What is the corporate culture in an organization?
Close your eyes and picture a business world where 67% of leaders focus more on their organizational corporate culture than on their strategies or how they operate. Does that seem like a made-up story? It’s true. And it’s a smart business move: After all, an organizational corporate culture is what powers its success. Think of it as the core of your business, setting the tone for how your team works and performs. This shows just how important it is to know what organizational corporate culture means—and how to manage it well.
What does organizational corporate culture mean?
It has to do with an organization’s principles, conduct, and methods of operation. It demonstrates how a business handles its community, clients, and employees. Do you realize that companies can have radically different priorities? Consider a corporation that prioritizes environmental preservation over financial gain and another that seeks to maximize profits at whatever costs to the environment. It’s similar to how some companies take great care of their employees’ personal life and health, while others drive their staff to the limit with little regard for their welfare. A single policy or deed doesn’t necessarily sum up an organizational corporate culture but it does give a good indication of it. For example, a business that prides itself on producing high-quality goods would never attempt to upsell its clients on subpar goods, even if doing so might increase profits. Just as companies use mission statements to explain their objectives, culture statements can be used by them to do the same.
Nevertheless, the organizational corporate culture is shaped by the hiring practices of management as well as their personalities and attitudes. This culture typically emerges naturally over time. Organizational corporate culture can be impacted by external factors such as national economic policies, regional traditions, and the nature of the business it operates in. The way a company treats its clients, how its staff dress, how its offices are set up, how it hires, and all other aspects of the firm all reflect its culture. Employee retention, productivity, and work environment are all increased in companies with strong cultures.
What makes an organizational corporate culture good?
A good corporate culture isn’t just about having a colorful office or fun team activities. It doesn’t just happen naturally; it needs to be carefully built. To create a good organizational corporate culture, the values of the organization must not just be written on a wall. They need to be deeply integrated into how the company works. A robust organizational corporate culture fosters a view of your employees as unique individuals rather than merely members of a team. This is a result of the environment you’ve created, where their ideas and labor are respected. A strong organizational corporate culture is based on respect, which is almost 18 times more important than anything else when it comes to how employees feel about the company’s overall culture. A good organizational corporate culture also focuses on doing the right thing, as shown by leaders who follow the company’s main values. Employees who work for companies with a positive culture feel safe, heard, and appreciated. They are eager to do their best work because the culture encourages them to develop and find purpose in their jobs.
Why does corporate culture matter?
It matters because it has an impact on the policies, procedures, and workforce of an organization. Here are some justifications and illustrations for its significance: People typically choose to work for companies with a culture that they identify with. This influences the way a company handles its employees, which in turn influences how long employees remain, how frequently they depart, and how much work they accomplish. It has an impact on a company’s customer relations as well. Since it affects how others perceive your firm, having a strong organizational corporate culture can significantly improve the perception of your brand. An organization with a strong corporate culture can inspire ardent brand advocates in consumers and staff. A good organizational corporate culture can create a positive and supportive team atmosphere.
Key elements of corporate culture
Here are the important aspects of organizational corporate culture:
- Vision
A company’s vision statement outlines its objectives and aspirations. It demonstrates the company’s goals and the reasons behind its presence. Businesses frequently use vision statements to communicate their goals. An organization’s vision has a big impact on its internal culture. Reading the company’s vision statement will provide prospective employees, lenders, suppliers, customers, and other interested parties with a good impression of the culture of the organization.
- Principles
A company’s values influence how it behaves and works to fulfill its objective. A statement of values outlines what the company considers important and shows how it operates. These values strongly influence the attitudes and actions of the employees and what the company’s outside partners can expect from it.
- Practices
A company’s daily operations reflect its mission and ideals. An organizational corporate culture can be inferred from several aspects such as how it disseminates its policies, grants employees a certain amount of autonomy, decides how to make choices, and resolves customer complaints.
- Individuals
The personnel of a corporation mostly influence its culture. An organization’s culture can be inferred from members’ actions, attitudes, and thoughts.
