Organisational culture describes the shared values and beliefs that influence members of an organisation in how they undertake their work and interact with each other. It is expressed through the collective display of behaviours and practices throughout an organisation. Many factors, whether external or internal, can influence the development of culture. It is widely accepted that organisational culture can impact strongly on organisational performance. If the culture is dysfunctional, this can lead to disengaged staff, underperformance and ultimately not meeting organisational objectives and Government priorities. Organisational culture in the Irish public service is complex. There are a large number of organisations to consider, each with their own individual cultural identity and set of values. The SHRML group, supported by the RDO in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, will lead on this action on positive organisational culture and will:

• encourage organisations to assess their culture using established frameworks and to follow up on areas that need to be improved;
• set out high-level principles for fostering positive organisational culture across the public service, including how leaders can work to improve culture; formal/informal interventions to improve employee engagement; and the importance of communication; and,
• identify and disseminate good practice in the review of organisational culture and values.

See fully expanded description of this action on P.38 of Our Public Service.

While this action was not selected as a specific action for 2018/2019, the core values are being progressed as part of other actions in Our Public Service, including:

• Action 14: Continuous and responsive professional development
• Action 16: Promote equality, diversity and inclusion