The Role of Organizational Culture Audits: GCA’s Case Study to Foster a Culture of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Author: Dr. Seita Al Mandeel, Supervisor General of the Internal Audit Department at the GCA. 

As SAIs navigate today’s rapidly evolving technological and regulatory advancements, the morality, resilience, and productivity of their auditors can experience significant fluctuations. These variations, if remained uncaptured, pose a threat to the core mission of SAIs, which is to ensure transparency, accountability, and the effective use of public resources.

To address these challenges, it is imperative for SAIs to establish a robust framework for auditing their organizational cultures and to ensure that the institution’s auditors and operations adhere to the highest values and principles while exercising their role to the public in a continuously evolving ecosystem. However, the intangible and widely conceptual nature of organizational culture presents a significant challenge in drawing solid added value about the impact of transformative advancements on the institution auditors’ behaviors, diversity, equity and inclusion and so on, the core-mission of SAIs.

This spotlight explores the critical role of organizational culture audits within SAIs, drawing insights as learned from The Saudi General Court of Audit (GCA)’s recent case study.

GCA’s Case Study

GCA has recently undergone a significant transformation as part of the broader Saudi National Transformation Program. The transformation within GCA has been multifaceted, encompassing enhancements in transforming human capability, digital advancements and communication with government entities.

To ensure that these transformative initiatives have preserved the institution’s core mission, GCA conducted an organizational culture audit to achieve the following objectives:

1. Ensure that GCA’s mission, values, and principles are deeply ingrained in the behavior and actions of all individuals within GCA.
2. Ensure that the internal value system remains robust and resilient, particularly during periods of significant transformation and evolution within the organization.
3. Ensure that culture values and leverages diversity, promotes equitable opportunities, and ensures that all individuals are included and valued for the best interest of overall organizational performance.

To achieve these audit objectives, GCA’s internal audit team developed a tailored framework to navigate both the tangible and intangible aspects of culture.

Designing a Culture-Focused Audit Model

A critical step followed by GCA in the pre-audit stage was to conduct a thorough analysis of the core values and principles that guide GCA. This involved developing a deep understanding of the foundational beliefs and standards that shape GCA’s operations. The purpose of the analyses aims to define the key pillars of GCA’s culture that captures the essence of its organizational culture. 

This has been followed by developing a measurable model of culture by translating abstract cultural concepts into concrete, measurable pillars that can be systematically evaluated and aggregate the sub-measure of pillars into an overall level at the GCA.

Harnessing Stakeholder Input for Comprehensive Insights

While the cultural audit aims to encompass insights from the entire workforce, a detailed analysis helps in selecting the most effective methods to gather insights. This process includes segmenting the workforce based on various criteria such as departmental roles, hierarchical levels, and tenure within the organization. This targeted analysis enables the identification of specific cultural dynamics and issues unique to different groups and sub-cultures within the organization, facilitating a more nuanced and accurate assessment of the overall culture.

To gather insights, establishing robust and diverse data collection methods is crucial for capturing a holistic view of the organizational culture. For the GCA, this includes designing and implementing surveys to gather quantitative data, conducting focus groups to explore qualitative insights, arranging one-on-one interviews for in-depth personal perspectives, and facilitating brainstorming sessions to encourage open dialogue and creative thinking.

Mapping Risks Through Preliminary Conclusions

Once the data has been collected, the next step is to analyze the survey results and other gathered information to draw preliminary conclusions. This involves scrutinizing the data to identify emerging patterns, trends, and key themes that provide an initial understanding of the organizational culture. 

Another step in this phase is to develop a risk and control matrix that involves mapping out the identified preliminary conclusions to identify cultural risks, evaluating their potential impact, and determining the existing or mitigation strategies. 

Probing the Depths of Organizational Culture

The next step is to analyze gaps between different data sources. Comparing survey responses with the results of focus groups and interviews helps identify significant discrepancies. For instance, survey data might indicate high employee satisfaction, while focus groups reveal underlying issues related to communication or leadership. 

In addition to analyzing gaps, it is essential to identify negative indicators within the data. Negative results from surveys, such as low participation rates or weak evaluations, can signal potential problems. By comparing these results with focused groups and interview outcomes, auditors can gain a holistic understanding of the cultural landscape.

Interpreting discrepancies between quantitative and qualitative data is a critical step in the culture audit process. Analyzing the reasons behind these differences allows auditors to link the discrepancies to the organizational context and cultural objectives. For example, a discrepancy between high engagement scores in surveys and negative feedback in focus groups might indicate a communication gap or a misalignment between leadership and employees.

Lessons Learned

1. GCA’s exercise unveiled the necessity of translating the abstract and intangible concepts of culture into defined pillars for effectively measuring and assessing organizational culture, making it easier to identify specific areas for improvement and development. This is achieved by developing a measurable model of culture.
2. The importance of involving personnel from all levels ensures a comprehensive understanding of the organizational culture and fosters a sense of ownership and commitment to the audit and its outcome.
3. The culture audit should not be viewed as a one-time exercise. It is critical to re-conduct the audit regularly and, most importantly, whenever significant organizational changes occur. 

Conclusion

The organizational culture audit was crucial in identifying how transformative changes impact the SAIs, by understanding and addressing the cultural dynamics, SAIs can contribute to fostering a resilient, satisfied, and productive workplace where all individual feel included and valued, ultimately supporting SAIs’ diversity, equity and inclusion while upholding the highest values.