by Mary Luu, Business Psychologist Intern

In today’s conversations about business transformation, leadership, or even just employee engagement, one topic comes up over and over again: organizational culture. You hear it in boardrooms, see it in mission statements, and feel it in the hallways of both start-ups and corporations. Yet, a question often lingers in my mind: “why does it command such attention?”

What exactly is organizational culture?

At its core, organizational culture refers to the shared values, beliefs, norms, and practices that shape the behavior of people within an organization. It defines the unwritten rules, “how things get done”, and, more importantly, how employees feel about doing them.

Edgar Schein, a pioneering voice on the subject, breaks culture into three layers:

• Artifacts: the visible elements: dress code, office layout, rituals, and language. They’re what we see.
• Espoused values: these are the strategies, goals, and philosophies – essentially what an organization says it believes in.
• Underlying assumptions: these are deeply embedded, taken-for-granted behaviors that are often unconscious but shape how people actually behave.

Or simply, as Deal & Kennedy (1982) put it, culture is “the way we do things around here”.

Why “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”?

Peter Drucker’s famous quote “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” might sound exaggerated, but it hits a nerve. No matter how brilliant a strategy may be, it’s the people who implement it, and they do so through the lens of culture: Employees seek purpose, belonging, and authenticity – not just paychecks; remote work and rapid change demand a strong cultural anchor; and culture also directly impacts retention, performance, innovation, and customer perception.

Thus, although the term organizational culture may seem vague and flashy, it is a necessity for any organization that wants to thrive in today’s dynamic business landscape.

 Identifying organizational culture

Before you can manage or transform culture, you have to understand it. Identifying your culture helps leaders make informed decisions about hiring, training, performance management, and motivation.

One of the most practical and widely used frameworks is the Competing Values Framework, developed by Robert Quinn and Kim Cameron. This model identifies four core types of culture:

• Clan culture: a family-like environment focused on collaboration, mentoring, and teamwork.
• Adhocracy culture: a dynamic and entrepreneurial space where innovation and risk-taking are encouraged.
• Market culture: results-oriented, focused on competitiveness, achievement, and getting things done.
• Hierarchy culture: structured and controlled, emphasizing stability, efficiency, and formal processes.

To identify which culture that your firm falls into, Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) is a fantastic, contemporary tool for you. It’s a tool that helps organizations diagnose their current culture and visualize their desired future state and I, truly recommend it.

Image or Essence?

In the end, is organizational culture just an image, or is it truly essential? I believe it’s both. Culture is the face a company shows the world and the lived experience of its people. If you want your strategies to succeed, your teams to innovate, and your people to stay committed, you must start with culture.

 

References:

Alvesson, M., & Berg, P. O. (2011). Corporate culture and organizational symbolism: An overview.

Cameron, K. (2009). An introduction to the competing values framework. Organizational culture white paper. Haworth.

Deal, T. E., & Kennedy, A. A. (1982). Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life. Addison-Wesley.

Maher, M.A. (2000), Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture: Based on the Competing Values Framework, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 300-303. https://doi-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/10.1108/jocm.2000.13.3.300.1

Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. Jossey-Bass.