Corporate culture plays a great
role in the success of any organization but very few realize its importance.
The companies that achieve the
best in this assessment had a clear mission statement and stated principles
that are consistent internally and externally. Employees often take note
of how the company covenants with users, clients, and external elements, as
well as how they behave “within the walls” of the company.
People want to work with a
company which trusts and respects its employees, the culture should emphasize
on collaboration and cooperation among the employees. The strong vision of the
company is the lifeline for your culture, e.g. in 1950 after the World War II, one
company opened an office in a war torn building with a vision “Become the
Company most known for changing the worldwide poor-quality image of Japanese
products”. This vision was so strong and carried such a value that employees
worked blood, sweat and tears because they
believed in the vision and this built a strong corporate culture of innovation,
creation and hard-work and they felt proud to work in a company which cares
about Japan image and want to become one of the best. This company is still one of the
leader in the industry, named SONY. Now let’s take another example before
moving to key factors. In 1950there was another company (Boeing) started with a
vision: “Become the dominant player in commercial aircraft and bring the world
into the jet age”. If you analyze both examples, you will find the similarity
in it, both vision want to change the world and both vision have a great power
to build a strong culture and provide a clear aim to achieve.
Deal and Kennedy's Cultural Framework
1982 book, "Corporate
Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life," Terrence Deal and
Allan Kennedy proposed one of the first models of organizational culture. This
model is old but as we say “OLD IS GOLD” it is still valid for any company.
Deal and Kennedy suggested that
the basis of corporate culture was an interconnecting set of six cultural
features:
Past –The traditions of the past keep
people anchored to the core values that the organization was built on.
Principles and Beliefs – Cultural
identity is formed around the mutual principles and the values that determine
what the business stands for.
Ceremonies – Ceremonies are the
things that employees do every day that bring them together.
Stories – Corporate stories
epitomize corporation values, and capture dramatically the exploits of
employees who personify these values in action. Stories let employees to learn
about what is expected of them and better understand what the business stands
for.
Heroic Figures – Related to
stories are the employees and managers whose status is elevated because they
embody organizational values. These heroes serve as role models and their words
and actions signal the ideal to aspire to.
The Cultural Network – The
informal network within an organization is often where the most important
information is learned.
Factors to Improve
Have a Clear Vision:
As I mentioned above the importance
of vision in corporate culture, facts shows that vision plays a vital role to
improve the company culture. So focusing on vision statement will help you to
improve your company culture, have dreams, aspirations, aims to achieve.
Without an ultimate goal, no one will know what they are working for and this will cause
motivation levels to dwindle. So as Lewis Carroll said “If you don't know where you are
going, any road will get you there.”
Team-Work makes the dream work:
Working as part of a team, in a
culture that recognizes, rewards and values teamwork is a critical success
factor for any company. The higher management has to lead by example and
express the
importance of teamwork and trying to fostering a culture of team-work. One of
the easiest way is to organize team events, build a bond both inside and
outside of work is extremely important for fostering a culture of team-work.
Including 360 feedback is also helpful to understand how colleagues view each
other as being team players.
Company with a great
communication:
Without great communication you
cannot build a strong company culture, Top management need to set a clear
direction, then continuously reinforce it. It should involve lower levels in
the decision making process. Never makes decisions behind closed doors, share
some information with your employees. CEO or Managing Director is not obliged
to share confidential details, but he should never be dishonest in what
he does reveal, because once the trust is lost then it is extremely
difficult to rebuild it.
"Developing excellent
communication skills is absolutely essential to effective leadership. The
leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of urgency
and enthusiasm to others. If a leader can't get a message across clearly and
motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn't even matter."
— Gilbert Amelio - President and
CEO of National Semiconductor Corp.
Reward, Recognition, and
Excitement:
These 3 ingredients create a
perfect recipe for high employee engagement culture in any company, In the
absence of these ingredients
you will never get a culture which encourages the employees to work
efficiently. There should be a reward and recognition policy for employees and
fun should be blended in this policy to make it exciting, the excitement is the
essence of creativity and innovation. The company which allows its employee to
try new things and think out of the box and forgives their honest mistakes,
will eventually build a creative culture in the company.
“Creativity is putting your
imagination to work, and it's produced the most extraordinary results in human
culture”. -Ken Robinson
According to Accelir’s recent Rewards
& Recognition: 2014 Trends Report, Accelir examines future trends in
strategic employee rewards and recognition programs. The company’s summer 2013
survey showed that “less than half of the companies have programs that reward
workers based on performance indicators.”
The report points to three major
trends:
1.
Service awards moving towards early recognition
2.
Creating a culture of recognition.
3.
Rewards and recognition with social media
Summary:
In-short, All employees should be
treated equally with respect. The corporate culture begins at the top and
therefore sharing the vision of the company’s future with the employees is very
important. Your hiring decisions need to reflect desired corporate culture.
Two way communication is essential for prevailing corporate culture in the
right direction. Collaborative work is a very important ingredient for the
success of any company and this should reflect in the culture as well.
Source:
http://www.tlnt.com/2013/11/22/top-3-employee-rewards-and-recognition-trends-for-2014/
By Junaid Khan
Online Marketing Manager
Global Leading Conferences 
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