Further Information

This page is intended as a resource for students and others who wish to understand some of the concepts and principles behind cultural change. It will gradually be added to. Most of the text is based upon or extracted from our books and journal articles over recent years.

As well as the information below, we also have a range of documents that can be downloaded.

What is culture?

Culture is, to put it quite simply, a collection of the most common habits of the people in the organisation, sometimes driven by examples from the top, but also driven by unofficial opinions leaders, geographical and local cultures and the so-called psychological contract.

The phrase “the way we do things around here” perhaps best sums it up. For those interested in a more detailed explanation, click here.

Why is culture important?

Research Studies have consistently shown organisation culture to be a major cause of poor performance and failure in change programmes. For a discussion and illustrative case studies on some of the ways in which culture can trap the unwary, click here.

How does culture relate to Corporate Values?

Corporate Values set out the fundamental principles by which the organisation wishes to operate and acts as a guide to employee behaviour. Frequently however, the organisation’s culture is at odds with the stated or espoused values. For a more in depth discussion of Corporate Values click here.

How can culture be measured?

The purpose of the culture tracker is to do just this. The survey instrument has been based upon a scale developed in the 1960s by a very important management writer, Rensis Likert. For more information on his work and of others in the field of cultural measurement, click here.

How can culture be changed?

Changing culture is an inherently difficult process since at its most basic we are dealing with changing human behaviour. Culture can often be deeply rooted and embedded by historical events. There are may tools for changing culture however. For more information, click here.

Is culture important to business results?

Several studies in recent years, including a 3 year retail study conducted by the author, have demonstrated clear links between elements of business performance and culture. Intuitively it also makes sense that individual behaviour contributes to sales, cost control and profitability. For more discussion on this issue, review the CCP chain page.