Do not blame the organizational culture for poor performance

The formal and informal ways in which things are done in an organisation explain the behaviours that guide activities in that organisation's environment, or in other words, the culture of the organisation. When things go wrong, it is not unusual for an organisation's culture to be implicated as 'bad' and labelled as the reason for inadequate or underperformance. The underlying supposition in making the culture of an organisation an issue is to make a case that a change in the culture will, in some way, improve organisational performance. Programs to effect this change are implemented, despite little evidence that a change in organisational culture will result in different performance or outcomes. Moreover, more often than not, strategies implemented to deliver cultural change do not change the culture of an organisation.