As part of his MBA, Senior Consultant Mark Castell studied organisational culture and was able to confirm the existence of a strong task culture within Trett Consulting. The study also highlighted employees’ self-preference for working in such an organisation.

What is organisational culture?
The term ‘culture’ is generally thought of in terms of the way values and beliefs vary in different countries and between people of different nationalities. However, organisations also have differing cultures that reflect certain basic values, ideologies and assumptions about the way it and the individuals within it operate. These cultures are reflected in:-
• The way work is organised.
• Organisational hierarchy and style.
• Levels of initiative looked for in employees.
• Importance of customer service.
• Traditions of the organisation.

Organisational culture tends to be visible by both symbols and behaviour, such as the type of people employed in a firm, their status in society, career aspirations, level of education and degree of mobility. Culture is also seen in the firm’s product, or corporate literature, including in-house journals. So one organisation operating in the marketing sector may demonstrate its flair by a casual, modern approach to business practice; whereas a firm of corporate lawyers may emphasise a culture of formality and tradition.

What is the relevance of this to business?
Organisational culture becomes an important consideration when establishing organisational design and structure. The key point is that there is not one organisational structure that fits all cultures or all individuals. Certain cultures will work within specific conditions and particular organisations. Of importance to the firm is that any variation between the employees’ self-preference and the perceived culture of the organisation can affect organisational ffectiveness and employee motivation.

What is the culture within Trett Consulting?
According to Roger Harrison, there are four types of ‘organisation ideologies’, power, role, task and person. He suggests the main attributes of a task culture are: -
• Project or job orientated firm with the emphasis on ‘getting the work done’.
• Importance of expert knowledge.
• Teams formed by cross-functional mixing of different levels of expertise.
• Flexibility.

Harrison also suggests that task culture is appropriate where sensitivity to the marketplace or environment is important.

The Survey
I conducted a questionnaire survey of staff at each of Trett Consulting’s offices and using Harrison’s score card, identified the perceived Trett organisation culture was one of a high task-orientated business. The survey also identified that employees themselves had a preference for undertaking task-orientated work.

The relevance of a task culture to Trett Consulting’s business and clients.
The existence of a strong task culture within Trett Consulting and the suitability of the employees to the nature of the work being carried out and the firm’s culture are good for clients. Firstly, the prevalent task culture is well suited to the type of work undertaken and places importance on ‘getting the work done’ and achieving results for our clients.

Secondly, the matching of the employees’ self-preference and the perceived culture of the organisation indicates that employees are working within a personally acceptable environment. This consequently affects employee motivation and organisational effectiveness to the ultimate benefit of our clients.

Mark Castell is a Senior Consultant in Trett Consulting’s Manchester Office