Types of corporate cultureĮxperts have identified different types of corporate culture and established criteria for classifying them. Today executive advisors, management consultants, business schools and researchers are all engaged in research to better understand corporate culture - what defines it, what influences it and which traits can deliver success. Researchers also started to explore why organizations with certain beliefs and practices tend to fare better on key metrics such as innovation, recruitment, employee retention, public opinion and financial success. It was influenced by related academic disciplines such as business psychology and societal trends such as globalism.ĭuring the past several decades, researchers began to study how certain traits influence an organization's overall approach to work, the employees it attracts and public perceptions of the organization. The concept of corporate culture, and the study of it, evolved throughout the second half of the 20th century. However, some credit Elliott Jacques, a corporate psychologist, researcher and consultant, for identifying the phenomenon and labeling it in his 1951 book, The Changing Culture of a Factory.

It's difficult, if not impossible, to establish specifically how the notion of corporate culture first took hold. It deeply impacts the organization's ability to innovate and succeed in both the short term and the long term. Such organizations, however, may end up with a poor or even toxic culture because they weren't thoughtful or attentive about fostering a more nurturing environment.Īn organization's culture determines to a great degree the way workers behave and what they consider acceptable ways of interacting with each other as well as with business partners and customers.Īn organization's culture also greatly determines how it reacts to change, evolution and crises. Others organizations see their culture evolve organically and by chance and circumstance over time. Many organizations determine and then develop the type of corporate culture they want, formalizing it through statements of shared values and policies designed to effectuate those cultural values. According to this view, workplace conditions are shaped by and ultimately reinforce the overall corporate culture. However, some experts classify workplace culture as a separate idea that specifically and narrowly describes the conditions under which employees conduct their work - what has come to be referred to, in part, as the employee experience. However, some organizations create unique cultures that break from certain norms and expected best practices, a move that can define the organizations as trailblazers and help them succeed in the marketplace.Īll organizations, whether they are for-profit companies or nonprofit entities or even government agencies, have a sense of self that can be called corporate culture.Ĭorporate culture is sometimes referred to as organizational culture or company culture.Ĭorporate culture is also sometimes considered to be synonymous with workplace culture. For example, in the current global culture, which values transparency, equality and communication, a secretive company with a strictly hierarchical structure is likely to have trouble recruiting and retaining workers and appealing to customers and partners. Corporate culture is also reflected in the degree of emphasis placed on various defining elements such as hierarchy, process, innovation, collaboration, competition, community involvement and social engagement.Ī corporate culture that reflects the broader culture is usually more successful than one that is at odds with it. Elements of corporate culture include the organization's physical environment, human resource management practices and staff work habits. To some extent, an organization's culture can be articulated in its mission statement or vision statement. Princeton's WordNet (1.Corporate culture is the collection of values, beliefs, ethics and attitudes that characterize an organization and guide its practices.

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