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Cultural Change Situation™, Research & development by Janet L. Szumal, Ph.D.

Used by Keller Graduate School of Management with permission.

www.humansynergistics.com

Organizational Culture Inventory®:

an excerpt from the

Cultural Change Situation™1

By Human Synergistics International

The Situation

You are the Vice President of Human Resources at Conglomerate, Inc., a diversified

organization that offers a variety of products and services world-wide. After several

years of steady growth in profits and the acquisition of numerous companies, your

organization’s financial performance has stagnated. Individually, several divisions have

not experienced growth for at least two years and, together, they have not realized the

synergistic results that were anticipated.

The Board of Directors has requested that the top management team prepare a plan for

improving Conglomerate’s future performance. In response, you convinced the other

top managers to take a hard look at the culture of the organization and its divisions. You

hired a consultant, who recommended the administration of the Organizational Culture

Inventory® (OCI) and a companion survey, the Organizational Effectiveness Inventory™

(OEI). The OEI measures outcomes associated with culture (such as teamwork,

motivation, and service quality) as well as factors that might be promoting the current

culture (such as goal setting, leadership, and management practices).

The OCI and OEI were administered to a cross-section of members throughout

Conglomerate about three weeks ago. Interviews were also conducted with managers to

gain further insights. The results of the surveys and the interviews were presented to the

top management team earlier today. Needless to say, it was quite a meeting!

Your consultant began by explaining that the OCI measures culture in terms of behavioral

norms, or the way in which people are expected to approach their work and interact with one

another. She then presented profiles depicting your organization’s current culture. While

the culture of Conglomerate is not strong, the dominant norms reflect expectations for

Avoidance, Oppositional, and Perfectionistic behaviors. Upon hearing this, a few of the

VPs stood up and declared the results invalid—after all, they argued, everyone knows

they have to cooperate with one another in striving for excellence in production and

customer services because these expectations for more constructive behaviors are made

explicit by the company’s mission statement. Furthermore, this statement hangs in the

foyer of every building and all members are tested on its content once a year!

After convincing everyone to take their seats, the consultant went on to explain that

while Conglomerate’s mission statement is consistent with constructive behavioral

norms, the day-to-day operating culture of the organization is determined by what is

Organizational Culture Inventory® 2 Cultural Change Situation™

Cultural Change Situation™, Research & development by Janet L. Szumal, Ph.D.

Used by Keller Graduate School of Management with permission.

www.humansynergistics.com

actually rewarded, punished, noticed by managers, and permitted by the organization,

the division, the department, and the job. The results of the OEI revealed that many of

Conglomerate’s systems, structures, practices, and processes are consistent with, and

most likely lead to, its current defensive culture.

The culture profiles of various divisions and departments within Conglomerate were

then presented. Consistent with the consultant’s arguments, the norms and expectations

within the divisions and departments seemed to vary with the structures, systems, and

processes of those units. Additionally, there were similarities in the outcomes realized

by units with the same general cultural profiles. At this point, the management team

decided that the OCI and OEI results warranted further consideration.

The Challenge

The consultant has assigned the management team the task of first specifying gaps

between Conglomerate’s current and ideal culture and then identifying the factors that

lead to and the outcomes that result from the cultures of different divisions and

departments. Along with Conglomerate’s current and ideal culture profiles, she has

provided you with five additional sets of profiles. These additional profiles reflect the

combined OCI results of particular divisions or departments that are similar either in

terms of the outcomes of their culture or in terms of the factors that promote their

culture. You note that some of the additional profiles include your top performing units

while other profiles are based on units that are not nearly as effective.

The consultant assures your team that by discussing how the culture of different units is

related to their results along other factors, you will have identified some levers for

change (in terms of closing cultural gaps) as well as defined the outcomes that should be

realized from a successful change process. Since your team is scheduled to present an

improvement plan to the Board next eek, you are anxious to begin analyzing the profiles.

Organizational Culture Inventory® 3 Cultural Change Situation™

Cultural Change Situation™, Research & development by Janet L. Szumal, Ph.D.

Used by Keller Graduate School of Management with permission.

www.humansynergistics.com

Identifying Cultural Gaps

(Exercise 1 from the Cultural Change Situation™)

The first profile (Profile 1a) reflects the current culture of Conglomerate as described by

members throughout the organization. The second profile (Profile 1b), generated by

Conglomerate’s top executives, depicts how members should behave for the company to

be successful (ideal culture).

Profile 1a: Current Culture

Culture Style

Percentile

Score

Culture Style

Percentile

Score

Humanistic/Encouraging 34% Oppositional 63%

Affiliative 38% Power 41%

Approval 56% Competitive 51%

Conventional 55% Perfectionistic 63%

Dependent 46% Achievement 41%

Avoidance 71% Self-Actualizing 34%

Organizational Culture Inventory® 4 Cultural Change Situation™

Cultural Change Situation™, Research & development by Janet L. Szumal, Ph.D.

Used by Keller Graduate School of Management with permission.

www.humansynergistics.com

Profile 1b: Ideal Culture

Culture Style

Percentile

Score

Culture Style

Percentile

Score

Humanistic/Encouraging 91% Oppositional 38%

Affiliative 93% Power 18%

Approval 31% Competitive 30%

Conventional 26% Perfectionistic 32%

Dependent 22% Achievement 87%

Avoidance 16% Self-Actualizing 81%

Organizational Culture Inventory® 5 Cultural Change Situation™

Cultural Change Situation™, Research & development by Janet L. Szumal, Ph.D.

Used by Keller Graduate School of Management with permission.

www.humansynergistics.com

Describe the Current Culture

According to Profile 1a, which behaviors or styles do members believe are required in

order to “fit in” and “meet expectations” within Conglomerate? Which behaviors do

members believe are not expected?

a) Members believe that they are expected to: ______________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

b) Members believe that they are not expected to: __________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Describe the Ideal Culture

According to Profile 1b, which behaviors or styles should be communicated to and

expected of members in order for Conglomerate to be successful? Which behaviors

should not be expected and reinforced?

a) Ideally, members of Conglomerate should: _____________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

b) Ideally, members of Conglomerate should not: _________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Organizational Culture Inventory® 6 Cultural Change Situation™

Cultural Change Situation™, Research & development by Janet L. Szumal, Ph.D.

Used by Keller Graduate School of Management with permission.

www.humansynergistics.com

Identify Cultural Gaps

Along which of the 12 cultural styles do the greatest gaps appear between the actual and

ideal profiles? Specifically,

a) Which of the 12 cultural styles appear to fall the farthest below ideal levels? _________

______________________________________________________________________________

b) Which of the 12 cultural styles appear to fall the farthest above ideal levels?

______________________________________________________________________________

1This abbreviated version of the Cultural Change Situation™ is exclusively for the use of Keller

Graduate School of Management GM591 classes. To obtain the full version of the exercise for

organizational development and training applications, please contact Human Synergistics

International at [email protected] or 800-590-0995.