How important is the culture in your organisation? If it is not your top priority, you should start looking into it. Culture is the sum of attitudes, customs and beliefs that distinguish one group of people from another. These shared values have a strong influence on the people in the organisation and dictate how they dress, act, and perform their jobs. Corporate culture basically drives everything an organisation does.
Today it is more important than ever that companies distinguish themselves from their competitors. On top of differentiating themselves, they are pressured to attract the best talent to their organisation. Embedding a unique and positive culture inside organisations today will allow companies to do both. Customers will recognise and appreciate the authenticity of an organisation while candidates who share the same values will fit right into the organisation.
The question now is, how do companies determine what corporate culture is best for your organisation? Well, culture starts at the top. Typically, the leadership team is responsible for setting the expectations of the workplace. The best case scenario is when a company will develop a work culture naturally due to clear guidance from their leadership team. Also, by hiring employees that fit in with the team and share similar values will be crucial to the team environment. Implementing or changing the culture of an organisation later in its life due to bad hires or misleading can be challenging. Not impossible, but it will likely take more time and money to brainwash employees with new ideas and beliefs. Ideally, businesses want to emphasise on their culture in the earlier stages of their company.
It should be very hard to describe your culture or give it a name since it is your own and nothing else should be comparable. However, there are some types of cultures that have a tendency to be copied then modified to suit each specific need of organisations.
Here’s are the top 5 most common types of cultures.
Team-first culture
A company with a team-first culture makes employees’ happiness its top priority. (Ex: Zappos)
Elite culture
An elite culture hires only the best because it’s always pushing the envelope and needs employees to not merely keep up, but lead the way. (Ex: Google)
Horizontal culture
Horizontal culture is common among startups because it makes for a collaborative, everyone-pitch-in mindset. (Ex: Basecamp)
Conventional culture
Companies, where ties are expected, are, most likely, come from the conventional sort.
Progressive culture
Mergers, acquisitions or sudden changes in the market can all contribute to a progressive culture. Uncertainty is the definitive trait of a progressive culture because employees often don’t know what to expect next.
There is no corporate culture better than the other. The decision is based on the company’s values and beliefs. The biggest mistake most companies make is trying to be something they are not. Customers will quickly notice if an organisation is truly authentic or fabricated. Once the culture is real and positive feedback from customers start pouring in, the road to success has suddenly been paved and you will have eliminated one obstacle from pulling you back.
We all know how important Human Resources Management is inside businesses today. Culture, engagement and paperwork are among many other responsibilities that HR face daily. It is important to maintain control over HR management duties because employees are the foundation of most companies. Can’t afford an HR team? Look at alternative technologies like online SaaS software to simplify the process and allow you to focus on building an amazing culture that inspires growth and success.