Corporate Culture

Written by Romaisa Kanwal on Saturday, 12 November 2022. Posted in Business Education

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash  


Corporate culture, also known as organizational or company culture, is best defined as a set of beliefs and behaviors that guide how a company's management and employees interact and handle business transactions. It is often reflected in a company’s mission statement. Workplace culture is extremely significant as it directly affects performance and results. A positive culture attracts talent, improves performance, and ensures retention of employees. Research shows that a positive culture promotes feelings of happiness and satisfaction amongst employees. It is important that companies step in and take ownership in designing and crafting the perfect environment, as one of the biggest mistakes professionals make is leaving their company culture to form on its own.

Google’s corporate culture is one of the more notable ones in the business field. From the numerous perks employees enjoy to its clearly defined core values, the company is an embodiment and blazing example of the success garnered by following through and providing an amazing culture at work. Whilst it is true that offering free health check ups, sport facilities, unlimited dry cleaning and even napping pods may not be every company’s cup of tea given the price factor, we can learn some basic, easy to implement things from Google’s culture as well. For example, Google’s flat organizational structure gives access to employees of every level to communicate with each other. This allows more frequent sharing of varying perspectives— by giving each person a voice that matters, Google inculcates a nice feedback loop for the betterment of not only the company but also the people. 

Yet most importantly, Google utilizes data to make decisions. Since the beginning, all conclusions regarding the working of the company have been settled upon after thoughtful deliberation and consulting from data. For example, the line for waiting for food is around three to four minutes because Google has determined that that is the ideal wait time. This data driven decision-making adds to the quality environment and shows the employees that they are cared for. 

Business strategy is often seen as the most important factor in running a successful  company. However, as someone once said, culture eats strategy for breakfast. The shared values, ideals, assumptions and habits of employees are far more crucial components for a healthy and successful company. 

According to Harvard Business Review, there are four main attributes of a successful and positive workplace culture: shared, pervasive, enduring, and implicit. 

Culture is shared by a group of people, in the sense that it cannot exist within a lone person. It fosters a good environment for teamwork and collaboration and each member plays a role in enforcing culture in the company. This is why companies must streamline their hiring process in order to sift away any applicants who may be unfit for the culture or who may distort it. Secondly, pervasive means that it permeates deep into the strata of the workplace, to such an extent that people’s mindsets, habits and even motivations make up for corporate culture. It is enduring, and like natural selection, enforces itself over a period of time. An aspect which is often less known is its implicitness. Responding to culture is human nature, this ability becomes hardwired and provides a solid foundation to a company’s path to success.

About the Author

Romaisa Kanwal

Romaisa Kanwal

Romaisa is a Business Education Writer at Girls For Business.

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