30/04/13 Is Corporate Culture a Type of Competency?

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Future of CIO
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Is Corporate Culture a Type of Competency?
10:01 PM PEARL ZHU NO COMMENTS
People seem to have different ideas about what
culture means in (and for) an organization. A
company's culture helps define what a company
is like. What it means to be part of the company,
how to act in the company, what others in the
company believe and strive for even how others
see the company. Culture can be defined as
"the collective programming of the mind which
distinguishes the members of one group or
category of people from another." Then, is
culture a type of business competency?
Some believe that culture is a competency: it is
something a company can be good, better, or
worse at. According to this view, culture is
something a company does; it's a set of behaviors that are closer or further from an ideal. On the other side,
for those who believe that culture is not a type of competency: According to this view, culture is closely aligned
to both what the company believes in, along with the practices and expectations associated with these beliefs.
1. Culture is organizations Collective Mindset. The word competency implies a learnable skill. Is
corporate culture learnable? Change management gurus certainly think so. It also implies some set of
metrics that provide ranking of an organization's mastery of the learned subject - culture - along with
the relative benefit of various levels of mastery of the subject and ranking of various versions of culture
one against another. Is one culture of greater benefit than another? Certainly there are various other
cultural attributes that we can rank good, better, best.
2. Culture is Organizations Fingerprint: Culture of an organization is an intrinsic value system, a
fingerprint of an organization, Culture can be a competency measured through performance. Culture of
an organization is an indicator of the competency parameters at their best. Thus, Culture is an indicator
of the organizations capability to achieve results in competency parameters. Competency could be
learned but Culture of an organization remains a fingerprint and an identity of the organization. If one
were to write a case study of the organization's journey to success, the culture of the organization
becomes a key element of interpreting the path to excellence, not as much the measured performance
parameters. Management should reflect the values and positions established both through the
mission statement and more specifically those competencies found in the governance statement
3. Culture is Organizational Habit. Schein's definition of organizational culture is: "A pattern of shared
basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems that has worked well enough to be
considered valid and is passed on to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in
relation to those problems." Culture by this definition is not highly malleable, and tends to be resistant
to change, like habit. However, Organizations can learn, benchmark against, competencies to improve
business performance. Whereas the cultural aspect is an intrinsic factor that drives the organization's
business longevity. An organization with an excellent culture is arguably capable to give great results in
their competencies. Highest rated competencies could be very short lived if the organization lacks the
culture to rate and retain the value system beyond the business results. More to the point, like Seven
habits of high effective people, certainly in a given strategic environment, a certain culture is a
competitive advantage.
4. Culture is Business Brand. Company culture is closely aligned to what the company believes in, along
with the practices and expectations associated with these beliefs. Those beliefs are brought in by the
people who make up the company: both leadership and the members of the organization. There is not
always perfect alignment between the two. However. The cultural competency arises in the
manifestation of the company culture both internally and in the final analysis in the market environment.
If the internal is not properly addressed the external will also suffer. Corporate culture will therefore
have an impact on the type of service or product finally created. Extrinsic reflection of culture is your
business brand.
5. Culture is "Corporate" DNA, either stagnant giant or small startup, culture can be a critical component
of a company's success. A company with a culture of openness, innovation, high standards in ethics
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and merit based compensation can motivate team
member to work towards a common goal. Likewise,
one that rewards yes-men, mediocrity, is patronizing
or full of nepotism has the reverse effect. Creating
and maintaining the right corporate culture is in
itself a competency.
6. Culture is Business Attitude: The concept of
generic strategies also has implications for the role
of culture in competitive success. as old saying:
Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Culture, that
define set of norms and attitudes and help shape
an organization, has come to be viewed as an important element of a successful firm. However,
different cultures are implied by different generic strategies. Building the capacity to intentionally shape
the culture a business needs, rather than allow it to develop by default. Culture reflects your business
attitude.
7. Culture is Differentiator. Differentiation may be facilitated by a culture encouraging innovation,
individuality, and risk taking, while cost leadership may be facilitated by frugality, discipline, and
attention to detail. Culture can powerfully reinforce the competitive advantage a generic strategy seeks
to achieve, if the culture is an appropriate one. At high maturity level of corporate culture, it is far easier
to measure business effectiveness. Learning a corporate culture encompasses both what is found in
the training manual and what is told around the water cooler. Some companies have taken a proactive
approach to purposely creating a defined corporate culture and the competitive difference
8. Culture is Business Asset. Mastering upon the creation, development and leadership of a healthy,
innovative and constructive culture is a strategic competency. Culture and the Legacy are that the
organization writes about itself through the times of decisions, dynamics and challenges. The fabric of
"value system" and "credibility" differentiate an organization from others. A company's culture can be an
asset. But assets are different from competencies. Certainly, some competencies are also assets, but
not all assets are competencies.
Culture indeed means a lot of things, either as integral part of organizational competency or key factor in
nurturing business competency. And business competency is both organizations capacity and capability, ,at
the core of culture, its about business leadership substance, enterprise strategy perception, talent
management philosophy, and organization brand and reputation.
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