Organizational Accountability – Evaluating Organizational Culture, part 1
While it might sound cliche, there exists a significant truth to the phrase, actions speak louder than words. As individuals, we all hold certain values, beliefs, and biases which guide our decisions and subsequently our actions. So strong and yet so unperceivable are these convictions that on a day-to-day basis our reactions and responses to hundreds of seemingly benign situations are defined by them. Therefore, an individual’s values, the beliefs, and biases can be interpreted and understood by observing the individual’s actions.[wcm_restrict plans=”53515, 25542, 25653″]
In the organizational case, we refer to the shared values, beliefs, and biases, as the organization’s culture. Just as we can come to understand an individual’s convictions by observing his/her behavior, we can understand an organization’s culture by observing its behavior. Organizational behaviors are represented by the typical, observable actions and results or sought after results produced by its activities. Over time, the organization’s values tend to become codified in the organization’s processes practices, and traditions; providing yet another window through which cultural traits can be observed and identified.
As is sometimes the case with individuals, organizations may claim to believe or value a particular behavior or outcome that differs from its true culture. In these instances, an organization’s written or spoken communications will exalt a position typically deemed socially acceptable or correct. However, the actual decisions and behaviors of executives, managers, and employees will reflect a different value set. (see StrategyDriven Corporate Cultures article, Why Policies Don’t Match Actions) When this condition is observed, it is important to remember that individuals and their organizations find it exceedingly difficult to act in a manner counter to their culture. Therefore, one must assume it is the organization’s behavior that truly reflects its values instead of its written or spoken words.
Realizing the organization’s culture is revealed by the collective behaviors of its employees and reflected in its many processes, practices, and traditions, certain telltale signs can be used to identify what an organization values. Some telltale signs include:
- organizational performance measures
- executive compensation packages including incentive bonuses
- time horizons for executive incentives
- time horizons for business plan activities
- amount of time and financial investment applied to particular business activities
- level within the organization at which consequential decisions can be made
- policies, procedures, and performance standards
- degree to which employees adhere to policies and procedures
- degree to which policies and procedures are reinforced by managers formally (management observation program) and informally (management feedback)
- degree to which policies and procedures are reinforced among peers and by subordinates
- internal and external corporate communications
- degree to which corporate communications align with leadership decisions and workforce actions
- level of accuracy in product and service advertising
- degree to which client and supplier agreements/obligations are satisfied
- workforce demographics
- number of layers of management
- hiring, termination, and resignation statistics
- compensation and recognition distribution
- employee development and advancement demographic statistics
- amount of time and financial investment in professional development activities
- training program topics and provision frequency
- level of management participation in training activities
- degree to which standards and expectations are reinforced during training
- breadth of the workforce to which specific training is provided
- organizational heroes
- organizational language
Organizational culture represents a highly complex and integrated belief system. As such, no single observation should be used to draw a direct conclusion regarding an organization’s true values. In order to reach a valid conclusion, it is intended that information regarding the several telltale signs above be combined with employee, client, and supplier interview and survey data and direct behavioral and results observations followed by an in-depth evaluation. Only then can a valid conclusion capable of withstanding close scrutiny be reached.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”53515, 25542, 25653″]
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Additional Information
Additional information regarding organizational roles, responsibilities, and the propagation of values through performance measures, processes, procedures, and behavioral reinforcement can be found in the StrategyDriven model Strategic Organizational Alignment.
About the Author
Nathan Ives is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.
Strategic Analysis Best Practice 4 – Independent Assessors
An individual’s perception of circumstances and events is largely shaped by his/her knowledge and experience, beliefs, values, and biases. In the organizational setting, this perception is influenced by the organization’s shared history, its culture, and the individual’s relationships with seniors, peers, and subordinates. Additionally, event perception is often limited by the individual’s finite, relevant knowledge and experience, as well as his/her employment impact concerns and desire for self-promotion. To be effective, a strategic analysis must be free of the impairments and limitations individuals within the organization have when assessing internal events and impactful external circumstances.[wcm_restrict plans=”40707, 25542, 25653″]
Independent assessors are often engaged by an organization in order to evaluate internal performance and external environmental conditions in a significantly more unbiased manner. Because these outsiders are free from the organization’s vestiges, they tend to be able to provide executives and managers with a more accurate picture of performance, including hard-hitting and insightful opportunities for improvement. The independent assessor’s perception of conditions, occurrences, and organizational factors gives him/her several advantages over internal evaluators including:
- not biased by the organization’s shared history and culture
- less relationship driven or biased
- typically possess knowledge and experience beyond that resident within the organization, in particular, those learned from interactions with other similar companies
- significantly less employment impact risk for identifying organizational shortcomings
These factors also serve to in enhance the independent assessor’s credibility with executives and managers; increasing the likelihood that action will be taken based on the recommendations presented.
While independent assessors are often thought of as outside consultants hired by the organization to perform a particular evaluation, they may come from a variety of different sources including:
- consultants
- government inspectors
- benchmarking partners and peer mentors from outside the organization
- employees from other business units, departments, or crews
Regardless of the source of the independent assessor, it is important that these individuals be sufficiently removed from the organization so that they are not subject to the biases common to those within the group being evaluated.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”40707, 25542, 25653″]
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About the Author
Nathan Ives is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.