Key characteristics of corporate culture
Here are some key characteristics that you can find in all kinds of organizational corporate cultures:
- It is distributed
Organizational corporate culture is something that affects everyone in the group. A business culture cannot be established by one individual. For example, a customer care representative may wish to reimburse a customer, but business policy may prohibit them from doing so. Since every employee abides by the policies and procedures of the firm, their behavior as representatives of the organization has a significant impact on the culture of the business. Workers can pick up on an organization’s culture in two ways: formally (via training, for example) or inadvertently (by watching how their coworkers behave, for example).
- It is widespread.
The way a company operates is seen at all levels. Employees across divisions will look for answers to client problems, for example, if a business prioritizes customer service. If the customer service team is always willing to assist, but the sales staff is only interested in making the most money and doesn’t care about the customers, the culture may not be considered customer-focused.
- It lasts a long time
The way a company works develops over many years and continues to influence how the company operates for a long time. A company begins with its goals and beliefs and then hires people who support those goals. Likewise, individuals who agree with a company’s values are drawn to it. As a result, the organizational corporate culture strengthens itself over time.
- It is not always stated directly
A company might not explicitly tell you to follow its culture. However, when you start working there, you implicitly agree to behave according to its culture. The organizational corporate culture develops as employees learn from each other and their managers without being told.
How to build a positive organizational corporate culture?
Developing a strong organizational corporate culture goes beyond offering free or discounted coffee (which is indeed a popular benefit, appreciated by over 97% of workers!). It’s about creating a workplace that encourages development, fosters teamwork, and upholds respect among everyone. The road map below gives practical steps to create a positive and engaging workplace. This workplace will help guide your employees’ actions to match your company’s goals, ideas, and beliefs.
Step 1. Set your goals, ideas, and beliefs
This is the main step to creating your organizational corporate culture: Your company’s goals, ideas, and beliefs are the foundation of this culture. Why? Because your goals, ideas, and beliefs show what your business wants to accomplish, how it plans to do it, and the principles that will guide its actions.
How to get started:
- Arrange a gathering of leaders to discuss and enhance the purpose, vision, and values of your business. During this meeting, have open discussions and include time for creative thinking.
- After the meeting, present the revised mission, vision, and values to your team.
Step 2. Be a good role model
As everyone has heard, “Practice what you preach.” Business leaders must adhere to the company’s basic principles. They must abide by your vision, goal, and values and ensure that their behavior reflects these.
How to get started:
Develop activities for your management group that show how your company’s values are part of their everyday work. For instance, if innovation is a key value, managers could organize frequent meetings where staff can share new thoughts or answers.
Think about providing training for managers to help them with skills like:
- Being understanding and caring
- Talking and listening well
- Motivating their team
- Supporting your company’s values
Step 3. Communicate your company culture frequently and clearly.
Your organizational corporate culture won’t work if your employees don’t support it. This means everyone, from new staff to top leaders, must know what your organizational corporate culture is. The best way to make this happen? By talking about it clearly and often.
How to get started:
- Include a concise section in the employee handbook on your company culture.
- Talk about organizational corporate culture when welcoming new employees
- Think about making a regular newsletter about organizational corporate culture that:
- Share tales of workers who have upheld the principles of your business.
- Shows off successes that match your organizational corporate culture
- Gives news about culture-related projects
Step 4. Give corporate culture a lot of weight when hiring
Choose employees who fit your organizational corporate culture: Skills can be learned, but people’s attitudes and values are usually set, which means they’re much harder to change. So it’s important to see how well job candidates match your organizational corporate culture. You want team members who like your culture, as they’re likely to work better and make the workplace better too.
Steps to make a difference:
- Teach the people who hire new staff to check if the candidates will fit in with the organizational corporate culture during interviews. They can ask questions like:
- What kind of work environment they like
- How they work with others and cooperate
- An example of how they showed one of the company’s important values before
- Think about adding a test to see if new hires will fit in with the organizational corporate culture
Step 5. Give your employees more control
Giving your employees more control is another important part of building a good organizational corporate culture. What does it mean to give your employees more control?
It means:
- Believing in your employees and giving them important tasks
- Keeping an eye on their ideas and statements
- Giving them opportunities to grow and develop