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StrategyDriven Corporate Cultures How Work Gets Done Model

Corporate Cultures – Individual Initiated, Documented Processes Controlled Environment

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The Individual Initiated, Knowledge and Skills Controlled Environment represents a culture that seeks to actively harness and channel worker creativity. These organizations foster creativity among workers in a controlled manner that enables the company achieve its mission objectives while making room for a degree of experimentation. This culture set benefits from some added creativity and consistency but does stifle full-fledged creativity in order to minimize risks.[wcm_restrict plans=”61092, 25542, 25653″]

The following characteristics, benefits, risks, and risk mitigators are representative of the Individual Initiated, Documented Processes Controlled Environment.

StrategyDriven Corporate Cultures How Work Gets Done Model

Figure 1 – Individual Initiated, Documented Processes Controlled Environment

Characteristics

  • Executives and senior managers focus on business strategy and organizational culture
  • Focus on standardization (organization, process, technology), process compliance, and individual results achievement
  • Culture within which individual initiative is encouraged
  • Trust in the individual
  • Processes and procedures drive behaviors
  • Administrative procedure compliance is emphasized regardless of organizational benefit
  • Individuals embrace established policies and procedures
  • Supervisors and individual contributors collaborate to make day-to-day decisions
  • Supervisors and individual contributors collaborate to resolve tactical issues
  • Well-defined processes and schedules drive organizational activities
  • Robust organizational design (organizational structures, positional authorities, roles and responsibilities, job descriptions)
  • Organizational processes are well defined and documented
  • Organizational results and process performance are monitored by well-structured, highly refined metrics
  • Procedures govern most/all activities
  • Individuals have the freedom to take action within procedural guidelines and approved schedules
  • Individuals determine when and how to apply procedures
  • Rewards systems reinforce leadership defined goals, standards and expectations driven by all levels
  • Supervisors and individual contributors have extensive process knowledge
  • Careful selection of people
  • Integrated technologies are used extensively and to aid cross-functional process implementation and performance monitoring

Benefits

  • Individuals empowered to resolve problems consistent with procedural boundaries
  • Local decision-making enables rapid situational response
  • Innovation at all levels of the organization
  • Process driven execution consistency
  • Cooperation between individuals, work groups, and departments
  • Teamwork at the individual contributor level
  • Trust permeates the organization
  • Accountability for procedure compliance and results achieved
  • Job satisfaction among supervisors and individual contributors

Risks

  • Variations in priority setting by individuals misaligns organizational effort and reduces effectiveness
  • Action initiation inconsistencies causes varying results
  • Resistance to change
  • Long-term performance sustainability dependent upon workforce stability (positional and organizational retention)
  • Loss of knowledgeable, skilled, and experienced personnel greatly diminishes organizational capability and capacity
  • Changing business goals not readily translated into changed knowledge and skills

Risk Mitigators

  • Processes coupled to organizational goals in order to drive effectiveness
  • Processes and performance monitoring mechanisms (metrics and reports) contain clearly defined action triggers to align action initiation to organizational goals
  • Identification of required knowledge and skills close to the work
  • Careful selection and recruitment of employees consistent with work requirements
  • Rigorously capture, document, and communicate mission critical organizational knowledge

Note that organizational execution of one or more culture characteristic tenants may be flawed. In these instances, elimination of the deficiency often serves to significantly improve performance.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”61092, 25542, 25653″]

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StrategyDriven Introduction to Corporate CulturesOrganization members share a collective values system reflected in managerial decisions, individual behaviors, and codified within operating procedures. These values are shaped by both individual beliefs and collective experiences. Taken together, these values form the corporation’s culture.

Corporate culture contributes or detracts from the organization’s success. Regardless of the company’s written objectives, the existing culture will drive the critical decisions and actions that ultimately determine whether or not these goals will be achieved. Therefore, it is not only important to critically and honestly identify the organization’s culture but to also assess the organization’s ability to achieve its mission goals via its chose strategy in light of its culture. Where gaps exist, either the culture or strategy must be changed in order to achieve optimal success.

