Corporate Culture

Corporate culture may be defined as the environment formulated by the interaction of employees from different cultures in the workplace. It may also be referred to as Organizational culture. It is the collection of strengths, weaknesses, education, upbringing, and life experiences of the employees. It is the character of a company. Businesses of all sizes possess some form of organizational culture.

An employee will never really get to know about the corporate culture unless he or she has worked with the company for a few months, but they can also get to know it through research and observation either before the interview or observing certain things at the interview.

Types of Corporate Cultures:

• Normative Culture:

  This type of culture requires that the employees work according to the set of norms and rules followed by the company. This ensures a high standard of business ethics. The employees must be introduced to the terms and conditions before doing live jobs. Hands-on training should be given.

• Pragmatic Culture:

  In this type of culture there are no set norms or rules to be followed. The main goal of the employee should be to satisfy the client’s needs by using their own strategies and customer-convincing tactics.

• Academy Culture:

  Some companies provide for higher education for their employees. If an employee wishes to increase his or her knowledge, the company sponsors them. The company will also benefit because they will have more educated and more tech-savvy people on the job.

• Club Culture:

  Club culture may include the different clubs or activities a company might have. Examples include golf, basketball, cricket, drama, music clubs etc. These not only gives the employee a break but also encourages and motivates them and gets them to like the company better and provide innovated results in return to the organization.

• Leadership Culture:

  This encourages employees to take on leadership for their tasks and see to that the job is done as per requirements. The team can be headed by a leader and can be separated in smaller subgroups for better management.

Corporate culture has a vital and very important measurable impact on the company’s ability to satisfy its clients and hence cannot be ignored. It is also important in decision making regarding risk management, change management, customer relationship management and so forth. Thus, it is the center for a successful and long-term effectiveness of the company.

Review Questions:

• What is corporate culture and why is it important in today’s corporate world?
•  Explain the types of corporate culture.