What is Corporate Culture?

Corporate culture refers to terms like the worth, beliefs, and actions that define how a corporation’s workers and management interact, act, and control business transactions. Generally, corporate culture is suggested, not clearly explained, and grows organically over time from the cumulative traits of the people that are recruited.

A company’s culture will be reflected in its dress policy, working hours, arrangement of office, recruiting decisions, treatment of employees and clients, client satisfaction, and any other aspect of operations.

What are the Characteristics of Corporate Culture?

According to the Harvard Business Review, there are six characteristics of corporate culture: vision, values, practices, people, narrative, place. Let’s explain them one by one:

1. Vision:

What is your motivation as an organization? Determine why your company exists. Your vision is really important for every decision that the employees and management make. Good vision statements elicits acceptance at all levels of your corporate structure. Your vision statement relates this purpose to all parties involved.

2. Values

: If the vision is your corporation’s motivation then the values are its personality. Values set the procedures on the actions and view needed to reach the vision. Corporations that have powerful values permeating throughout their structure are generally better at reaching what they set off to do.

3. Practices:

With vision and values alone, you won’t get anywhere unless your organization has practices to support it. Whatever your organization’s values may be, they need to be supported by the policies and principles of routine operations.

4. People:

Your organization’s culture cannot simply become actionable by being written on a piece of paper. It should be assembled by people who embrace the vision and values you set forth. It all starts with who you hire. Not being able to gather people who believe in your culture can create a hostile work environment. While at the interview stage, take the time necessary for multiple people from your organization to interact with candidates. This will allow your current employees to determine if the candidate fits your culture and to familiarize with the culture of yours.

5. Narrative:

Every organization has a different history and a special story. For instance, most people know that the Apple brand was produced in a garage. The power of a solid narrative should never be underestimated. Does your founder have an incredible backstory? Do you have a product that exists to solve a problem that bothers a lot of people? This narrative should be geared towards inspiring your employees and stakeholders to contribute to the vision.

6. Place:

The times of airless booths and gray call centers are a thing of the past. The place you have created for your organization, the other factors we mentioned in terms of culture are of great importance. Consider, for example, how big tech companies come together in Silicon Valley and financial companies in New York. Some cities and places have local cultural features that can contribute to or harm the culture your organization has created.

What are the Types of Corporate Culture?

There are 4 types of corporate culture. These are:

Clan Culture

Clan cultures are actually all about teamwork and collaboration. Management staff in such a culture function as enthusiastic advisors who provide guidance to subordinates. In clan culture, key aspects are good relationships, encouragement, participation, and confidence. The contribution potential of every worker is a part of a clan culture. Also, clan culture can be easily modified to change and implement needed work quickly.

Adhocracy Culture

Culture of adhocracy creates a resourceful workplace in which executives and employees function as innovators and risk-takers. In this adaptable environment, agile thinking is nurtured. Employees are encouraged to pursue ideas that may inspire them and take action to achieve results that can advance company goals. Products and services that are new and far from traditional are the main result of adhocracy culture.

Market Culture

Market culture is aimed towards meeting specific targets and ultimate goals. Of course, market culture creates a working environment which is competitive and also demanding. Management is most concerned with the results of the work done. Employees are encouraged to work hard and “get the job done” to increase a company’s market existence, profits, and stock prices. While employees can feel very stressed in such a workplace, they can also feel very enthusiastic and excited about the developments related to their work.

Hierarchy Culture

Culture of hierarchy is a traditional corporate culture that functions according to a corporation’s executive, management, and staff organizational structure. In short, it follows a top-down chain of command, where managers oversee employees and their work to achieve specific goals. The hierarchy culture generally rewards stability and traditional operating methods. The work environment may seem tougher than some other cultures, but employees working in this culture can clearly understand their roles and goals. They may also feel a sense of security because they have more distinct rules to running a company.

How to Establish Corporate Culture?

