How Does Your Organization Define Corporate Culture?

03 May 2010

In business, there are many ways in which any organization can define corporate culture. To put it in simple terms, an organizations corporate culture can be defined by its management style, hiring practices and also the physical space the organization provides for its employees. When defining your organizations corporate culture, these aspects must be looked at closely.

Because of the many different aspects coming together to run a corporation, actions taken by upper management to shape the business, as well as employee activities and other factors, can work to either align or contradict a particular corporations goals and values. These factors may have a direct effect on how you view and subsequently define corporate culture.

Take hiring practices for instance. How does looking at this help one to define corporate culture? It has to do with the demographic/s represented by the workforce as a whole. In the business world, theres a lot of emphasis placed on the age of an employee. While young employees can usher in new and fresh ideals and an enthusiasm, older workers bring more experience.

A corporation must also look at the ethnicity of its employees in order to better define culture. Is one ethnic group represented more than another? Is this representation disproportionate to the population? Does your organization place any emphasis on race when hiring? These factors help to correctly define the culture.

How management is handled must also be examined. When an organization puts forth its values, goals and mission statement, they remain but empty words until acted on. An organizations culture can easily be defined by the importance of practicing those statements and defined goals.

Financial management is also important to look at. How does your corporation spend money? If your business is all about appearances and flash, its clear that the appearance is meant to speak as loudly as the performance. If less money is spent on appearances, then the organization is relying on its products/services to sell the image.

How a company responds to opportunities and threats is also a defining factor in corporate culture. Its important to gauge whether a company is proactive or reactive. If its proactive, then the organization is working to preemptively handle competition and threatening factors. Likewise, a reactive corporation deals with these types of problems as they arise.

Even the actual physical layout of the workplace can help to define corporate culture. For instance, if the floor plan is set up to allow for interaction and the workplace is small and intimate, this says something entirely different about your culture than having a large space with private offices and an overall clandestine feel.

Many other factors should be explored while defining your corporate culture, including the location of your office/s, the amenities you offer or lack thereof, various policies and procedures, and other important elements of your business operations.

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