Una forte cultura aziendale modella i processi decisionali di un’organizzazione, guida le azioni e il comportamento individuale di tutti i dipendenti.
Nella sua forma generale, la cultura aziendale comprende credenze, norme, valori, atteggiamenti condivisi che permeano tutte le parti dell’organizzazione.
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Questi modelli aiutano a fornire tabilità e coerenza all’organizzazione , tuttavia una cultura forte può anche sollevare ostacoli ai risultati necessari per rimanere competitivi.
I project manager che non sono a conoscenza della cultura aziendale possono essere limitati dai valori e dalle convinzioni della cultura di base dell’organizzazione.
Invece, i capi consapevoli del progetto hanno un forte legame con la loro cultura aziendale, sono più adattabili, flessibili ed efficaci.
Cos’è la cultura aziendale?
Fondamentalmente, la cultura aziendale è il carattere dell’organizzazione.
La stessa persona, inserita in organizzazioni diverse o persino in dipartimenti diversi della stessa organizzazione, agirebbe diversamente, perché una forte cultura aziendale crea ideali sociali che modellano il comportamento individuale .
La cultura aziendale è un canale attraverso il quale i messaggi su ciò che l’organizzazione rappresenta vengono trasmessi ai dipendenti e alle altre parti interessate.
Quando gli individui si impegnano nelle credenze dell’organizzazione , tali credenze vengono incorporate nell’organizzazione e i singoli membri le considerano come credenze personali .
Comprendere la cultura dell’organizzazione è quindi fondamentale per i progetti di successo.
Forze esterne ed interne modellano la cultura aziendale che influenza i progetti.
La struttura, ad esempio, influenza la cultura.
Strutture solide, formali e di controllo possono promuovere l’efficienza funzionale a spese dell’innovazione collaborativa.
Le azioni di leadership trasmettono anche credenze, valori e ipotesi che contribuiscono alla cultura aziendale.
Some leaders promote and incentivize individual and group competition, while other leaders motivate people to work collaboratively and synergistically.
Performance measures also play an enormous role in determining an organization’s culture.
What is measured, whether, for example, profits, i.e., cost savings, position with respect to the competition, etc. is also part of the corporate culture.
Last but not least, even external factors shape the corporate culture and are very powerful as organizations reflect transnational, national, regional and industrial ideologies.
These can be represented by religion, science, political ideologies and environmental concerns.
All these listed elements therefore influence the way people perceive the organization and how they behave within it.
What does this mean for the project manager?
Projects often have a deep impact on the organization and, of course, on the people within it, especially those who work there directly.
Projects change all or part of an organization and by their very nature create changes in the organization in general and/or in individual departments.
Project managers need to be capable of interacting with various subcultural elements within their organization and, where suitable, within the client’s organization, often at the same time.
Project managers who are aware of cultural differences can avoid or minimize conflicts resulting from productivity errors or misunderstandings.
Differences can arise due to communication problems between different corporate cultures.
It is therefore important that the project manager makes an effort to speak and listen to “different languages” so that these differences are taken into account.
Stubborn and hasty judgment that attributes project barriers to another person’s inflexibility or stubbornness can polarize differences, escalate conflicts, and make it very difficult or almost impossible to complete the project.
Projects are more likely to have success when:
- They begin with the premise that organizations are living social systems.
- They assess, define, work and align themselves with the basic culture of the organization.
- They are directly related to the organization’s strategy.
- They are aligned with culture and leadership initiatives.
Projects considered consistent with corporate culture may have smoother implementations and higher success rates than projects that challenge these cultural norms.
In addition, understanding the corporate culture and its relationship to project management can help organizations understand which projects to pursue and which not to consider.
Corporate culture as a crucial element
Culture perhaps plays the most important role in determining whether the organization is successful in running projects or not.
If an organization is experiencing difficulties in completing projects correctly, project managers can’t always be blamed.
Project managers may be working in a corporate culture that does not support their efforts, and until that culture changes, project managers will constantly struggle to succeed.
However, a positive corporate culture can be an incentive for project success.
Organizations and, consequently, project teams have unique personalities and value systems and an individual way of doing things to achieve success.
The more a project manager understands and accepts the concept of corporate culture, the more effective he or she will be in gaining support and guiding the project through the myriad organizational mazes.
Project managers typically work within their own core corporate culture with subcultures of other departments – for example: research and development, marketing and sales or production… each with their own “intrinsic ways of doing things here to succeed” – or external clients.
Understanding and speaking the language of the target culture is key to the success of the project.
Communicating effectively with the surrounding culture can help develop plans and strategies that are more likely to be acknowledged and adhered to over time, bypassing practices that violate the beliefs and values of both the organization’s own and external beliefs.
This is an important part of project team development that also helps to ensure a healthy climate during the team’s work and the basic approach to ensuring the success of the project.
