Understand How Peoples Behaviour In The Workplace Affects And Shapes Culture

About this package

Workplace culture is shaped by what people do each day, not simply by what an organisation writes in its policies. This package examines how shared values, informal norms and everyday behaviours influence employee experience and organisational performance. Learners explore the gap between stated principles and actual practice, including how competing priorities reveal what an organisation really values.

The culture content considers the difference between positive and negative working environments, particularly when people face missed deadlines, service failures or concerns that need reporting. It explains why trust, respect and fairness matter to how employees respond. Learners also examine organisational culture types, departmental and professional subcultures, cultural diversity and inclusion. The emphasis is on recognising differences that support effective work while addressing those that create exclusion, unfairness or inconsistent experiences.

The second part looks at organisations as connected, living systems. It introduces interdependence, synergy and feedback to explain why a change in one area can have consequences elsewhere. An onboarding decision, for example, may affect managers, experienced colleagues, service quality and new starters’ perceptions of the organisation. Learners consider how organisational type, structure and design shape reporting relationships, authority, accountability, communication and collaboration, rather than treating departments as isolated units.

Throughout, the content connects these ideas to the work of people professionals. It examines how recruitment choices, flexible working policies and other people processes can affect capability, workloads, resources, risk and employee experience across an organisation. Learners are encouraged to trace these wider effects, evaluate approaches to holistic working and develop recommendations for policies and procedures that support inclusion and strategic aims. This makes the package relevant to those who need to understand both the cultural and operational consequences of people decisions.

Who it’s for

This package suits learners developing knowledge of HR and people practice, including people professionals who need to understand workplace culture and the wider organisational effects of their decisions. It is also relevant to managers involved in people policies, working practices and team culture.

What’s covered

1. Defining workplace culture through values, norms and behaviours

   Explores the three interconnected layers of workplace culture and the difference between stated organisational values and employees’ actual experiences. Considers how choices between competing priorities reveal the principles that guide behaviour.

2. Positive and negative workplace cultures

   Examines how healthy and unhealthy cultures affect employee responses to problems, concerns and setbacks. Explains the importance of trust, respect and fairness to speaking up, engagement and retention.

3. Subcultures, diversity and inclusion

   Looks at the local norms and expectations that develop within functions, professions, locations and other groups. Considers how people professionals can distinguish useful differences from patterns that create exclusion, unfairness or inconsistent employee experiences.

4. Organisations as holistic systems

   Introduces organisations as living systems whose people, processes, policies and relationships depend on one another. Explores interdependence, synergy and feedback, showing how changes in one area can influence outcomes elsewhere.

5. Organisational structure, design and communication

   Examines how reporting relationships, authority and accountability shape the way work gets done. Considers how structural design and communication pathways affect the practical success of policy changes, restructuring and people processes.

6. HR systems thinking and organisational impact

   Explores how to trace the effects of people decisions across teams, processes, resources, cost, risk and employee experience. Uses recruitment and flexible working examples to explain why policies and procedures need to be considered in their wider organisational context.

Learning outcomes

By completing this package, learners can:

• Define workplace culture and identify the key values, norms and behaviours that shape culture in organisational settings.
• Explain the difference between positive and negative workplace cultures, including how subcultures and cultural diversity influence employee experience and organisational performance.
• Describe how an organisation operates as a holistic system and summarise the role of people professionals in supporting an effective organisational culture.
• Classify the main types of organisational culture and recognise how diversity and inclusion principles are embedded within policies, practices and everyday working behaviours.
• Apply systems thinking to illustrate how decisions and actions taken in one part of an organisation can affect people, processes and outcomes elsewhere.
• Analyse the relationships between organisational type, structure, design and system, and how these shape work, communication and collaboration.
• Evaluate different approaches to achieving a holistic systems approach and justify which are most effective in supporting organisational and people strategies.
• Develop practical recommendations for designing or improving policies and procedures that promote an inclusive culture and align with the organisation’s strategic aims.

Frequently asked questions

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