ZENIT nv has built up more than 7 years’ experience with measuring organizational culture. In this we work with American author and top consultant Richard Barrett, who has developed a powerful and practical measuring instrument that has been used successfully in 26 countries.
In Belgium we have used the method at Exxon Mobil, VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research), Ministry of the Flemish Community, Bank J. Van Breda & C° and in the Hesse-Noord Natie merger, among other organizations.
Culture and values testing is being used more and more as an alternative to the classical colleague satisfaction test.
This instrument:
- establishes which values within the organization, and in its groups and departments, including demographic differences, are regarded as the ten most important individual, organizational and ideal organizational values;
- analyses the extent to which the ten most important individual, organizational and ideal organizational values are coherent;
- shows the extent to which the existing values of the organization agree with the values that are help up;
- establishes which changes in behavior patterns are necessary to bring about a long-lasting, successful company culture;
- establishes how the individual, organizational and ideal organizational values are communicated in agreement with the seven levels of company consciousness;
- measures the extent to which the ten most important individual, organizational and ideal organizational values are in agreement with each other.
Practical
- The basic instrument consists of three value/behavior models from which an individual chooses the ten values that best express who he or she is (individual values); the ten values that best describe how an organization operates (organizational values); and the ten values that are in their opinion essential for an organization that achieves very well (ideal organizational values).
- The value/behavior models are adjusted for the particular organization and the environment in which it operates. The adjustment consists of adding the values that form part of the vision, mission and value system of the organization; values that are relevant to the sector in which the organization is active, as well as the current professional codes (retail, industry, media, education, banking, health care, etc). Additionally, values are added that are characteristic of the national culture and language.
- The results of the test of the values of an organization can be horizontally differentiated according to group, such as directors, middle level and personnel, and vertically according to department, such as company activities, sales, management; according to factory or shop location; and on the basis of demographic factors like gender, duration of service, age and ethnic group.