The Structure of an Organization’s Culture: Building a Foundation for Performance

November 13, 2025 – Building a strong, values-driven culture begins with understanding the underlying structures that shape how people think, behave, and interact within an organization. By identifying the core beliefs, unwritten norms, and systems that influence daily actions, leaders can intentionally align employee behavior with the company’s purpose and values. This alignment fosters clarity in expectations, accountability in performance, and integrity in decision-making—creating a culture where individuals not only know what is expected, but are inspired to uphold it consistently. In a recent article from TI Verbatim Consulting (TIVC), they introduced the Culture Insights Index (CII) – a framework that helps organizations uncover what’s driving or draining their workplace culture.

Each of the four dimensions (structure, resources, growth, and communication) considers the roles and responsibilities of three key stakeholder groups: leaders, managers, and individual contributors/teams. “This consideration acknowledges that cultural excellence is a shared responsibility across every level of the organization,” said Liz May, TIVC organizational development specialist, and author of the report. “The CII framework is built on the idea that while everyone contributes to culture, not everyone necessarily contributes in the same way. In a nutshell, leaders inspire and embody, managers guide and enforce, and individuals engage.”

In this repot, TIVC dives deeper into the structure dimension and highlighting the responsibilities of each stakeholder group.

The structure of an organization functions as the cultural foundation upon which everything else is built, according to the TIVC report. “A culture without the structural foundations of value alignment, accountability, integrity, and ethical decision-making cannot support meaningful or sustainable progress,” it said. “In the structure dimension, leaders are responsible for crafting and modeling organizational values. Managers are responsible for reinforcing values through accountability, and individual contributors/teams engage with these values in their daily interactions. Without the structural elements described in this section–value alignment, accountability and integrity and ethical decision-making— no amount of growth, communication, or resourcing will create lasting success.”

At its core, TIVC noted that the structure dimension defines not only the values and policies that outline how things should work—but also whether those values are truly enacted across the organization.

What Happens When Structure Fails?

The TIVC report provided this example… Imagine an organization that claims to value collaboration but has no written policy encouraging cross-functional work, no systems to support shared learning, and no recognition for team achievements. How is the value of collaboration actually being supported? Without alignment between values and structure, culture becomes just a flimsy testament. Worse, unclear or inconsistently enforced policies breed confusion, resentment, and even liability. When there’s no clear cultural foundation, whether leaders fail to model stated values or because policies aren’t consistently upheld or enforced, employees are left to interpret expectations on their own terms. That’s not structure; it’s inconsistency and disorder dressed as culture. A prime example of this kind of structural disorder is the Wells Fargo scandal, according to the TIVC report.

In 2016, Wells Fargo’s stated values included a commitment to satisfying customers’ needs and helping them achieve financial success, with an emphasis on building lifelong relationships. The company also aspired to be known for its integrity and principled performance, while promoting cross-selling as a way to deepen customer engagement. Additionally, Wells Fargo highlighted its dedication to honesty, accountability, and innovation, positioning itself as a customer-centric and efficient financial institution. While the company publicly championed customer trust, internal practices told a different story. Aggressive sales quotas pushed employees to open millions of unauthorized and fake accounts, demonstrating a lack of integrity and ethical decision-making.

“Leadership failed to model the very values they claimed to uphold, integrity and trust,” the TIVC report said. “Rather than reinforcing integrity through accountability, leadership and management prioritized short-term performance over ethical behavior. The result? An organizational breakdown that cost billions in fines and settlements, damage to their reputation, and shattered public trust. This is just one unfortunate example that illustrates the high cost of misaligned values and a lack of cultural structure.”

TIVC’s Take: Structure Starts with Leadership

A truly aligned cultural structure begins at the top—with leadership modeling adherence to the values and policies they expect to see throughout the organization, the TIVC report explained. In the structure dimension of the CII, leaders are responsible for creating and communicating policies that reflect core organizational values and modeling behaviors aligned with those policies, publicly and consistently.

Related: The Culture Edge: Driving Enterprise Performance

“In the context of culture, policies aren’t just documents,” the report said. “They’re declarations of intent and manifestations of organizational values. They guide decisions, shape behavior, and provide guardrails for ethical conduct. When they’re vague, contradictory, or ignored by leadership, culture erodes from the top down. Leadership sets the tone through consistent, values-aligned behaviors that signal respect, reliability, and accountability in all interactions. If leaders cut corners, disregard policy, or overlook unethical behavior, they send a powerful message: organizational values are optional. In doing so, leaders compromise trust, weaken culture, and invite long-term risk.”

