Taken by

Taken by: Naimah Alsalamah

Date taken: Thursday, February 15, 2018

Low
High

Immediate

Family

Entrepreneurial/Creative

Achievement

Bureaucratic

Mission

YOUR RESULTS:

Immediate

You have a mid-preference score for working in an Immediate organisational culture, indicating that you:

May enjoy doing some high reward activities, but may not feel any particular drive to seek them out

May welcome feedback on your performance, but do not seek instant gratification are probably comfortable with dealing with uncertainty to an extent, but also like some planned and expected activities

Prefer to be judged on a range of success criteria, both long and short term

Tips

Consider what sorts of personal development and support network you may need to perform well in this type of culture. For example, you may need to develop your resilience or build a stronger network when you need support. Would working in such a culture be a personal challenge you could learn from? Where is the tipping point at which it is not fun? During your job search, enquire as to what extent this is the dominant culture. It could be that this is only part of the job and that the role is more suited to your preferences. Explore this to be confident that it is the right balance for you.

If your work is not providing enough excitement for you, consider how else you can meet this need e.g. by using your skills in a voluntary capacity, as you don’t need to get this need met through work alone.

If you are contemplating a career change, you may want to find out more about the role to see if it is somewhere you will thrive. Try talking to people in your network, job tasters and the company website. You may enjoy the thrill of working in such a culture, but be happy to take a more back-seat role. Search out opportunities to work one step removed from the action e.g. in support functions.

How much feedback is there and how immediate will it be? Is this sufficient for your needs?

Family

You have a high preference score for working in a Family organisational culture, indicating that you:

Are likely to thrive on teamwork

Value a mentoring relationship with your manager and other senior staff

Are probably comfortable with sharing personal information and knowing people very well at work

Feel committed and loyal to the organisation

Tips

Consider the pros and cons of working in such a committed work place. Morale and support is high, but if you have been there a while, what are the drivers for leaving and furthering your career? Are you too loyal to leave such a close knit and nurturing organisation when it may be in your best interests to seek experience elsewhere?

During your job search, enquire as to what provision there is for working in teams. Explore how work or projects are managed and organised.

If your existing work is not providing a team oriented culture, consider how you might obtain this outside work e.g. clubs, societies- anything where there is close knit group atmosphere or is it a deal-breaker?

If you are contemplating a career change or just starting your career, organisations like this are often great places to work and focus on personal development is high. However, it is important that you respect those in charge. Ask to meet them and ensure you share their values and would feel happy working for them as their influence on you will be huge.

Entrepreneurial/Creative

You have a mid-preference score for working in an Entrepreneurial/Creative organisational
Culture, indicating that you:

Enjoy some change and variety at work

Enjoy finding new ways of doing things, but also like to work with the established ways of working effectively

Are tolerant of ambiguity to an extent, and some risks are worth taking

Are comfortable working with something new and creative, but also happy to work on more routine aspects of work.

Value being recognised for your hard work as well as your ideas and improvement activities

Tips

Consider what sorts of skills and characteristics you may need to do to perform well in this type of culture e.g. creativity, perseverance and being comfortable with risk taking. To what extent do you have these skills and how can you make the most of them?

During your job search, find out how innovation and creativity is valued by an organisation. Find out to what extent they are genuinely open to change. In more conventional organisations, you may find there are more opportunities to be creative where a new product or service is being developed or there are other drivers for change e.g. legislation, de-regulation or a change of management or leadership.

If your existing work is hampering your attempts to be as creative as you would like, consider how else you can meet this need e.g. volunteering for special projects; secondments or continuous improvement activities.

If you are contemplating a career change to increase the amount of creative work you undertake then explore where technology and commerce are making advances and look out for up and coming roles.

When visiting the organisation, get a feel for the culture. What is the buzz like? Can you feel it? Is it energising or exhausting? Do you feel comfortable and would you like to be there every day?

When visiting, are there areas to go in the organisation (e.g. quiet rooms or offices) where you can balance the buzz with some quiet time?

Achievement

You have a high preference score for working in an Achievement organisational culture, indicating that you are likely to:

Thrive on success and achievement

Enjoy the buzz of winning and doing better than your competitor or colleagues be comfortable with working towards stretch targets and goals enjoy seeing clear results for your efforts

Be comfortable with pressure and challenges at work and your achievements being measured and monitored

Enjoy being rewarded for your accomplishments

Tips

If your existing work is lacking in challenge consider how else you could set yourself goals and targets e.g. personal development projects or competitive sports.

