The beliefs, values of the organization together with the behaviors of its employees are the main elements of company culture. But company culture is not limited to these features. Organizational culture also refers to the management style, the interactions in the team, and much more.
As successful companies are constantly evolving, so does their company culture. To be a strong competitor in the business, organizations must have a strong and healthy company culture. Therefore, companies should focus at all times on the possible changes that can create a more vivid and people-centric organizational culture.
Here are a few examples of different kinds of company culture that you may find in organizations nowadays.
A kind of structure as old as human civilization: the top “elite” is responsible for making most of the decisions. There are different levels of management, and there is a clear distinction between employees and leaders. Large organizations tend to follow this structure more often because there is a belief that organizing in this way makes it easier to have a grasp on the overall efficiency of the workplace. Additionally, managers that are formed on a command and control seem to believe that ii make it easier for the employees to meet their responsibilities and follow the procedures in this kind of company culture. This kind of culture belongs to the old paradigm and is usually non-people-centric.
- Customer-first culture As the name suggests, in this type of corporate culture the satisfaction of customers comes before any other personal or bigger goals. So, organizations try to increase the level of customer satisfaction all the time, sometimes even at all costs. The most evident strategy for doing it is clearly to improve customer service: the customer reviews, recommendations are the priorities in this type of organizational culture.
Being successful in the business is the primary goal of this company culture. For them, being profitable, doing better than their competitors is more important than the overall satisfaction of the employees and the team. This is one of the main drawbacks of this corporate culture as it is hard for employees to try their best in this kind of environment. In the long term, it may cause extreme damages to the business itself because it isn’t sustained by a solid internal base.
What values are the more important ones?
Even though these three mentioned kinds of corporate culture are widespread and adopted by many organizations, both research and reality show that it is an obsolete way of organizing. Company culture is one of the areas that all organizations, small or big need to start reconsidering. The old paradigms with power hierarchies, command and control and only focusing on profit are not valid anymore. The future of organizing is about creating a culture of inclusion, of distributing the power, the decision making especially to the front workers, and an atmosphere where everybody can flourish. Then the profit will come and the customers will be more satisfied.
Teal. Tillit. Transparens.
The DP (Distributed Power) model is one of the main elements of the upcoming book “Teal. Tillit. Transparens” by Alicia and Rolf Medina, which also includes company culture as a part of the needed assets. The book names some real examples of culture-building, different applicable degrees of trust and openness, types of organizational culture, and the approach to innovation, learning, and ways to create psychological safety in your workplace. A must-have for any company who wants to strengthen its values and company culture, therefore its business!
