Summary

High performance organisational cultures incorporate practices that enhance employee commitment. These practices typically incorporate a sense of vision or purpose, provide excellent learning opportunities, good visibility of the outcome of work done, strong team bonds, and a well-crafted incentive scheme that is tied to work goals.

Culture defines accepted behaviour. It underpins performance throughout an organisation, and reflects its reputation. For this reason organisations must be able to clearly articulate their cultures. The failure of newly appointed senior leaders is often strongly linked to their inability to assimilate, and to mesh within the culture of their new organisation. The behaviour of an organisation’s top people is of prime importance for the development of a consistent corporate culture. At a basic level, the organisation’s culture should be monitored and managed to ensure that staff behaviour and day-to-day internal communications are aligned to the desired culture.

Experience suggests that rapid changes to business performance can be only be effectively achieved by carefully crafting a strong cultural foundation to underpin sound processes and systems. Organisational strategic visions should seek to maintain technical and emotional issues in an appropriate balance. Cultural change need not be a time-consuming exercise: a sound understanding of the behavioural dynamics of cultural change will help to effectively drive necessary changes throughout an organisation. The successful transition to a new culture may require new structures, a strong commitment to strategy, planning, process design, system development and, most importantly, the engagement and emotional commitment of staff at all levels.

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