Cultural audit

Cultural audit - can be used to establish if there are various groups or subcultures in company that have completely different views about workplace, managers, organizational structure and so on. It is conducted to investigate attitudes and advantages of the workforce as well as actions they engage in. Cultural audit primarily includes discussions between managers of how employers see company's culture and how it can be improved and developed.

The cultural audit consists of such questions as:

• How employers communicate with each other?
• How they spend their time on breaks?
• How employers proceed inside the organization?
• Are they empowered?
• What is the leading management style of managers?

This type of analysis concentrates on how critical qualities are embraced and demonstrated by employers in the whole organization. Employee surveys help to examine how workers feel about different critical issues, they can be quite useful for upward appraisal and response of management.

Bi-Cultural Audit

A bi-cultural audit pinpoints cultural relations within the merging organizations and determines degree to which cultural conflicts will probably happen. Cultural collisions can be minimized by running a bicultural audit before the merger.

Bi-cultural audit consists of three steps, which are represented below:

• Data collecting: the process starts with interviews, questioning and observation of employees to discover cultural differences amongst the merging companies.
• Data analysing: second step implies analysis of collected data to determine which differences between these organizations can cause the misunderstanding and what kind of cultural values will be the fundamentals for building a united cultural company.
• Integration: in the finale it comes to forming strategy and making plans on how to bring the culture clash from merger to minimum.

Advantages of Cultural audit

A cultural audit is an important tool for assessing the overall health of the culture in an organization. It is beneficial for any organization that wants to understand the key elements of their culture, identify any potential issues or areas of improvement, and create strategies to ensure a healthy and productive culture. The major advantages of conducting a cultural audit include:

• Increased Understanding: A cultural audit can help managers and employees understand the existing culture in the organization and how it affects employee engagement and performance. By understanding the underlying culture, employers can develop better strategies to improve the culture and make it more conducive to productivity.
• Improved Communication: A cultural audit can help identify areas of misunderstanding and miscommunication between different teams and departments. This can help to create more effective communication strategies and ensure all employees are on the same page regarding the organization's culture and expectations.
• Enhanced Productivity: A cultural audit can reveal the areas of the organization where productivity could be improved. This could include identifying areas where employees might need more support or resources, or where processes need to be streamlined.
• Increased Morale: A cultural audit can help identify areas of the organization where morale is low and create strategies to boost morale and increase engagement. This could include offering employees more recognition and rewards or creating more opportunities for social interaction.

Limitations of Cultural audit

A cultural audit can be a powerful tool for assessing the culture of an organization, but there are several limitations that should be taken into consideration. These limitations include:

• Time and Cost - Conducting a cultural audit can be time consuming and expensive as it involves interviews, surveys and other research methods.
• Bias - Cultural audits can be subject to bias from the individuals conducting the audit, as well as the respondents.
• Limited Scope - Cultural audits are limited to the specific areas and topics chosen for assessment, and may not capture the full range of cultural elements present in the organization.
• Data Collection - Collecting data for a cultural audit can be difficult, especially if the organization is hesitant to provide honest feedback.
• Interpretation and Analysis - Cultural audits can be difficult to interpret and analyze, as the data collected can be complex and open to different interpretations.

Other approaches related to Cultural audit

A cultural audit can be supplemented by other approaches to gain a comprehensive understanding of an organization's culture. These approaches include:

• Appreciative Inquiry - This approach is based on the assumption that the organization's strengths and successes should be identified, analyzed and built on, rather than focusing on weaknesses and problems.
• Surveys - Surveys are used to gather information from employees about their feelings and opinions on the current culture, and their ideas on how it could be improved.
• Focus Groups - Focus groups are used to explore the culture of the organization in greater depth and to identify potential problems and solutions.
• Benchmarking - By comparing the organization's culture with those of other companies in the same industry, areas of potential improvement can be identified.

In conclusion, a cultural audit can be supplemented by a range of other approaches to gain a comprehensive understanding of an organization's culture, such as Appreciative Inquiry, surveys, focus groups and benchmarking.

Footnotes

Cultural audit — recommended articles

Decision point — Qualitative research techniques — Performance appraisal process — Qualitative content analysis — Focus group interviews — Types of feedback — Learning from experience — Multiple case study — Complex problem solving

References

• Aquinas (2009), Organization Structure & Design : Applications And Challenges, Excel Books India
• Bohlander G., Snell S. (2006), Managing Human Resources, Cengage Learnin
• Chalofsky N.F. (2014), Handbook of Human Resource Development, John Wiley & Sons
• Gooden S.T. (2015), Race and Social Equity: A Nervous Area of Government, Routledge
• Piscione D.P. (2014), The Risk Factor: Why Every Organization Needs Big Bets, Bold Characters, and the Occasional Spectacular Failure, St. Martin's Press
• Solomon C. (2004), Culture Audits: Supporting Organizational Success, American Society for Training and Development
• Strathern M. (2003), Audit Cultures: Anthropological Studies in Accountability, Ethics and the Academy, Routledge

Author: Uladzislau Leonau