ASSESSING YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

This interactive is going to walk you through a cultural assessment of one aspect of your current team or organization’s culture. The purpose of doing this assessment is to get you thinking about what values most strongly drive behavior in your organization and whether or not those values are congruent with the values your organization espouses.

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Some example aspects include things like safety, integrity, respect, physical fitness, discipline, diversity, innovation and so forth.

Select one aspect of your current organization’s culture to assess and type it into the textbox.

Now, focus your thoughts on this specific aspect of your organization’s culture. What are some espoused values in your organization that relate to ?

You are assessing in your organization’s culture.

You are assessing in your organization’s culture. Espoused Values that relate to :

Continue to focus your thoughts on this specific aspect of your organization’s culture. What are some pertinent artifacts in your organization that are relevant to ?

Strongly Incongruent

Strongly Congruent

Somewhat congruent, or perhaps it varies across subunits of the organization

You are assessing in your organization’s culture. Espoused Values that relate to : Artifacts that are relevant to :

Now, to gain insight into the values-in-use (i.e., the underlying assumptions), you must assess the artifacts and espoused values together as it relates to . In your judgment, do the artifacts you identified lead you to believe that your organization’s espoused values are consistent with its values-in-use (i.e., the underlying assumptions)?

Somewhat incongruent, or perhaps it varies across subunits of the organization

As you continue reading this chapter, keep these thoughts in mind as your learn about how to lead positive change of your organization’s culture.

When comparing relevant artifacts to espoused values of the organization, we seek to understand the values-in-use (i.e., underlying assumptions). We seek this understanding because the values-in-use strongly drive behavior of people and organizations. You indicated some degree of congruence exists in your organization between its values-in-use and espoused values. As you can imagine, when the behavior of people and the organization is driven by values that are congruent with the organizations espoused values, it is generally a good thing and a hallmark of a functional and effective organizational culture. Take a moment to think about this and, in the space below, try to identify ways you can strengthen the values-in-use across your organization, so that they more strongly drive behavior across all the people and subunits in your organization.

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As you continue reading this chapter, keep these thoughts in mind as you learn about how to lead positive change of your organization’s culture.

When comparing relevant artifacts to espoused values of the organization, we seek to understand the values-in-use (i.e., underlying assumptions). We seek this understanding because the values-in-use strongly drive behavior of people and organizations. You indicated some degree of incongruence exists in your organization between its values-in-use and its espoused values. As you can imagine, and may be experiencing, when the behavior of people and the organization is driven by values which conflict with the organization’s espoused values, it is cause for concern and a hallmark of a dysfunctional and ineffective organizational culture. If the values-in-use in your organization are not congruent with the espoused values, then what conflicting values might exist in your organization? Take a moment to think about this and, in the space below, try to identify the values-in-use you think truly drive behavior in your organization.