Company culture is the personality of an organization, and every company has one. The company's personality contains everything that makes up the organization. The culture is how all the sections of a company fit and work together. To find out more about company culture, I have reviewed a number of articles on the subject, and have enjoyed learning about the different personalities of company culture.
In the first article by L. A. Musante (2001), Better Living Through Culture, he tells of a study that was performed by the American Productivity and Quality Center, where they spoke to several CXO's (Company Executives at many levels) and asked them to define their company's culture. It was interesting to find that most had not really looked in depth at their culture, but even more of the CXO's found it hard to define, measure, or manage. I agree with this finding, because I found it very hard to define my company's culture when asked to do so.
Company year-end-party - 08
04-02366 Donald W. Douglas and David R. Davis who ...
A protest in Utah against Wal-MartThe article goes on to state that companies, such as IBM and Wal-Mart, have understood the value of company culture for a long time, but many other companies have not. Many companies try to copy the culture of one of their competitors, but it proves to be a difficult task, because each company has a unique culture of its own.
Companies should look at corporate culture as a competitive asset. The culture of the companies that included the needs of all the stakeholders, which are their customers, stockholders, and employees, will out perform companies without those characteristics. The article also states that company cultures that can foresee and adjust to change will have a competitive edge in performance. Cultures that do not adapt well to change will be low on motivation and creativity, and...