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subject: Definition of Corporate Culture by:Debra Lea Thorsen [print this page]

Are you looking for a clear definition of corporate culture? You have

come to the right place!

I have developed a definition of corporate culture after nearly 20

years of working with organizations and viewing them from the

perspective of a cultural anthropologist as well as a strategy

consultant with an MBA in finance.

The easiest way to think of corporate culture is that it is an energy

field that determines how people think, act, and view the world around

them. I often compare culture to electricity. Culture is powerful and

invisible and its effects are far reaching. Culture is an energy force

that becomes woven through the thinking, behavior, and identity of those

within the group.

Corporate culture is created naturally and automatically. Every time

people come together with a shared purpose, culture is created. This

group of people could be a family, neighborhood, project team, or

company. Culture is automatically created out of the combined thoughts,

energies, and attitudes of the people in the group.

I have worked with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists involved in

the start-up of technology companies. They want to work on the corporate

culture once the company is profitable or "in the black". It is much

more difficult to change the corporate culture once it has emerged than

to proactively create the corporate culture they want from the start.

The corporate culture energy field determines a company's dress code,

work environment, work hours, rules for getting ahead and getting

promoted, how the business world is viewed, what is valued, who is

valued, and much more.

Every company or organizations has numerous corporate cultures. For

example, the marketing department and the engineering department may

have very different corporate cultures which are both influenced by the

overall organizational corporate culture. Many times these two

sub-cultures clash.

Culture shows up in both visible and invisible ways. Some expressions

of corporate culture are easy to observe. You can see the dress code,

work environment, perks, and titles in a company. This is the surface

layer of culture. These are only some of the visible manifestations of a

culture.

Surface Layer of Corporate Culture: Visible Expressions

Dress Code

Work Environment

Benefits

Perks

Conversations

Work/Life Balance

Titles & Job Descriptions

Organizational Structure

Relationships

The far more powerful aspects of corporate culture are invisible. The

cultural core is composed of the beliefs, values, standards, paradigms,

worldviews, moods, internal conversations, and private conversations of

the people that are part of the group. This is the foundation for all

actions and decisions within a team, department, or organization.

Core Layer of Corporate Culture: Invisible Manifestations

Values

Private Conversations (with self or confidants)

Invisible Rules

Attitudes

Beliefs

Worldviews

Moods and Emotions

Unconscious Interpretations

Standards

Paradigms

Assumptions

Business leaders often assume that their company's vision, values,

and strategic priorities are synonymous with their company's culture.

Unfortunately, too often, the vision, values, and strategic priorities

may only be words hanging on a plaque on the wall.

Corporate culture is actually the container for the vision, mission

and values. It is not synonymous with them. In a thriving profitable

company, employees will embody the values, vision, and strategic

priorities of their company.

What creates this embodiment (or lack of embodiment) is the corporate

culture energy field that permeates the employees' psyches, bodies,

conversations, and actions.

Companies need a good definition of corporate culture before they can

begin to understand how to change the corporate culture.

About the author

Find out how to successfully change your corporate culture. Debra Lea

Thorsen helps companies optimize their corporate cultures. Visit

www.culturebuilders.com for a free white paper - Corporate

Culture Change: Aligning People and Profits.

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