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Organizational Behavior: Solutions for Management

Paul D. Sweeney, University of Central Florida
Dean B. McFarlin, University of Dayton

Corporate Culture: Analyzing and Shaping the Firm's Way of Life

Chapter Objectives

1

Corporate culture refers to a firm’s “way of life.” Ideally, culture communicates clear messages about “how we do things around here” regardless of whether “here” is Hewlett-Packard, the Marine Corps, or the Green Bay Packers.

2

Another way to think of culture is as the company’s personality. Just as with people, the corporate personality is easier to describe when it is strong and distinct. Accordingly, we examine firms with strong cultures, providing specific examples along the way. We also detail what such a culture could do for your firm as well as some drawbacks that could be expected.

3

Diagnosing a culture is among the most difficult managerial skills to develop. Fortunately there has been a good deal of analysis of some of the more common leverage points that firms use to establish their way of life. We discuss several of these, including stories, symbols, and language. We also provide a practical checklist for reading your own corporate culture at the ground level.

4

Many companies aren’t content to passively sit back and let stories and symbols indirectly influence their way of life. Instead, many go beyond this by actively putting mechanisms in place to ensure that employees know the culture. Hiring methods, training approach, and reward systems are just a few of the things that help to clarify and perpetuate a culture.

5

Since the development of a corporate culture unfolds over time, it can be useful to look at how existing cultures got there in the first place. We look at several of the ways in which this happens, including the founder or CEO’s vision or personality and the environment in which the company does business.

6

Sometimes a company’s culture needs to be changed. Perhaps the business environment has under gone rapid change, or the existing culture need to be strengthened. Regardless, you have a problem on your hands. All of the mechanisms put into place to establish and perpetuate a culture can also act to resist any change. Still, we present some common warning signs of a need to change, followed by some suggested processes for implementing change in corporate cultures.

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