AGGRESSIVE CULTURES
Aggressive cultures place emphasis on competitiveness in general, with a focus on outperforming competitors. In emphasizing these aspects, there can be a tendency to be soft in the more social areas of business, such as corporate social responsibility.
OUTCOME-ORIENTED CULTURES
The OCP framework describes outcome-oriented cultures as those that emphasize achievement, results and action. Here, employees are typically trained and mentored to sell company products effectively, and they learn how much money their department has made every day.
STABLE CULTURES
Stable cultures are about the rules. A strong focus on following a predictable set of rules allows the company to operate with stability, and to ensure constant and steady levels of output[1].
One of the tricky aspects of this way of doing business is that quick action can be hard to achieve. These companies can struggle to succeed in fast-changing and dynamic environments.
It’s no surprise, then, that public sector institutions and government departments are often viewed as stable cultures.
PEOPLE-ORIENTED CULTURES
People-oriented cultures put a lot of effort into ensuring that individual rights within the company are nurtured and protected.
TEAM-ORIENTED CULTURES
Team-oriented culture emphasizes cooperation within the company. Southwest Airlines, for example, cross- trains its employees so that they can help one another when needed – even if the work stretches across or out of the individual’s traditional area of responsibility.
DETAIL-ORIENTED CULTURES
Organizations with a detail-oriented culture are characterized as prioritizing precision and the finer detail of things.
For example, in service sectors such as the hospitality industry, this approach can create competitive advantage and strong differentiation. Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton are widely acknowledged for keeping detailed records of all customer requests (such as which magazines the guest reads, or if they have special physical requirements). Any requests which hotel employees receive (or simply overhear) are put into a database that allows staff to serve customers in a personal way.
INNOVATIVE CULTURES
According to the OCP framework, companies that have innovative cultures are adaptable and tend to experiment with new concepts and ways of thinking. These companies are also notable for a flat hierarchy, where job titles and other status distinctions are downplayed, rather than emphasized.
When it comes to culture, strength is complicated
The stronger a company’s culture, the more likely it is that this strength will impact the way employees think and behave. A company culture that emphasizes customer service will lead to higher-quality customer service.
This sounds fantastic, but it is also vital to recognize that a strong culture can hurt an organization as much as help it. Imagine a company with a culture that is strongly outcome oriented. This can be an asset if members behave ethically. But combine a strong, outcome-oriented culture with unethical behavior – and an obsession with performance indicators can easily hurt the organization’s effectiveness. Google ‘Enron’ and ‘scandal’. You will find an extreme example of the power of a dysfunctional strong culture.
Strong cultures are also tough to change. In an organization where a set of key values are widely shared, learning a new way of thinking and doing things can be a challenge. When employees need to find new ways of thinking, behaving and responding to critical events, a strong focus on the existing ways of doing things can make sparking the change a serious challenge.
Do companies really have a single culture?
So far, I’ve talked as if a company will naturally have a single culture, shared throughout the business. But life is never that simple. It’s just as possible that a company exists where there are several cultures at play at the same time.
So, people working on the sales floor may live a different culture to that lived by people working in the warehouse. In fact, it’s common for different cultures to emerge within different departments, branches or geographic locations – even when these exist under the umbrella of a single company. Generally, these different cultures are referred to as subcultures. It’s also important to note that subcultures sometimes take the shape of a counterculture. This is a set of shared beliefs and ways of working that is in opposition to the wider organizational culture. Just as in the world of politics, company countercultures often form around a charismatic leader. Think, for example, of an innovative team operating within a largely bureaucratic organization. A counterculture within this team may be tolerated if it creates positive results, but there is always the risk that this counterculture ends up challenging the entire organizational culture. Thus, the dynamic must be carefully managed by the company leadership.
For details, guidance and videos on how cultures are created and maintained, log into the A-Game Business online course, which can be purchased here: www.agamebusiness.com/online-course/
