Imagine an organization as a living entity shaped by the beliefs and behaviors of its members. These beliefs and behaviors constitute organizational culture, and exert a profound influence on an organization’s performance, employee satisfaction, and overall success.
One useful approach organizational leaders can use to understand relationships between policies, employee behaviors, and employee outcomes is quantitative analysis, including analyzing relationships between cultural indicators and key performance indicators. While these insights are invaluable, qualitative research can provide rich, nuanced perspectives that underpin those causal relationships, allowing you to discover the values, drivers, and perspectives that influence behavior and build culture.
Qualitative research explores complexity by delving into the richness and depth of experiences, perceptions, and meanings that individuals assign to their interactions with the world around them. This research methodology is rooted in the belief that context and individual interpretation are essential components of understanding complex social phenomenon—like organizational culture.
As the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie eloquently puts it, “It is impossible to engage properly with a people or place without engaging in all of the stories of that person or place.” Often, quantitative research, with its focus on statistics, tells us “what” or “how much” and leads us to tell a singular (and often incomplete) story of relationships or cause and effect. While this information is essential for understanding culture change, weaving it together with qualitative and empathic methods enables us to sense the intersection of many stories and begin to understand “why” and “how.”
Consider a scenario where a manufacturing company is aiming to foster a culture of diversity and inclusion. A quantitative survey might indicate that the company’s diversity policies are well received. However, in-depth interviews might reveal that employees from marginalized backgrounds still feel isolated due to subtle microaggressions or lack of representation in decision-making processes. This qualitative insight goes below the surface and offers a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges specific employees face, as well as providing a foundation for developing more meaningful solutions.
Qualitative research provides a lens through which researchers can empathetically engage with the human experience. When studying organizational culture, empathy is paramount. It’s especially evident in grounded theory, a qualitative research methodology developed by sociologists Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss. (To learn more about grounded theory, check out Brené Brown’s research.) They championed an open-minded approach, allowing insight and structure to emerge naturally. Grounded theory reminds organizational culture researchers to listen first and theorize later. When conducted in a transparent and inclusive manner, this approach to understanding culture can also lead to shaping culture with employees—co-creating an emerging culture based on the true values and needs of the staff.
Engaging employees in a qualitative co-creation process to discover and build organizational culture involves fostering a collaborative environment that values diverse perspectives and encourages active participation. While this process needs to be initiated and supported by leadership—to set strategic boundaries for the work—authentically engaging employees to define and determine culture leads to a greater sense of ownership and buy-in to the culture.
Returning to the example of a manufacturing company aiming to foster diversity and inclusion, qualitative research applied alongside a co-creative approach could lead to a stronger and more inclusive culture in the organization. In this process, leaders might spark dialogue through forums and employee surveys, followed by a series of qualitative engagements to support cross-functional teams in devising DEI initiatives, while workshops and training help weave the desired mindsets and behaviors throughout the organization. This work can be widely communicated, celebrated, and adopted into the firm’s strategy and processes. This approach can ultimately empower employees to co-create an inclusive culture, nurturing a sense of ownership and shared commitment.
In summary, qualitative research helps us get to the heart of organizational culture. It takes us below the surface, immerses us in the multitude of stories that make up culture, and helps us see the underlying patterns that provide meaning to the behaviors we may observe. This research methodology complements quantitative methods by providing a deeper empathetic understanding of the culture’s formation, as well as the real values and perceptions of employees. When applied via a broader co-creative approach, qualitative methods can move beyond understanding and lead to culture building that is deeply aligned with employee experience. Using these approaches, we can weave the many stories within an organization into a vibrant, healthy, and growth-oriented culture.
