Corporate culture covers the visible and unseen behaviours that define the culture of a company, business or organisation. It encompasses the strategies and, conversely, tropes, employed between a company’s employees and its management. Corporate culture also defines interactions between management and employees and how they handle transactions with outside businesses from customers, through to the supply chain.
In many settings, corporate culture is understood, but not necessarily defined in any tangible way. It embodies tradition, longevity and cyclic events, where repetition begins to define and set agreed ways of doing things. Corporate culture often develops organically over periods of time, created by the cumulative traits of management and employees.
Some things are done because that’s the way they’ve always been done. Other systems and strategies are in place because on individual has refined and developed ways to deliver internally and externally. The methodologies remain as legacy elements with future staff adopting them without necessarily knowing why these decisions were taken in the past.
Firstly, it’s important to understand existing corporate culture. How your culture is today guides how your employees act, feel, and think today If the actual culture does not meet the perceived corporate culture, you have a starting point to see where you need to go from where you currently are. The defined and refined corporate culture in any good business explains the positive social and psychological environment of the company. Having identifiable external policies such as environmental credentials or ethical policy also reflects the culture within the business. It brings a sense of pride, focus and purpose to everyday work in the office or elsewhere. This corporate culture symbolizes the individual and unique personality of your company.
In short, a clear and understood corporate culture and expresses the core business values and ethic succinctly and sometimes, without much need to enthuse others as take up and engagement is already high. Being clear what the behaviours and beliefs are within an organisation means brand values and perception help to determine repeat business, positive word of mouth referrals a receptive marketplace.
