Culture rules! Part 3 –The founder’s influence

Sometimes one gets a hint of the culture of a company by simply following founder members closely. Let’s take a break from experience recitals this episode and look at the fundamentals of corporate culture once again and digest some theories.

Corporate culture is the shared values and meanings that members hold in common and that are practiced by an organization’s leaders. Corporate culture is a powerful force that affects individuals in very real ways. Corporate culture is related to ethics through the values and leadership styles that the leaders practice; the company model, the rituals and symbols that organizations value, and the way organizational executives and members communicate among themselves and with stakeholders.

Corporate values are used to define corporate culture and drive operations found in “strong” corporate cultures. The IBMs, Microsofts, Googles, Boeings, GMs and Unilevers all exemplify “strong” cultures. They all have a shared philosophy, they value the importance of people, they all have heroes that symbolize the success of the company, and they celebrate rituals, which provide opportunities for caring and sharing, for developing a spirit of “oneness”.

Organizations that stress competition, profit, and economic or self-interests over stakeholder obligations and that have on morally active direction often have cultures that are in trouble. The founders of an organization set the tone for the beginning stage of what a company’s culture will be. The practices of the founders and first employees begin the rituals, the corporate stories, and norms. Ethics are a major factor in the development of a positive or negative culture. If companies allow unethical acts to occur, this behavior perpetuates itself through the life of the organization. Promotions and raises also affect the type of culture a company has. Is everyone given a chance to excel or are there picks and choose as to who will get the promotion? This type of behavior creates mistrust among employees of a company, thus causing an intense environment.

There are many different questions asked about guidelines of how to create and maintain a strong corporate culture. One may be able to set up a goal or future vision to help strengthen his or her environment. This idea can help create an environment, which focus on enhancing the founders’ mission and objectives. Communication also affects the strength of weakness of a culture. It is essential that management communicate the accomplishments as well as the failures of the departments of the organization, not only vertically but horizontally as well.
Reward criteria, conflict tolerance, and control are dimensions of a corporate culture. The culture of a company is very influential in daily transactions. It establishes what can and cannot be done. Some practices may be written down or may not be written down and are learned through observation. Planning, leading, organizing, and controlling are functions that are affected by the strength of weakness of a culture.

Strong cultures share a common goal and have a positive environment. They hold true the not only the mission and objectives of the founding members of the organization, but they are aware of their employee and the roles they play in its existences. Employee participation and involvement creates a surrounding that perpetuates positive outcomes.

Culture clearly exists in both visible and invisible components, including actual building infrastructure, common speech patterns, and processes. Some facets of culture, for example, can be organization structure, respect for practices and people, business like interactions, a shared philosophy, valuing the importance of people, having heroes that symbolize the success of the company, and celebrating rituals. This in turn leads to Weiss’s concepts of “oneness” and “we ness” which is also demonstrated in the culture. Founders are the origin of corporate culture which employees learn vicariously. Individuals who have worked at organizations with strong cultures know the culture best and presumably like it, or they would have removed themselves from it. The existentially compelling question of culture in organizations is well documented, but suggested answers for it are many and constantly fluctuating. What can be known is that corporate culture is a powerful force that affects individuals in very real ways.

Bibliography:
Solomon, R.C. (1997). It’s good business: Ethics and free enterprise for the new millennium
Weiss, J.W. (1994). Business Ethics: A managerial, stakeholder approach.
Irish Hoosier (2006). Corporate Culture.