Corporate Culture, Is It Really Necessary?

Corporate culture is one of the most important factors in running a successful organization. This concept has many interpretations but overall it “refers to the way that the values and actions of managers and employees create a unique business environment” (Dizik, 2016). The intensity (or lack thereof) of certain factors in a business culture have an immense impact on culture. These four key factors are involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission (Boyce, Nieminen, Gillespie, Ryan, Denison, 2014). When organizations bring the right amount of intensity to these traits, it tends to lead to higher profitability, higher sales growth, better customer satisfaction ratings, and higher subjective ratings of a firm’s effectiveness.

Involvement

It’s important to make it a priority that everyone is involved, no matter the job title or location of the employee. This can be done through a multitude of ways including group meetings where feedback is encouraged, holding company contests with incentive prizes, or celebrating employees milestones. This sends the message to employees that no matter how far they might be or what their title is, they matter to the company and deserve to be involved with what is happening. Also, having someone in position of leadership personally meet with each employee at the end of each year to thank them for their work that year as well as listen to their opinions on how they felt the year went and if there is anything that could be improved is a great way to strengthen your company’s involvement intensity. They truly stress the importance of each employee knowing that their opinions matter and will be heard in the organization.

Consistency

A company should also value consistency. This includes consistency in their word to employees, their core values, and their practices. If companies tell their employees that the people who work there are the most important part of who the company is, this should be held true in their actions and shown consistently over the years. The employees and their efforts are valued - whether that’s celebrating birthdays each month or celebrating big milestones such as a baby shower. They consistently appreciate their employees all year long. Also, when the company makes promises to their employees, such as annual pay raises or bonus incentives, they keep those promises. On the flip side, if they are unsure they can do execute something, they don’t make that promise to the employees and are upfront with the reasons behind that. This consistency in their values, word, and practices creates a strong sense of trust between employees and management, which in turn creates a mutual respectful corporate culture. According to John Coleman (2013), “If an organization professes, ‘people are our greatest asset’, it should be also ready to invest in people in visible ways”.

Adaptability

Companies with good corporate culture are quick to adapt to changes when necessary. According to Shirley Tan (2017), “The ability of an organization to adapt has been called the new competitive advantage”. They are adaptable to change and new ways of doing business if there is a better way, whether that be a new software, a new strategy, or a new structure. This is seen a lot in organizations when younger employees are hired. New hires might be from the digital generation and have new ideas to bring to the company and its efficiency. Employees that maybe have been there longer should be open to listening to the new hire’s ideas because there might be a better way to do things. This adaptability makes employees feel as though they can voice their ideas and that their opinions will be valued and truly taken into consideration, no matter their experience or title.

Mission

Companies must bring a high level of intensity to their mission. Like most organizations, the end goal is success, profits, customer satisfaction, etc. but companies need to realize this wouldn’t be possible without their employees. Putting a strong emphasis on their employees’ happiness is crucial. One of the ways they can this is by the mentality of working hard and playing hard. Treating your employees to social outings once a month, hosting cookouts where employees' families are invited, or maybe holiday parties. Their mission is to show their employees that the hard work they do is valued and they want them to feel like one big work family.

Overall, prioritizing corporate culture creates strong results. There is a mutual respect between employees and managers and this respect creates an atmosphere that forms not just a need, but also a want for employees to perform their best. This dedication to their employees and work environment shows in their overall results, turnover rate, client satisfaction and many more factors. When a company brings a high level of intensity in their involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission, it positively shows in their corporate culture which positively shows in their work performance. Plain and simple: superior corporate culture should be prioritized in more businesses today.

References:

1. Boyce, A. Nieminen, L. Gillespie, M. Ryan, A. Denison, D. (2015, January 15). Which comes first, organizational culture or performance? A longitudinal study of casual priority with automobile dealerships, 36, 339-359. doi: 10.1002/job.1985

2. Coleman, J. (2017, November 28). Six components of a great corporate culture. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/05/six-components-of-culture

3. Dizik, A. (2016, February 22). C-suite strategies (a special report) --- Corporate culture affects a company’s results – but in surprising ways. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-relationship-between-corporate-culture-and-performance-1456110320

4. Tan, S. (2017, February 22). The benefits of being adaptable. Retrieved from https://www.business.com/articles/how-well-do-you-handle-change-the-benefits-of-being-adaptable/

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