Finally, it is important to recognize that there is no ‘right’ culture and that no one set of organizational values is superior to another. Rather, differing cultures each present a unique set of benefits and liabilities that should be identified, understood, and incorporated into the organization’s planning and execution process so to ensure optimal organizational effectiveness.

Focus of the Corporate Cultures Forum

Materials within this forum will address the methods to identify the organization’s values and the various value sets, their benefits and their drawbacks.

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StrategyDriven Corporate Cultures How Work Gets Done Model

Corporate Cultures – Leader Initiated, Knowledge and Skills Controlled Environment

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The Leader Initiated, Knowledge and Skills Controlled Environment represents a unique cultural blend that develops over a long period of time. These organizations often begin as Leader Initiated, Documented Processes Controlled and, as the workforce gains experience over time, evolves into the use of less prescriptive processes; deeming them to be an unnecessary administrative burden. These organizations tend to have a relatively high tenure among executives, managers, and employees. This culture set benefits from experience-based efficiencies with limited consistency risk but often suffer a lack of creativity as employees perform work ‘the way it has always been done.'[wcm_restrict plans=”61133, 25542, 25653″]

The following characteristics, benefits, risks, and risk mitigators are representative of the Leader Initiated, Knowledge and Skills Controlled Environment.

StrategyDriven Corporate Cultures How Work Gets Done Model

Figure 1 – Leader Initiated, Knowledge and Skills Controlled Environment

Characteristics

  • Strategic vision held by a few executives
  • Focus on organizational results achievement
  • ‘Doing it the right way’ and ‘the right way is the way it’s done here’ culture
  • Trust in leadership
  • Senior leaders look for opportunities to focus the organization
  • Senior leaders establish strategic and tactical priorities
  • Decision-making authority resident within the senior leadership team
  • Senior leaders relied on to resolve most/all problems
  • Senior leaders direct routine activities
  • Relationship driven workplace environment
  • Policies, values, and professional ethics are defined by leadership
  • Organizational results are monitored by informal and sometimes ad hoc metrics
  • Policies govern most/all activities
  • Accountability achieved through senior leader attention
  • Individuals are held accountable for results
  • Low tolerance for not following established policies, values, and professional ethics
  • Senior leaders determine what skills and knowledge is required
  • Careful selection of leaders, supervisors, and people
  • Informal technologies are used to aid process implementation and performance monitoring

Benefits

  • Consistency of direction
  • High accountability for management priorities
  • Manager level innovation
  • Trust permeates the organization
  • Well developed sense of team
  • Respect for people
  • Some job satisfaction

Risks

  • Supervisors unable to deal with controversial issues
  • No/Slow resolution of problems not in the manager spotlight
  • Inability to recognize when performance deviates from expectations
  • Individuals delay action waiting for leader direction
  • Loss of organizational vision through senior leader over-involvement in details
  • Loss of senior managers and the organization’s vision
  • Innovation below the manager level
  • Changing business goals are not readily translated into changed skills and knowledge
  • Lose of knowledgeable, skilled, and experienced personnel
  • Lack of formal measurement systems hinders recognition of when performance deviates from expectation

Risk Mitigators

  • Well documented and broadly communicated organizational vision and goals
  • Comprehensive succession and workforce pipeline planning at all organizational levels
  • Identification of required knowledge and skills close to the work
  • Rigorously capture, document, and communicate mission critical organizational knowledge
  • Employment of a comprehensive set of program performance measures to early identify deviations and defects

Note that organizational execution of one or more culture characteristic tenants may be flawed. In these instances, elimination of the deficiency often serves to significantly improve performance.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”61133, 25542, 25653″]

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StrategyDriven Corporate Cultures How Work Gets Done Model

Corporate Cultures – Leader Initiated, Documented Processes Controlled Environment

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The Leader Initiated, Documented Processes Controlled Environment is one of two anchor points on the Culture-based Work Performance Model. Subsequently, organizations aligned with this culture set represent the highest level of work consistency and efficiency while incurring the greatest degree of risk in job satisfaction and creativity.[wcm_restrict plans=”61124, 25542, 25653″]

The following characteristics, benefits, risks, and risk mitigators are representative of the Leader Initiated, Documented Processes Controlled Environment.

