Organisational Culture

Introducing the Issue

Is your workplace a happy and productive one? This will depend highly on your culture, which can be perceived as ‘the way we do things around here.’ Culture includes the behavioural norms that employees tend towards, the environment they work in, and how they behave towards one another and to other stakeholders such as suppliers and customers.

Contribute to the Development of the Organisational Culture Benchmark

Exploring the Issue

An organisation’s culture can be described as the dynamics between a group of people and the sum of the perceptions, beliefs and values the group possesses.

Culture is what it feels like to be somewhere – it isn’t always a tangible thing something you can put your finger on. Because of this, organisational culture is curious, complex and in many ways ambiguous. But it is also the single most important attribute of any business or organisation and the most critical determinant of morale, cohesiveness, effectiveness and future success. Those who are aware that ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’ treat it with due care and attention, and invest in it on an ongoing basis. Where culture is neglected, employees will be neither happy, engaged nor empowered. And where this is the case, any kind of progress on any responsibility issue is an uphill battle at best.

The culture of a workplace is likely to change over time as its leaders, the organisation itself and its business environment change. The aim of defining a required culture is to support the delivery of the agreed business aims and objectives and, as such, there is no single culture definition that every organisation should adopt. The key is that it must link to what the organisation is trying to achieve and create a clarity for everyone across the business as they carry out their every-day duties. Through this, it is then more likely to support the delivery of the organisation’s objectives.

Definitions

Corporate culture refers to the values, beliefs, and behaviors that determine how a company’s employees and management interact, perform, and handle business transactions. Often, corporate culture is implied, not expressly defined, and develops organically over time from the cumulative traits of the people that the company hires. A company’s culture will be reflected in its dress code, business hours, office setup, employee benefits, turnover, hiring decisions, treatment of employees and clients, client satisfaction, and every other aspect of operations.