If you are contemplating a career change, explore organisations that look for potential and provide relevant training.

Consider what sorts of skills and characteristics you may need to perform well in this type of culture e.g. enthusiasm, determination, ability to develop good relationships and a competitive spirit. Do you have these qualities and are they being underused? Would you benefit from coaching and training in selling skills perhaps to enable you to work in a role which really exemplifies this culture? There are many types of sales oriented roles: some require more account management skills and technical knowhow. Could these suit you?

If you are attracted to this kind of work, do you need to hone your presentation skills to help you sell yourself?

Ask how success is measured and rewarded. Does this sound sufficiently motivating? Find out who you’ll be compared to or competing against. Is this energising or demotivating?

Bureaucratic

You have a high preference score for working in a Bureaucratic organisational culture, indicating that you are likely to:

Prefer order, efficiency and clear operating guidelines

Enjoy structured tasks with clear outputs rather than ambiguous objectives or expectations be comfortable with working within rules, regulations and formalities organised

Be comfortable with reporting to others

Tips

Consider the types of skills and characteristics you may need to perform well in this type of culture e.g. being organised, aware of procedures and efficient working. Do you have these qualities and are they being underused? Are there organisations or positions which would benefit from your approach e.g. compliance roles.

Do you need to challenge yourself to develop other skills, e.g. strategic thinking or seeing the “bigger picture”, in order to advance your career?

During your job search, find out to what extent potential employers would value these skills. Is being organised an essential part of the role and how your performance would be evaluated?
If your existing work does not value your preferred way of working consider how else you could use your skills and talents e.g. voluntary organisations and charity boards; sports teams, chairing roles and organising committees.

If you are contemplating a career change, explore organisations that look for organisation and efficiency. Are work roles well defined and are reporting lines clear? You may not enjoy working in an organisation where the objectives and goals are ambiguous or less clearly defined.

If you are attracted to this kind of work, do you need to improve any related skills such as time management, priority setting and project management?

How explicit do you like the bureaucracy to be? It can be frustrating when the structure is there, but not overt. How would you manage this?

Mission

You have a high preference score for working in a Mission-focused organisational culture, indicating that you are likely to:

Prefer to work for a organisation with the same agenda as you enjoy working towards goals that you can relate to

Prefer to work with like-minded people who share the same aims and values want to make a difference to the lives of others have a positive association with your work

Tips

Consider how comfortable you would feel in this type of culture e.g. feeling strongly about issues; willing to donate time and effort in pursuit of a cause, often for a lower level of financial reward. It is likely you will consider it worth the investment?

During your job search, find out what you could offer these types of organisations. How could you use your existing skills to help them achieve their overall aim? e.g. finance skills, fund raising, organisation or co-ordination of volunteers.

If your existing work does not align sufficiently with your values or lacks a sense of purpose then consider non-work activities such as voluntary and charity work.

If you are contemplating a career change, explore organisations that look for commitment to a cause. Ask yourself which ones are close to your heart? What transferable skills can you offer?

If you are attracted to this kind of organisation are there things you could be doing to help secure work or employment in this area? e.g. experience of fund raising and voluntary work.

ABOUT THIS ASSESSMENT:
Organisational culture is an interesting part of someone’s career and job search. Deal and Kennedy (1982) defined organisational culture as “the way things get done around here”. They created a model of culture that is based on how quickly the organisation receives feedback, the way members are rewarded, and the level of risks taken. Others such as Johnson and Scholes (1989) described organisational culture as a web, consisting of a number of elements that can be used to describe companies’ cultures and which can also be changed to enable organisations to transform.

There are those that argue (Schein 1992) that organisational culture may be hard to change. If this is true, it makes sense to ensure that individuals find the right fit for themselves in organisations if they are to work at their best. This means finding the right kind of culture for you, or perhaps the right mix of cultural factors as there are often more than one or several subcultures. However, teams can operate differently and have their own unique cultural climate and also an organisation’s culture can vary across the globe.

A strong culture is said to exist where staff are clearly aligned to organisational values. A healthy culture is said to be one where there is equal opportunity for each employee to realise their full potential within the company. Conversely, there can also be a weak culture where there is little alignment with organisational values and control comes from extensive rules, procedures and bureaucracy.

In summary

Organisations have a mix of cultures, but there is often a dominant one.

Finding out your own preferences e.g. life/work balance, how you like to relate to colleagues, what is rewarded etc will help to determine the best fit or compatibility between you and an organisation

The type of culture in an organisation determines the type of leadership, management practices, organisational strategy, success criteria and the “glue” that keeps people working together