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Sigma Magic Help Version 15

Culture Map

Overview

Culture is the set of customs, traditions, and values of a society, ethnic group, or nation. Culture encompasses food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at the table, how we behave, etc. Within an organization, culture is identified as the identity and personality of an organization. It consists of shared thoughts, assumptions, behaviors, and values of the employees and stakeholders. Culture is dynamic and ever-changing and evolves with time. Culture drives or impedes the success of any organization. It can impact the talent, products, clients as well as revenue. Hence, the culture of an organization should be carefully nurtured and developed in the right direction. Here are a few pointers to impact organizational culture:
  • Culture starts with the organization's leaders. Employees model the behaviors of their leaders. Hence, focus on the company's leaders as well as managers to have the most influence.
  • Create alignment between the values and behaviors. Successful cultures assimilate the mission, vision, and core values of the organization.
  • Rewarding and celebrating achievement will drive others to success and reinforce the culture of the company by celebrating those who live out the company's values.
The culture map model uses a simple model to evaluate the culture of any organization using a standard set of measurements. You can document and review the current state, determine which areas are in line with what you expect and which areas need improvement. Once the gap areas are identified, you can come with some recommended actions to help mold the culture of the organization.

Inputs

This tool can be added to your active workbook by clicking on Change and then selecting Culture Map. Click on Analysis Setup to open the menu options for this tool.

Setup

A sample screenshot of the setup menu is shown below.
Input Dialog
1
Analysis Type: Specify the tool format for this analysis. This selection is not enabled since there is only one format available.
2
Plot Orientation: Specify the orientation for the plot.
OptionDescription
HorizontalCreate a horizontal bar chart (default setting)
VerticalCreate a vertical bar chart.
3
View Example: Click on this button to add an example worksheet. You can use the example to understand how others have filled out the tool or use the example as a starting point and modify it to better meet your needs.
4
Help Button: Click on this button to open the help file for this topic.
5
Cancel Button: Click on this button to cancel all changes to the settings and exit this dialog box.
6
OK Button: Click on this button to save all changes and compute the outputs for this analysis.
The worksheet consists of a set of questions to help you identify the current culture of the organization. It asks you to document:
  • What a great day at work looks like? This question helps you identify those elements of the culture that is working great.
  • The next question is on what a terrible day looks like? This question helps you identify those elements of the culture that are not working great.
  • Document examples of behavior that is impacting outcome. Here the focus is on specific behaviors.
  • Finally, document the desired changes for the current culture and the specific action plan that you plan to deploy to enables these changes in the company.
At the bottom of the worksheet, there is a generic culture assessment using eight dimensions. You are asked to evaluate your culture concerning Communicating, Evaluating, Persuading, Leading, Deciding, Trusting, Disagreeing, and Scheduling. For each of these areas, two extremes are described. You will need to rate your company to determine where it falls on this scale. For example, if we are talking about Communicating, one extreme may be a low-context communication where communication is precise, simple, and clear within the organization, and messages are expressed and understood at face value. The other extreme is high context communication, where the communication is sophisticated, nuanced, and layered. Messages are spoken and read between the lines. If your company is most closely represented by low-context, you can score a 10 for the low context; the high context automatically gets a score of 0. If you believe your company communication is high context, enter a score of 0 for low-context, and high-context automatically gets a 10. You can, of course, enter any value in between and share the 10 points between low-context and high-context. The higher the value for a selection, the more your company represents that way of working. Complete this assessment for each dimension.

Charts

If you click on the Charts button, you will see the following dialog box. Charts
1
Title: The system will automatically pick a title for your chart. However, if you would like to override that with your own title you can specify a title for your chart here. Note that this input is optional.
2
Sub Title: The system will automatically pick a subtitle for your chart. However, if you would like to override that with your own subtitle you can specify a subtitle for your chart here. Note that this input is optional.
3
X Label: The system will automatically pick a label for the x-axis. However, if you would like to override that with your own label for the x-axis you can specify a different label here. Note that this input is optional.
4
Y Label: The system will automatically pick a label for the y-axis. However, if you would like to override that with your own label for the y-axis you can specify a different label here. Note that this input is optional.
5
X Axis: The system will automatically pick a scale for the x-axis. However, if you would like to override that with your values for the x-axis, you can specify them here. The format for this input is to specify the minimum, increment, and maximum values separated by a semi-colon. For example, if you specify 10;20 then the minimum x-axis scale is set at 10 and the maximum x-axis scale is set at 20. If you specify 10;2;20, then, in addition to minimum and maximum values, the x-axis increment is set at 2. Note that this input is currently disabled and you will not be able to change this setting.
6
Y Axis: The system will automatically pick a scale for the y-axis. However, if you would like to override that with your values for the y-axis, you can specify them here. The format for this input is to specify the minimum, increment, and maximum values separated by a semi-colon. For example, if you specify 10;20 then the minimum y-axis scale is set at 10 and the maximum y-axis scale is set at 20. If you specify 10;2;20, then, in addition to minimum and maximum values, the y-axis increment is set at 2. Note that this input is optional.
7
Horizontal Lines: If you want to add a few extra horizontal reference lines on top of your chart you can specify the values here. The format for this input is numeric values separated by semi-colon. For example, if you specify 12;15 then two horizontal lines are plotted at Y = 12 and Y = 15 respectively. Note that this input is optional.
8
Vertical Lines: If you want to add a few extra vertical reference lines on top of your chart you can specify the values here. The format for this input is numeric values separated by semi-colon. For example, if you specify 2;5 then two vertical lines are plotted at X = 2 and X = 5 respectively. Note that this input is optional.

Checklist

If you click on the Checklist button, you will see the following dialog box. Checklist The checklist contains a few pointers on things you need to pay particular attention to while performing this analysis. The checklist has been derived from experience working on past projects. Not all the checklist items need to apply to you. However, you should carefully review the checklist and apply any recommendations that make sense for your project. Make sure to read each checklist item and mark it as completed after you have read and taken actions as appropriate for your project.

Verify

If you click on the Verify button, the software will perform some checks on the data you have entered. A sample screenshot of the dialog box is shown in the figure below. Verify The objective of this analysis as well as any checks that are performed is listed in this dialog box. For example, the software may check if you have correctly specified the input options and entered the required data on the worksheet. The results of the analysis checks are listed on the right. If the checks are passed, then they are shown as a green-colored checkmark. If the verification checks fail, then they are shown as a red-colored cross. If the verification checks result in a warning, they are shown in the orange color exclamation mark and finally, any checks that are required to be performed by the user are shown as blue info icons.

Outputs

Once you have answered all the data on the worksheet and click on Compute Outputs to create a bar graph of your selections. A sample screenshot of the culture map outputs is shown below. Culture Map Example There are no specific outputs to interpret for this analysis. You can review the current selections and determine what parts of the culture need improvement and then document the desired changes to your culture, and come up with an action plan to achieve the new organizational culture.

Notes

Here are a few pointers regarding this analysis:
  • You can add or change questions for each phase by opening the tools folder and editing the questions that are asked so that the next time around, these questions will be displayed when you select the coaching model.

Examples

Following examples can be found in the Examples folder.
  1. Assess the organizational culture and document any changes you would like to make and how you plan to accomplish the changes (Culture Map 1.xlsm).

References

For more information on this topic, please refer to the following articles. Do note that if any external links are mentioned below, they are for reference purposes only.