Embedding Effective Communication and Formal Rewards Into Corporate Culture: A Path To Organizational Agility

This study explores how the systematic beliefs, attitudes, and values of an organization’s culture create impediments to agility. Specifically, it examines how corporate culture influences the linkage between effective communication processes and a formal rewards system. In this study, we use Weisbord’s Six-Box Model to understand better and evaluate the communication processes and rewards system of an oil and gas production company in the southwestern United States. We use a mixed-method approach to conduct a quantitative survey of all managers and employees within a department of the company and conduct follow-up interviews with a sample of the survey respondents. We find that the target organization faces four prevailing areas of concern: (1) negatively impacted relationships, (2) informal communication structures, (3) lack of a formal feedback process, and (4) lack of a formal rewards system. In reaction to these issues, we propose a two-step intervention process to respond to the issues identified in this study