Methods for diagnosing organizational culture in a company. Methods for diagnosing organizational culture

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the influence of organizational (or, as it is now more often called, corporate) culture on the company’s performance. “What is good and what is bad” is understood differently in each team, but the experience of organizations that have achieved significant success demonstrates the special importance of “intangible assets.”

The company’s operating style is influenced by many external and internal factors, such as customer activity, changes in legislation and technology, change of strategy, shortening of the business cycle, heterogeneity work force and the diversity of people’s lifestyles, but the most important invariably remains competition. Corporate culture is one of the key factors determining a company's success, so changes to it must be carefully analyzed and planned. The resources allocated for the development of culture are not costs, but thoughtful investments.

International consulting company Hay Group has been working in Ukraine for seven years. During this time, she implemented many interesting large-scale projects. The challenges facing our client companies typically require complex transformations. To build, for example, a more effective, internally fair and motivating reward system or a personnel assessment and development system, it is not enough to change the tools or methodological approach. Such transformations are directly related to changes in ways of working and mentality, rules of behavior and relationships among employees. Therefore, most often we start a project with diagnostics organizational culture- that “litmus test”, thanks to which many problems are identified and “bottlenecks” appear. Data obtained as a result of analyzing the organization's effectiveness and identifying the target culture helps managers integrate all human resource management processes. As a result, the company begins to support those employee behaviors that lead to the desired results.

Let's define the main concept: organizational culture includes a set of values, rules, norms, beliefs, traditions, stereotypes and behavioral patterns (models) that are shared by employees of a given organization. In other words, culture defines how we work, think and act within a company. In any community of people who are united common goals, our own way of working develops, regardless of whether we pay attention to it or whether we try to somehow influence it.

In 1998 Hay Group together with Fortune magazine conducted a study “What makes the 500 different? best companies peace from the rest? ( What makes companies great?) The subject of the study was precisely those characteristics that distinguish successful companies from all others. The findings showed that a key success factor is the organization’s ability to attract, develop and retain talented employees, which, in turn, is largely determined by corporate culture. A decisive factor in business efficiency is the presence of “a person in the right place” in every position in a company, and the most common reasons for failures in implementing the chosen strategy (up to 70% of cases) are underestimation of the human factor, lack of managers’ skills to manage change and/or lack of delegation of responsibility and powers.

The creation of a modern integrated personnel management system (HRMS) is currently considered one of the main conditions for the implementation of the company’s strategy ( scheme). At the same time, it is the corporate culture that largely determines what the structure of the organization will be, its main business processes, systems of selection, motivation, development, remuneration, etc.

Diagram of an integrated personnel management system

As a rule, we begin diagnosing organizational culture at the level of managers senior management. To determine the company's operating style, we use the method Targeted Culture Modeling - C-Sort TM (“Modeling the target culture”). Managers are offered a set of “ characteristic features» the culture of the organization, for example:

encouragement by the team to work;
unconditional execution of the decisions of your leader;
forecasting changes in the business environment;
support for alternative points of view;
gaining the trust of clients, etc.

According to your individual vision existing And desired culture of the organization, managers rank this set of characteristics (using a special matrix C-Sort). In other words, they are first asked to select characteristics to evaluate the situation “as is”, and then - for the situation “as it should be”. The diagnostic procedure for each participant takes no more than one and a half hours, there is also Alternative option- online research.

Consultants then do quantitative and qualitative analysis received data. The survey results allow:

visually “see” the culture that the organization develops and encourages today;
formulate the expectations of top managers regarding the company’s development priorities;
compare diagrams displaying the parameters of the existing and desired culture;
highlight the most characteristic characteristics of a given organization corporate culture and determine the degree of consistency of participants’ opinions on each of the characteristics;
determine the degree of manifestation in the company various types culture and assess how much they contribute to the implementation of the strategy;
identify the goals of top managers and assess the degree of their coincidence/divergence;
compare the perception of corporate culture by different groups of employees, identify subcultures that develop in individual structural divisions.

Diagnosis using the method C-Sort TM allows you to obtain accurate data on all measured parameters, which is important since the study of such “intangible” qualities as the culture of an organization or a person’s potential always raises doubts about the degree of objectivity and accuracy of the information received. At proper organization This method of data collection allows us to neutralize the influence of the social desirability factor in the answers.

It is often important for the head of a company and HR to analyze how they perceive their organization and its culture separate groups employees. A description of the subcultures of individual departments is necessary in order to understand how coordinated the actions of their leaders are within the framework of implementation overall strategy companies. In addition, participants are given Feedback- how each of them perceives the company’s culture compared to other managers.

