Most leaders understand the importance of organizational culture. Yet, far fewer are making meaningful progress in improving aspects of culture that matter most. To help leaders draw from data-based employee insights on what enables an effective culture, MIT Sloan Management Review has published a series of research articles from MIT SMR/Glassdoor Culture 500 and other leading academics. A few of these articles and their select insights include:
- 10 Things Your Corporate Culture Needs to Get Right. This research analyzed 1.4 million employee reviews on Glassdoor using a Natural Employee Language platform—looking at 150 culture topics to determine which cultural elements shape how employees rate their firms’ culture. The number one predictor is ’employees feel respected.’ This factor is the most significant predictor (17.9x more powerful) of culture score than any other factor.
- Why Every Leader Needs to Worry About Toxic Culture. An analysis of 128 culture topics identified five attributes of culture that rendered a culture toxic in the eyes of employees: disrespectful, noninclusive, unethical, cutthroat, and abusive.
- The latest article in this series, How to Fix a Toxic Culture, shows three critical drivers for addressing toxicity in the workplace. 1) leadership, 2) social norms, and 3) work design.
Each of the three articles provides in-depth insights and analyses from which leaders can draw as they improve aspects of culture that matter the most. These topics on culture are highly relevant given the unwanted attrition many organizations have faced, the focus on environmental social and governance (ESG) and fostering healthy work environments, and organizational efforts to promote respect and dignity for all employees.
