Tag: constructive culture

Challenging Industry Assumptions: Unveiling Cultural Similarities

Cheryl Boglarsky

But my industry is different! … We often hear this from our clients when we present data-based evidence that Constructive organizational norms lead to increased effectiveness, while Defensive norms decrease effectiveness. But are industry-specific norms and expectations for interacting with others and approaching work hindering our potential for success? Let’s dive deeper.

The Impact of Industry Standards on Effectiveness

Many businesses and professional practices strive to adhere to industry standards or the required or ordinary manner of performance in their field. For example, the medical field has standards of care for cardiac repair; similarly, ISO standards for quality management are reviewed and updated almost yearly. These standards serve various purposes, especially providing professional or legal guidelines for what is considered reasonable.

However, when it comes to norms and expectations for interacting with others and approaching work, are they specific to each industry? Can we expect that the effectiveness of Constructive behavioral norms transcends industry boundaries? Janet Szumal’s research on the Global Ideal Culture Profile indicates that people across countries strongly agree on the importance of Constructive styles. And our published research on organizational cultures across industries does not show significant differences across the industries studied. But can we show that Constructive styles are associated with effectiveness more than Defensive styles?

Challenging Fundamental Assumptions

Organizations and leaders often have fundamental assumptions about what motivates their members. These assumptions influence management styles and, ultimately, the behavioral norms and expectations within their organizations. One such assumption is that members dislike their work and have little motivation, leading to a ‘hands-on’ management approach that involves micromanaging to ensure tasks are done properly.

This assumption gives rise to the belief that Constructive styles won’t work in certain industries, leading management to state, “My industry is different.” Manufacturing organizations, for example, argue that their workforce requires close attention to every behavior and detailed job planning to minimize mistakes. They believe that allowing individual thoughts and autonomy wouldn’t increase effectiveness. However, when comparing Constructive and Defensive cultures within manufacturing organizations, we find that Constructive organizations (which encourage individual discretion and initiative) report higher effectiveness in three key areas (see Figure 1):

  1. Role Clarity (and Conflict): The extent to which people receive clear messages regarding what is expected of them (and the extent to which they receive inconsistent expectations from the organization and/or are expected to do things that conflict with their own preferences).
  2. Satisfaction: The extent to which members report positive appraisals of their work situation.
  3. Quality of Service/Products: The extent to which the organization has achieved service excellence with respect to internal and/or external customers/clients.

Figure 1 (click image to enlarge)

Challenging Assumptions in Education and Non-Profit Sectors

Another assumption is that the work itself is satisfying, and members are self-motivated, needing little direction. This assumption is commonly made and applied within the Educational and Non-Profit sectors. Educational and Non-Profit organizations provide services that aim to help others grow, develop, or heal. However, leaders in these industries often hesitate to compare themselves to ‘businesses’ with traditional bottom-lines, as the focus is on social causes, the clients or patients they serve, or the public at large. This can ultimately lead to understating the needs of employees.

Figures 2 and 3 present comparisons between Educational organizations with Constructive versus Defensive cultures and for Non-Profits (NPOs) with Constructive cultures and those with Defensive cultures. Once again, we find that members of Constructive organizations report higher effectiveness in the three important areas.

Figure 2 (click image to enlarge)

Figure 3 (click image to enlarge)

Exploring the Legal Services Industry

Legal Services is an industry known for its competitive and aggressive nature, with firms and brands that uniquely set themselves apart from competitors. However, even in this industry, Constructive organizations report higher effectiveness in terms of the three important outcomes (see Figure 4).

Figure 4 (click image to enlarge)

Constructive Norms: Breaking Industry Assumptions

These examples clearly demonstrate that Constructive norms provide an environment for increased effectiveness across industries. Culture matters, and to enhance effectiveness, regardless of your industry, embracing Constructive norms should be the goal.

Ready to Assess Your Organizational Culture?

How effective is your organizational culture? Contact us to find out how you can use the Organizational Culture Inventory® (OCI®) to gain valuable insights and paint a clearer picture of your organization’s effectiveness and full potential.

