Organisation Culture Profile
The organizational culture inventory seeks to measure how the constituent members of an organization blend or interrelate with respect to such things as shared values, beliefs, and practices (Kotter J.P and Hesket J, L 1992).
The Organisational Culture Inventory (OCI) was administered and the results were compared against 5685 members of other organizations.
Basically, through looking at the organizational culture inventory we are able to see what is being encouraged by the organization and from it derive its strengths and strategies. The inventory should at the very least give an overview of what is expected from each individual member of the organization (Kotter J.P and Hesket J, L 1992).
Current Culture and ideal culture
The passive/defensive culture allows people to interact with others in such a way that they do not challenge themselves. It leaves little room for self-motivation in such a way that an individual will strive to outdo others or his previous performance (Kotter J.P and Hesket J, L 1992).
In the current culture, approval culture seems to be high at 97% unlike in ideal where it is only 27%. This is a reflection of the reduced need to be accepted and liked by others. Common to the approval culture employees strive to be accepted by colleagues. This may be achieved by being agreeable and obedient.
Generally, there has been a decline in all cultures in the passive/defensive culture also shown by an equal decline in the conventional culture by 70% which may be an indication of the decline in the need to conform to the working environment with employees striving to achieve more attention. There is also a need for less concentration and a preference for security and a predictable working environment.
The decline in the dependant culture is not as significant which is only 5% which may indicate that the employees still reflect a need for self-protection and the lack of control over important decisions where they depend on others to help and willingly obey orders dictated to them. However, the percentage for both ideal and current are significantly low showing that preference is not given this type of culture, both ranging at around 29% and 24% respectively.
There is also a significant drop in the avoidance culture by around 60% indicating a drop in the understanding of the need to protect oneself in the working situation. It may also indicate that the employees have reduced fear of threatening situations. Unlike in the avoidance culture, people are not necessarily playing very safe, instead, they are taking risks, engaging in group activities and they are acting in situations decisively and committed.
Constructive styles usually reflect and maintain a healthy balance between people and concerns raised over tasks with the aim of promoting high order needs (Kotter J.P and Hesket J, L 1992).
All the cultures in the constructive style culture remain relatively high with all being above 70% with only slight declines in all respective cultures.
The achievement has a small decline in the percentile by only 9% which may indicate a decline in the need to attain or achieve high-quality results and achieve challenging goals. It may also be an indication of a slight decline in the effort of the employees. However, it may not necessarily affect personal planning or the ability of the employees to learn from their mistakes.
The levels of self-actualization are relatively high although a decline is imminent, this may be an indication of the need for personal growth for employees, self-fulfillment, and also the realization of potential. Employees are also driven by the desire to learn and experience and to effectively display what they have learned and also to engage in both creative and realistic thinking. However the decrease in the percentile between the current and ideal could be an indication of a decline in these factors.
Humanistic factors are seen to be very high at around 94% and 85% indicating growth in the development of people with great concern for others. It also shows that employees are sensitive to others and devote a lot of their time to coach and counsel others. Generally, the organizational members provide support to others and encourage others.
Affiliative culture is also relatively high showing interest to develop and keep good relationships (Kotter J.P and Hesket J, L 1992). People within the organization share their thoughts and feelings thereby creating a friendly and cooperative relationship.
Aggressive/defensive culture usually is usually responsible for promoting self-thinking and behavior (Kotter J.P and Hesket J, L 1992). In the organization, there seems to be a significant drop in all the respective cultures in the defensive culture indicating less concentration in the building of oneself.
Oppositional culture has significantly dropped from around 79% to 45% largely indicating a decline in the need for security that manifests itself in a questioning and critical manner towards others in the organization. There will also be a decline in the tendency of some members to blame others or use criticism to gain attention.
Power culture also drops from 76% to 30% indicating a decline in the need for prestige and influence over others. It also reduces the value attached with self-worth achieved by controlling others. Power results in a reduction of morale among employees as it is more dictatorial than guiding and offering assistance to workers when faced with difficulties.
Competition has also declined from 90% to 42% which is relatively large indicating less concentration being given to issues such as the need to protect one’s interests by having to always outperform others and to never lose, which when encouraged can also impact negatively.
A perfectionist culture reduction as above reduces the need to equate self-worth with the need to achieve unreasonable standards. It also reduces the need to place unnecessary demand on oneself which may be self-destructing eventually resulting in poor contribution in the work environment.
A general decrease in the aggressive/defensive culture is good for the organization as it creates a good working environment for the members of the organization to co-exist peacefully
Recommendations
With regards to the Constructive norms, the organization is doing better than the ideal as there are no negative gaps.
With regards to the defensive styles, the company would benefit a great deal by reducing their expectation levels for Approval, Conventional, Dependent Avoidance, Oppositional, Power, Competence, and Perfectionist styles. This is due to the fact that they all have positive gaps whereas a negative gap would have indicated that the organization as currently doing better than the ideal (Cooke, R, A, and Laffety J, C 1987)
References
Cooke, R, A and Laffety J, C (1987) the organizational culture inventory Plymouth M, J human synergistic Inc.
Kotter J.P and Hesket J, L (1992) corporate culture and performance New York Free Press.