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.

Candice Elliott works with leaders to co-create organizations where people thrive. She helps establish regenerative work ecosystems by aligning workflow and communication with the values of sustainability, equity and belonging. This model empowers leaders to choose both people and profit, and their teams to feel safety and a sense of meaning.

Her educational background is in HR, Philosophy and Anthropology. She has a Masters in HR from Penn State, the SPHR certification and training in trauma-healing work practices. She loves to give back to her community, and during the pandemic she has supported small businesses and non-profits with 100s of hours of donated consulting support to meet the challenges of the changing world of work.

Are you ready to increase your impact and help your bottom line by keeping your people with you for the long run? Check out my Do Work Differently Guide with 4 leadership practices that treat people as humans not just bots.

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