Understanding Organizational Culture:

I was at a Strategic Planning seminar in Washington D.C. recently and the moderator posed this question; what does it take to develop and produce well-equip leaders to manage growth, navigate change, and thrive. And the answer was “understanding organizational culture” and I asked myself, would the government of Ghana, the civil service, and businesses function better and thrive if those who are in position of leadership in Ghana have a better understanding of organizational culture?. I also asked myself why is there so much chaos in the administration and management of both private and public sector organizations in Ghana. Nothing seems to work, and there appears to be no system and structure in place for effective and efficient running of things. Doing business at the Tema harbor is a classic example of chaos, confusion, and gross inefficiency.

As we are all aware, one of the many challenges facing our beloved home land Ghana is incompetent leadership and ineffective and poor management practices right across the board, especially in the public sector. It is my hope and prayer that Ghana will once again produce such effective and competent leaders like Yaa Asante Waa, Dr. Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, and Dr. James Emmanuel Aggrey. It is therefore my hope that some manager or leader somewhere in Ghana will find the information contained in this article useful and put it into practice thereby becoming an effective and competent manager for the good of their organization and the country for that matter.

In this article I shall attempt to provide explanation of organizational culture by way of describing why it is hard to see the culture when we are embedded within it. It is not hard to see and hear how things are done, or the “artifacts” of a culture, which are based upon the values and philosophy of an organization. It is the answers to the questions such as “why do we do it that way?” and “why is that a value we hold dear?” that are more difficult to comprehend. The answers reveal the underlying assumptions out of which a culture grows. Those assumptions may be so embedded in the organization that no one can easily articulate them anymore. What are the underlying assumptions of the values and philosophy of your organization? If you can answer that, you are well-equipped to manage growth, navigate change, and thrive.

Culture develops as an organization’s members interact with each other and adapt their external environments. Over time, practices, rituals, and certain behaviors becomes common, accepted ways of doing things. Beliefs and values become ingrained. And, as new individuals join the organization, they learn the expectations, values, beliefs, and practices through observations and interactions with others.

Organizational culture has three levels. Artifacts are the things we perceive with our senses – what we see and hear, how we feel-when we spend time in an organization. Outsiders may observe these artifacts, but probably won’t know their meaning. The meanings behind the artifacts makes up the values of the culture-the norms, standards, and goals that drive the behaviors and interactions of people in the organization. Probing further into values gets to the third level, the underlying assumptions that support those values. As time goes on, these underlying assumptions become unwritten rules that are taken for granted.

Culture isn’t inherently good or bad, but it is influential. Every aspect of your company – from operations and sales to customer services and human resources – is touched by culture, we may not be aware of the underlying assumptions and values that guide our own and other’s behaviors. Even if we are aware, we may underestimate their strength. It’s often easy to recognize a culture from the outside-when it is new and different, but it can be more difficult to pinpoint the assumptions underlying an organizational culture that has developed around us.

How do you find out the underlying assumptions of your organization? Be a curious observer of behaviors, habits, and norms of your company, and ask yourself and others why they exist. Challenge assumptions. The team that is reluctant to brainstorm and generate new ideas might behave in that way because they’ve never been asked for input. The group that always operates in crisis mode might be reacting because of a reputation for doing everything possible for the customer. The expectation for challenge and debate may be rooted in a need for careful analysis and contingency plans. Identifying these underlying assumptions can help you plan and prepare for anticipated reactions to change.

In planning change of any magnitude, leaders need to think strategically and understand what works and doesn’t work in the organization’s culture. Identifying ways to align business strategies with organizational culture provides a strong foundation for moving forward and maintain a successful business. Without that alignment, even the most thorough plans can get sidetracked.

Creating and implementing effective and efficient strategies that support your company’s overall business goals requires a clear understanding of your company’s culture. Whether the immediate focus is recruitment, performance management, employee development, or succession planning, take time to assess and understand the culture, leveraging your organization’s cultural strengths will help you lead strategically and successfully. For Ghana to succeed, effective performance management must be a top priority in the government and in every organization in Ghana, especially the public sector. A successful performance management process involves multiple components such as establishing expectations with employees, observing and monitoring employee performance, providing ongoing and timely feedback, and addressing performance concerns that may arise. Along the, way, human resource (Personnel Department) should ensure that communication and documentation occur.

One of the most effective ways to capture an employee’s performance over time is with a written performance evaluation, which I believe is seriously lacking right across the board in Ghana. If there were a comprehensive performance evaluation in place, most of the civil servants would be out of a job. The evaluation should be a compilation of the employee’s performance for the entire evaluation period. The content of a performance evaluation should never be a surprise. In order to achieve this, leaders need the ability to provide comprehensive and honest feedback over the entire evaluation period. It’s more than just “going through the process” or copying and pasting similar feedback from prior year evaluation, which appears to be the case in Ghana. It’s about evaluating against what it truly means to be performing above, at, or below expectations it’s about distinguishing performance accurately among employees, rather than rating everyone the same.

Now, the sixty million dollar question is this, why is it that most of the leaders and managers in Ghana lack the basic leadership and managerial qualities that can be readily seen in European, American and Asian Managers? Could it be that the Ghanaian manager/leader is wired wrongly? Therefore incapable of attaining superior leadership and managerial skills?

I hope the article has inspired and challenged some government official, manager/leader to step up to the plate and make a difference!

God bless Ghana, and long live Ghana.

Komla, the Self-Pro-claimed Peace Broker.

U.S.A.