StrategyDriven Corporate Cultures How Work Gets Done Model

Figure 1 – Leader Initiated, Documented Processes Controlled Environment

Characteristics

  • Strategic vision held by a few executives
  • Focus on standardization (organization, process, technology), process compliance, and organizational results achieved
  • ‘Push button, get banana’ culture where individual creativity is not encouraged and often undesired
  • Trust in leadership
  • Formal procedures and schedules drive most/all work activities
  • Administrative procedure compliance is emphasized regardless of organizational benefit
  • Senior leaders look for opportunities to focus the organization
  • Senior leaders establish strategic and tactical priorities
  • Decision-making authority resident within the senior leadership team
  • Senior leaders relied on to resolve most/all problems
  • Senior leaders set daily priorities and approve schedules
  • Robust organizational design (organizational structures, positional authorities, roles and responsibilities, job descriptions)
  • Organizational processes are well defined and documented
  • Organizational results and process performance are monitored by well-structured, highly refined metrics
  • Procedures govern most/all activities
  • Accountability is achieved through the attention of senior leaders
  • Individuals at all levels are held accountable for strict process compliance
  • Low tolerance for procedural deviations
  • Senior leaders determine what skills and knowledge is required
  • Careful selection of leaders
  • Integrated technologies are used extensively and to aid cross-functional process implementation and performance monitoring

Benefits

  • Workers and supervisors have little discretion in deviating from standardized work processes
  • Consistency of vision, mission, and direction
  • Organizational focus and alignment to organizational goals achievement
  • High organizational accountability to the priorities established by senior leaders
  • Highly consistent work performance that yields greater efficiency and reliability
  • Consistent work performance to standardized processes results in precise execution regardless of who performs the activity
  • Uncertainty in work performance and outcomes is limited to minor discretionary and mechanical variations
  • Organizational ability to change rapidly

Risks

  • Supervisors lack the authority to deal with local issues potentially allowing them to grow in impact before being address by senior leaders
  • Supervisors not empowered to resolve local issues requires management intervention leading to overload
  • Organizational issues and friction not in leadership’s view are allowed to fester unresolved
  • Supervisor and individual initiative is suppressed preventing the organization from benefiting from these insights and innovations
  • Limited ability to tailor job performance to individual preferences lowers overall job satisfaction and may result in higher turnover
  • Rigid confinement to procedural boundaries hinders teamwork, collaboration, and coordination
  • Personnel are often not willing to collaborate or support others outside their immediate group unless it directly benefits them; resulting in significant inter-organizational friction
  • Individuals below the senior leadership level feel little ownership for organizational results
  • Process inefficiencies and misalignments go unchallenged (by supervisors and individuals) resulting in lost productivity and higher costs
  • Inability to deal with circumstantial exceptions
  • Innovation below the senior manager level

Risk Mitigators

  • Expand the strategic planning program to include employee derived recommendations
  • Engage employees when defining and refining strategic initiative scope
  • Involve employees in initiatives impacting what and how they do work
  • Employ organizationally matrixed teams to implement important initiatives
  • Establish low-risk and risk-bounded mechanisms to allow for the testing of employee recommended initiatives
  • Provide opportunities for employees to observe and participate in non-mission critical decision-making working sessions

Note that organizational execution of one or more culture characteristic tenants may be flawed. In these instances, elimination of the deficiency often serves to significantly improve performance.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”61124, 25542, 25653″]

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StrategyDriven Corporate Cultures How Work Gets Done Model

Corporate Cultures – Individual Initiated, Knowledge and Skills Controlled Environment

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The Individual Initiated, Knowledge and Skills Controlled Environment is one of two anchor points on the Culture-based Work Performance Model. Subsequently, organizations aligned with this culture set represent the highest level of engagement and creativity while incurring the greatest degree of risk in work consistency and efficiency.[wcm_restrict plans=”61104, 25542, 25653″]

The following characteristics, benefits, risks, and risk mitigators are representative of the Individual Initiated, Knowledge and Skills Controlled Environment.

