Organizational Culture Inventory 4 Cultural Change Situation Profile 1b: Ideal Culture Humanistic/Encouraging 91% Oppositional 38% Affiliative 93% Power 18% Approval 31% Competitive 30% Conventional 26% Perfectionistic 32% Dependent 22% Achievement 87% Avoidance 16% Self-Actualizing 81%
Organizational Culture Inventory 5 Cultural Change Situation Describe the Current Culture According to Profile 1a, which behaviors or styles do members believe are required in order to fit in and meet expectations within Conglomerate? Which behaviors do members believe are not expected? a) Members believe that they are expected to: b) Members believe that they are not expected to: Describe the Ideal Culture According to Profile 1b, which behaviors or styles should be communicated to and expected of members in order for Conglomerate to be successful? Which behaviors should not be expected and reinforced? a) Ideally, members of Conglomerate should: b) Ideally, members of Conglomerate should not:
Organizational Culture Inventory 6 Cultural Change Situation Identify Cultural Gaps Along which of the 12 cultural styles do the greatest gaps appear between the actual and ideal profiles? Specifically, a) Which of the 12 cultural styles appear to fall the farthest below ideal levels? b) Which of the 12 cultural styles appear to fall the farthest above ideal levels? 1 This abbreviated version of the Cultural Change Situation is exclusively for the use of Keller Graduate School of Management GM591 classes. To obtain the full version of the exercise for organizational development and training applications, please contact Human Synergistics International at info@humansynergistics.com or 800-590-0995.