Organisational culture consists of the attitudes, values, and behaviours common to a group. Correct or acceptable ways of perceiving, thinking, feeling, making decisions and acting are governed by culture. Culture is expressed through symbols, language, stories, ceremonies and conduct.
Culture has a strong influence on which issues are important to an organisation and how these issues are perceived and approached.
Organisational relationships are also part of the cultural fabric. Strategic fit between organisational strategy and culture is fundamental to developing a high performance culture.
An immediate tangible benefit of carrying out a culture audit is involvement of staff at an early stage of the planning process.
The information gained from the audit allows for planning the smooth integration of the two cultures, reduces the risk that culture clash will damage merger success and sets the scene for a new desired culture.
The objectives of the culture audit are to:
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Provide information about areas of cultural alignment and non-alignment.
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Provide information about any subcultures that deviate from the norm.
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Contrast each culture with a high performance benchmark.
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Derive recommendations for a new enhanced culture.
The culture audit will highlight:
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Key organisational issues.
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Similarities and differences between the organisations.
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Strengths which can be built upon.
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Risk factors.
This style of research can tease out many cultural dimensions - issues (internal or external), values, attitudinal and behavioural norms, formal versus informal processes, intra-organisational relationships (vertical, horizontal, matrixed), and external relationships.
To guarantee validity, research can be both qualitative and quantitative, consisting of individual interviews with executives, focus groups and written questionnaires.
Cultures can be compared to each other and contrasted against the high performance benchmark. The findings can be used to recommend areas for culture change and strategies for achieving this.