Based on many years of research into corporate cultures, we have identified four types of organizational culture:

1) functional;

2) procedural;

3) time-oriented;

4) network.

How do these cultures, and, accordingly, the organizations in which they dominate, differ?

If we talk about the “phylogenesis” of cultural development, then it is necessary to remember that any organization (like social institution) begins with the division of labor, that is, with the assignment of specific functions to a specific job position. It is functionally structured collective behavior - the division of responsibilities that is characteristic of many Ukrainian companies, which creates a number of advantages (such as ensuring high quality products/services, stability/sustainability of business processes, a high level of discipline, deep specialization and, accordingly, professionalism).

But a company with a functional type of culture does not have time to respond flexibly to changes external environment, increased competition, figuratively speaking, it is a “thing in itself.” People in such an organization cope well with a clearly defined and at the same time limited range of operational tasks, while they do not see business processes holistically (marketing, finance, production, etc.), and do not know their client well - external or internal. The basis of the competency profile in it is desire for professional development, involvement, directiveness etc.

In such an organization, the motivation and incentive system is strictly “centered” on senior managers; here, employees’ “loyalty” (work experience), loyalty is encouraged, skills and diligence are valued, but initiative is “punished.”

We implemented a project to build new system remuneration and development of a system of periodic personnel assessment for one Ukrainian company. The results of diagnosing the corporate culture showed a fairly high “functionality” of this organization, which was manifested in the duration of decision-making on different levels, in a narrow (strictly functional) vision by employees of their tasks and their place in the structure of business processes.

During the 360° assessment of middle managers, most participants found it difficult to evaluate various aspects of the work of their colleagues (for example, how the head of the neighboring department manages his subordinates, what methods of reward he uses, how involved he is in achieving the company's goals, etc. . P.). These results are explained not only by understandable resistance to the assessment procedure, but also by the fact that employees really do not know what is happening outside the formal framework of their duties!

This company today sets itself the task of entering international markets with a high level of competition, but the corporate culture of the enterprise not only does not contribute to the implementation of such strategic plans - it slows them down! This cannot be achieved without a change in the “cultural paradigm”.

The “functional” type of culture is justified in the army, in natural monopolistic companies or in particularly dangerous production, but in conditions of competition it is like death! In a free market environment, it is impossible to achieve success without a focus on ultimate goals, common to the whole team!

For example, how can the sales function satisfy an unexpectedly increased customer order if the production departments are rigidly oriented to the plan? Process orientation implies teamwork, where everyone is interested in working towards a common result. Then people are not indifferent to what is happening in the neighboring unit, and a “customer orientation” is formed in the organization.

With this type of corporate culture, human resource management processes must be different. In particular, it is necessary to reorient the personnel competency profile: teamwork, customer orientation, communication. Competition stimulates all team members to constantly learn new methods of work and master cross-functional knowledge. The emphasis when hiring is shifting from requirements for special knowledge towards soft skills(social intelligence). The culture should stimulate the achievement of team results (a bonus based on the performance of the department, the company as a whole), and the evaluation system should be focused on determining team achievements. A similar “audit” should be carried out for each personnel management process.

When especially high level In competition, the time factor becomes a significant advantage: the company must not only satisfy existing customer needs, but also anticipate them, outpacing competitors in improving technology, reducing cyclical processes, increasing the speed of decision-making, and achieving greater efficiency. Often such a company outsources non-core activities in order to increase profitability.

The main task of employees of such an organization is economy and efficient use of resources; creative thinking, initiative, leadership, delegation of authority. For leadership positions it requires managers-leaders who have developed competencies such as change management, initiative, flexibility etc. It is advisable to reward top management with a high level of income, and pay the rest of the employees at the level of the market median (depending on the company’s policy and its capabilities). It is in these organizations that the key competitive advantages the presence of “corporate talent” and “key employees” becomes the presence, and the success factors are “leader development” and “talent development” programs.

The network type of corporate culture is typical, for example, for consulting companies, entertainment industry enterprises, financial institutions etc. The key feature of such organizations is the creation of strategic alliances and temporary partnerships, the formation of project teams with external experts.

The main value of such an organization is contacts and relationships, which means that employees must have the following competencies: building relationships, understanding client needs etc. At the same time roles employees (here positions there are none as such) in each specific project may change. In these companies the maximum high risks, which means that employees are required to be able to coordinate constant changes and be innovators. The reward system here is strictly tied to the final result.

