What Is Organizational Culture and How Can it Be Changed?
Much has been written to highlight the different aspects of organizational culture, but few have been published on exactly what the corporate culture means and where it fits in the identity of companies.
So, what exactly is this concept that we call organizational culture? Wikipedia defines corporate culture as “the sum of how people behave within an organization and how people acquire them.” This definition somewhat helps us understand this concept, so they have enriched this definition with a list of factors that contribute to the corporate culture. Here is the entire list in question:
Company vision, values, norms, systems, symbols, language, assumptions, beliefs and habits.
But the most distinctive at this point is that corporate culture is something that has been in the company’s genetic code long ago. This is not something that employees bring to the company when they are hired. On the contrary, any company with a single employee will have its own corporate culture. Other main factors are “vision, values and assumptions”. These factors are not what employees can bring to the company. On the contrary, companies are in search of employees whom they think can adapt to their visions.
This situation creates a need for mutual dedication. You make your own plans for the development of your company, and as your work team grows, you learn that your company can change and grow in unexpected and rewarding ways.
Evaluating Your organizational culture
Every company management is not prudent enough to create a long-term plan for company growth and culture. The truth is that only very few companies can do this exceptionally, because doing so requires firm confidence that the company will survive in the long run, especially at a time when economic conditions are so uncertain.
So if you’ve been spending a lot of your time focusing on growing and focusing on new business lately, it’s time to step back and try to figure out what kind of organizational culture is forming.
How do your company employees behave during working hours? Is there a common or bad behavior that prevails? What do job descriptions mean to your company employees, would they want to work in another company if they had a chance?
The answers you give to these questions are not things that will directly explain the organizational culture, but they are symptoms that may indicate whether this culture is healthy or unhealthy. Keep in mind; your organizational culture was already shaped long before you hired your first employee. Therefore, it is extremely important to understand how your employees react to what you are building so that your company can jump.
Planning the Future
You really need to take your organizational culture seriously. You should establish the missions, values, short and long term goals of all business units within the company and periodically review them. You should also set values and goals for the company at large. But at this point, you shouldn’t ignore that different business teams have different roles. This requires you to ensure that each business unit has balanced and well-researched individual value sets.
The good news is that you don’t have to start with a blank page, just focus on a few areas to see what kind of atmosphere is created in the work environment.
Here are a few of these areas:
Understandability of goals: This issue is simple enough to deceive you. Setting a goal for your employees alone is not enough, you should also be able to ensure that your employees own this goal. They should be able to observe the results of what they do and feel that they have a measurable impact on the company’s success.
Employee loyalty: Loyalty is the number two part of employee goals. At this point, employee engagement is a measure of how prepared you are for your employees to meet their goals. Are there insufficiencies and lack of focus in the corporate environment? If your employees do not feel enthusiastic and strong enough to activate their competencies and fulfill their roles, this means that you have a serious problem with employee loyalty.
Trust environment: Trust is one of the most critical factors in the working environment. Of course, you can hire people who have a strong impression that they are reliable, but it is your primary duty as the company owner to transform the concept of trust into company value without any exceptional situation.
Continuous learning: One of the most important conditions for a company to survive in the long term is that the employees of the company can constantly improve themselves. At this point, you should make every effort to provide the right tools and environment for the continuous development of your employees.
Organizational culture Is As Important As Salary For Your Employees
The majority of people do not have the luxury of choosing their employer according to the organizational culture, they usually start working in the first job they can find, and in rare times when they can be lucky, they are in line with their personalities and personal goals.
At this point, business owners need to be able to move their companies to where people want to work. Because job satisfaction and accompanying happiness depend on the presence of human-oriented business owners. Those who are already looking for a job and have read this article should know that they can have an idea about a company even at the first job interview. Does the person entering the job interview look happy because he met you? Is the working environment a friendly place? Do employees seem happy to work together? Keep in mind; job interviews are opportunities to make your first observations and ask questions.
Nobody can deny that employers are trying to provide the maximum return they can get from the capital they invest in their jobs, but another important thing is to be able to create the maximum benefit from every recruitment. Let’s think the opposite of this; What other benefits do your employees gain when they are hired, apart from salary?
This question is undoubtedly one of the most important questions you need to ask as a company owner to understand that the organizational culture is just as important as the wages you give.
