The importance of a strong corporate culture and value is undeniable. Undoubtedly, cultivating corporate culture and values takes time, but the result is so much worth it.
Culture IQ researched the results from different companies with a strong organizational culture and values to find that:
-collaboration, work environment, and mission and value alignment are 20% higher at companies with strong cultures
-companies with established corporate cultures saw a 4 times increase in revenue growth
-if a company has appeared on The Best Place to Work list, its stock value increased by 75%
-companies that have strong employer brands have a 50% lower cost per hire
-82% of company leaders believe that culture is a potential competitive advantage
Of course, all corporate cultures are different, depending on how you want to organize your workers and which working environment you want to create. Organizational cultures and values even differ from one country to another.
In one of our recent articles we took a look at the current state of corporate culture in the U.S. While it is quite different from what other countries have as a norm for corporate culture, there is one prerequisite in all organizational culture cases that makes it strong – corporate culture analysis.
To do it, there are several methodologies that can help you take a look at your corporate culture and values.
BNS to Measure Positive and Potentially Limiting Values
BNS (Business Needs Scorecard) is one of the most precise methods to measure organizational values. This method is designed to identify and elaborate on the positive and potentially limiting values to outline the desired and not desired corporate values.
Myctt Values Centre recognizes BNS as a diagnostic tool in cultural value assessment that uses 6 sections to categorize positive and potentially limiting values:
-Finance – values that impact the growth of the company in terms of profits and financial performance.
-Fitness – values that describe productivity and the general performance of your employees.
-External relationships – values that affect your company’s relationship with outside players, including partners and customers.
-Evolution – values that impact creativity and innovation of your company as well as its growth in comparison to your competitors.
-Culture – values that influence communication and trust between the employees and corporate leaders.
-Contribution to society – the alignment of your corporate values with the values of society.
This method allows you to perform a comprehensive analysis of your corporate values, especially from the perspective of leadership and what it takes for you to observe these values as a leader.
OCAI Method to Measure Organizational Culture
Another issue is measuring the methods that dominate and dominate in your organizational culture, in other words – your active and passive values.
Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument or OCAI is a method that can help you do exactly that. It uses the so-called Competing Values Framework. “OCAI is a validated method of assessing organizational culture, actively used by over 10,000 companies. We’ve used it for several years, and it’s been one of the most precise ways to measure values”, says Claire Jefferson, an HR manager at Axonim, an electronic device service company.
This method uses a diagram, which helps you identify the direction that your organizational values work towards:
Image credit: OCAI-Online
As a result, you get an answer, which corporate culture dominates in your company, indicating the changes that need to be made to create the organizational culture you aspire to have.
Employee Surveys for Precise Engagement Rates
Who knows your organizational culture and values better than your employees?
Surveying employees is one of the most informative and precise ways to measure organizational culture. Besides, you actively engage your employees in creating your organizational culture.
One of the most common types of employee surveys is an employee satisfaction survey. This survey can take many different forms, but mostly aims at defining the following aspects of organizational culture:
-The position of your employees in the corporate culture – where your employees see their role in defining organizational culture.
-Motivation rate of your employees – helps you understand how much your employees support your corporate culture.
-Employee insights –what needs to be done and which values need to be adopted to help the employees fit in your organizational culture.
Here’s a great example of an employee satisfaction survey:
Image credit: Template.net
This survey can be done in many different forms. The ultimate goal, however, is to give your employees as many choices to answer the questions, possibly avoiding essay questions.
Over to You
The methods that we’ve mentioned above are aimed at assessing organizational culture from three different perspectives:
-a general analysis of your organizational values
-an analysis describing active and passive organizational values
-in comparison to the methods from above, which are used to analyze organizational culture and values from the leadership perspective, you can also take the perspective of your employees by doing employee satisfaction surveys
What is your approach to measuring your organizational culture and values?
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Ryan is a passionate writer who likes sharing his thoughts and experience with the readers. Currently, he works as a content strategist at https://axonim.com. He likes everything related to traveling and new countries.