Ethics & fit-for-purpose cultures discussions

Organisations have several reasons to care deeply about their culture. On the one hand, poor cultures expose organisations to significant amounts of reputational risk. Ensuring that organisational cultures are supportive of the employees and stakeholders involved is a core responsibility of leaders. On the other hand, evidence is emerging that positive cultures have positive outcomes on organisational performance. In this area, organisational listening, and how organisations create agile and responsive customer facing cultures, are both of critical importance. Practitioners are keen for new insights into a number of related issues, including:

• how to achieve strong alignment between leadership intent and organisational culture;
• how to embed values systems throughout the organisation;
• ways in which organisational values can become drivers of change within extended supply chains;
• how to build effective feedback loops;
• and how organisational character traits, such as compassion and humanity, can become productive organising principles inside business.

Alongside this is an emerging set of questions on the workplace of the future. The Covid-19 pandemic has unlocked a new set of ideas on the types of workplaces, workplace systems/technologies, and workplace cultures that will be fit-for-purpose as we emerge from the lockdowns. Research insight into how organisations and their leaders should engage with workforces, decide between differing generational and cultural preferences, and reshape their organisations accordingly would be valuable.