Organizational Culture is defined as practices predominant in the organization. Or – if you like – in the pragmatic manner – “this is the way we do things over here”.

First things first: culture is a TOOL that is supposed to HELP us deliver what we promise, deliver our goals, objectives, deliver the strategy. And that has a direct consequence: culture is tightly coupled with the organization’s strategic cornerstones. Without the strategy it becomes just a gimmick: it may be interesting to understand how the organization functions, but to add to that the business relevance, one needs to relate this to the organization’s intents and strategy. So, always first let’s talk business strategy and only THEN switch to discussing the various culture aspects, enabling it.

So why would Drucker say that "Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast"? And what does this really mean?

Organizational business performance is a conjunction of two factors: its strategy and its culture. If you would treat the business strategy as an ENGINE then culture would be the OIL in that engine: no matter how strong and great the engine is, if you don’t use the proper oil, you will not enjoy it (long or fully).

With that in mind – managing business performance is all about optimizing the strategy but also optimizing the organizational culture, its functionality or – if you like – the fit between what the current strategic demands are and the organizational practices in place. It is a dynamic act, something that you keep doing, running a business, when needs occur.

What are other reasons behind the importance of organizational culture? Why does it eat strategy for breakfast? There are at least four of them:

  1. It is a complex phenomenon and thus, not copyable and not transferable – the proofs for that visible thanks to mathematics – there are all too many shaping factors to replicate them and thus copy the culture.
  2. As so unique an element it is the strongest differentiation factor. You can copy a product, design, even a service – but not all the organizational practices and beliefs that steer people’s actions and decisions.
  3. The third thing is the bonding – culture is all about people and relations among them, so it defines the glue attaching the associates to the organization, as people do not build relations to PowerPoint presentations or Excel sheets, but to other people! Culture holds them together, building the strongest bond.
  4. You cannot prescribe everything in the rules, procedures, or guidebooks. A smile, sacrifice, a helping hand – that is not and should not be part of employee handbook. But this is CULTURE.

All companies DO have a culture, but not all cultures will help them succeed! And that also means that you don't need to CREATE culture as it always exists. But definitely you need to meaningfully manage it AND shape it. So that you ensure that your business promises are being delivered.

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Author

Piotr Gryko

Peter Gryko joined Hofstede Insights as a licensee in Poland already in 1995. Currently he is the Chairman of House of Skills, the biggest training and consultancy firm on the Polish market. Peter has a Master of Science in economy, graduated from the Foreign Trade Department of the Warsaw School of Economics.

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