What is Organization Culture?
Organization culture is the whole of elements such as the values, norms, beliefs, behaviors and ways of doing business that an Organization adopts. It is a factor that determines the perception of the employees about the Organization, the way the Organization operates, the management style, communication styles and workplace atmosphere. We can think of Organization culture as the identity and character of that Organization. Organization culture is rooted in the Organization's history, leadership understanding, customer perspective and Organization goals, human resources policies, training programs, performance measurement systems, and all efforts to increase employee motivation.
Organization culture is extremely important for an organization to achieve its long-term goals and create a sustainable business structure. A good Organization culture can increase the performance of the Organization by increasing employee engagement, job satisfaction and motivation. At the same time, Organization culture can affect the organization's reputation, customer loyalty, and the organization's approach to social issues such as diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
The Importance of Organization Culture
Organization culture is important as it shapes an organization's identity, character and reputation. However, there are other factors besides this main reason. First of all, a good organization culture helps employees to be satisfied with their jobs and increase their loyalty to the organization. Employee experience in the workplace is strongly influenced by the organization's culture, which increases employee loyalty and satisfaction and motivation. Employees perform better when they are committed to the organization's values and goals. Therefore, positive changes are seen in the financial statements.
On the other hand, culture is an important factor affecting the reputation of the Organization. Organization culture reflects the values and ways of doing business. A good organization culture enhances the organization's reputation and brand image. It also helps the organization to gain a competitive advantage. It allows employees to share their ideas and use their creativity and puts the organization in an innovative and pioneering position.
Why Do We Need Cultural Transformation?
Organizations may want to adapt to changing market conditions, respond to customer preferences and needs, reorganize their products and services or increase customer satisfaction, and therefore develop a new strategy. On the other hand, technological developments can change the way organizations do business and customer experiences. Companies may need to adopt new technologies to better serve their customers and improve the way they do business. Organizations that want to grow or increase their market share can try to achieve these goals through acquisitions or mergers. In addition, due to the changing world conditions, employees may make different demands. Employees can make demands such as better working conditions, work/life balance, flexible working hours, remote working. Organizations may have to meet these demands to increase employee satisfaction and retain talented employees. However, while doing this, they also need to change their processes and ways of doing business.
All the changes above; strategy, technology (digital transformation), structure (acquisition, merger), employee demands (remote and flexible working) and process changes are related to how much people working in the organization accept, adapt and internalize these changes. Sometimes these changes require changing the organization's culture and the values on which it is based. It is not possible to achieve success without cultural transformation and without adopting the new values of the organization.
Why Should the Cultural Transformation Process Be Carefully Managed?
Cultural Transformation should be carried out step by step and strategically, in communication with all components of the organization. The cost of failure is very high for organizations.
Business failure: Failure of the cultural transformation process can lead to business failure. Failure to develop strategies in line with the organization's goals, not being able to provide services that meet the expectations of customers, not being able to provide employee satisfaction and losing competitive advantage may occur.
Employee dissatisfaction: The cultural transformation process may require employees to change the way they do business. These changes can lead to job dissatisfaction for some employees. This dissatisfaction of employees can lead to poor performance, high turnover rates and low motivation.
Cost increase: The process of cultural transformation requires the organization to make changes in the way it does business. These changes may result in increased costs. Elements such as the acquisition of new technologies, personnel training, updating of operating systems and consulting services can increase the costs of the organization.
Loss of reputation: Failure of the cultural transformation process can damage the organization's reputation. Customers may lose their trust in the organization due to the company’s inability to provide products and services that meet its goals. In addition, employee dissatisfaction can negatively affect the external image of the organization.
For these reasons, it is necessary to carefully manage the cultural transformation process. RNA Change Management is pleased to support your organization with its experience in cultural transformation projects, its ability to design measurable and scalable projects, and its expert team. In addition, with the Barrett Cultural Assessment tools, we can present your organization's existing culture and the values and behaviors desired by your employees with detailed graphics and reports.