As a matter of fact, statistics show that managers determine the quality of our corporate culture. The talent, skills, and knowledge of team leaders can exponentially increase company culture and productivity. Let’s take the two great and terrible team leaders. There is a very high difference of 70% in the quality of culture between the companies where these two leaders are located. In fact, this situation reveals very clearly how carefully those who want to establish corporate culture should act on the team leader they will choose. One of the core qualities of a manager is to transform a stagnant culture into a great and rich culture with experience, understanding, and strategy. In short, Hire the right people and communicate your company’s values and culture. Do not forget to reward employees who exemplify the company culture. And of course, do not forget to thank the employees for what they bring to the table. These fundamental tenets are critical for establishing your corporate culture.

What Can Be Done to Develop Corporate Culture?

Corporate culture is a social operating system that influences how your employees work with one another. They have the potential to both help a company thrive and cause harm at the same time. At any rate, what can be done to develop corporate culture? The truth is, the answer may be different for everyone. Team leaders must be willing to explore a novel variety of ideas to improve workplace culture. There are 6 different methods you can apply to achieve this. To summarize these briefly:
● Build powerful employee relationships
● Connect people to a goal
● Inspire frequent employee recognition
● Create positive employee experiences
● Give your teams the autonomy they seek
● Schedule regular and personal meetings

Why Is Corporate Culture Important?

Corporate culture is really important because it can aid important business objectives. For example, Employees may be attracted to companies with which they can identify with their culture, which can support employee retention and new talent acquisition. Having and fostering a culture of innovation can be crucial to maintaining competitive advantage in the context of patents or other forms of intellectual property. Similarly, company culture can play a critical role in marketing the company to customers and the public at large, thereby doubling as a form of public relations.

What Shapes An Organization’s Culture?

While team leaders can’t fully control a complex term like culture, you can do your part to shape it. It all starts with simply reinforcing the behaviors and cultural elements you want to see more often.

Sense the culture:

Walk around and observe the current culture. There are assessments that will give you the state of the culture.

Participate in the conversation about culture:

Do your part to contribute to the conversation about what company culture is and how it should be.

Model your intended culture with your own behavior and actions:

Start by introducing the culture you want in ways big and small. Of course, what you say is important, but what you do is much more important.

Eliminate the elements of your intended culture that are preventing it from growing:

One of the ways to reduce unwanted cultural elements is to ignore them. If this method doesn’t work, don’t be afraid to voice out or actively and openly oppose problem behaviors.

Examples Of Successful Corporate Cultures

Having congruent corporate culture is no longer just an option. Today’s employees consider it as much as they consider salary and all benefits. Whereas the culture that works for one company might not work for another company, you can learn a lot from companies who are doing it right. To give an example of these companies:
● Zappos
● Warby Parker
● Southwest Airlines
● Twitter
● Chevron
● SquareSpace
● Google
● REI
● Facebook
● Adobe

How To Educate Your Employees On Your Corporate Culture?

You can train people to answer phones, talk to customers, and complete tasks in a way that aligns with your company culture. However, if you’ve been in this job industry long enough, you’ve likely encountered new hires that don’t quite fit your job. There are 4 different methods you can apply in such cases. These are:

Prepare a Core Values Top 10 List:

Writing down your company’s core values will help you gauge whether the candidate fits your vision in the face of a potential hire.

Test Your Employees Values:

Everyone who comes to your company has a set of core beliefs. Measuring core values helps potential new employee candidates determine whether their values fit the company.

Ask Candidates Culture-Specific Questions:

Ask a few targeted questions about culture, like “At what pace do you prefer to work?” For example, if the candidate tells you that they prefer to work slower and more conscious of what they are doing, then a job that requires fast work is likely not suitable for them. It may be more appropriate to switch them to a position that is compatible with their values.

Strengthen Culture with Ongoing Education:

It is important to remember that training does not happen overnight, or in the first few weeks. Because what we call effective education is a consistent and ongoing process.