In these organizations, the emphasis is not on training their employees, but on attracting ready-made experts from the external market. Core HR processes focus on “providing the right people at the right time.”

Of course, it is always necessary to remember that there are no “good” or “bad” corporate cultures - there are better or worse adapted to specific situation. The desire to create an “ideal” organizational culture should contribute to the achievement of the company’s strategic goals and sustainable business development, which is impossible without the development of people.

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Tools for diagnosing corporate culture include document analysis, company walk-through, questionnaire survey, observation, interview, and experiment.

a) document analysis

When analyzing documents, you need to pay attention to the following main areas:

1. History of the development of the organization.

Advertising brochures containing information about the history of the company (for example, issued for the company’s anniversary).
Key figures that have become milestones in the development of the company (increase in headcount, income, market share, investments).

2. Strategic documents of the company.

Formulated company policy, strategy, personnel policy.
Work reports.
Minutes of meetings of the company's management.

3. Organizational structure.

Organizational charts.
Examples of job descriptions.

4. Personnel management.

Personnel policy.
Documents on personnel adaptation.
Personnel training programs.
Selected personnel indicators (average length of service at the enterprise, average age of employees, turnover rate).
General conditions of employment at the enterprise.

5. Planning and control systems.

Planning tools.
Annual plans and budgets.
Reports (for example, quarterly).

6. Internal and external communication systems.

Internal media, corporate publications.
Promotional materials.
Examples of job advertisements.
Results of in-house research (for example, socio-psychological climate).
Examples of employee speeches (for example, Happy New Year greetings from the company president).

b) going around the company

A spontaneous tour of the company provides significant assistance in diagnosing corporate culture.

In this case, it is necessary to pay attention to the following organizational cultural indicators:

1. “Appearance” of the company:

1.1. Building:

Style and shape: height, architectural style etc.;

Appearance: facade, size and condition of the sign, presence of all letters in it, etc.;

Geographical location: city center, outskirts, etc.

1.2. Environment:

Distance from main highways, presence of signs, surrounding organizations;

Cleanliness, order around the building, etc.;

Parking: who? Where? next to whom? etc.

Conclusion: First impression. Company appearance:

Made an impression on me

Reminded me of another organization,

Left me indifferent.

2. “Passage”:

2.1. Premises for visitors:

Furnishings: flowers, marble, paintings, photographs, advertising, etc.;

An atmosphere of anticipation.

2.2. The ritual of welcoming visitors to the company:

First person you contacted: who? What are you wearing? Why him? etc.;

The amount of time you spent at the checkpoint (who took you from there?);

The tone and tact of the employees who answered your calls;

Willingness of the “welcoming” staff to help you, etc.

Conclusion: Second impression. "Checkpoint":

Made an impression on me;

Left me indifferent.

3. Bypassing the company:

3.1. Escort:

The behavior of the attendant: a story about the traditions of the company, pride in the organization, facial expressions, depth in explaining the specific problems of the organization, corporate jargon, presentation of departments, etc.;

Introducing employees: first name, last name, greeting, on-the-fly negotiations, jokes, etc.;

Attitude towards you: fear, respect, kindness, etc.

3.2. Excursion order:

The objects shown to you, the order in which they are presented, the emphasis on individual objects, etc.

3.3. Observations during the walk:

Logic of cabinet layout;

Atmosphere at the enterprise: humor, socio-psychological climate, stress, etc.;

Employee behavior: conversations, behavior during breaks, etc.;

Workplace equipment: technical means, colors, music, etc.;

Communication means;

Conclusion: Third impression. Excursion:

Made an impression on me

Left me indifferent.

c) survey of the organization’s personnel

The next tool for diagnosing corporate culture is a staff survey.

The main topics in this case are:

The main orientations of the company,

Company strategy

Strong and weak sides organizations,

Collaboration,

Information/communications,

Features of typical employees

Career mechanisms

Socio-psychological climate,

Management introduction,

. "passport".

Below is an excerpt from a questionnaire dedicated to the study of corporate culture. .

1. Read the following statements carefully and indicate how each of them applies to your organization (1 - not at all true, 7 - completely true).

We provide consumers with high quality products and services...... 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Our organization devotes a lot of time to employee development……….. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Everyone knows what they are doing. All responsibilities are strictly distributed…………7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Our organization is very successful in the market………………...……. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

All employees will stay overtime if required………. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

We take customer complaints seriously…………………. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The main thing for us is to reduce costs…………………………… 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Our organization trusts employees………………….. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Our organization is developing dynamically………………………. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2. List your company's three greatest strengths.

