From Enron to Google, corporate culture says a lot about an organization’s character, influencing how it’s perceived by customers, employees and competitors.
Corporate culture is an ambiguous term: Every company has one, but its elements change depending on the setting.
A positive corporate culture may express itself through happy and secure employees in a friendly environment, while a negative one may be characterized by overworked employees or ill-defined team roles. Regardless of the specifics, culture can usually be found in a company’s overall philosophy and how it reflects on workplace dynamics.
Perseverance is the central tenet of corporate cultural improvement. Temporary measures can’t produce the generational effect needed for a new workplace culture, which depends on organizational memory and the ongoing transmission of ideas.
An optimistic and productive corporate culture can allow a company to reap major benefits, and perhaps most important, it perpetuates itself by attracting the best talent. Given the option between coming to an open and engaging workplace every day or merely showing up for a job, which would you choose?
