The Organizational Culture Audit: Countering Cultural Ambiguity in the Service Context

Mark R. Testa, Lori J. Sipe

San Diego State University, San Diego, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/ojl.2013.22005                

Abstract

Development of a compelling organizational culture continues to be an imperative for organizations seeking a competitive advantage. Identifying culture deficiencies or gaps is an important step in creating such a culture. For culture development efforts to be successful, leaders must first know the reality of the current organizational culture, however assessing the organizations’ true culture may be more complicated than it appears. Several theoretical frameworks illustrate how highly committed mangers may have difficulty in this regard. The following study links theory with application providing an action research based model of culture assessment. First, the rationale and conceptual model of cultural analysis is provided based on past research. Next, a five-step model analyzing ten cultural areas is proposed, and recommendations are provided for implementation.

Keywords

Organizational Culture; Leadership; Culture Assessment; Gap Analysis

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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