EXPLORING EACH CULTURAL TYPE
Although each workplace culture is unique, they can be broadly categorised into four types, an understanding of which helps leaders diagnose, describe and manage the patterns within their own culture.
DYNAMIC
COMPETITIVE
The aim of this report is not to rank one type of workplace culture over another Rather, its purpose is to highlight unique characteristics to help leaders and employees understand their organisation better, along with its distinct strengths
What do we mean when we talk about a “Dynamic” organisational culture? Dynamic organisations are often characterised by regular change and evolution, shaped by the needs of employees, the state of the market and the business priorities. Flexibility and productivity are often top priorities in the dynamic workplace, and it’s no coincidence that we saw more organisations become dynamic in the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic – where many companies had to quickly adapt to hybrid working and straitened economic circumstances. As well as empowering employees to innovate quickly and suggest meaningful change, dynamic workplaces often use the latest technology to enable hybrid working. The benefits of this type of organisation include adaptability, higher employee engagement, and innovation. But it requires a commitment from leadership in the form of active management of the culture. A dynamic team requires trust and the communication issues involved in the flexibility and fluidity of work in such a culture can mean its hard to stay aligned internally. A hierarchical organisation is most typically associated with the view of a traditional workplace. It’s a popular foundation for many organisations. Hierarchical culture predominantly focuses on creating a relatively fixed organisational structure, with firm processes and rules and multiple levels of power and responsibility within the organisation. Every organisation will structure their hierarchy slightly differently. These structures typically allow for the progression of individuals to higher levels of responsibility within an organisation, which can help ensure the continued forward motion of an organisation’s success. While some worry that a rigid organisational culture can stifle creative thinking, and result in a business unable to adapt to change, there are clear benefits to a hierarchical organisation. One of which is the strong sense of direction it provides for employees and employers alike. This is of particular importance to large multinational companies, or organisations working in strictly regulated markets. Perhaps the most prevalent example of hierarchical organisations is the military, where a clearly defined chain of command is a notable benefit. While a hierarchical organisation could face barriers to effective internal communication, and a lack of collaboration across teams and levels, benefits include clear and defined development opportunities and process for professional advancement.
A competitive organisational culture shares some similarities with hierarchical cultures, but it uses competitive tactics to increase employee motivation and engagement. High expectations and high productivity characterise a competitive work environment. This can have many positive effects, including enhanced employee engagement and motivation. Typically, in a competitive work environment, employees increase their productivity to compete with other employees and meet the expectations of their managers. Another sign of a competitive work environment is performance incentives that prompt employees to out-perform one another. These incentives can include raises, promotions and awards. Despite concerns that a competitive culture adds to employee’s work stress levels, there are lots of benefits. In a highly competitive environment, employees often feel motivated to achieve high productivity in order to compete with one another. Employee motivation can have many benefits, including increasing quality of work and productivity.
COLLABORATIVE While collaboration on some level happens in just about every organisation, a collaborative culture is one where collaboration is regular and deliberate. In contrast to a non-collaborative culture, where departments and teams will work in silos and employees may not feel encouraged to meaningfully impact their workplace, a collaborative culture has collaboration baked into the processes of how people do their work every day and into the attitudes they take about that work.
HIERARCHICAL
Collaborative workplaces embody being ‘better together’, in other words collective intelligence drives the most creative solutions. Companies keen to innovate and provide creative solutions might benefit from a collaborative culture. Employees are motivated by feeling part of a team effort. There are some arguments to be made for collaborative culture resulting in less stress for employees compared to, say, a competitive organisation. Beyond employee motivation there are also some practical business benefits to collaboration; when knowledge is shared, and teams across an organisation learn from each other’s successes and mistakes, the whole company can progress more quickly. Transparency, knowledge sharing, and crucially, trust, are key in a collaborative culture.
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