The corporate culture of the company
Everything that makes up people’s behavior in an organization is a manifestation of their view of the world and themselves and is corporate culture. The corporate culture reflects the culture of those who work in it.
Strategy and corporate culture
The main goal of any organization is longevity and financial efficiency. But each company determines the ways of its existence and behavior in the market. And it is the Strategy – the goal and ways of existence.
Goals and ways to achieve them are determined by shareholders and top management. And it is in the Strategy, the values and competencies of the company’s top officials are reflected.
And this, as we understand it, is a large (but not the primary) share of the corporate culture.
For example, a company chooses a growth strategy in the market through intensifying sales and active behavior toward competitors and customers. It requires all employees to have a high focus on results. Competitiveness in the internal environment. Without the company’s leadership understanding that such internal competition can be beneficial, such a strategy will be impossible to implement attempts to remove inefficient employees will meet with resistance “it is not customary for us to part or demotes employees.”
Thus, the corporate philosophy and culture are part of the company’s Strategy. Or interpenetrating and interdependent elements of a single whole. Like Yin and Yang.
Elements of the corporate culture
Corporate culture includes a lot of elements. This is everything that makes up the company and how it lives:
- Purpose and rationale for existence.
- The structure of the company itself and the methods of communication are associated with its peculiarity.
- Welcome communication style (formal-informal).
- Consistency and regularity of management.
- System of remuneration and incentives.
- Positioning in the market and for customers.
- Declared values.
- Myths, legends.
- Regulatory documents.
- Availability and ways of implementing corporate events, etc.
The role of the corporate culture
The functions determine the importance of corporate culture in the company’s success that it is assigned – broadcasting welcome behaviors, maintaining balance in the internal environment, and creating motivation for action. Sort of “spiritual bonds.”
The primary role of corporate culture is to reproduce itself (at all levels and components of the company), broadcast, and “educate” newly arrived employees. Everyone noticed themselves, plunging into a new team, that some ways of interaction or business techniques may seem alien. But over time, we change. And, with a good combination of circumstances, we perceive them as our own after a while. Suppose the company’s corporate culture is not replicated in employees (changing slightly over time under the influence of the external environment or the employees themselves). In that case, the organization will not be unified and effective.
At the same time, if there is no “absorption” of effective ways of behavior from new employees, the company may lose its “mobility,” and the corporate culture will gradually stiffen and lose its relevance. In this case, we can observe the ritualization of the corporate culture. Much religion arises in it – many beautiful but useless (from the point of view of communication with God). And in gradual change without losing the original meaning is the second function of the corporate culture.
We can conclude that the role of corporate culture in forming an order for the HR departments of the company is responsible for the selection and adaptation of employees.
The third function is to maintain motivation for the activity. There are always myths and legends that illustrate examples of employee success and rewards for welcome behavior in any solid corporate culture. It can be material incentives or promotion to the rank of heroes.
Not the least important function of corporate culture is creating a sense of community and the possibility of identification. Professional slang, rituals, legends, and myths of the company play an important role here. For example, about the moment of creation of the company. Or communal singing of the anthem at corporate events (it happens).
Another task of corporate culture (and here, the role of elements of corporate philosophy and visible artifacts of corporate culture) is to translate a particular image of the company outside. Positioning in the external environment for customers and partners is one of the foundations of business success. Without a holistic brand (meaning not only the logo and color schemes but the impression that the company creates), it is hardly possible to speak about the possibility of effectively achieving goals. In some cases, this broadcast of corporate ideology is changing the world.
Summarizing this part, let us return to the thesis about the role of corporate culture, depending on the place it is assigned. If the corporate culture is unconscious and unmanageable, its impact on the business can be minimal or negative.
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