In a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and The World Economic Forum, CEOs said that reshaping corporate culture and employee behavior ranked among their top priorities, along with setting the vision and strategy of the organization. For their part, according to a variety of surveys, employees are disturbed by or don't find credible the communication coming from the executive ranks. Other surveys show a significant link between the attitude and behavior of employees and the organization's success (as well as the employee's "fit" with the culture). Corporate culture, it would seem, is shaped more by employee mindset and the resulting actions than the numbers on the earnings statements. The latter, data show, can be shored up by the former.

Then why do issues of culture and communication continue to be a key stumbling block for many merged, reorganized or fast-growing companies? Perhaps one answer lies in the lack of understanding — in both the leadership suites and rank-and-file cubicles — about what comprises good communication and corporate culture. You can't implement well what you don't understand.

Questions that help identify the elements of culture

There are manifestations of culture within an organization, the everyday details of how people go about their jobs, that create challenges for organizational leaders, particularly following decisions to merge, grow or transform the company. The following categories, while not exhaustive, speak to how people within the organization treat one another, how they interact, and how information is exchanged. When cultures clash, these are some of the areas where we find the seeds of friction that ultimately threatens productivity, morale and momentum.

When you can answer these questions, you'll have a better chance of creating realistic plans for merging, transforming, shaping or maintaining company culture.

Meetings:

— Is it a meeting culture?
— Do people arrive on time or straggle into meetings as the norm?
— Are meetings efficient, or is it common to spend hours on issues that could be resolved via other means, such as e-mail, telephone, memo, etc.?
— Do meeting participants arrive ready to provide full reports and recommendations, or with pen and paper to problem-solve in the group or receive updates and instructions from leaders?

Telephone and voicemail:

— Do people use the phone, versus paper memo, e-mail or a visit to colleagues' cubicles?
— Do people return phone calls (messages and voicemail) or ignore all but the most urgent?
— Do managers request or assign via voicemail? If so, do they receive timely responses? How?
— Do leaders use voicemail for "all-hands broadcasting" of key announcements?

E-mail and intra/internet:

— Does everyone in the company have a personal e-mail address?
— Does everyone in the company have internet browsing capability at their desktop? If not, who does?
— Do people within the company communicate with one another via e-mail, scheduling meetings, sharing project updates, asking questions, etc.?
— Do leaders share performance-related information with employees via e-mail?
— Is e-mail considered the primary or most important communication conduit, and encouraged as such by company policy and communications (perhaps using the term "paperless office")?
— Do company leaders share information via e-mail and/or intranet that doesn't go out via other means, leaving the electronic communication as the sole source of communication?
— Do some employees or leaders work remotely or telecommute? If so, who, how and how often?
— Do you work from a network, with employees sharing key software programs and server space, or do employees work from "stand-alone" desktop computers, sharing information via other means?

Paper trails:

— Is it requisite to put your ideas or requests in writing, e.g. a memo, report or proposal?
— Are proposals "pitched" informally in hallways or informal meetings, or are they prepared via paper to to present at a more formal meeting or to work their way up the hierarchy through the "chain of command"?
— Are job offers, policies, procedures, job expectations and feedback provided in writing, with copies signed and retained by both employee and company representative, or are such things reviewed verbally and "sealed with a handshake"?
— Do people routinely print out copies of e-mail or internet/intranet communications?
— Which do you use more in your office: print magazines or journals, or interenet-based resources?
— Do you rely on print for certain information/functions, and are okay with using internet resources for others?

Decision-making and participation:

— Are individuals or groups allowed a certain degree of autonomy with regards to pitching ideas and taking the initiative to gain buy-in and see an idea into fruition; or is it required in the culture (whether it’s in writing or just expected and "just done that way") to pitch an idea to your manager and let him or her decide whether to address it with his or her manager, etc.?
— Are key decisions made within the executive group and communicated out to managers, who communicate to their direct reports; or does the executive team invite participation in strategic planning, then expect implementation plans from the grassroots?
— Who participates in organizational visioning, strategy-making and planning? How is that information then organized and presented to employees for implementation?

Schedules:

— Are people in charge of their own schedules, or can they be scheduled into meetings by others in the organization (e.g. via scheduling software, etc.)?
— Can individuals decline to attend a meeting, even if scheduled by his or her manager, if it conflicts with something else that person has scheduled?
— Are there set times the company is "open for business", or can some or all of the individuals arrive whenever they want to arrive and leave whenever they wish to leave (again, whether in writing or just expected; what’s frowned upon with regards to schedules)?
— Is it customary for individuals to eat lunch at their desks, at an inhouse cafeteria with colleagues or just step out to lunch?
— Is it customary for individuals to stick to a "lunch hour" or is it acceptable for people to take a leisurely lunch at their own discretion?

Policies and procedures:

— Does the company distribute an employee handbook to every employee?
— Does the company communicate regularly to reinforce the preferred culture? How, and how often?
— Do managers stick closely or relatively closely to the handbook policies?
— Is performance evaluated? If so, how and how frequently?
— Is performance evaluation linked with one’s "fit" in the culture? How so?

Attitudes in action:

— Does water cooler discussion center around current projects and solutions, or does it consist of complaints about management, assignments and the need for one's next day off?
— Does everything flow through the company's legal department or corporate attorney, or is the attorney tapped primarily for legal agreements and special situations?
— Is fast turnaround on projects and assignments the norm, or is the pace more relaxed, picking up significantly when there's a crisis or regulatory pressure requiring a faster pace?
— Do employees of any rank talk with company leaders, or would it be considered inappropriate for a junior employee to walk into the CEOs office with a concern, complaint or suggestion?

By answering some or all of these questions — and others that flesh out the list for your own organization — you'll begin an informal audit of your company's culture as it is in action versus the more idealistic public relations sound bites. You can research and conduct your own audit, or select a consultant to use a variety of formal culture evaluation tools.

The attitudes and behaviors that come to light through the audit aren't necessarily right or wrong in and of themselves, but they may be appropriate or inappropriate in the context of your strategic plan. Only when you link the ideal with its real-world action counterpart will you be truly effective at shaping or transforming the attitudes and behavior that make up your organizational culture.

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