hey guys, how do u evaluate culture of a company?just wondering ..if u r asked to make a report of unique nuances of the culture of a company..how do u go about doing it? i read the theory from the 'BOSS OF OB BOOKS' Stephen Robbins but it just give theory - Any practical inputs?????????
From India, Mumbai
4From India, Mumbai
Hi Ishita,
You could first go about by auditing the Culture of that company. The HR Audit is a comprehensive evaluation of the current HR activities, processes, procedures, system, structure and styles in the context of short-long term business plans of company. It attempts to find the future HR needs of the company after evaluating the current HR activities and inputs.
HR Audit is a vast topic and you could choose to audit the culture alone. The culture also plays a significant role in making organisations get the best out of themselves. Even if the culture does not show any direct linkages at a given point of time, logically it makes sense to have a good HR climate for the benefit of the organisation. The culture provides the energy required to function well like proper circulation of blood through all the organs.
The HR culture is one that results from the beliefs of the top management initially and subsequently from the HR systems and practises. Therefore one most be very careful, while evaluating and benchmarking the culture. You could go about in the following manner:
1. Learn the long-term goals, mission of the organisation
2. Study the existing culture of the organisation by taking feedbacks from the employees and management. You could design questionaires and conduct some interviews to learn more. You could have questions on:
a. Concern of Top Management
b. Concern to Subordinates
c. Co-operation to Peers
d. Promotion Decisions
e. Level of Helpfulness
f. Level of Experimentstion
g. Level of Trust
h. Team Spirit
i. Rewards and Recognition
j. Career Oppurtunity
k. Confrontation
l. Communication of future plans
3. You will then get clues about the existing culture of the organisation. Then you could do a SWOT analysis of the culture. List down the good and the motivating aspect from the study you have made and the negetive aspects. List down the scope for improvement and the future threats it could face if not changed.
4. Do a general study of other companies engaged in a similar business. Understand the positive aspects of those companies and benchmark the culture.
5. If you are permitted to, then you could put forth your recommendations to the HR dept or to the employees of the company for their feedback.
You could also refer the book on HR Audit by T.V Rao. for more information. Let me know if this was of some help to you.
Regards,
Soumya Shankar
From India, Bangalore
You could first go about by auditing the Culture of that company. The HR Audit is a comprehensive evaluation of the current HR activities, processes, procedures, system, structure and styles in the context of short-long term business plans of company. It attempts to find the future HR needs of the company after evaluating the current HR activities and inputs.
HR Audit is a vast topic and you could choose to audit the culture alone. The culture also plays a significant role in making organisations get the best out of themselves. Even if the culture does not show any direct linkages at a given point of time, logically it makes sense to have a good HR climate for the benefit of the organisation. The culture provides the energy required to function well like proper circulation of blood through all the organs.
The HR culture is one that results from the beliefs of the top management initially and subsequently from the HR systems and practises. Therefore one most be very careful, while evaluating and benchmarking the culture. You could go about in the following manner:
1. Learn the long-term goals, mission of the organisation
2. Study the existing culture of the organisation by taking feedbacks from the employees and management. You could design questionaires and conduct some interviews to learn more. You could have questions on:
a. Concern of Top Management
b. Concern to Subordinates
c. Co-operation to Peers
d. Promotion Decisions
e. Level of Helpfulness
f. Level of Experimentstion
g. Level of Trust
h. Team Spirit
i. Rewards and Recognition
j. Career Oppurtunity
k. Confrontation
l. Communication of future plans
3. You will then get clues about the existing culture of the organisation. Then you could do a SWOT analysis of the culture. List down the good and the motivating aspect from the study you have made and the negetive aspects. List down the scope for improvement and the future threats it could face if not changed.
4. Do a general study of other companies engaged in a similar business. Understand the positive aspects of those companies and benchmark the culture.
5. If you are permitted to, then you could put forth your recommendations to the HR dept or to the employees of the company for their feedback.
You could also refer the book on HR Audit by T.V Rao. for more information. Let me know if this was of some help to you.
Regards,
Soumya Shankar
From India, Bangalore
hi ishita
The first thing is that u just observe ur company n just think and analyse
it why iam saying this because if u want to derive at a good conclusion
than u must not wholly depend upon the theory
interact with people as much as possible
thanx
:)
From India, Mumbai
The first thing is that u just observe ur company n just think and analyse
it why iam saying this because if u want to derive at a good conclusion
than u must not wholly depend upon the theory
interact with people as much as possible
thanx
:)
From India, Mumbai
:D Hi !