3. List the three weakest links in your company.

4. How would you rate the degree of intra-organizational collaboration? (1 - extremely low, 7 - high)

Between colleagues……………………………………………………………..... 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Between a boss and a subordinate…………………………….. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Between employees from different departments…………...……. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Between departments…………………………………………...… 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

5. How do you find out about important changes (decisions) in the organization (multiple answers possible)?

1) from a personal conversation with the manager;

2) from memo from the manager;

3) in the process of personal communication with colleagues;

4) at organizational meetings;

5) through corporate publications;

6) from rumors;

7) from newspapers;

8) from other sources;

9) I don’t know anything at all.

6. How timely do you receive this information?

1) in a timely manner;

2) too late.

7. Please indicate the 5 most distinctive features typical employee in your organization.

8. What does your immediate boss usually look like? (1 - completely does not correspond, 7 - completely corresponds)

He notes my diligence……………………………………………. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

He gives clear instructions…………………………………………... 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

He evaluates me objectively………………………...…………… 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

He takes care of our personal contacts………………….………. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

9. What do you expect from your organization in the future? (1 - not at all important, 7 - very important)

good social support………………………………… 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Guarantee of job security………………………….… 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Good relationships with colleagues……………………………….... 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Good teamwork………………………………...……... 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

10. What do you like most about your firm?

11. What do you dislike most about your company?

d) Observation of meetings, including clinical interviews

The questionnaires used to diagnose the company’s corporate culture and process the survey results help the company’s management answer the questions:

do we know what we are doing;
How coordinated are our actions;
Do we have organizational flexibility;
How involved are employees in the development of the company?

In addition, the results of the survey allow you to build a corporate culture that corresponds to strategic goals and is necessary for the company to achieve them, and helps to identify “levers of change,” plan culture changes, implement and track them.

Next important tool Diagnosis of corporate culture is participant observation, in particular observation of meetings. In this case, it is advisable to concentrate on the following three main points: the content of the conversation, rituals and symbolic management, and the actions of the participants.

As part of the actions of the participants, it is necessary to pay attention to who registers the participants, who talks to whom, who interrupts whom, who is silent, who is sarcastic, etc. .

When analyzing rituals and symbolic actions, they usually note: the position of the participants (who sits and where in relation to the leader), the order of the meeting (introduction, announcement of the rules and contents of the meeting), the facial expressions of the participants, the atmosphere of the meeting, the presence conflict behavior, criticism, trust/distrust between participants, role behavior.

An interesting tool for diagnosing corporate culture is the clinical interview. This term, introduced by E. Schein, refers to active observation of meetings. Moreover, activity lies in the fact that during a discussion of a problem, an observer can ask questions and propose solutions - “intervene.” At the same time, the organization’s reaction to these interventions is interesting.

e) other diagnostic tools

Interview

A significant contribution to the knowledge of corporate culture is made by such a method of obtaining information as an interview.

When determining the circle of people with whom you will talk, you should pay attention to the following categories of workers:

Persons who hold key positions in the organization;

Typical “spokesmen” of public opinion;

President of the sports club;

Secretaries;

The oldest/youngest employees of the organization;

Director's Secretary;

Commandant;

Internal controller;

The person who does the most unpleasant job in the organization.

The number of workers to be interviewed is approximately 25 out of 500 workers.

Interview questions may concern various topics. For example, questions about the employee himself (who does he work for? How long? Etc.), questions about the corporate culture (what is it like?), provocative questions (why do you work here? Etc.).

In addition to the listed main methods for diagnosing corporate culture, some additional features obtaining this type of information:

Survey of clients and suppliers;

Photo of the working day of managers;

Participation in a meeting of the labor collective;

Group interview;

All of the above methods should give the most complete picture of the culture existing in the organization. .

The company’s operating style is influenced by many external and internal factors, such as customer activity, changes in legislation and technology, changes in strategy, shortening of the business cycle, heterogeneity of the workforce and diversity of people’s lifestyles, but the most important one remains competition. Corporate culture is one of the key factors determining a company's success, so changes to it must be carefully analyzed and planned. The resources allocated for the development of culture are not costs, but thoughtful investments.

International consulting company Hay Group has been working in Ukraine for seven years. During this time, she implemented many interesting large-scale projects. The challenges facing our client companies typically require complex transformations. To build, for example, a more effective, internally fair and motivating reward system or a personnel assessment and development system, it is not enough to change the tools or methodological approach. Such transformations are directly related to changes in ways of working and mentality, rules of behavior and relationships among employees. Therefore, most often we begin a project with a diagnosis of organizational culture - that “litmus test”, thanks to which many problems are identified and bottlenecks appear. Data obtained as a result of analyzing the organization's effectiveness and identifying the target culture helps managers integrate all human resource management processes. As a result, the company begins to support those employee behaviors that lead to the desired results.

