Culture is shared beliefs, notions, practices and customs amongst the members of a group or a community. Culture of a community forms the foundation of the accepted as well as the expected code of conduct for its members.
To begin with, organisation culture simply refers to the culture that is present or followed in an organisation. Organisation culture reflects the core and dominant values accepted and followed by majority of the employees in an organisation. The traces, trends and traits of the culture of an organisation can be found in the way its employees conduct themselves as members of the organisation.
It takes years to develop and sustain a strong and value based organisation culture. Today, every small business house realises the importance of shaping their organisation culture from its infancy. This is because with the passage of time, with business expansion and with increasing workforce; organisation culture tends to get complex to be managed.
People are the most important part of an organisation. Having a strong organisation culture is of paramount importance for businesses to manage their most important resource – people.
1. Professionalism –
When it comes to professional conduct of business, nothing is more important than adherence to guidelines and deadlines. And it is the people (employees) of an organisation who shoulder this responsibility. It becomes imperative for organisations to reinforce a culture that promotes professionalism on the part of its members.
Having well established, clear, exhaustive and unambiguous SOPs, open communication channels and tailor made performance review systems are some of the means adopted by organisations to serve as a guiding map for their employees in their conduct and performance.
2. Productivity –
The productivity of an organisation is a play of several factors like its goals and objectives, processes and systems, structure and design, staffing, culture etc. Recent years have witnessed a growing significance of the role of organisation culture in the productivity equation. The culture of an organisation has a far more direct correlation with its productivity than previously assumed.
A strong organisation culture stresses on the vision and mission of the organisation in its management and operations. It is essential that the employees are able to relate their role with what the organisation stands for. This helps the employees correctly perceive the meaning and importance of what they do in the organisation towards achievement of the goals and objectives of the organisation.
3. Team building –
Although common purposes and common grounds bring people together but it may not necessarily generate the bonding that is strong enough to keep them together and perform as a team. A strong organisation culture focuses on creating amongst its members a sense of belongingness towards the organisation, towards the team or the department they are working for.
4. Millennials and GenX –
Today, majority of the workforce in any organisation comprises of people from the younger generation. The employees from the younger generation prefer a working culture which is more and more reflective of their lifestyles and aspirations. And if organisations are to attract and retain the right people, they have to provide them with the right organisation culture.
5. Brand and goodwill –
Many companies provide a host of facilities to their employees like paternal leaves, free meals, facility for indoor games, flexi timings etc. These initiatives send out a very strong signal of the employee friendly HR policies at place in such organisations. People prefer to work for such companies.
Also, having a strong organisation culture creates a positive goodwill in the job market which helps an organisation attract the right people to work for them.
6. Competition and office politics –
Competition within is inherent with organisations. It’s an officially unspoken truth but no can deny it. Apart from the legit competition amongst employees like to be the best performer in a team or to be the best performer of the month or quarter or year, there also exists unhealthy competition in almost every organisation. Office politics, unhealthy groupisms and lobbying cause serious damages to the image of the organisation and attrition of efficient employees.
A positive, value based organisation culture also promotes equality, transparency and integrity in decision making and performance management; hitting hard at the very roots of unhealthy competition and office politics.
7. Change Management –
When a working culture is deeply rooted in an organization, the standard working methods, practices and customs are strongly held by its employees. This may pose as an obstacle to change management in the future. It may sound rare but resistance to change is one of the by-products of a deeply rooted but unplanned and unaccounted for organisation culture.
A flexible organisation culture leaves room for change management. This is possible by planning and implementing periodical job rotations and job development, transfers and promotions, employee’s participation in management, organizing training and development programs and other HR initiatives.
Organisation culture is a necessity and it is not a one-time effort. It needs periodical monitoring, evaluation and necessary adjustments from time to time. It forms the DNA fabric of an organization.
To know more about “Culture in an Organisation” get in touch with our Retail Experts on [email protected]
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Author Bio
Rupal Agarwal
Chief Strategy Officer
