Effective ways of managing organizational culture

What is OB ? • Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study and application

of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking a system approach. That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization, and whole social system.• This area of study examines human behavior in a work

environment and determines its impact on job structure, performance, communication, motivation, leadership, etc. Internal and external perspectives are two theories of how organizational behavior can be viewed by organization

What is organizational culture ?• Organizational culture is a system of shared

assumptions, values, and beliefs, which governs how people behave in organizations. • These shared values have a strong influence on the

people in the organization and dictate how they dress, act, and perform their jobs. • Every organization develops and maintains a unique

culture, which provides guidelines and boundaries for the behavior of the members of the organization.

Characteristics of organizational culture • Organizational culture is composed of seven

characteristics that range in priority from high to low. 1. Innovation (Risk Orientation)2. Attention to Detail (Precision Orientation)3. Emphasis on Outcome (Achievement Orientation)4. Emphasis on People (Fairness Orientation)5. Teamwork (Collaboration Orientation)6. Aggressiveness (Competitive orientation)7. Stability (Rule orientation)

How do you manage culture ?• There are plenty of frameworks for managing strategy,

talent, leadership, or performance, but not culture. • Culture has been this elusive, mysterious subject. There

are numerous surveys and models but most culture management guidelines resort to over-simplified tips, keys or other suggestions.

Focus on a critical few behaviors with the most cultural impact.

Expand change capabilities beyond leadership and communication alignment.

Activate informal levers, such as peer networks and storytelling.

Effective ways of organizational culture • There are almost as many ways to develop an effective

organizational culture as there are companies that have them. • For organization the key to building an effective culture

began with an understanding of the people with whom they work.

1. Consistent communication2. Celebrate success3. Be transparent4. Respect everyone's contribution5. Continually benchmark your performance

Consistent communication• The cultural principles of the organization must be

communicated consistently by the leadership and demonstrated every day. • Organization should know that nothing would bring

greater discredit to our culture than leaders who said they subscribed to the culture but behaved another way. • Internal newsletters, business planning processes and

company awards all needed to be structured around the principles organization held.

Celebrate success• The key to maintaining cultural momentum has been

providing all employees with a line of sight on every success the organization achieves. • Success needs to be celebrated throughout the

organization, and the teams primarily responsible should be lauded across the company. • A leader must have the good sense to make these

successes about his people, not himself. • Celebrating success drives the esprit de corps and a

pride that enhances the quality of the work a company does.

Be transparent• Organization's need to be transparent in their strategic

planning and how they treat their employees. • The more a organization shares information, the more

employees feel like a team and have a shared responsibility over the success of the organization. • This transparency should even extend to lessons about

the failures that occur – because failure can be our best teacher, provided people learn from those mistakes. • You should talk about them and not cover them up.

Respect everyone's contribution• You need to be able to listen to your people, and accept

their feedback and criticism. • A good organization also invests in the training and

welfare of its staff and trusts what employees have to say. • This rule of thumb must cascade from the most senior

levels of the organization right down to the company mailroom.• Everyone needs to feel that their contribution is

respected in a meaningful way.

Continually benchmark your performance• Being a great place to work doesn't happen overnight –

its a process of continual improvement, where each year you try to do a better job of employee satisfaction and retention. • There are a variety of benchmarking metrics you can

use and you must survey your organization annually – in good times and bad – to get honest feedback. • Then you need to have a transparent discussion about

the findings and put a plan in place to make improvements for all to see.