COMMENTARY
Analyzing Organizational
Culture for Results
by Donald T. Tosti
The central question for a cultural analysis in a business environment should
normally be “Does the company’s culture support its business strategy?” In
practice, that question is often addressed as an afterthought, if at all. Because early
approaches to examining corporate culture were derived from the practices of
cultural anthropology, much cultural analysis has been primarily descriptive. It
has focused on clarifying what a company’s culture is and how it got that way. A
more useful approach is a prescriptive one that focuses on what a company’s
culture should be and what it will take to become that way.
Perhaps the clearest example of the difference between the two perspectives
occurs in a cultural audit associated with a company merger. A descriptive
approach looks at where the cultures of the merging parties are in conflict or in
harmony. It leads organizations to examine the question “What do we need to do to
get along with each other?” A prescriptive approach looks at the extent to which
each culture supports the business strategy and purposes of the merger. It leads
organizations to examine the question “What do we need to do to create the business
results that are the goal of the merger?”
Mutual success is clearly a more powerful and effective driver of change than is
mutual compatibility. And though getting along with each other is important, it is
usually best accomplished as one component of an effort to achieve mutual goals
than as a primary purpose in itself.
What Is Culture?
Cultural anthropologists are in some disagreement as to what culture is. John
Bodley summarizes an earlier list of 160 definitions of culture into the following
categories:
Topical: Culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or categories, such as
social organization, religion, or economy.
 Historical: Culture is social heritage or tradition that is passed on to future
generations.
Performance Improvement • Volume 41 • Number 9
1
 Behavioral: Culture is shared, learned human behavior, a
way of life.
 Normative: Culture is ideals, values, or rules for living.
 Functional: Culture is the way humans solve problems of
adapting to the environment or living together.
 Mental: Culture is a complex of ideas, or learned habits,
that inhibit impulses and distinguish people from animals.
 Structural: Culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols, or behaviors.
 Symbolic: Culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are shared by a society.
The definitions are not mutually incompatible, but the
behavioral definition provides the best starting point for
performance-based cultural analysis. In a business environment, however, the goal is not simply to describe typical
behavioral practices now, but to describe the behavioral
practices needed for success in the future and to determine how
to encourage and support those practices.
Cultural Analysis: Descriptive Versus
Prescriptive
Differences between the descriptive (anthropological
model) and the prescriptive (performance model)
approaches to cultural analysis may be seen in the types of
questions used in data gathering. Descriptive approaches
tend to use inferential questions such as, What values and
beliefs do people share in this organization? What stories do
people tell to help others understand how things work
around here? Who are the heroes?
In contrast, prescriptive approaches usually ask more direct
questions: What kinds of practices do we need to demonstrate to be successful? How well are we doing those things
now? What common practices do we have to change?
The descriptive approach relies heavily on social norms and
cultural profiles. The prescriptive approach focuses on outcomes, what is required to achieve valued results.
Prescriptive Analysis
The prescriptive approach looks at four critical areas. Its primary aim is to define the culture that will support the company’s strategy and contribute to long-term success. But it is
also necessary to get some idea of where the organization is
today in these areas. While the focus is on what should be, we
also need to know something about what is. The following
questions are helpful in such an analysis.
 Success Priorities: What do people believe are the key
practices that will contribute to the company’s success
over the long term? What do they believe it might take to be
successful in the organization’s business environment and to create value for the organization’s stake-
2
www.ispi.org • OCTOBER 2002
holders with a new business focus? Determining these
success practices is the key to understanding what it
will take to meet the new business demands.
 Power and Influence: What are the practices that provide
influence and control in the organization (as is and should
be)? Where does decisionmaking authority reside? How are
decisions tested? How much challenge is permitted or
encouraged? How are rewards, recognition, intimidation,
and/or fear used to influence behavior?
 Collaborative Relationships: How is teamwork legitimized and supported? How do cross-functional working
relationships work? How is consensus defined? How does
the organization measure or recognize both within-group
and cross-group goals? What are the ground rules for
cross-functional working relationships? Are some groups
of employees considered more valuable or important than
others?
 Basic Human Values: How do people signal respect (or
disrespect) for each other? How and to what extent are
such values as trust, commitment, or openness demonstrated? How is feedback delivered—does it tend to be
given as advice about how to improve in the future or as
criticism of what has been done in the past? Though this
area is not tied as directly to results as the preceding ones,
it is often the most visible and obvious component of
culture for most people. It tends to contribute broadly to
employee satisfaction and loyalty and is usually the
greatest source of dissatisfaction and distraction for people
when it is not the right way.
In summary, then, the prescriptive approach to organizational culture does not depend on an up-front cultural profiling
model but begins with business requirements and works
back from these to establish a supportive culture. The
organization’s cultural practices must be aligned to support
creating valued results, that is, value for the company, its
customers, its employees, and its stakeholder groups.
Though the methods are quite different, the broad approach to
conducting a cultural analysis is similar to that for conducting
a process analysis—first establish the outcomes and then
determine what is required to achieve them. Managers have
typically recognized that it is their responsibility to ensure
that company processes are aligned to produce results, but
they have generally abdicated their role in aligning company
practices to produce results.
The prescriptive cultural audit is designed to establish the
behavioral practices that will contribute to producing business
results and to determine the extent to which people in the
organization (or organizations, in the case of a merger)
currently demonstrate those practices. The resulting clarity
provides managers with a foundation for meeting the challenge of ensuring cultural alignment within and between
business units focused on achieving the organization’s mission and vision.
Related Readings
Bodley, J. (1997). Cultural anthropology: Tribes, states, and the
global system. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing
Company.
Tosti, D. (2000). Systemic change. Performance
Improvement, 39(3), 53-59.
Tosti. D., & Jackson, S. (1997). Customer value. San Rafael,
CA: Vanguard Consulting.
Tosti, D., & Jackson, S. (1994). Organizational alignment:
How it works and why it matters. Training Magazine.
Tosti, D., & Stotz, R.(2001). Building your brand from the
inside out. Marketing Management.
Tosti, D., & Stotz, R. (2000). Internal branding: Using performance technology to create an organization focused on
customer value. Performance Improvement, 39(9), 5-11.
Donald Tosti is the founder and managing partner of Vanguard Consulting. Don has an extensive
and varied background in behavioral technology,
and he has been a recognized expert in performance-based approaches to organizational
change for over three decades.Don’s pioneering
work on contingency management began in the 1960’s.Later as principle
investigator for the multi-media leadership/management courses conducted
for the US Naval Academy, he adapted the methods of performance analysis to
the study of leadership and management behavior.His subsequent work
centered on modifying behavioral norms and cultural values. Since the late 70s,
Don has focused on organizational alignment and the development of
Performance-Based Management Systems.
He has been involved in a wide range of organizational change programs
for companies in the United States and Europe. These consulting activities in
organizational alignment include work in leadership, management, culture
change, internal marketing and strategic alliances. Don has broad experience
with changing organizational cultures to focus on creating greater customer
value.Toward that end, he has developed survey instruments designed to
measure factors that impact customer value and customer retention.He has
worked with several clients to help them translate their “brand promise” into
specific performance at the customer interface.Don may be reached at
Change1 11 @aol.com.
Performance Improvement • Volume 41 • Number 9
3