Organisational culture is an elusive and at times a mystifying subject. It is an intriguing element that is learned and helps to shape and characterise people in the workplace. Organisational culture is a pattern of shared basic assumptions, values and beliefs, which govern how people behave in an organisation. The collection of shared practises are adopted by the organisation and become ingrained in the way in which work is done. The culture of the organisation embodies the values, belief system, behaviours and attitudes and determines how a business operates, contributing towards the success or failure of an organisation.
Functioning as a behavioural template for an organisation, and providing a framework for people management, organisational culture is consistently reinforced through the attitudes and behaviours of people and becomes the personality of the organisation.
The cornerstone of organisational culture is its commitment to a set of core values and benchmarked ethical behaviours. Values are described as the guiding principles that provide an organisation with purpose, the “why” and direction. These behavioural patterns create the organisation’s internal thermostat for what is considered by the business as good behaviour and ethical practices. These values and ethical norms become ingrained in the organisation and the culture is perpetuated through leadership and human resources practises.
A strong or weak culture
Culture is the personality of the business and like the personality of an individual, it can be complex, transforms with time and adapts to events and circumstances. The culture of an organisation while invisible, has a remarkable influence on its people. The strength of the culture determines the capacity and adaptability the organisation has toward meeting goals and objectives and leading change.
A strong culture is a set of habits, norms, expectations, traditions, symbols, values and techniques that influences the behaviour of people in the workplace. A strong organisational culture is requisite for engendering a sense of identity, affiliation and cohesion in the workplace and through these actions harmonising behaviours with the organisational goals. A strong culture encourages motivation, loyalty, and employee retention, while cultivating synergy and cross functional team collaboration. A strong culture promotes innovation, creativity, and adaptability by encouraging employees to experiment, take risks and challenges the status quo. Moreover, it supports ethical conduct, social responsibility, and customer orientation by having employees uphold the organisational standards and values.
A weak culture is a culture that is individualistic, where values and norms are incongruous, often not clearly communicated, obscure and unidentifiable. In an organisation where the culture is not clearly defined, the employee often becomes disconnected from the organisation and indifferent, leading to poor communication, and a lack of cohesion, this resulting in a lack motivation. Moreover, it suppresses creativity, and adaptability as the employee grows unenthusiastic and complacent, subduing the organisational values and standards of the business.
Types of organisational cultures
Whether by default or design, there are different types of cultures practiced within organisation. Most organisations will take on more than one type of culture, but typically a dominant culture will manifest and represent the overall environment.
An adhocracy culture describes an organisational approach of decentralized leadership, encourages individual initiative, and fluid decision-making. In the absence of a rigid system of authority or inflexible procedures, the adhocracy culture gives the employee permission to take ownership. Adhocracy cultures are typically found in organisations that are highly innovative or creative, and where change is common. In these organisations, employees are expected to be proactive, independent thinkers and to take initiative. The downside to adhocracy is that due to it’s informal approach to leadership, there can be lack of clarity in respect of what needs to be achieved resulting in chaos and conflict.
Synonymous with family, a clan culture is a type of organisational culture that adopts an “equal power” approach amongst all employees. Employees are close knit and have strong relationships. A clan culture promotes teamwork, it is characterised by high employee engagement and retention, mutual decision making, non-competitiveness and is highly collaborative. A clan culture welcomes feedback, open-mindedness, values new ideas and encourages open communication across all levels in the organisation. All employees have a voice and there is a sense that everyone is valued.
Risk taking and challenging the status quo may not easily exist in an environment of togetherness and unity, as employees may not wish to rock the boat. A highly collaborative workplace can be very productive however can create a bottleneck which may impede productivity.
A hierarchical culture accents top-down leadership and has a strong internal focus and emphasis on organisational values. This culture has an established set of standards and expectations that the employee is expected to deliver against. Prioritising adherence to rules helps to mitigate risks, prevent errors, and manage disruptions effectively. It also ensures that rules and consequences are equitable across all levels of employees within the company. Decision making is top down, deliberate and methodical with a defined chain of command. When compared to other types of company culture, the hierarchical culture strives to cultivate long term steadiness and stable outputs. Hierarchical cultures are inclined to recognise and reward individual performance over collective action or interdepartmental collaboration.
Due to the nature of this highly formalised hierarchal environment, decision making may be slow and drawn out with very little employee creativity and innovation. Employees may lack engagement and feel unsupported in this highly structured workplace.
In a market culture, competition in the workplace can be a primary force behind innovation and employee motivation. Innovation can help to create a market culture company, to excel in industry, and attract new customers. The market culture value system encourages competition both to business and its market competitors and its employees. A market culture places emphasis on achievement, potentially increasing innovation by allowing a healthy competition amongst employees and managing recognition and reward.
This culture is characterised by a challenging, fast paced environment, lends itself to motivation and innovation which can create a happy engaged working environment. Through normalising competition and innovation, companies may realise higher profits resulting in higher reward for employees and stakeholder. The need for continuous competition amongst employees, may produce an unsupportive work environment, resulting in lower employee motivation and higher employee turnover. The fast pace of a workplace may result in many errors with below standard outputs where employees may also suffer from burnout.
No single culture is perfect, each has its strengths and weaknesses. The key is finding the right balance. By understanding and cultivating a strong culture, organisations can unlock their full potential. As author and culture expert, Françoise Duguay, notes, “Culture is not a soft issue; it’s a strategic imperative.”
In today’s fast-paced business landscape, organisations must prioritise culture to stay ahead. By doing so, they’ll attract top talent, drive innovation, and achieve long-term success.
Organisational culture is not just a nicety; it’s a necessity. By embracing a strong culture, organisations can unlock their true potential and thrive in an ever-changing world.
For more information please contact Colette Tanner,
T: +27 (0)31 767 0625
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