The Impact and Implications of Corporate Culture - Research Paper Example

The Corporate Culture-Impact and Implications Contents Introduction 2 Corporate Culture 2 Impact of Corporate Culture 3 Implications of Corporate Culture 4 Conclusion 4 References 6 Introduction 21st century is recognized as an era of globalization and industrialization. The countries around the world have interconnected with each other through trade. All these have lead to the development of industries, factories and corporate offices. Chang, Chiou and Chen (2015) suggest that an organistaion is a common platform where individuals work in accord to earn profit and livelihood. In other words, it is identified as a business identity where a group of people certified to act as a single body manage the whole company with the help of employees and different types of management committees with the sole aim of profit maximization. Every company has its unique style of functioning which often contributes to its culture. A culture of a company is based on the principles, beliefs, ideologies and values. The culture of an organization determines the behavior of workers in the organization as well as with people outside the company. An employees’ performance can increase or diminish based on the environment of a corporate culture (Hutton, 2015). If an employee is happy and comfortable, then he will be able to contribute his maximum energy to the workings of the company. However, an unsatisfied worker will always incur loss for the company. The organization must have some guidelines for its workers. So, predefined policies that direct employees is represented by the organizational culture which gives them proper sense of direction to accomplish their targets. So, a healthy work place must clear the roles and responsibilities of employees (Tseng, 2010). Corporate Culture The manner an individual behaves in his or her workplace determines his or her corporate culture. This culture reflects the aggregated principles, values and beliefs of corporate employees and it also represents the product of different factors such as market, strategy, product, technology, history, kind of employees, national culture and style of the management committee (Herndon Jr, 2015). It is also defined as the set of distributed assumptions that guide all the happenings in the corporation by defining suitable behavior for various situations. It is also the sketch of such assumptions and behaviors that are imparted to new workers as a method of perceiving and even, feeling and thinking. For identification of different types of corporate culture, various methods have been applied. Though they differ but there still exist some commonalities among them. So there are different models to explain various indicators of corporate cultures. According to Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory, culture affects business behavior. Hofstede pointed out that there are cultural differences existing in different nations and regions. So, when an organization decides to expand geographically, it should give importance to multiculturalism and create awareness in the organization so that it can handle the differences tactfully. O’Reilly, Chatman and Caldwell developed a tool, Organizational Cultural Profile (OCP) which measures how corporate performance is affected by the corporate culture (Hiller & Verdier, 2014). Deal and Kennedy described four types of corporate culture. Daniel Denison model implies the four dimensions which can describe corporate culture. The four dimensions are adaptability, consistency, mission and involvement (Hutton, 2015). Impact of Corporate Culture Corporate culture has huge impact on the performance of an organization. If the culture is good, then it will have an optimistic impact and if it is disturbing then it will generate a negative impact. A healthy culture encourages its employees to stay motivated and stay loyal to the company. The culture also tries to endorse healthy competition among its members. The employees try to work harder to get recognition and appreciation. This is the result of a good corporate culture (Kosfeld & von Siemens, 2011). The brand image of the company is built by its work culture. The corporate culture teaches employees to manage and work in unison with people from different regions, backgrounds and cultures having different mentalities and natures. Linnenluecke & Griffiths (2010) argued that if the corporate culture was inflexible, then it might bring difficulties for the employees. They may feel trapped and restricted. Sometimes, any wrong decision by the head of the organization can adversely affect the work culture. Poor corporate culture can built neglectful attitudes and careless approaches among the workers. It can also serve to reduce the level of confidence of workers. Lack of strong ethical values can discourage employees. They suffer from lack of good leadership, motivation and innovative new ideas which provides little opportunity for the workers to excel. If incentives are not monitored, then it can also lead to poor performance of the workers. Within a poor corporate culture there is less scope for individuals to execute their best thereby limiting the company’s potential and their overall growth. Implications of Corporate Culture Corporate culture is the representation of the professional values that a company accepts which dictate the communications with its employees and partners (Stone & Joseph, 2015). The mission of a company is a summarization of how it identifies its role and the attitude it implements to achieve its target. The corporate culture acts as a driving force which determines a company’s performance and creates an impact on growing business strategies. The culture also dictates the willingness of the organization to take risk in research and development, investment in capitals, interaction with clients and other risk involving activities. If the culture advocates environmental responsibility, that will create an impact the risks that the organization will take while developing new products. It has been observed by Tseng (2010) that the corporate culture is not defined but is implied and it develops organically from time to time from the cumulative personalities of the workers that it hires. An organisation’s culture is echoed through its dress code, office set up, turnover, business hours, hiring decisions, client satisfaction and other features of operations. Companies also follow a culture where the employees have to reach office on time. This instils in the workers the habit of punctuality which eventually helps them grow up into responsible professionals. The corporate culture also includes the regulations and policies that the company makes. The stringent rules or too many policies can destroy the work culture. However, simple rules can bring positivity in the office. Proper corporate culture promotes healthy atmosphere which in turn helps employees mould themselves according to the culture. Conclusion The corporate culture is a significant aspect of an organization. It brings together versatile people and provides them a universal platform. Hence, it should treat all the employees equally and they should not feel neglected at the workplace. To perform well, the employees must adjust well in the company so that they can deliver their best effort. Every organization requires clear and vigilantly drafted norms for smooth running of the organization and to help it grow. This can also be called a corporate culture. To sustain a perfect corporate culture, the leader of the company must be highly skilled and proficient. A culture loaded with the ethics and dedicated to professional values encourages workers by making them conscious of their importance to the company. A poor culture, on the other hand, lowers the confidence of the employees. The organization where a set culture is followed, implementing policies can never become a problem. The best output can be extracted from the employees by the culture of the company. Good culture will always influence the workers in a positive way. The team leaders will be active and will motivate other team members. In such environment, the workers will automatically grow the sense of commitment in them. A negligent workplace will result in the growth of unethical behavior. So, an organization should have the responsibility to maintain discipline and peace in the office. References Chang, D., Chiou, J. S. & Chen, S. J. (2015). The Effects of Corporate Cultural Factors on Service Quality. In Assessing the Different Roles of Marketing Theory and Practice in the Jaws of Economic Uncertainty. New York: Springer International Publishing. Herndon Jr, N. C. (2015). Perceived Corporate Ethicalness and Salesforce Turnover: A New Rationale For More Ethical Corporate Behavior. In Proceedings of The 1992 Academy Of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference. New York: Springer International Publishing. Hiller, V. & Verdier, T. (2014). Corporate Culture and Identity Investment in Industry Equilibrium. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 103(5), 93-112. Hutton, J. G. (2015). The Critical Link between Corporate Culture and Marketing: a Humanistic Perspective. In Proceedings of the 1996 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference. New York: Springer International Publishing. Kosfeld, M. & von Siemens, F. A. (2011). Competition, Cooperation, And Corporate Culture. The RAND Journal of Economics, 42(1), 23-43. Linnenluecke, M. K. & Griffiths, A. (2010). Corporate Sustainability and Organizational Culture. Journal of World Business, 45(4), 357-366. Stone, G. & Joseph, M. (2015). Eco-Oriented Corporate Culture: A Critical Evaluation. In New Meanings for Marketing in a New Millennium. New York: Springer International Publishing. Tseng, S. M. (2010). The Correlation between Organizational Culture and Knowledge Conversion on Corporate Performance. Journal of Knowledge Management, 14(2), 269-284. Read More