The aim of this section is to help you identify the culture that exists in your organisation. The entries give advice on how to use the theories with your staff but their main purpose is to help you identify and understand the culture you work in. This is vital. If you are at odds with your organisation’s culture, you will find it a very uncomfortable environment to work in.

But what is organisational culture? I once asked a group of staff from a major car manufacturer that very question. Their answers ranged from ‘religious beliefs’ through to ‘the thing that grows in the bottom of your cup if you don’t wash it on a Friday night’.

I had been looking for a response along the lines of the principles, ideologies, policies and practices shared by all within an organisation. Diplomatically, I acknowledged each contribution with comments such as ‘values and beliefs certainly impact on culture’ and ‘just like the blobby bits in your unwashed cup, culture is an organic process in which the end product can have both a harmful or healing effect’.

The entries in this section range from the pragmatic to the wildly metaphorical. What they have in common is that they give you different and interesting ways to analyse and think about your organisation’s culture. What is it? How was it established? How is it maintained? What influence does it exert over the people in the organisation?

Although organisational cultures do vary widely from one institution to the next, similarities also exist. Most organisational cultures can be categorised as something that an organisation is (the image people have of how the organisation goes about its business) or something that an organisation has (its fundamental values and beliefs).

Read the following and use those ideas that appeal to you and which you can see yourself using in the workplace. All I ask is that you don’t rely on just one or two theories. Organisational culture is multifaceted and you need to look at it from several angles if you hope to get a clear picture of the environment you are operating in.