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 Corporate
Culture is loosely defined as the attitudes, behaviors and
personalities that make up the workforce. It is
invisible much like air. It is there, it’s vitally important and
it’s hard to describe. Corporate culture is recognized as
having an impact on effectiveness of compliance.
Every organization has an existing culture, therefore the first task
is not to create a new culture and identify what
currently exists so you can assess where the improvements are
needed.
Many organizations assume they know what their culture is, thinking that it can be summed up in a slogan, like: “We have an
innovative culture” or “We’re a quality based culture.” Assumptions
are made that the values statement describe the current
culture. Ideally, the values statement should be an expression of
the organizations “shared values” serving as a description of
the
corporate culture. Views and opinions are not necessarily accurate.
The best approach is to begin by setting aside your values statement and
opinions and hear directly from employees. There are a variety of
sources to gather input, including surveys, focus
groups, and formal/informal interviews. These
methods assist to determine what employees really think.
Existing corporate culture rolls over from one generation to the next through stories
and informal value
systems. Exploring past stories and informalities by digging
deeper will show whether a pattern is occurring and what stories survived the longest and traveled the
furthest?
Do employees seem willing to believe a story about excessive
executive perks, even if it’s not true? Most importantly, determining what lessons are
drawn from these stories. A good example would be if a senior
executive has been fired and the perception is that there was an ethics violation, is this
interpreted as a reinforcement of “the way we do business here,” or
are people surprised and skeptical about what it really means. It is
suggested to broaden the perspective by interviewing former employees,
suppliers, customers and competitors from the outside
perspective it will help you complete the picture of your true
culture.
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