I discussed the Competing Values Framework at length because it is such a foundational framework and proves to be so useful.

Let’s now look at some other culture theories and tools. I compare them with the CVF - so you can see how they differ or align. The Denison Organizational Culture Model is based on the same concept as the CVF. They discern four essential traits of organizations:

Learning to “see” culture; group dynamics, beliefs, and behaviors is always helpful at work. When you become aware you can contribute to developing a positive culture - or you can better understand what change is needed in your organization. There are roughly two ways to understand and assess the current organizational culture.

Do you have gurus or heroes who inspire you? I am honored to be ranked #5 of thirty organizational culture gurus for 2017. This is wonderful, of course, but the list got me thinking. I find myself a little ambivalent towards stardom and heroes. This may be a cultural issue. I was raised in a rather egalitarian and feminine national culture in the Netherlands. These are two dimensions of Geert Hofstede’s culture model that compares national (and organizational) cultures.

What is your biggest challenge with organizational culture? That’s an extra question we ask all free respondents who use the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument. Just because we’re curious - what are you struggling with? What do you need help with? What can I blog about to inspire you?

There’s a long list of interesting topics submitted by over 25,000 people over the last two years.

Multinational Collaboration

One returning topic is multinational or international collaboration. Here are some challenges people submitted: