No cultural change without cultural understanding

The EFQM defines organizational culture as “the values and behavioural norms of an organization that its employees and groups share and that shape their behaviour over time, both towards each other and towards stakeholders outside the organization who are important to its purpose, vision and strategy”.

Culture is about values and behavioral norms

The concept of culture in its present-day complexity is derived from Latin, including “cultus”, which translates as cultivation, understood as the totality of the intellectual, artistic and creative achievements of a community as an expression of human higher development.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s understanding of culture appears to be particularly broad, lacking “… neither clothing nor eating and drinking habits, neither history nor philosophy, neither the arts nor science, neither children’s games nor proverbs, neither the climate nor landscapes, neither the economy nor literature, neither the political nor the private”.

So there is basically a great wealth of values and norms of behaviour in society and you have to think carefully about what “the” values and norms of behaviour are that you want to emphasize in your own organization.

Culture is shared between "employees and groups"

Goethe’s advice, “What you have inherited from your fathers, acquire it in order to possess it”, implies that culture must be learned, socially shared and transferred. When “sharing” the (desired) culture, it should be borne in mind that there is a wealth of cultures that need to be reconciled in such a project.

Not so easy, especially when an organization has many collaborations and operates across industries and countries. And then there are “subcultures” everywhere. A person from Graubünden (often) ticks differently than a person from Valais. And while “creative chaos” is beneficial in the research and development department, for example, strict cost awareness should be practiced in controlling. Both cultures have their advantages in their respective areas, as long as the company management can strike a constructive balance between them.

Organizational culture shapes behavior "over time ... as well as towards purpose, vision and strategy"

“It’s all a question of time”. When shaping the culture, you should plan for the long term. The degree of difficulty of change management depends on the depth and sharpness of the change. Changes to hard factors such as strategy are more superficial. Changes to soft factors, e.g. skills and values, are far-reaching and therefore much more difficult and time-consuming to bring about. In addition, the organizational culture can only achieve a limited depth and scope compared to other cultures such as the national culture. Why? Because organizational culture is only formed from adulthood and in a limited, often changing environment. National culture, on the other hand, is formed in a broad, closed environment from childhood onwards. In other words, during a period in which people’s essential values, norms and basic assumptions develop.

The organizational culture should "shape the behaviour ... towards important interest groups outside the organization"

According to cultural researcher Geert Hofstede, culture is something that “… has been learned and accepted by a collective of people and makes this social group clearly different from other groups”. The diversity of cultures is therefore in the nature of things. The adage “Change yourself and your environment will change” or the saying “As you call into the forest, so it sounds out” shows that a lot depends on yourself when dealing with others. Good intercultural cooperation always requires an understanding (also) of the other culture and a great deal of sensitivity. And that is not easy, as Hofstede warns: “Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster.”

A good culture brings great benefits and reduces complexity

Let’s take a look at the purpose (benefit) that an (organizational) culture serves:

an integration functionthrough the creation of consensus
a coordination functionas a substitute for structural and personnel management
a motivational functionby conveying a sense of purpose
an identification functionthrough the creation of a shared “sense of unity”

A good culture is THE competitive advantage in times of skills shortages

In today’s fashionable, fast-paced and technology-driven world, culture is perhaps more important than ever. The first world lives in abundance, private and business life are blurred and you can work from your computer all over the world for the whole world. Quite a few people are therefore asking themselves questions of meaning. Qualified employees opt for an organization in which they feel comfortable, in which their work creates “meaning” and in which they feel “at home”. Many of these people do not leave because of the work or the salary, but because of the boss and the culture.

So if an organization follows the logic of the EFQM model, takes its time in shaping its culture and always guards it prudently, its own organizational culture can develop into a valuable asset or a decisive competitive advantage. However, it is certainly not something that you simply do on the side.