Korn Ferry Executive Survey: Companies Struggle to Align Culture with Business Strategy

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Korn Ferry KFY, a single source of leadership and talent consulting services, today released results of a global executive survey that shows that while the majority of respondents (72 percent) feel culture is extremely important to organizational performance, only 32 percent say their organizational culture aligns to a great extent with their business strategy.

The survey also showed that despite the high-ranking in importance, only 25 percent believe they have identified and communicated their culture to a great extent and only 35 percent believe their employees are able to articulate their culture to a great extent.

“The concept of organizational culture has never been more critical or more complex,” said Korn Ferry Senior Partner Dave Eaton. “Omnipresent globalization, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and outsourcing make it imperative to bottom-line results that companies focus on identifying, aligning, and communicating a common culture. They must then cascade and integrate this culture across their enterprise; and then tie that culture back to business strategy.”

The survey found that 31 percent agree to a great extent that their organizations have effective programs that align employee behavior and culture, and more than one-third (37 percent) agreed to a great extent that their company uses culture as a key lever for driving organizational transformation.

“Part of understanding organizational culture is learning how it plays out within different geographic regions or business functions while still achieving a common business goal,” said Korn Ferry Senior Partner Gabriella Kilby. “Often people look at differences within teams as a hindrance and feel the need to ‘accommodate' others. We help companies leverage differences as assets, enabling leaders to form diverse-by-design teams that look at business needs differently, thus driving innovation and creating better outcomes.”

About the Survey

There were more than 500 global respondents to the online survey, which was conducted from June 30 to July 14, 2014.

Korn Ferry Culture Survey Results
How important do you think culture is to organizational performance?
Not important		0 percent
Somewhat important		0 percent
Important		28 percent
Extremely important		72 percent
Have your organization's leaders identified and communicated an organizational culture?
Not at all		10 percent
To a slight extent		21 percent
To a moderate extent		44 percent
To a great extent		25 percent
Are the majority of your employees able to articulate your organization's culture?
Not at all		3 percent
To a slight extent		13 percent
To a moderate extent		49 percent
To a great extent		35 percent
Does employee behavior generally align with what your leaders say is your culture?
Not at all		2 percent
To a slight extent		14 percent
To a moderate extent		62 percent
To a great extent		22 percent
Does your organization have effective programs that align employee behavior?
Not at all		15 percent
To a slight extent		20 percent
To a moderate extent		34 percent
To a great extent		31 percent
Does your organization's culture align with its business strategy?
Not at all		11 percent
To a slight extent		21 percent
To a moderate extent		36 percent
To a great extent		32 percent
Does your company use culture as a key lever for driving organizational transformation?
Not at all		18 percent
To a slight extent		19 percent
To a moderate extent		26 percent
To a great extent		37 percent

About Korn Ferry

Korn Ferry designs, builds, attracts and ignites talent. Since our inception, clients have trusted us to help recruit world-class leadership. Today, we are a single source for leadership and talent consulting services to empower businesses and leaders to reach their goals. Our solutions range from executive recruitment and leadership development programs, to enterprise learning, succession planning and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO). Visit kornferry.com for more information.