And if you are already accredited in the OCI®, our recently updated Comparative Results by Industry reports can offer valuable insights. These insights will enhance your recommendations and conversations with clients and prospects. Contact us today for details.

References

1 https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/what-is-the-relevance-of-industry-standards-under-the-law-36794

2 https://www.cabem.com/top-10-most-popular-iso-standards/

3 https://www.humansynergistics.com/blog/constructive-culture-blog/details/constructive-culture/2023/04/10/what-do-people-in-organizations-around-the-world-value-most

4 Douglas McGregor developed two contrasting theories that explained how managers’ beliefs about what motivates their people can affect their management style. He labeled these Theory X and Theory Y. While these theories have been refined and updated, for present purposes the simple dichotomy works. See https://mitsloan.mit.edu/institute-work-and-employment-research/douglas-m-mcgregor

5 See Justin Henry’s “Everyone Talks About Their Law Firm’s ‘Culture,’ But Is It Possible to Measure It?” in https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2023/03/15/everyone-talks-about-their-law-firms-culture-but-is-it-possible-to-measure-it/

Culture Change Agents and their Role in Transforming Organizations

Kalani Iwi'ula

The Beacon

Being an agent of change for an organization’s culture requires solid strategic and communications skills. Those experienced in helping organizations to change their culture confirm that it can be a massive undertaking.

Whatever challenges the organization is facing—low morale among staff, bad behavior at the senior ranks, unhealthy team culture, employee burnout or poor performance, lack of innovation—the situation requires attention and implementation of corrective strategies to position the company for sustainable improvement and success. If left unexamined, these problems inevitably worsen and cut off the organization’s chances for recovery.

Enter the Role of the Change Agent

Cultural change agents, whether internal or external, provide guidance and expertise and help leadership teams understand the challenge at hand, assess next steps, and collaborate on a clear path forward.

What is a cultural change agent?

An agent of cultural change within an organization is a person who is trained and empowered to facilitate change. Sometimes this individual will be an internal member of the organization who has the perspective to see how things are and how they can improve. A cultural change agent is often external to the group—a consultant, for example—who has specific training to analyze and evaluate the organization’s culture and recommend ways that that might change. No matter the type of change agent, or their role in the organization, the work of facilitating cultural change is vital.

Examples of cultural change agents at work

In the casual setting of a recent Ultimate Culture Conference, skilled culture change agents shared the following success stories on culture transformation. Covering diverse industries such as architecture, construction, consumables (food), and healthcare, the experiences of these agents of cultural change are worth examining for useful insights to apply in your own cultural journey.

Let’s get started.

HKS Architects

Culture Change at HKS: Resilient and Responsive

Challenge

US Bank Stadium_HKSDallas, Texas-based architectural firm HKS Architects creates places that enhance the human experience, like the US Bank Stadium, home of the 2018 Super Bowl. After collecting employee satisfaction data for 10 consecutive years, leadership sought to better understand the current culture and the roadblocks that were inhibiting employees from taking the most successful actions.

Solution

A culture survey was initiated firm-wide using the Organizational Culture Inventory® (OCI®) from Human Synergistics.1 Well-coordinated company-wide discussions, covering 20 offices across the globe, were conducted to review cultural attributes and the climates and prevailing behaviors of the various offices. Office leadership engaged staff in goal setting and planning. A new performance development system, ELEVATE, was implemented; not linked to compensation, the system involves managers meeting with team members three times each year. Culture change agent Cheryl Kitchner led ongoing discussions to facilitate participation and learning; vocal support from senior leadership is visible.

Outcomes

HKS reassessed its culture in 2016 using the OCI and added an assessment of the work climate with the complementary Organizational Effectiveness Inventory® (OEI).2 The retest, showing an impressive increase in survey participation, confirmed remarkable reductions in Passive/Defensive and Aggressive/Defensive styles and vital improvements along the Constructive styles. Key changes included a stronger commitment to and focus on personal and professional development.