Leadership Action Points for Aligned Cultural Structure:

• Define values in clear, actionable terms and build them into policies.
• Be the example. If it’s in the handbook, it should be in your behavior.

Management: Translating Policy into Practice

Managers, who often sit between upper leadership and frontline employees in workplace hierarchies, serve as the critical bridge between organizational values and day-to-day experience, according to the TIVC report. “Their influence shapes how employees perceive culture, not just what is said but what is done,” the study said. “A manager’s leadership style can either amplify or undermine structure, but the most effective managers reinforce policy through accountability, clear communication, and feedback loops; aligning their teams around shared expectations.

TIVC also looked at another powerful example of the costs of poor accountability, compromised integrity, and failed ethical decision-making: the tragic case of the Boeing 737 MAX development.

Building a Culture of Collaboration Between HR and Talent Acquisition

Hiring the right people requires more than just filling open positions—it demands a strategic partnership across the organization. When HR aligns closely with department leaders, the result is a hiring process that not only meets immediate needs but also drives long-term success. By integrating insight from every corner of the company, HR can identify candidates whose skills, values, and ambitions truly match the organization’s direction. An organization’s HR department is typically responsible for talent acquisition, but your staff cannot hire well without collaboration, according to a new report from Stahl Recruiting Executive Search.

In the rush to compete with Airbus (Boeing’s primary competitor) and deliver aircraft on time to meet demand, internal reports and investigations revealed a culture where market pressures superseded safety concerns. Engineers and technical experts who raised red flags about the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) flight control system were ignored or discouraged from escalating issues. Key information was withheld from regulators, and safety risks were downplayed. “This wasn’t just a failure of process but a failure of culture,” the TIVC report said. “When employees are not empowered or protected to speak up, and when leadership prioritizes performance over principle, the fallout can be profound, compromising lives, reputations, and the very integrity of the organization.”

“This tragic example underscores a critical truth: integrity, accountability, and ethical decision-making are not optional,” the report continued. “These principles are not just ideals; they are the foundation of trust, transparency, and values-based leadership, and essential to building productive, and sustainable organizations.”

TIVC offers these management action points for aligned cultural structure:

• Use a management style that supports transparency, trust, and team alignment.
• Create a culture of accountability through clearly set expectations, and enforcement of organizational values.

Teams & Individuals: Where Culture Comes to Life

“While it is leadership’s responsibility to set the tone and management’s responsibility to reinforce it, it is the employees and teams who bring the culture to life each day,” the TIVC report said. “Their role is essential: to live and engage with the organization’s values consistently and collectively. This role in the alignment of cultural structure means that individuals and teams should act with integrity, hold each other accountable, and have the courage to speak up if something isn’t right. A thriving and sustainable organizational culture isn’t just built on policies; it’s built on people who support and challenge one another to do the right thing—even when it’s hard.”

Related: How to Create an Organizational Culture That Attracts Talent

TIVC provides these team action points for aligned cultural structure:

• Practice integrity to make ethical decisions, even when no one is watching.
• Hold members of your team accountable, and ask for management’s support to do so, to strengthen collaboration and trust.

How Sustainable Is Your Organization’s Cultural Structure?

TIVC’s CII allows organizations to measure how well policies, values, and behaviors are aligned, and to what degree each stakeholder group is achieving their cultural responsibility.

“You can think of it like a structural alignment scan,” said Ms. May. “The CII assesses the degree to which cultural behaviors are supporting performance and identifies any areas that may need reinforcement. Culture is a shared system of beliefs and behaviors, and when one part of the structure is fragile, like leadership failing to model expected behaviors, management failing to hold individuals/teams accountable, or individuals/teams failing to act with integrity, it can affect the whole of the cultural structure.”

To start reflecting on cultural structure alignment at your organization, TIVC said to ask yourself the following questions:

• Do our leaders consistently model our stated values?
• Do our managers support accountability and clear communication?
• Do our teams act with integrity and hold each other to ethical standards?
• If your answer is “no,” “not sure,” or “it depends,” your structure might need reinforcement.

Related: Creating a Positive Culture in a Remote and Digital Age

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media