Valuing change: differential measurement of workplace culture shift

Abstract

Purpose

Measuring the efficacy of workplace culture-shift efforts presented a substantial challenge in the author's research exploring how culture shifts during deliberate change initiatives. In response to this challenge this conceptual article proposes that the relative value participants attribute to desired culture outcomes can function as a proxy for measuring culture shift over time, providing applied researchers and practitioners with a simple way to measure efficacy of change initiatives.

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual article reviews the difficulties of defining and measuring workplace culture using widely known, contemporary models and instruments. It then builds an argument for using differential measurement of the relative value attributed to culture shift outcomes (valuing) as a proxy for workplace culture shift, followed by discussion of how to conduct measurement.

Findings

This article deductively demonstrates that parsimonious measurement of culture shift is not only simple and feasible, but that practitioners and researchers alike can use a valuing approach to determine the efficacy of efforts to shift workplace culture.

Originality/value

Used to complement existing methods and instruments, or on its own, this approach to measurement can build deeper insights into what is going on during deliberate change initiatives, while answering the reflexive questions “are we doing the right things,” and “are we doing those things the right way?”

Citation

Coutts, D.S. (2021), "Valuing change: differential measurement of workplace culture shift", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 34 No. 5, pp. 990-1002. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-08-2020-0254