Let's define the main concept: organizational culture includes a set of values, rules, norms, beliefs, traditions, stereotypes and behavioral patterns (models) that are shared by employees of a given organization. In other words, culture defines how we work, think and act within a company. Any community of people who are united by common goals develops its own way of working, regardless of whether we pay attention to it or whether we try to somehow influence it.

In 1998 Hay Group in collaboration with Fortune magazine, conducted a study entitled “What Sets the World’s 500 Best Companies Apart from the Rest?” ( What makes companies great?) The subject of the study was precisely those characteristics that distinguish successful companies from all others. The findings showed that a key success factor is the organization’s ability to attract, develop and retain talented employees, which, in turn, is largely determined by corporate culture. A decisive factor in business efficiency is the presence of “a person in the right place” in every position in a company, and the most common reasons for failures in implementing the chosen strategy (up to 70% of cases) are underestimation of the human factor, lack of managers’ skills to manage change and/or lack of delegation of responsibility and powers.

Diagram of an integrated personnel management system

As a rule, we begin diagnosing organizational culture at the level of senior managers. To determine the company's operating style, we use the method Targeted Culture Modeling - C-Sort TM (“Modeling the target culture”). Managers are offered a set of “characteristics” of the organization’s culture, for example:

encouragement by the team to work;

unconditional execution of the decisions of your leader;

forecasting changes in the business environment;

support for alternative points of view;

gaining the trust of clients, etc.

According to your individual vision existing And desired culture of the organization, managers rank this set of characteristics (using a special matrix C-Sort). In other words, they are first asked to select characteristics to evaluate the situation “as is”, and then - for the situation “as it should be”. The diagnostic procedure for each participant takes no more than an hour and a half; there is also an alternative option - an online study.

Then consultants do quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data obtained. The survey results allow:

visually “see” the culture that the organization develops and encourages today;

formulate the expectations of top managers regarding the company’s development priorities;

compare diagrams displaying the parameters of the existing and desired culture;

highlight the characteristics of corporate culture that are most characteristic of a given organization and determine the degree of consistency of participants’ opinions on each of the characteristics;

determine the degree to which various types of culture are manifested in the company and assess how much they contribute to the implementation of the strategy;

identify the goals of top managers and assess the degree of their coincidence/divergence;

compare the perception of corporate culture by different groups of employees, identify subcultures that develop in individual structural divisions.

Diagnosis using the method C-Sort TM allows you to obtain accurate data on all measured parameters, which is important since the study of such “intangible” qualities as the culture of an organization or a person’s potential always raises doubts about the degree of objectivity and accuracy of the information received. With proper organization of data collection, this method allows you to neutralize the influence of the social desirability factor in the answers.

It is often important for the head of a company and HR to analyze how individual groups of employees perceive their organization and its culture. A description of the subcultures of individual divisions is necessary in order to understand how coordinated the actions of their leaders are within the framework of the implementation of the overall strategy of the company. In addition, participants are given feedback on how each of them perceives the company’s culture compared to other managers.

Based on many years of research into corporate cultures, we have identified four types of organizational culture:

1) functional;
2) procedural;
3) time-oriented;
4) network.

How do these cultures, and, accordingly, the organizations in which they dominate, differ?

If we talk about the “phylogenesis” of cultural development, then it is necessary to remember that any organization (as a social institution) begins with the division of labor, that is, with the assignment of specific functions to a specific job position. It is functionally structured collective behavior - the division of responsibilities that is characteristic of many Ukrainian companies, which creates a number of advantages (such as ensuring high quality products/services, stability/sustainability of business processes, a high level of discipline, deep specialization and, accordingly, professionalism).

But a company with a functional type of culture does not have time to respond flexibly to changes in the external environment or increased competition; figuratively speaking, it is a “thing in itself.” People in such an organization cope well with a clearly defined and at the same time limited range of operational tasks, while they do not see business processes holistically (marketing, finance, production, etc.), and do not know their client well - external or internal. The basis of the competency profile in it is desire for professional development, involvement, directiveness etc.

We implemented a project to build a new reward system and develop a system for periodic personnel assessment for a Ukrainian company. The results of diagnosing the corporate culture showed a fairly high “functionality” of this organization, which was manifested in the duration of decision-making at different levels, in the narrow (strictly functional) vision of employees of their tasks and their place in the structure of business processes.

