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4 Types of Organizational Culture, Which One(s) are You?

According to the folks who have spent 1000s upon 1000s of hours studying cultures across the world, there are 4 main types of organizational culture:


Collaborative

Creative

Controlled

Competitive


Each of these types of culture lends itself toward flatter or more hierarchical structure, or more internal or external focus as you see here:


Each of these cultural structures has it's own positive and negative traits. Usually a company will have an overarching cultural system, but can have other systems in place in departments or among teams. For example a local city government would typically have an overarching controlled culture, but could have a highly creative department.


Top 5 Collaborative/ Collectivist Traits

Strong personal relationships

Harmony with others

Sense of belonging

Advice seeking

Working as a group


This type of organizational culture is more common in co-operative groups and non-profit organizations. Typically if rewards are given, they are given to all staff rather than top performers. A main focus is on belonging to the group, developing strong relationships within the group, and working with others.


Top 5 Creative / Entrepreneurial Traits

People and empowerment focused

Value creation through innovation and change

Freedom to grow and fail

Commitment and personal responsibility

Emphasis on future and sense of urgency


This type of organizational culture is more common in newer businesses. Those that are establishing themselves is the market value the ability to work quickly, change direction and thrive on encouraging their people to grow and to fail.


Top 5 Controlled / Bureaucratic Traits

Governed by formal rules and standard operating procedures

Clear chain of command

Central decision making

Creates stability

Shared norms guide rewards and punishment


This type of organizational structure is more common in larger businesses and governmental organizations. This kind of structure provides stability, and typically puts minimal pressure on entry level workers. I once worked in a predominantly bureaucratic culture which was difficult for me because I personally prefer predominantly creative cultures. The bureaucratic culture, from my perspective, took too long to adapt to the external changing environment, which was better served by creative counterparts.


Top 5 Competitive / Individualistic Traits

Winning is valued

Members are rewarded for out-performing one another

Focus is on individual achievement

Members operate in a win-lose streak


This type of organizational structure is especially common in sales-driven businesses and departments. I once worked for a sales company that measured every piece of performance data on a daily basis to determine who the highest performers where and who they would cut from their positions performing layoffs on a monthly basis. Needless to say, competitive cultures are typically high stress.


Define Your Tribe: Getting to your Ideal Employee

Culture as one element that helps you to understand who your ideal employee is. Just like I was not a good fit for the Competitive or Bureaucratic cultures, you may interview people who are not a good fit for your culture. This doesn't necessarily mean that they won't be good for you and your company, but you may need to take a different approach with them than your other staff to ensure they want to stick around.


Want to learn more about how you can build systems that support you and your employees? Check out the free Guide to Wholistic Human Resources.