New Model Release – Stakeholder Commitment Evaluation Model
StrategyDriven contributors are proud to announce the release of our fifth model: Stakeholder Commitment Evaluation. This model provides decision-makers with a tool to assess and re-assess the relative importance and contribution of each decision stakeholder as circumstances evolve.
Decision-Making Best Practice 3 – Broad Commitment
As stated before, effective decision-making provides the organization with a unified direction aimed at achieving a primary objective and possibly one or more secondary goals. Regardless of the decision’s complexity or its immediacy, the probability of realizing a desired outcome is directly related to the organization’s ability to execute the decision in a deliberate and focused manner. Broad organizational commitment to the decision and its execution is essential to achieving the unified action needed for a successful outcome.[wcm_restrict plans=”49229, 25542, 25653″]
It is important to remember that while broad consensus is always preferable, broad commitment is absolutely necessary. Through the appropriate use of positional, personal, and intellectual power, the decision-maker must be able to secure the commitment of the organization to the decision’s execution. Only when individuals are committed to a course of action will they apply the full measure of their knowledge, skill, experience, and controlled resources to its prescribed actions. It is then that the decision-maker will be able to leverage and focus the organization’s resources to optimally execute the decision’s identified actions.
Commitment can be difficult to obtain and maintain. Additionally, not all stakeholders will be equally important to the decision’s successful execution. Therefore, it is important for the decision-maker to recognize the level and source of a decision’s support. As circumstances and the decision itself evolve, support for the decision may change, necessitating continued reevaluation of each stakeholder’s level of commitment.
The StrategyDriven model, Stakeholder Commitment Evaluation, is an easy-to-use tool that helps a decision-maker assess, reassess, and track a stakeholder’s support and his/her relative importance to a decision’s success. The Stakeholder Commitment Evaluation model can be accessed and downloaded by clicking on the links provided within this post and from the StrategyDriven Models webpage.
Final Thought…
The Broad Commitment and There Can Be Only One decision-making best practices highlight a critical quality every decision-maker must possess, power. Each individual within an organization derives his/her power from their position, relationships, and recognized expertise. Without sufficient power, the decision-maker will have difficulty securing the commitment of key organizational stakeholders; diminishing execution effectiveness and increasing the risk of failure.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”49229, 25542, 25653″]
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About the Author
Nathan Ives is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.
StrategyDriven Organizational Accountability Forum
Accountable organizations are unique creatures; standing out from others because of their superior performance, greater employee loyalty, and higher customer satisfaction. Although the rewards are great, many companies will not embark on the journey to accountability because attaining and maintaining high levels of organizational accountability is extremely difficult.
Organizational accountability exists when all members of the workforce individually and collectively act to consequentially promote the timely accomplishment of the organization’s mission. Examined more closely, this means that:
- all members of the workforce: Includes executives, managers, and individual contributors. Executives and managers are responsible for holding their subordinates accountable for the effective and efficient conduct of activities supporting mission achievement. Subordinates, through their actions, set an example by which positive pressure is applied to their peers and seniors for greater accountability.
- individually act: Enough individuals throughout the organization must act accountably in order to achieve the critical mass necessary for the existence of an accountable organization. Some individuals, such as the chief executive officer, must exhibit and reinforce accountable behaviors for the organization to be truly accountable.
- collectively act: Often, groups of executives, managers, or individual contributors make and execute the organization’s decisions. Under these circumstances, it is critical that the group act in accordance with the organization’s values to accomplish its mission and avoid easy outs and the tendency to fall into a mode of group think.
- consequentially promote: Accountability cannot exist without both positive and negative consequences. To consequentially promote the organization’s mission implies that individuals and groups will not only act in ways that seek to accomplish the mission but will recognize and reward those who do so exceptionally and appropriately act to minimize behaviors less supportive of the organization’s goals.
- timely accomplishment of the organization’s mission: For accountability to exist, one must know what is to be accomplished and within what time frame. No one can be accountable for accomplishing an undetermined goal for there is no basis against which to measure their accomplishments. Likewise, a goal that is not bound by time can never be considered to be incomplete or have insufficient progress because the individual or group working toward such a goal has an infinite amount of time to reach it.
Focus of the Organizational Accountability Forum
Materials in this forum explore the key attributes of accountable organizations and why many executives and managers intentionally or unconsciously avoid raising their organization’s accountability. We identify the programs, processes, and actions that can be taken to help promote increased accountability. Finally, we’ll examine the many benefits that accompany higher levels of organizational accountability and why accountable organizations realize them while others don’t. The following articles, podcasts, documents, and resources cover those topics critical to establishing a highly accountable organizational culture.
Articles
Principles
- Pillars of Accountability [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Fundamental Accountability Drivers [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Performance = Results + Behaviors [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
Best Practices
- Best Practice – Attract the Best with Accountability [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Best Practice – Increase Opportunities with Accountability [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Best Practice – Evaluating Organizational Culture [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Best Practice – Fact-Based Management [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Best Practice – Data Transparency [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Best Practice – Shared Accountability [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
Warning Flags
- Warning Flag – Equality of Outcomes [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Warning Flag – Time-based Performance Assessments [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
- Warning Flag – Artificial Retainer Driven Complacency [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
Resources
Books
- The Accountable Organization by John Marchica
- The Welch Way by Jack and Suzy Welch