At a particularly high level of competition, the time factor becomes a significant advantage: the company must not only satisfy existing customer needs, but also anticipate them, outpacing competitors in improving technology, reducing cyclical processes, increasing the speed of decision-making, and achieving greater efficiency. Often such a company outsources non-core activities in order to increase profitability.

The main task of employees of such an organization is economy and efficient use of resources; creative thinking, initiative, leadership, delegation of authority. For leadership positions it requires managers-leaders who have developed competencies such as change management, initiative, flexibility etc. It is advisable to reward top management with a high level of income, and pay the rest of the employees at the level of the market median (depending on the company’s policy and its capabilities). It is in these organizations that the presence of “corporate talent” and “key employees” becomes the key competitive advantage, and the success factors are the “leadership development” and “talent development” programs.

The network type of corporate culture is characteristic, for example, of consulting companies, entertainment industry enterprises, financial institutions, etc. The key feature of such organizations is the creation of strategic alliances and temporary partnerships, the formation of project teams with external experts.

The main value of such an organization is contacts and relationships, which means that employees must have the following competencies: building relationships, understanding client needs etc. At the same time roles employees (here positions there are none as such) may change in each specific project. These companies have the highest possible risks, which means that employees are required to be able to coordinate constant changes and be innovators. The reward system here is strictly tied to the final result.

Of course, it is always necessary to remember that there are no “good” or “bad” corporate cultures - there are better or worse ones adapted to a specific situation. The desire to create an “ideal” organizational culture should contribute to the achievement of the company’s strategic goals and sustainable business development, which is impossible without the development of people.

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S. A. Lipatov writes that there are two main approaches to the problem of diagnosing and studying OK: ideographic (“understanding”, “interpretive”). It is based on the use of qualitative methods, including document analysis, participant “ethnographic” observation, in-depth interviews, etc.; And formalized (quantitative), characterized by the use of various standardized questionnaires.

Among the popular formalized tools for OC research, G. Halstead’s concept, discussed above, occupies a special place.

A very popular diagnostic model developed based on the concept of R. Likert. He believed that an organization is characterized by five variables: communication, motivation, decision making, control and coordination. The significance of these variables depends largely on two basic management beliefs about the nature of workers (these beliefs are described by McGregor as theories X and Y). Likert described four basic systems organizational (managerial) style, characterized by varying degrees of combination of authoritarian and democratic styles.

According to E. Shein, to diagnose an organization it is not enough simple description its structure, communication, norms and values. The real organizational paradigm, according to Schein, is determined by the position that the members of the organization take on the following basic assumptions:

Attitude to nature: how do members of the organization view the organization's relationship to its environment - as dominant, subordinate, harmonious, or is its task to find an appropriate niche?

The nature of reality and truth: linguistic and behavioral rules that determine what is real and what is not, what is a “fact” and how is truth determined? Is the truth discovered? What are basic concepts time and space?

Human nature: what does it mean to be human and what is seen as intrinsic or fundamental? Is man by nature good, evil or neutral? Is human existence perfect?

The nature of human activity: what does it mean for a person to do something right? (based on the above assumptions about reality environment and human nature). Does it mean to be active, passive, self-developing, fatalistic or what? What works and what plays?

The nature of human relationships: what is considered “right” in relationships between people? Is life a sphere of cooperation or competition - individual, group or communal? What are the relationships based on?

E. Shane suggests revealing these unconscious assumptions by studying the history of the organization, tracing the methods by which it coped with the problems of external adaptation and internal integration. At the same time, he believes that the real QA of a company cannot be described only by formalized methods. He also objects to magical recommendations on what to observe and what to ask. For him, dissecting an organizational paradigm is a joint exploration with members of the organization through repeated individual and group interviews.

However, as noted by A. Ksenikou and E. Furnham, increased interest in the concept of OK has led to the development of various questionnaires to measure it. Systematic comparisons between the cultures of different organizations require standardized methodologies that allow the use of statistical methods processing. This, of course, leads to the fact that instead of considering a holistic culture, researchers focus their attention on the most important aspects of culture from their point of view. The most popular operationalization of this concept is in the form of a set of behavioral norms or values. Their studies of a specific firm's QA often use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.

Organizational psychosemiotics

Zakharova L.N. writes that methods for diagnosing organizational culture, including the Cameron-Quinn technique, are based on assessing the subjective perception of organizational culture by staff. Applying this technique you can see how different the opinions of employees are even in the same department. This happens, in particular, due to the real absence of a unified culture, which would be the socio-psychological cement of the organization. This, in turn, is a consequence of the fact that organizational culture is rarely the subject of targeted efforts for a manager. Usually it develops spontaneously.