Dear Soms .. Excellent Inputs.
I don't think I have anything to offer beyond comprehensive HRD Audit ..
However, one can see it from a different perspective (in case it needs no comprehensive analysis as HRD Audit).
1. You may wish to find out the Immediate Issues of Concern that organization is having right now .. Enlist them.
2. Try to find out the hypothesis in Cause-Effect relationship (HR Problem : Caused by Factor A + Factor B + ... + Culture)
3. Enlist the Factors, e.g. Communication Barriers, Decision Making (Quality/ Turnaround time.. ) .. it could be any possible cause !
4. Try studying Culture as suggested by Soumya .. compliment this with any specific probe on Factor that you consider important ..
5. Work on improvement action
6. Keep documentation so that you can learn
This will be essentially an Action Research Initiative in OD, it would be a nice idea to use the Culture Evaluation as a probe for your HR problem.
Regards,
Thesysthink
From India, Pune
Dear Soms .. Excellent Inputs.
I don't think I have anything to offer beyond comprehensive HRD Audit ..
However, one can see it from a different perspective (in case it needs no comprehensive analysis as HRD Audit).
1. You may wish to find out the Immediate Issues of Concern that organization is having right now .. Enlist them.
2. Try to find out the hypothesis in Cause-Effect relationship (HR Problem : Caused by Factor A + Factor B + ... + Culture)
3. Enlist the Factors, e.g. Communication Barriers, Decision Making (Quality/ Turnaround time.. ) .. it could be any possible cause !
4. Try studying Culture as suggested by Soumya .. compliment this with any specific probe on Factor that you consider important ..
5. Work on improvement action
6. Keep documentation so that you can learn
This will be essentially an Action Research Initiative in OD, it would be a nice idea to use the Culture Evaluation as a probe for your HR problem.
Regards,
Thesysthink
From India, Pune
Hi! We did it in out company through few exercises like Fish Bowl, Brain Storming etc. Regards
From India, Madras
From India, Madras
An interesting thread!!
I am wandering now..
What actually does it mean to "evaluate a culture"?
Do we mean to evaluate several cultures, compare them and decide which one is worth more? And what does it mean for a culture to "be worth more"?
Before we go suggesting tools to use, we need to be clear about what we are measuring and why, so that we choose the right tool and measurement units.
Kind regards
Martin
From United Kingdom,
I am wandering now..
What actually does it mean to "evaluate a culture"?
Do we mean to evaluate several cultures, compare them and decide which one is worth more? And what does it mean for a culture to "be worth more"?
Before we go suggesting tools to use, we need to be clear about what we are measuring and why, so that we choose the right tool and measurement units.
Kind regards
Martin
From United Kingdom,
Just gather most respectful guys from different departments and let them share their ideas about culture.
Another approach hiring some expert that will work in your company for a week or two and consider writing short and informative review of what are the key principles of your company culture.
I do personally like the consulting idea, as in this way I was able to learn some expert viewpoint that differed a lot from what I and my co-workers thought.
Another approach hiring some expert that will work in your company for a week or two and consider writing short and informative review of what are the key principles of your company culture.
I do personally like the consulting idea, as in this way I was able to learn some expert viewpoint that differed a lot from what I and my co-workers thought.
hi,
thought i could add something to this.
the replies u have received are very good, specially the HR audit part.
well a culture evaluation could also be undertaken on the 5 dimensions introduced and developed by Hofstede.
Hofstede did an international study using IBM business units in 64 countries (as i remember it) to identify national cultures. u could try this and see whether ur organization has the appropriate dimensions according to the national culture.
i do hav the original hard doc so it would be dificult to send to u.
search on hofstedes culture u will get interesting insights.
Or else u can use the culture typology model to identify the exiting culture whether its apropriate to the members and to the organization it self.
regards
shamil
From Sri Lanka
thought i could add something to this.
the replies u have received are very good, specially the HR audit part.
well a culture evaluation could also be undertaken on the 5 dimensions introduced and developed by Hofstede.
Hofstede did an international study using IBM business units in 64 countries (as i remember it) to identify national cultures. u could try this and see whether ur organization has the appropriate dimensions according to the national culture.
i do hav the original hard doc so it would be dificult to send to u.
search on hofstedes culture u will get interesting insights.
Or else u can use the culture typology model to identify the exiting culture whether its apropriate to the members and to the organization it self.
regards
shamil
From Sri Lanka
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