Cultural Assessment

Measure your organization's current and desired culture and values through this diagnostic process.

Each member of your team is asked to prioritize 40 value statements on a grid to show how well they believe each statement corresponds to your organization's current culture. Then, they follow the same process of prioritizing the value statements for how they would like to see the organization's culture evolve in the future.

Your team's responses are then compiled to show the most frequent responses, uncovering which of the following dimension(s) describes your current and target cultures:

The detailed definitions for each dimension emphasize the relative strengths and weaknesses of each dimension.

Aligned Dimension - Focuses on optimizing employee empowerment and commitment. Organizations that score high on this dimension demonstrate a high concern for people, coupled with strong performance expectations. Researchers and practitioners from multiple disciplines have reported a positive association between these values and organizational objectives and key measures of performance. Aligned values are also identified as being responsible for their organization’s corporate evolution. These values include sharing a sense of purpose, demonstrating mutual trust, participating in decision-making, setting high standards of excellence, and increasing the capability and marketability of employees through training and development.

Innovative Dimension - Focuses on change and creativity. Organizations that score high on this dimension place a high priority on developing new markets and products. In many cases, innovative cultures are far ahead of the customer in defining new applications, opportunities, and products that create new markets and generate new sources of revenue. While the process of innovation varies widely, the values that facilitate these efforts are remarkably consistent. These values include willingness not to focus on the short term, drive to improve, acceptance of mistakes, flexibility in jobs, and freedom to act. Innovative cultures are most often found in small firms, start-ups, or separate organizational divisions because they are less likely to be hampered by organizational constraints and commitment to the status quo.

Caring Dimension - Focuses on relationships. Organizations that score high on this dimension place a high priority on looking after the well being of their members. These organizations are often described as being like a club or family. Members are expected to “fit in.” That means avoiding conflict or direct confrontations, covering other people’s mistakes, being sensitive to the satisfaction of the work group, and following the organization’s unwritten rules of social behavior. The emphasis is more on social adaptation than performance. In these organizations, employees expect long-term employment, and the organization is usually very concerned about maintaining a reputation as a good corporate citizen.

Stable Dimension - Focuses on maintaining the status quo. Organizations that score high on this dimension place high priority on reliability and control to maximize shareholder/owner profits. Organizations with this value set achieve competitive advantage by using proven methods to serve existing markets. These organizations are usually conservative and averse to risk-taking. Members tend to study any new services, products, and ideas repeatedly until they are completely sure they will be successful in implementing them. This culture is identified by management hierarchies, where decision-making is set apart form execution and there are clear lines of authority and accountability. This culture is well suited to stable, predictable environments in which organizations can succeed by building highly structured, controlled systems.

Results-driven Dimension - Focuses on outcomes. Organizations that score high on this dimension are results-oriented and have a strong bias for action. Behaviors such as taking initiative, working long hours, and being competitive are rewarded. There is often an emphasis on making investments pay in the short run. Although risk-taking and creativity are important in this culture, these behaviors can be discouraged by the penalties for failure. In these organizations, immediate results are what counts, and individuals are, at times, expendable.

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