Lesson 24: Culture 101

Company Culture 101

Company culture is the personality of a company. It defines the environment in which employees work. Company culture includes a variety of elements, including work environment, company mission, values, ethics, expectations, and goals. Company culture is particularly influenced by the organization’s founder, executives, and other managerial staff because of their roles in decision making and strategic direction. Every employee impacts the culture that develops at work.

For example, some companies have a team-based culture with employee participation on all levels, while others have a more traditional and formal management style. Other companies have a more casual workplace without many rules and are more open to change if it makes sense. Company culture is important to people because they are more likely to enjoy their time in the workplace when they fit in with the rest of the company. Note that people enjoy work when their needs and values are consistent with those in the workplace. They develop better relationships with co-workers and are even more productive. If a person doesn’t fit within the company culture, they are likely to take far less pleasure in their work.

An employee who works well on a team and who appreciates the input of a variety of people is likely to work well in an organization that stresses teamwork and in which teams are integral to the daily operation. An employee who wants to work alone may not find a good cultural fit in a team-oriented workplace. They are likely to be less happy and less efficient. An employee who wants to be told what to do will not fare well in an organization that stresses employee empowerment and personal accountability.

An organization leader whose style emphasizes command and control will not successfully lead in an organization in which employees expect to have their input, opinions, and commitments solicited and carefully regarded. Having a traditional management style with defined job responsibilities and structured opportunities to advance will work great with people that need that high level of organization. At a more casual workplace, however, people will often receive the opportunity to take on new projects and additional roles as time and resources permit. To them, this will be more than enough for them to keep a higher level of passion and engagement than they would otherwise get from a job title or position in the company.

Thinking about and creating your company culture is important because people who fit in with the company culture are likely to not only be happier but more productive. When a person fits in with the culture, they are also likely to want to work for your company longer. Thus, you can improve productivity and employee retention through a strong office culture.

Central Concepts

Professors Ken Thompson (DePaul University) and Fred Luthans (University of Nebraska) highlight seven characteristics of culture through an interpretive lens.

1. Culture = behaviour. Culture describes the behaviours that represent the general operating norms in your environment. Culture is not usually defined as good or bad, although aspects of your culture likely support your progress and success and other aspects impede your progress. A norm of accountability will help make your organization successful. A norm of spectacular customer service will sell your products and engage your employees. Poor performance or exhibiting a lack of discipline to maintain established processes and systems will impede your success.

2. Culture is learned. People learn to perform certain behaviours through either the rewards or negative consequences that follow their behaviour. When a behaviour is rewarded, it is repeated, and the association eventually becomes part of the culture. A simple thank you from an executive for work performed in a particular manner melds the culture.

3. Culture is learned through interaction. Employees learn culture by interacting with other employees. Most behaviours and rewards in organizations involve other employees. An applicant experiences a sense of your culture and their fit within your culture during the interview process. An initial opinion of your culture can form as early as the first phone call from HR. The culture that a new employee experiences and learns can be consciously shaped by managers, executives, and co-workers. Through your conversations with a new employee, you can communicate the elements of the culture you’d like to see continued. If this interaction doesn’t take place, the new employee forms his or her own idea of the culture, often in interaction with other new employees. This does not serve the continuity a consciously created culture requires.

4. Subcultures form through rewards. Employees have many wants and needs. Sometimes employees value rewards that associated with the behaviours desired by managers for the overall company. This often is how subcultures form, as people get social rewards from co-workers or have their most important needs met in their departments or project teams.

5. People shape the culture. Personalities and experiences of employees create the culture of an organization. For example, if most of the people in an organization are outgoing, the culture is likely to be open and sociable. If many artifacts depicting a company’s history and values are clear throughout the company, people value their history and culture. If doors are open and few closed-door meetings are held, the culture is unguarded. If negativity about supervision and the company is widespread and complained about by employees, a culture of negativity difficult to overcome will take hold.

6. Culture is negotiated. One person cannot create a culture alone. Employees must try to change the direction, the work environment, and the way work is performed within the general norms of the workplace. Culture change is giving and taking by all members of an organization. Strategic direction, systems development, and establishing measurements must be owned by the group responsible for them. Otherwise, employees will not own them.

7. Culture is difficult to change. Culture change requires people to change their behaviours. It is often difficult for people to unlearn their old ways of doing things and to perform the new behaviours consistently. Persistence, discipline, employee involvement, kindness and understanding, organization development work, and training can assist you to change a culture.

Diversity

Your work culture often be interpreted differently by diverse employees. Other events in people’s lives affect how they act and interact at work too. Although an organization has a common culture, each person may see that culture from a different perspective. Your employees’ individual work experiences, departments, and teams may view the culture differently.

You can mitigate the natural tendency of employees to optimize the components of the culture that serve their needs by teaching the culture you desire. Frequent reinforcement of the desired culture communicates the aspects of your work environment you most want to see repeated and rewarded. If you practice this reinforcement regularly, employees can more easily support the culture you wish to reinforce.

Strengths or Weaknesses

Your culture may be strong or weak. When your work culture is strong, most people in the group agree on the culture. When your work culture is weak, people do not agree on the culture. Sometimes a weak organizational culture results from many subcultures or the shared values, assumptions, and behaviours of a subset of the organization.

For example, the culture of your company might be weak and very difficult to characterize because there are so many subcultures. Each department, work cell, or team may have its own culture. Within departments, the staff and managers may each have their own culture.

Positivity and Production

Ideally, organizational culture supports a positive and productive environment. Happy employees are not necessarily productive employees, and productive employees are not necessarily happy employees. It is important to find aspects of the culture that will support each of these qualities for your employees.