I really enjoy the reviews of literature that the Center for Evidence Based Management puts out. This one is on culture and performance. Is there a link?
https://www.cebma.org/wp-content/uploads/REA-Organizational-Culture-Performance.pdf
2) No one seems to know what culture is or how to measure it in an organization
3) There is no evidence (or rather no studies done) that show a link between culture and behavioral outcomes.
4) No one knows what the tools actually measure. They may purport to measure culture – but they are actually measuring effectiveness. But they do correlate with outcomes and so can be helpful.
5) Organizational culture is a weak predictor for performance when compared to other factors (level C)
a. Demographics, and personality traits showed stronger links, and general mental ability stood out as a remarkably good predictor (ρ= .54) of performance
6) There is no evidence that specific outcomes are sensitive to organizational culture
7) There have been no studies that assessed whether interventions to change culture even work.
Conclusion: organizations and practitioners should be careful spending time and money on company-wide culture change programs as they are not likely to increase performance
The last bit to me is interesting and also not surprising. I teach how to use behavioral modification to change behavior - and most people don’t know the science of how behaviors are changed so it’s likely that most programs are not actually teaching behavioral change at all. And – honestly – a training in and of itself – won’t change behavior. It can give people the tools they need to change their own behavior though.
What you should know is that the science on behavioral modification is clear – behaviors can be changed. So maybe we shouldn’t be looking at culture – as much as being really really really specific about what behaviors we want to reinforce, and which we want to eliminate entirely.
This is especially true as it relates to bullying/harassment. We do know bullying and harassment have a negative impact on productivity. So - it makes sense to try and eliminate it. Often - when people talk about culture - THIS (bullying/harassment) is what they are trying to change.
Let me help with these online courses. - https://humanistlearning.com/category/bullyingharassment/
https://www.cebma.org/wp-content/uploads/REA-Organizational-Culture-Performance.pdf
Findings:
1) Study quality on this question is quite poor.2) No one seems to know what culture is or how to measure it in an organization
3) There is no evidence (or rather no studies done) that show a link between culture and behavioral outcomes.
4) No one knows what the tools actually measure. They may purport to measure culture – but they are actually measuring effectiveness. But they do correlate with outcomes and so can be helpful.
5) Organizational culture is a weak predictor for performance when compared to other factors (level C)
a. Demographics, and personality traits showed stronger links, and general mental ability stood out as a remarkably good predictor (ρ= .54) of performance
6) There is no evidence that specific outcomes are sensitive to organizational culture
7) There have been no studies that assessed whether interventions to change culture even work.
Conclusion: organizations and practitioners should be careful spending time and money on company-wide culture change programs as they are not likely to increase performance
The last bit to me is interesting and also not surprising. I teach how to use behavioral modification to change behavior - and most people don’t know the science of how behaviors are changed so it’s likely that most programs are not actually teaching behavioral change at all. And – honestly – a training in and of itself – won’t change behavior. It can give people the tools they need to change their own behavior though.
What you should know is that the science on behavioral modification is clear – behaviors can be changed. So maybe we shouldn’t be looking at culture – as much as being really really really specific about what behaviors we want to reinforce, and which we want to eliminate entirely.
This is especially true as it relates to bullying/harassment. We do know bullying and harassment have a negative impact on productivity. So - it makes sense to try and eliminate it. Often - when people talk about culture - THIS (bullying/harassment) is what they are trying to change.
Let me help with these online courses. - https://humanistlearning.com/category/bullyingharassment/
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