CORPORATE CULTURE

By definition, Corporate Culture is a system of policies, values, and beliefs shared by employees and managers of an organization. It informally guides the thoughts and behaviour of the people in every department and level of your company.

Examples of company policies, values, and beliefs may include: exceptional customer service, supreme quality, high innovation, dependability, and/or competitive prices.

The company's corporate culture can spread by word of mouth, management styles and climate, and/or policy standards and ethics. Implemented correctly, corporate culture can reflect and compliment the company's management style, thereby, giving the company direction and its employees/managers a reason to embrace selected policies.

Employees and managers will either choose to work with the culture to achieve corpoate goals or they will leave the company to find other jobs, for instance. In either case, the company generally wins.

METHODS FOR INSTILLING A CORPORATE CULTURE:

Word of mouth
This involves relaying stories regarding the company, to give employees a particular view of the company. Suppose the managers of a company are attempting to instill a culture built on customer service. In this situation, employees could be told about the company's founder, who personally ensured the satisfaction of every customer exiting the store.

Management style
Utilizing one of the previously mentioned management styles , is an effective way to instill a company culture. An employee's view of the company is a reflection of how it is managed. For example, if the manager uses the controlling style, the company is perceived to want immediate results with no questions asked. Whereas, if the manager uses the leadership style, the company is perceived to rank employees high on the priority list, urging them to be part of company growth. A management style, carefully chosen to compliment your company's corporate culture, will produce better results with regard to employee cooperation.

Managerial climate
In conjunction to management style, the actions of a manager are essential in establishing a corporate culture. The actions and reactions of the manager regarding employee discipline, support, rewards, and concerns will certainly have a great impact on the views formed by employees and the buying public, about your company.

Policy standards and ethics
Instilled properly, the policy standards and ethics of the company can have a great impact on the reputation of the company. For example, regularly emphasizing the company's policy that customers are "number one", will establish the view among employees and the buying public, that the company cares about its customers and understands the profitability of satisfying them.

The probability of implementing a successful structure is dramatically improved, if clearly defined goals and objectives are incorporated with the proper strategy. Remember: goals must be realistic to be achieved. To tap into the valuable resources of your people, you must first create a powerful vision of the future that will inspire and motivate them. Then you can incorporate strategies such as empowering, supporting, and rewarding your people.