Currently, a new scientific direction, organizational psychosemiotics, is undergoing significant development. The attention of specialists in the field of organizational psychosemiotics is directed to the identification of iconic forms of organization, their interpretation, and forecasting of development. The objects of organizational semiotic analysis are manifestations of spontaneous and purposeful behavior of participants in the organizational process, both appearing under the influence of traditions and those formed as a result management decisions. These manifestations serve as cues to those who interact with the organization. It is possible to diagnose and manage the development of OC based on its manifestations in various aspects of an organization’s life.

Using the organizational-psychosemiotic approach, it is possible to obtain those meaningful characteristics of the symbolic manifestations of the life of an enterprise, with which it is quite possible to work, improving the culture of the organization in the direction required by management, optimizing the motivating influence of OK through signs on personnel. The main units of analysis that organizational psychosemiotics deals with are the following types of signs:

Symptoms This is a type of sign indicating a problem contained in an organization by external signs. Interpretation of organizational symptoms requires a certain analytical culture among the head of the organization.

Signals. A signal is a sign rigidly assigned to an object. As a rule, this concerns dynamic processes in which overall result depends on the timely detection of an alarming or critical condition.

Indexical signs. This type of sign indicates an object without being itself. In a sense, the carriers of indexical signs are the employees of the organization themselves in the eyes of those people with whom they deal at work. The way an employee looks, how he talks on the phone, and what behavioral models he uses ultimately determines the attitude of potential clients towards the organization.

Iconic signs. According to W. Eco, iconic signs “reproduce some General terms perception on the basis of its usual codes, rejecting some stimuli that would, thanks to the empirically established code, have the same meaning as the object of the iconic image.” This makes them, in particular, a very effective advertising tool.

Symbols. These are the most capacious and information-rich signs, which include, for example, trademarks and brands. They bear a special semantic load, primarily because in the consciousness potential client organization, this symbol represents the entire organization as a whole.

Elements of semiotic analysis can be considered both in isolation and in combination with other signs, together with which they form integral texts that can be interpreted using codes. Sign complexes (texts) that fall into the field of attention of organizational psychosemiotics are fixed at the following levels of organization of meanings:

External image of the organization. A set of ideas about an organization based on the goods and services it produces, reviews of its activities, publications in the press, etc.

Internal image. Manifestations of employee attitudes towards their organization. “Club” signs (logos, badges, business cards, “branded” T-shirts and ties), demonstrating that the employee belongs to his organization.

Organization of work space. Demonstration of a separate or corporate position of a manager (a separate office or “cube” in a common room), separation or association of a manager with ordinary employees through the placement of furniture, interior, etc.

Organization of time. Recording the history of an organization, tracing its traditions and style, or, conversely, following fashion. Organization of the working day, dosage between individual and group activities of employees.

Language and communication. Paradigmatic (structural) and syntagmatic (situational) manifestations of communicative verbal and nonverbal features of communication in an organization. The presence or absence of a double communication standard (language for the boss and language for the subordinate).

Behavioral stereotypes that persist in an organization despite changes in stated goals.

Based on reading these signs, which are often combined into integral systems, successful interaction can be built. The organization itself can take care of the accuracy of its expression and the degree of openness it needs in the signs of organizational psychosemiotics. It is the targeted regulation of the motivating influences of these signs that makes organizational semiotics psychosemiotics. Organizational culture occupies one of the first places in terms of the ease of symbolic manifestation of an enterprise. Depending on the internal balance and harmony of organizational processes, which depend on the stability of management’s value systems, OK manifests itself in one or another sign form.

In order to reliably assess OC by its semiotic manifestations, you need to learn how to build its diagnostic models based on identifying combinations of a number of features by which you can judge the value systems of management. For example, signs contained in the object environment include the size of offices and their layout, furniture design, etc.

Organizational psychosemiotics comprehensively studies communication processes in an organization. In this case, the subject of psychosemiotic research is the sign systems that ensure the behavior of employees within the organization.

Organizational semiotics is effective tool diagnostics of the type and state of organizational culture, analysis and forecasting of its dynamics.

To assess organizational culture, they are used various methods, algorithms and technologies.

