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Indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements. First, decide upon your unit of analysis—the entire corporation, a division, a function, or even a small team. To identify the many cultures in which you operate, you may need to take this test more than once. (For the selection "neither agree nor disagree" you may think of your answers as "It's a wash".) |
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Strongly disagree |
Disagree |
Neither agree nor disagree |
Agree |
Strongly Agree |
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1. The group I am assessing (organization, division, unit team) knows its business objectives clearly. 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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2. People genuinely like one another. 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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3. People follow clear guidelines and instructions about work. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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4. People get along very well and disputes are rare. 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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5. Poor performance is dealt with quickly and firmly. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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6. People often socialize outside of work. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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7. The group really wants to win. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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8. People do favors for each other because they like one another. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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9. When opportunities for competitive advantage arise people move decisively to capitalize on them. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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10. People make friends for the sake of friendship— there is no other agenda. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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11. Strategic goals are shared. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Table caption12 .
Table caption13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
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Strongly disagree |
Disagree |
Neither agree nor disagree |
Agree |
Strongly Agree |
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People often confide in one another about personal matters. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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People build close long¬ term relationships—some day they may be of benefit. |
_ 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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Reward and punishment are clear. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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People know a lot about each other's families. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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The group is determined to beat clearly defined enemies. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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People are always encour¬ aged to work things out— flexibly—as they go along. 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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Hitting targets is the single most imprtant thing. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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To get something done you can work around the system. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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Projects that are started are completed. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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When people leave, co-workers stay in contact to see how they are doing. 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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It is clear where one person's job ends and another person's begins. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
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People protect each other. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Assessing Your Organization's Culture
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Scoring Key for |
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Sociability: |
2 |
+ |
4 |
+ |
6 |
|
13 |
+ |
15 |
+ |
17 |
|
Questionnaire 8 |
10 |
12 |
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|
+ |
+ |
+ |
Total |
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|
19 |
21 |
23 ~ |
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+ |
+ |
+ |
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Solidarity: |
1 |
3 |
5 |
7 |
9 |
11 |
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|
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
Total |
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|
14 |
16 |
18 |
20 |
22 |
23 |
— |
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|
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
Solidarity
Your responses to part 2 have suggested a culture for your group. But you will remember that when the Double S Cube was introduced we noted that behind each positive face there lurked a dark side—coded as shaded on the diagram. What this means is that both relationships of sociability and solidarity can also have negative aspects. The next section will help you to determine the balance in your own organization. Before introducing the relevant tools, however, it's important to make some simple distinctions.
Take sociability first. A high level of social interaction is the single most important expression of sociability. But the critical question to ask in assessing whether the organization falls into the positive or negative form is: What are the organizational outcomes of these interactions? There are several possibilities.
• The sociability generates positive organizational benefits such as: people bounce ideas off each other, share information, and help colleagues in need.
• Lots of social interaction generates neither organizational benefit nor harm. There is lots of talk and no action. In negatively networked organizations, people often complain about long, unproductive meetings with no positive outcomes as everyone searches for a consensus they cannot find.
• Alternatively, high levels of social interaction actually produce negative outcomes for the organization. There is much gossiping and negative politics with people endlessly forming cliques to pursue their own agendas. At its worst, people don't really like each other at all, they just pretend to be buddies. This is negative sociability par excellence.
Now let's look at solidarity. Again, solidaristic behaviors can be good for the organization or bad.
• When they are good, individual actions fit together in ways that help to move goals forward and protect shared interests. There is widespread agreement about overall organizational objectives and external enemies.
• When solidaristic behaviors only benefit localized cells within the organization, people pursue objectives at the level of their own group at cost to overall organizational interests. They make sure they hit their targets even if this damages the business as a whole. This can happen when a local division achieves its bottom-line objective but at the expense, for example, of the company's brand or reputation.
• Perhaps most damaging of all, the behaviors and attitudes of solidarity are feigned and life is really a war of all against all—nasty, brutish, and short.
The following questions will provide you with an idea about how many positive and negative characteristics are present within your organization.