Cultural Reviews and Climate Surveys

Benchmarking current practice with best practice

Some of our most successful clients choose to complete a Culture Review annually.  This not only provides them with a benchmark over time but also feedback on staff perceptions. 

Livingstones has conducted Culture Reviews for a wide variety of clients including:

• Cross City Tunnel, Sydney
• Hans Continental Smallgoods Pty Ltd
• Port of Brisbane Corporation
• St Luke’s Nursing Service
• Stanwell Corporation Limited
• BIGA Ltd
• KBR
• VALE

Culture reviews allow an organisation to validate business processes and culture that are effective and identify those that may not be as effective as desired. Organisations can then target change initiatives toward areas of the business or culture that most require change. This will avoid a ‘hit and miss’ type approach to change initiatives, streamlining organisational effort, time and resources to the most appropriate areas of concern.

Livingstones Culture Reviews provide a ‘snapshot’ of the organisation which allows management to gain a greater understanding of the culture in order to make decisions about the future.

Organisational culture can be described as ‘the way things are done around here’. It is patterns of shared values, beliefs and attitudes that lead to certain norms of behaviour (Smirich, 1983). The culture of an organisation is the result of the group having discovered or developed methods of dealing with the external and internal environment that have been deemed effective. This culture is taught to new staff members, and reinforced in current staff as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to certain issues (Schein, 1984).

Reviews also provide a benchmark against which future change can be measured. The review also provides the organisation with the opportunity to compare their current practice to best practice. Livingstones designs processes for each project based on current research, strong action research methodology basis, and our extensive experience. By utilising techniques such as focus groups, individual interviews and tailor-made surveys, we work in partnership with our clients to gather the knowledge to provide a holistic overview of the organisation and its unique culture.

We recommend an action research approach with input from the Senior Management Team and staff to develop and/or implement recommendations. 

Our findings are reported using the McKinsey 7S Framework which comprehensively identifies the critical elements that influence an organisation’s effectiveness.