Objectives of the Process

Why a Culture Survey? And why now?

With our business strategy 2030, we have a clear understanding of what we want to achieve in the coming years. Our corporate values and culture play a key role in this: they have a significant influence on how we interact with each other, make decisions, and solve tasks – in other words, our values and culture shape all our day-to-day activities. At the same time, corporate culture is difficult to grasp.

In order to better understand how today’s culture is perceived at WIKA, and to determine whether our current culture needs additional elements so that we can achieve our planned goals with more ease, we decided to conduct a global culture survey in cooperation with the consulting firm SEDLÁK & PARTNER.

Through the worldwide intensive exchange, we want to bring together many perspectives and arrive at a common picture of how today’s culture at WIKA is experienced in the individual regions – and what requirements will be placed on a future culture so that we can achieve our set goals with more ease.

The culture survey will take place in several stages: We will start with a short survey of all employees in Klingenberg and the German companies. In the near future, we will extend the survey to our three regions.

To reduce the complexity of translation, the survey will initially be conducted only in German and English, so only management levels 1-3 will be surveyed in the regions.

The results of the survey will be communicated to all employees.

Martina Mischitz and Clemens Geßner in a short interview

Martina Mischitz and Clemens Geßner in a short interview on the goals and the process of cultural survey

Process of Culture Survey

Overview of the Essential Elements of the Culture Survey

Brief Description of the Process

Kick-Off Icon

1. Kick-Off Events

Events to prepare the culture survey in Klingenberg, the German companies, and in the regions

  • A common understanding of the background and objectives of the culture survey
  • Understanding the specifics of the regions in preparation for the culture survey

Who is involved?

    • Nominated participants from Klingenberg, the German companies, and the regions
Survey

2. Conducting the (Online) Survey

Short survey (approx. 10 minutes) on the currently perceived culture and the recording of the requirements for the future culture

  • Short survey on the perception of today’s culture at WIKA and on the requirements of a future culture
  • Anonymized evaluation of the recorded data and processing of this in preparation for the interviews

Who is involved?

    • In the first step, all employees in Klingenberg and the German companies
    • Subsequently, expansion to our three regions. Since the survey will initially only be conducted in German and English, only management levels 1-3 will be surveyed here

3. Conducting the Interviews

Qualitative individual interviews to deepen and substantiate the quantitative results

  • Deepening the results of the quantitative survey in interviews with selected people from different organizational areas:
    • Recording of nuances
    • Explanation of contradictions
    • Concretization of success and risk factors

Who is involved?

    • Selected individuals who collectively bring as diverse a set of perspectives as possible. The selection is made by the program control (the working group that coordinates the cultural survey)

4. Presentation and Processing of the Results

The results are presented to all employees and the joint development of a target culture is prepared

  • Presentation of the findings from the culture survey to all Group employees
  • Development of a target culture based on the corporate strategy and the results of the culture survey, including system intelligence in participating units

Who is involved?

    • Presentation of the results to all employees of the Group
    • The requirements for the target culture are primarily developed in management teams on the basis of the (online) survey and the interviews and approved by the management board
Sense of Urgency

5. Derivation of Fields of Action

Development and communitization of corporate values based on the corporate strategy and the corresponding target culture

  • Common agreement on the corporate values for the WIKA Group on the basis of the target culture and corporate strategy as well as the associated fields of action for organizational and cultural change
  • Joint derivation of specific needs for action for targeted cultural development in the WIKA Group

Who is involved?

    • Nominated employees from Klingenberg, the German companies and the regions that took part in the cultural survey