In one study, two of us partnered with a midsize technology company to assess the degree of cultural fit between employees and their colleagues on the basis of similarity of linguistic style expressed in internal email messages. By studying the language employees use in these communications, we can measure how culture actually influences their thoughts and behavior at work.

We used big-data processing to mine the ubiquitous “digital traces” of culture in electronic communications, such as emails, Slack messages, and Glassdoor reviews.

Our research focuses on a new method for assessing and measuring organizational culture. And they’re limited by researchers’ tendency to assume that distinctive and idiosyncratic cultures can be neatly categorized into a few common types. Moreover, surveys provide static, or at best episodic, snapshots of organizations that are constantly evolving. The values and beliefs that people say are important to them, for example, are often not reflected in how they actually behave. Employee self-reports are often unreliable. Yet the tools available for measuring it-namely, employee surveys and questionnaires-have significant shortcomings. A business’s culture can catalyze or undermine success.

Stanford slack