The most common ones are:

Interviewing;

Questionnaire;

Analysis of documentation and processes;

Analytical sessions;

Monitoring the organizational process;

Determination of the type of culture according to Handy, Senge, Sonnenfeld;

Determination of the life cycle stage according to Adizes, Cribbin, Greiner;

Diagnostics using the OCAI method (K.S. Cameron, R.E. Quinn).

Interview, questionnaire allows the organization’s personnel to openly or anonymously express their views on the most pressing issues for management.

Study of existing management practices allows you to understand management practice in an organization, determine what type of management (authoritarian or democratic) prevails in the organization, who participates in decision making, what is the degree of awareness of employees about the state of affairs in the organization, etc.

Studying the rules and traditions existing in the organization should be aimed at determining what impact they have on the work behavior of employees and to what extent they support the organizational development strategy developed by management.

Studying documents allows you to determine whether there are discrepancies between the stated principles of doing business and the actual management process, what values are reflected in the documents, what is expressed social politics and so on.

Determination of the type of culture according to Handy, Senge, Sonnenfeld. The essence of the model is that for its survival and prosperity, any organization must be able to adapt to constantly changing environmental conditions, achieve its goals, integrate its parts into a single whole, and, finally, be recognized by people and other organizations. It is necessary to develop the language and conceptual concepts of the group. If the group members cannot communicate and understand each other, its creation becomes impossible by definition.

Determination of the life cycle stage according to Adizes, Cribbin, Greiner. According to this model, a number of logical successive stages can be distinguished in the process of life of an organization.

Stages of life

Nursing. This first (if not zero) stage boils down to the fact that the founder of the company gathers around him people who gradually delve into his idea, accept it and agree publicly (or secretly) to take a risk and try to bring it to life.

Infancy. At this stage, the company does not yet have a clear structure and system of distribution of powers and responsibilities, but during this period the process of organization begins, the transition from pure ideas to practical actions. Much attention focuses on production results and meeting the needs of end consumers.

Childhood("come on, come on"). The company begins to work more and more productively, overcoming the first obstacles, including, most importantly, the lack of liquidity. An event in her life is when the founder realizes it is impossible to run a growing business on her own.

Bloom. At the flourishing stage, the organization has a relatively clear structure, prescribed functions, reward and punishment systems.

Stabilization. This is the first stage of the aging of an organization, when the company gradually moves away from the policy of rapid development, capturing new markets and expanding the presence of non-existent ones.

Aristocratism. The company owns significant financial means, which are spent on strengthening existing system control and arrangement of own activities.

Early bureaucratization. The organization is gradually immersed in a series of complex and sometimes intractable structural conflicts, which it tries to resolve by firing people, but without changing the structure. Gradually, internal red tape is increasingly moving the company away from meeting the needs of the end consumer.

Late bureaucratization. The company is completely focused on itself, on internal insoluble problems, trying to comply with all procedures, processes and regulations in the hope that this will help in solving them.

Death. The death of a customer-centric organization occurs immediately when customers stop using the company's services in droves.

In practice, Adizes' theory gives very tangible results: firstly, it allows you to predict the development of events and the occurrence of critical situations; secondly, this model describes in quite detail what is happening inside the organization, thereby revealing regular, natural phenomena and deviations, pathologies.

Cameron-Quinn frame method. K.S. Cameron, R.E. Quinn, in addition to the original typology, proposed an open standard questionnaire (OCAI, Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument). The ubiquity of the OCAI was also driven by the idea of using this tool to diagnose not only the current, but the preferred (future) state of culture in a company. The OCAI assessment tool is based on a theoretical model called the Competing Values Framework. According to this model, there are two main value dimensions in which corporate culture can be defined. The first dimension is “Internal Focus and Integration – External Focus and Differentiation.” The second dimension is “Flexibility and discreteness – Stability and control”.

Many domestic and foreign researchers of organizational culture agree that the most comprehensive assessment of the level of a company’s corporate culture can be obtained by the Cameron-Quinn framework method.

Thus, maximum objectivity of data when assessing the organizational culture of a company is achieved by using several assessment methods at once, for example, interviewing personnel and questioning using the Cameron-Queen method, followed by comparison and addition of data. A high level of innovation culture in an organization must be constantly taken care of. To do this, the company’s management must regularly, at least twice a year, assess the organizational culture through questionnaires, regularly communicate with the organization’s staff, and understand their problems and interests. Only then will mutual understanding be achieved and management will be able to avoid “surprises” in the form of an unexpected counterculture or a decline in labor discipline. If an organization has a clearly defined innovation strategy and strictly adheres to it, all staff need to work tirelessly to maintain existing successes and achieve set goals, and this is only possible with a strong organizational culture.