Organizations have undergone vast restructuring in the past few years. From downsizing, to the introduction of new systems, to mergers and wholesale restructuring, the only constant has been change. However, many change initiatives have fallen short of their expectations. People are still waiting for promised improvements.
When organizations don't achieve the results expected, it is often not the fault of the new system or change. Initiatives that fail, despite looking great "on paper" are often the victim of the current organizational culture. Organizational culture is the shared attitudes, values and beliefs that indicate to members how to 'fit in' to the organization. The members of an organization whose culture is defensive or counterproductive will reject initiatives and adopt self-serving strategies.
Human Synergistics offers two instruments that can be used to help organizations become more effective through understanding their organizational culture: the Organizational Culture Inventory and the Organizational Effectiveness Inventory.
The Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI) measures twelve styles that individuals believe that it takes to 'fit in' to the organization. These commonly held beliefs affect such outcomes as turnover, employee satisfaction and the organization's ability to provide quality customer service. There are two components to the OCI -- the OCI that measures the actual or current culture and the OCI Ideal that measures what people think would be the ideal culture. The OCI inventory is available in three forms: the self-scoring booklets (typically for smaller groups in workshop), the Scantron form (done as pre-work to a program or change initiative), and the OCI On-line, a web-based assessment well suited to larger projects.
The OCI Report provides an in-depth report that compares the current culture to the ideal, identifies and analyzes the gaps between the two, prioritizing the gaps and reporting the level of consistency among employees. This valuable, computer-generated report can be used as the catalyst for change within the organization as well as a benchmark.
The Organizational Effectiveness Inventory (OEI) measures the cause and effect of culture, often characterized as climate items. The OEI will indicate the Levers for Change that have caused the culture to be as it is, as well as the outcomes or results of that culture. With this report, organizations and consultants now have, at their fingertips, strategies to immediately begin to change and develop the culture.