StrategyDriven Corporate Cultures How Work Gets Done Model

Figure 1 – Individual Initiated, Knowledge and Skills Controlled Environment

Characteristics

  • Executives and senior managers focus on business strategy and organizational culture
  • Focus on individual results achievement
  • Culture of ‘we are and work like professionals’
  • Trust in people is balanced by a thorough understanding of their job requirements and limits of authority
  • Processes and procedures allow application flexibility whenever possible
  • Guidelines are used when strict procedure adherence is not required
  • Individuals embrace established policies and procedures
  • Leaders define overarching organizational priorities and performance policies
  • Democratic decision-making whereby supervisors and workers provide input to build consensus
  • Empowerment workplace environment where decisions pushed to as low an organization level as possible
  • Supervisors and individual contributors collaborate to establish day-to-day work priorities
  • Relationship driven workplace environment
  • Policies, values, and professional ethics are defined
  • Organizational results are monitored by informal and sometimes ad hoc metrics
  • Supervisors and individuals exercise a degree of autonomy
  • Individuals have the freedom to take action within procedural guidelines and to determine what work gets done and when consistent with established priorities
  • Individuals determine when and how to apply the performance standards
  • Peer pressure reinforces process, standards and expectations adherence
  • People work within well-defined skill sets
  • Careful selection of people
  • Informal technologies are used to aid process implementation and performance monitoring

Benefits

  • Individuals empowered to resolve problems consistent with organizational values
  • Local decision-making enables rapid situational response
  • High degree of innovation at all organizational levels
  • Individual contributor self-reliance and self-motivation with little need for constant supervision or direction
  • Teamwork at the worker level
  • Deep respect for people and their contribution to the organization
  • Personal ownership of work and the company
  • High job satisfaction
  • High degree of self-checking of work performed
  • Openness to peer-checking from others particularly in cases of important, irreversible actions
  • Accountable, engaged, and motivated work force

Risks

  • Variations in priority setting by individuals misaligns organizational effort and reduces effectiveness ; work performed becomes misaligned with organizational goals
  • Work completion lacks timeliness
  • Inconsistent activity performance spills over into inconsistent results
  • Individuals perform similar/same tasks differently reducing performance consistency
  • Individual judgment is allowed to override formal direction
  • Expectations not followed when the individual ‘knows better;’ misuse of ‘professional discretion’
  • Individuals take the wrong actions for the right reasons and behaviors subsequently deteriorate over time
  • Smooth/unified coordination between various work groups, departments, divisions, and business units
  • Extremely high resistance to change
  • Loss of knowledgeable, skilled, and experienced personnel greatly diminishes organizational capability and capacity
  • Changing business goals not readily translated into changed knowledge and skills
  • Lack of formal measurement systems hinders recognition of when performance deviates from expectation

Risk Mitigators

  • Identification of required knowledge and skills close to the work
  • Rigorously capture, document, and communicate mission critical organizational knowledge
  • Employ a comprehensive set of program performance measures to early identify deviations and defects
  • Engage supplemental support to add programmatic rigor to the implementation of important initiatives
  • Ensure implementation decisions and designs are thoroughly documented and retained in an accessible, indexed location

Note that organizational execution of one or more culture characteristic tenants may be flawed. In these instances, elimination of the deficiency often serves to significantly improve performance.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”61104, 25542, 25653″]

Hi there! Gain access to this article with a StrategyDriven Insights Library – Total Access subscription or buy access to the article itself.

Subscribe to the StrategyDriven Insights Library

Sign-up now for your StrategyDriven Insights Library – Total Access subscription for as low as $15 / month (paid annually).

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 Buy the Article

Don’t need a subscription? Buy access to Corporate Cultures – Individual Initiated, Knowledge and Skills Controlled Environment for just $2!

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