Like beauty, corporate culture is hard to define. But unlike beauty, organisational culture is not in the eyes of a single beholder. “This is the way we do things in here” is a common introduction of a newcomer to the group. The message is simple: “Conform or you shall not be accepted.”
The understanding of corporate culture is mostly intuitive: we often sense it before we are told. But beware of judging a culture by what it appears to be! Edgar Schein, who has written extensively on culture, contended that corporate culture is multi-dimensional. Curiously, a single organisation can display significantly different, even diametrically opposing cultural messages at various levels.
For example, a company that visibly professes commitment to moral or aesthetic values can at deeper levels harbour a culture that is based on quite the opposite type of behaviour; a firm that at the superficial level prides itself on corporate cohesion and adherence to “people values” can in reality promulgate a culture of exploitation, mistrust, backstabbing and territoriality.
Do not judge the organisation by the appearance of its offices or its mission statement – these can be grossly misleading!
Sometimes, there are elements of culture which are taboo to discuss even inside the organization. Often, members of the organisation might not even consciously realise these unspoken rules exist! That is because those with sufficient experience to understand this deepest level of organizational culture usually become so accustomed to its realities, that they simply enact their cultural role without being consciously aware of their own cultural programming.
And because organisations do not like to reveal their cultural secrets to strangers, no wonder so many cultural research studies have failed to pick up real attributes of organisational culture!
Corporate culture is shaped by tradition and people who are in some way significant to the group. Sometimes, it is shrouded in legend and myth, and reinforced by corporate ritual such as staff parties or board meetings that are often more habitual than necessary. It has its visible and invisible attributes; like things people place on their desks and hang on office walls, the type of clothes worn by employees, the language of corporate reports or the colours of the organisation’s logo.
Culture has its heroes and villains; its core and periphery. It is common for more than one culture to co-exist within a single organisation. Sometimes, one culture dominates the other; at other times several complementary sub-cultures make up the organisational whole. Relationships between sub-cultures can be peaceful and constructive; but it can also be destructive, and antagonistic.
Organisations that incorporate several rival subcultures may become fragmented in the absence of a strong visionary leadership that acts as a unifying force. Business research has shown that many organisational change projects fail because of the lack of attention given to issues related to corporate culture. Most mergers and acquisitions do not work out simply because cultures failed to integrate.
Corporate culture is often compared to the soul of the organisation: its beliefs, values and attitudes that together make up its essence. Some executives try to manipulate the culture; it often pays to have the culture on one’s side before initiating a major change process. Culture has the ability to support the most challenging of efforts or wreck even the skimpiest of endeavours.
Working against the predominant culture can prove a daunting, if not futile task, like swimming against a strong current. This is because the organisational culture is embedded in its carriers – the people who make up the group.
Certainly knowledgeable about revolutions, Lenin has said that the revolutionary change is impossible without the change of people at the top. But this is only partially true when applied to the concept of corporate culture – sometimes the main carriers of corporate culture are not the people with the formal authority at the top of the organisational hierarchy, but those who have a great informal influence on others within the organisation.
Like the people who carry it, every corporate culture is unique. In a strong culture, individual group members are aligned to the common goals and aspirations. If the organisation wants to succeed, it must have a strong culture that is aligned with its goals. In organisations where the culture is weak, people often do as they please, and personal fiefdoms and territoriality abound. To survive, such organisations must rely on bureaucratic procedures and rigid controls that force employees to behave in the desired way.
God forbid if your organisation evolves a “blame” or “live and let live” type of culture. Such organisations are usually doomed. These types of culture cultivate fear and distrust, promulgate complacency and stagnation. They create an environment where new ideas are unwelcome, and people taking justifiable risks to introduce an improvement are punished. Private organisations that stop innovating lose their entrepreneurial spirit and are usually quickly driven out of business. In the public sector, organisational death due to cultural failure is slower, albeit not less painful on both employees and taxpayers.
There are many factors that, in one way or another, shape the organisation’s cultural identity. National, regional or professional differences are amongst the strongest determinants of corporate culture. Companies from different countries operating in the same industry or economic sector often share similar characteristics, but their cultures can differ dramatically in their attitude towards risk, time and respect for authority.
We often think of culture in the context of nationality, but sometimes fail to acknowledge that cultural differences between professions may be even greater than the difference between people of varied ethnic backgrounds. Those who have worked on coordinating projects that simultaneously involve input from people with different professional backgrounds would instantly understand what I mean!
Corporate culture is strongly linked to organisational structure, a relationship akin to the link between body and soul. Charles Handy, a renown scholar on culture, popularised a classification model based on power, role, task or person orientation. In a power culture, organisation is highly hierarchical and authority is bestowed at the select few at the top. With the high concentration of authority, decisions can be made quickly, and rigid procedures are usually redundant. Obedience, discipline and respect for authority permeate throughout the organisation. The archetypal military unit would probably have a power culture.
A role or process culture would reside in a highly defined hierarchical structure, with diffuse power centres and rigidly defined bureaucratic roles and procedures. It does not matter who the individual is or what he or she is capable of delivering; it is the role and formal position that is king. The quintessential government department would typically display this type of culture.
By contrast, in a task culture, teams are formed to solve particular problems, and formal roles often make little difference – it is the task at hand that matters. Task culture is predominant in project-oriented organisations, where most business processes are unique and non-repetitive.
In a person culture, authority is dissipated amongst various individuals that make up the group, with individuals’ goals taking precedence over common organisational objectives. Such culture is sometimes evident in professional partnerships.
Whatever the culture, there is always scope for improvement. “Culture change” has become the cliché of contemporary change management thinking. Yet despite the concept’s popular appeal and wide coverage in professional and academic literature, organisations continue to make cultural blunders in their change management projects. Before dashing out money and effort on consultants or internal change agents to “root out that culture” or “introduce the culture of…”, organisations should pause and evaluate their chances of success in a project of cultural transformation. Evidence has shown that without the wholesale commitment from top organisational leaders, readiness to lead the change by personal example, making no discounts or compromises, and promoting the change in a fair and transparent way, the chances of a successful cultural transformation are slim. Corporate culture is often compared to the soul of the organisation: its beliefs, values and attitudes that together make up its essence. |