What it is and how it affects the company?
 

When establishing a company, it is important to create some characteristics that will sustain the vision and the path of the business.

One of them is the organizational culture, values, beliefs, and actions that define how a company manages and deals with its business, partners, and customers.

This way, culture includes daily elements in the work environment, such as formal and informal rules, language and physical structure that directly affect the day-to-day of the associates.

In other words, if a marketing company preaches in its values dedication to consumer wellbeing, but in practice does not implement relationship marketing or CRM, then the company is not acting in accordance with its culture.

This means that, besides the staff, the organizational culture affects how the company is perceived by the public.

Why is organizational culture so important?

Besides the things mentioned, that culture affects the day-to-day of associates and the image of the company, it is the belief and ethical basis of the business, influencing the development of its guidelines.

Two reasons that culture affects, and that leads to the importance of its definition and application.

1^st Attraction and talent retention

By nurturing a solid culture, the person already has an understanding of how your company acts daily making the attraction of potential talent more spontaneous and simpler. This also reduces the effort of staff retention.

The consequence of this is having teams based by high performance people who, by being aligned with the company values, are more involved and productive.

In addition, a well-developed culture also helps in managing of human resources, since it guides internal relations and allows team members to travel the same path.

Consequently, this promotes a healthy competitive environment, where both personal and business goals are worked on and achieved, through incentives and recognition from each member when hitting and/or exceeding their goals.

2nd More agile processes

When associates embody the culture, they become autonomous as to the explicit and implicit rules.

This way, the processes become more agile and natural, as each one knows what to do and how to act.

The effect of organizational culture can then be summarized in three points:

1. achievement of business and personal results;

2. increase in productivity and dedication of employees, and

3. growth of a positive image for external agents, such as suppliers and customers.

How to outline the organizations's culture

To create or transform the organizational culture of the organization, some essential points must be considered from the reality of each business. These are:

1. Beliefs: which are the company beliefs?
2. Values: what are the company's motivations? Which are the goals and focuses?
3. Traditions: Are the manifestation of beliefs and values in practice.
4. Activities: what rules or norms does staff need to follow or comply with when performing a job?
5. Commemoration: formal or informal events held by members of the company.

How to strengthen the organizational culture

Some practices should be followed to consolidate, diffuse and preserve the organization's culture:

Use the “cultural fit” in favor of the company.

The “cultural fit” is the harmony an employee has with the mission and values of the company. This includes factors such as personality traits, soft skills and individual ideals.

This way, using the “cultural fit” as a selection criteria, for example, will increase the chances of hiring an employee who has greater compatibility with the organizational culture. This also impacts on the level of motivation, involvement and permanence between staff and company.

In addition, choosing the right people to work in the business makes it easier for them to wear the company shirt. Maximum performance and commitment which will be directly impacted when using the cultural fit in favor of the company.

Share mission, vision and values

Make it clear what the company intends to do where it intends to go and how it will achieve these two goals.

Share not only with internal members but also with suppliers and customers as well.
 

With this, it is easy to understand which is the diretion of the company and increases the involvement of internal and external audiences, if they are in accordance with the principles of the business.

Explain and disseminate clear rules and apply the implied rules

Disseminating the clear rules that employees need to follow facilitates flow and comfort in the workplace. If the company does not have flexible schedules, it must announce that delays will not be tolerated since it hinders the process of tasks, for example.

The rules that are implied refer to the behaviors the associates adopt, but without being foreseen in contracts or walls. For example, it may be the case of a business that aims teamwork, so it is important that respect and collaboration are practiced.