Even the most well-functioning organizational cultures require ongoing reflection and evolution. Organizational culture can be thought of as “the patterns or systems of beliefs, values and behavioral norms that come to be taken for granted as basic assumptions [within organizations]” (Schein, 2017).
One strategy to start exploring your organization’s culture is to examine how well your behaviors align with (or don’t align with) your organization’s espoused values – the behavioral guides for the organization.
Review the example in the table below try completing SJA’s Tool for your organization.
Write down your organization’s values (e.g., collaboration, integrity, transparency).
Define each organizational value.
Examples of how each organizational value enacted?
Examples of how to evaluate.
Organizational Value | Definition | Examples | Evaluation |
Collaboration | Individuals & teams support each other across departments, processes and product lines. | Team leaders solicit input from all team members on goals & solutions to problems.
Team members communicate across departments to identify barriers & solutions to implementing new processes and products. | Behaviors are aligned with the organizational value and are observable to leaders, team members and departments.
Periodic checks are undertaken to identify inconsistencies, with communication back to the team on areas for improvement. |
Download SJA's Tool to Explore Organizational Culture.
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