Characteristics of Organization Culture

The seven characteristics of organizational culture are:

• Innovation (Risk Orientation) – Companies with cultures that place a high value on innovation motivate their employees to take risks and be creative in the performance of their jobs. Companies with cultures that place a low value on innovation expect their employees to do their jobs the same way that they have been trained to do them, without looking for ways to enhance their performance.
• Attention to Detail (Precision Orientation) – This characteristic of organizational culture suggests the level to which employees are expected to be accurate in their work. A culture that places a high value on attention to detail want their employees to perform their work accurately. A culture that places a low value on this characteristic does not.
• Emphasis on Outcome (Achievement Orientation) – Companies that pay attention to results, but not on how the results are accomplished, place a high importance on this value of organizational culture. A company that tells its sales force to do whatever it takes to get sales orders has a culture that places a high importance on the prominence of outcome characteristic.
• Emphasis on People (Fairness Orientation) – Companies that place a high value on this characteristic of organizational culture place a great deal of significance on how their decisions will impact the people in their organizations. For these companies, it is important to treat their employees with respect and dignity.
• Teamwork (Collaboration Orientation) – Companies that organize work activities around teams instead of individuals place a high value on this feature of organizational culture. People who work for these types of companies tend to have a favorable relationship with their coworkers and managers.
• Aggressiveness (Competitive Orientation) – This feature of Organizational culture dictates whether group members are anticipated to be assertive or easy going when interacting with companies they compete with in the marketplace. Companies with an aggressive culture place a high value on competitiveness and do better than the competition at all cost.
• Stability (Rule Orientation) – A company who place high values on stability are rule oriented, conventional and bureaucratic in nature. These types of company usually provide dependable and predictable level of output and function best on non changing market conditions.