CORPORATE CULTURE

Text 1. Corporate culture of an organization

Every business – in fact every organization – has a culture. Sometimes it is fragmented and difficult to read from the outside, sometimes the culture of an organization is very strong: everyone knows the goals of the corporation, and they are working for them. Whether weak or strong, culture has a powerful influence throughout an organization. It affects practically everything – from who gets promoted and what decisions are made, to how employees dress and what sports they play. Because of this impact, we think that culture also has a major effect on the success of a business.

People at all stages of their careers need to understand culture and how it works because it will likely affect their lives. People starting their careers may think a job is just a job. But when they choose a company, they often choose a way of life. The culture shapes their responses in a strong but subtle way. Culture can make them fast or slow workers, tough or friendly managers, team players or individuals. By the time they’ve worked for several years, they may be so well conditioned by the culture they may not even recognize it. But when they change jobs, they may be in for a big surprise.

For example, Xerox has a totally different culture than General Electric. Success at Xerox is closely tied to an ability to maintain a near frenetic pace, the ability to work and play hard – Xerox-style. By contrast, GE has a more thoughtful and slow-moving culture. Success at GE is a function of being able to take work seriously, a strong sense of peer group respect and a sense of deliberateness. A person of proven success at GE will bring these values to Xerox because past experience of GE’s culture has reinforced them. But these same values may not be held in high esteem elsewhere. Bright young comers at GE could quickly fail at Xerox – and not even understand why. Their deliberate approach to issues will be seen by insiders at Xerox as a sign that they ‘lack smarts’.

Thus at the heart of corporate culture are ‘shared values’ which provide a sense of common direction for all employees and guidelines for their day-to-day behavior and with which all the staff can be identified: being the best hotel chain or making the best, the safest, the most ecological and reliable products, for example. Companies often succeed because their employees can identify, embrace and act on the values of an organization.

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