Corporate Culture as Competitive Advantage

There are two approaches to organisational culture mainstream and critical, both will be evaluated and explored throughout. Starting with mainstream, Smircich defines mainstream organisational culture as ‘something that an organisation has’ (1983). When looking at culture through this perspective it is understood to be

The organization culture as a leadership concept has been identified as one of the many components that leaders can use to grow a dynamic organization. Leadership in organizations starts the culture formation process by imposing their assumptions and expectations on their followers. Once culture is established and accepted, they become a strong leadership tool to communicate the leader 's beliefs and values to organizational members, and especially new comers. When leaders promote ethical culture, they become successful in maintaining organizational growth, the good services demanded by the society, the ability to address problems before they become disasters and consequently are competitive against rivals. The leader 's success will depend to a large extent, on his knowledge and understanding of the organizational culture. The leader who understands his organizational culture and takes it seriously is capable of predicting the outcome of his decisions in preventing any anticipated consequences. What then is organizational culture? The concept of organizational culture has been defined from many perspectives in the literature. There is no one single definition for organizational culture. The topic of organizational culture has been studied from many perspectives and disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, organizational behavior, and organizational leadership to name a few. Deal defines organizational culture as values,

Cultural organization is unique and configures their norms, beliefs, values, and behavioral characteristics into the individual and groups that unite to get things accomplished. Patterns begin to evolve and become a rule of basic assumption; whether it is a new idea, one recently discovered or under development by a certain group as they learn to cope with internal integration and external adaptation problems. Cultural characteristics are hard to define because culture is multi-dimensional with integrated components that intertwine at different levels and ever-changing which takes time to establish and therefore time to change it also. Culture becomes the fabric or social glue that unites its participants, this will counteract any processes that are different becomes an unavoidable side-effect of life in an organization. Mutual understandings and a shared system of meanings becomes the basis of communication in a cultural organization. Functions of a society need to be fulfilled with a certain amount of satisfaction or culture can impede the efficiency of that organization. Problems with this concept arise when trying to categorize culture or when, why, or how corporate culture should be changed or finding the best, healthiest or most desirable one.

The organizational culture can encourage or discourage effectiveness, depending on the nature of the values, beliefs, and norms” (Ivancevich, Konopaske, & Matteson, 2011). Organizational culture can be very friendly, very task oriented, competitive or driven to be highly productive or it can be disorganized and unproductive. The culture is based on the history of the company and the atmosphere that is created and nurtured over time. This culture guides the language the employees use their loyalty and many more areas. Organizational culture is an important social characteristic that influences organizations, group, and individual behavior with in a company (Hartnell, Ou, & Kinicki, 2011). The Culture of an organization affects the way people behave, how they address customers, the atmosphere, perception, values, and beliefs. Employee’s performance and effectiveness can also be determined by an organization’s culture. Every organization has its own culture based on shared expectations, values and attitudes and its influence on individuals and groups (Ivancevich et al., 2011). People inside of an organization have a big effect on the culture because of their values, beliefs, and ideology. Companies try to hire people who have the same values as the company so that they will fit into the organization. People stay with organizations that have a

There is no single way to describe culture, rather there are numerous. According to Schein (p. 12, 1992), Organizational culture is defined as “a pattern of shared basic assumptions learned by a group as it solves its problems of external adaptation and internal integration which has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceived, think, and feel in relation to those problems.” Another way to describe this concept is that it is “a system of assumptions, beliefs, values and behavioural norms which have been developed and adopted by

Within the field of management, the success and failure of the modern business organisation has been largely depicted by the intricate concept of culture. Organisational culture, a concept borrowed from borrowed mostly from anthropology typically is defined as a complex set of values, beliefs, assumptions and symbols that define the way in which an organisation conducts and manages its business (Barney 1986). Management is not just an act of change, but the responsibility for and control of a company or similar organisation (Willmott 1983). It is the management of organisational culture that merely drives the

In today’s competitive world, an organization’s culture can be the greatest competitive advantage. Southwest prides their investment in their employees and their family type culture to be their advantage. Zappos’ success is credited to their approach in hiring talent (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013). When it comes to hiring and retaining talent, culture matters. In his work and research at Glassdoor, Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D. (2017), found that employees were less likely to leave companies with a higher rated culture. When it comes to an organization’s ability to grow their customer base and increase their bottom line, culture matters. Netflix credits their culture in their ability to excel in their market ("Netflix Culture: Freedom and

Organizational culture is defined as values, beliefs, and expectations that keep organizations together and also influence employees. Culture varies from organization to organization and that is what sets them apart from one another. As an employee, a company’s culture should play a major part when deciding if the organization is a good fit for you. If management is transparent with their employees and there is a clear understanding of what the company’s culture is, and what is expected of everyone, it will have a positive impact on employees. There can also be disadvantages in organizational culture and

At its most basic, corporate culture is the personality of an organization or simply how things are done around there. However, in a broader sense it refers to 'the moral, social and behavioral norms of an organization based on the beliefs, attitudes and priorities of its members.' It determines how employees think, act and feel. Every organization has a different concept about the kind of culture that it should have, therefore cultures across organizations may differ despite of having certain common elements1. However common to all organizations is the essential need of fostering a sense of family so that employees do not feel that their work is isolated from other parts of their lives. In fact the culture of an organization should be

Hofstede (2003) defined culture as "the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another". Corporate culture refers to the intangible aspects of companies, including the interactions at an interpersonal level, and values, morals and ethics which permeate the way that decisions are made and polices are implemented (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2011). Just as when one undertakes international travel, and sees different cultures where there are different attitudes and traditions, one can also observe different

Firstly, we have to understand what is culture? Culture can be describe as collective programming of the mind, which distinguishes the members of one human group from another. Culture in this sense includes systems of values. (Hofstede, 1984) Culture in a simpler way is the "pervasive and shared beliefs, norms, and values that guide the everyday life of a group." (Cullen, 2010) National, Business, Occupational and Organisational are the different levels of cultures that are encountered by firms regardless of dealing and trading in their own country or expanding into another. Business culture though, is the most relevant out of the four as it pertains to all aspects of doing business in a culture. It 's important to note of this culture as it teaches individuals the appropriate and acceptable manner of conducting business in a society. Understanding business cultures and its importance establishes the argumentative case for the need of firms to behave in accordance to those of their host countries.

An organization’s culture shapes the attitudes and behaviors of its employees by defining boundaries, providing a sense of identity and stability. It also establishes a standard in regards to what employees should say and do. Culture can be transmitted via stories, rituals, material symbols and language. Culture within an organization is no exception.

Denison, R (1990). Corporate culture and organizational effectiveness (3rd ed.) Oxford, England: John Wiley & Sons.

The Culture of a Company, or the Organizational Culture like it is mentioned in Principles of Management, has gotten a new dimension for me in terms of importance to assure the success of a company. This Organizational Culture is based on a series of values that are defined and established by the founder of a company for instance, which has a deep relation with his ethics and moral values. Therefore, the first factor to outline would be what the culture of a company shows, that can describe already how their managers behave and think. Managers with good intentions will place their workers ahead of profits, image or technology. The Lincoln Electric Company is a good example of that. In this welding manufacturing company, there were

When one talks about culture, we think of something that we actually cannot see, the environment which surrounds us in particular organizations, behavior of the people in organizations, the rites and rituals of the companies, the climate of the companies, and so on. These are all manifestations of the culture, but none is the culture at the level where culture matters. A better way to think about culture is to realize that culture exists at different “levels” where it helps to determine strategy, goals, and models of operating.