The second phase of improvement is ongoing and includes:

  • Definition of a clear “FROM-TO” shift to consistently support the company-wide strategic priority, “Responsible Design.”
  • Implementation of a creative and engaging leadership development program, Root Compass. “Responsible Leadership Workshop” was customized based on culture assessment results and launched for use with all managers. Goal: 100 people trained by end of 2018.
  • Enhancement of the ELEVATE platform is further enhanced to include peer reviews for project teams and benchmarking by role.
  • Roll-out of personal assessments to identify individual styles and strengths. Goal: 600 people trained by end of 2018.

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Advocate Health Care*

Culture Shift + Leadership Development = Sustainable Results

Challenge

AdvocateHealthCareAs the largest health system in Illinois, Advocate’s challenge was to increase and stabilize engagement, focus on culture change, and strengthen relations within a high-profile, semi-autonomous unit that struggled with negative team dynamics, unproductive work relations, and entrenched passive-aggressive behavior.

*Advocate Health Care is now Advocate Aurora Health, April 2018

Solution

Focusing more on culture than climate, emphasis was placed on helping leaders and teams make the connection between outcomes and their actions and behaviors. Simultaneous “teach & learns” were delivered at all organizational levels with a keen focus on achieving ideal behavioral styles and impact.

The change initiative was guided by an OD professional specializing in culture transformation and leadership development. Culture change agent Diane Stuart’s 10 years of healthcare management experience qualified her to lead Advocate’s change effort through an intense and collaborative learning process using assessments like the OCI and Leadership/Impact® (L/I).1, 3

Outcomes

As leaders gained awareness of their behaviors and their impact on others, Advocate achieved a dramatic shift in culture, attained high levels of engagement, and exceeded financial goals. The impressive turnaround results realized by the focal unit have subsequently been used to motivate, guide, and transform other Advocate teams and departments.

Summary PDF

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Johnsonville Sausage & Wisconsin School of Business Center for Professional & Executive Development (CPED)

Ensuring a Culture for Growth

Challenge

UnivOfWisconsin_JohnsonvilleSausageMembers and leaders of Wisconsin-based Johnsonville Sausage have a bold vision to “be the best company on earth.” This requires that the leading national sausage brand be culturally prepared and poised for aggressive innovation on its way to growing and becoming a $1 billion company. An important step was determining whether the company’s Research and Development subculture would foster innovation and growth while supporting their desired culture famously cultivated in the “Johnsonville Way.”

Solution

Susan Dumke, Johnsonville’s Research & Development Senior Project Manager, partnered with CPED to coordinate a pilot culture study led by Lisa Yaffe, Program Director for Executive Leadership.

Accredited in the OCI, culture change agent Yaffe guided the Johnsonville team through the assessment and reporting process.1

Outcomes

A pilot study confirmed that the R&D employees maintained a strong Constructive subculture that helped the team stay aligned, focused, and to work together and grow. The process also confirmed that the OCI could be leveraged for assessing and developing the Johnsonville culture more broadly.

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Lessons Learned

Culture-related change efforts come in many forms. These three very different success stories provide the following lessons:

  • Recognize how your current culture is helping and hindering progress toward key strategic priorities.
  • Use a valid and reliable survey to gain a common language for and measure of both culture and climate.
  • Understand culture and climate as a foundation for adjusting strategies or plans to improve results.
  • Combine culture assessment and development efforts with leadership assessment and development.
  • Partner with experienced culture change agents for perspective and expert guidance.
  • The journey never ends. Engage leadership and all team members in additional phases of improvement as progress is measured and confirmed.

The guidance and expertise of a culture change agent can be invaluable to your change effort. For additional examples of how change agents guide leaders in transforming their organizations, check out part two of this series.

References:

1 Cooke, R. A. & Lafferty J. C. (1987). Organizational Culture Inventory®. Plymouth, MI: Human Synergistics International.

2 Cooke, R. A. (1995). Organizational Effectiveness Inventory®. Arlington Heights, IL: Human Synergistics/Center for Applied Research.

3 Cooke, R. A. (1996). Leadership/Impact®. Plymouth, MI: Human Synergistics.