What Motivates Firms to Improve Company Culture

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Company culture has served as a competitive advantage for many firms to improve employee satisfaction and increase economic performance.

A strong company culture can do a tonne of things for an organization. It includes attracting talents, retaining employees, improving employee wellbeing, and strengthening diversity and inclusion, among others.

Many firms, therefore, feel an increasing need to improve company culture.

6 benefits of Improve Company Culture infographic

Given the immense impact that it has on employees, corporate culture is also an important factor that job seekers consider. According to a survey, about 46 percent of candidates assess potential employers by their company culture. An organization failing to improve company culture can risk missing out on recruiting top talents.

In this blog post, let’s dive deeper into the ins and outs of corporate culture and the reasons why firms should improve company culture.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Improved performance and employee retention are key drivers for firms to improve company culture
There are eight main styles of corporate culture: results-oriented, caring, purpose, learning, enjoyment, safety, order and authority. The first two styles are the most popular ones.
Diversity and Inclusion is an essential element of the corporate culture that helps increase the engagement and productivity of employees.

Company Culture Definition

Strategies to improve company culture have received great attention from scholars and have been the subject of many studies.

Generally, corporate culture is defined as the collection or system of values, beliefs, guidelines, and norms that establish the “core identity” of an organization, according to a research study.

Some define it as the DNA of a firm, which is invisible but provides a powerful framework that organizes and directs people’s behaviors in the workplace.

According to the study, corporate culture has two important functions:

Form a collective identity so staff can relate to each other and work together effectively.
Help the company meet its targets and adapt to the external environment. It can be the quick response to consumers’ needs or competitors’ moves

In an article about key elements of corporate life by Havard Business Review, the authors pointed out four common attributes of company culture:

Shared: company culture is a collective phenomenon that cannot exist in one individual. It is expressed in the behaviors, values, and norms of a group.
Pervasive: company culture is embedded in different levels of an organization.
Implicit: culture functions like a “silent language” that people can sense and respond to, according to the article.
Enduring: culture can impact the way of thinking and behaviors of group members for a long time. In an organizational context, culture can help draw people to the company that has characteristics they find aligned with. Vice versa, companies also tend to choose people who can “fit in” their culture.

Eight Company Culture Styles

According to scholars at Spencer Stuart, there are eight main styles of corporate culture:

Caring: concentrates on relationships and trust. This style features a workplace with a warm and cooperative environment where people support each other. Staff is connected by loyalty and enjoys sincere, teamwork and positive relationships.
Purpose: highlights “idealism and altruism”. It offers a tolerant and compassionate work environment. It highlights sustainability, global communities as well as shared ideals and great causes in the long-term future of the world.
Learning: emphasizes such elements as exploration, expansive, and creativity. The staff enjoys an inventive, open-minded workplace with a focus on values like innovation, curiosity, knowledge, and adventure.
Enjoyment: features a fun and exciting workplace. This style is exemplified by playfulness, stimulation, spontaneity, and a sense of humor.
Results: is defined by achievement. The workplace is performance-oriented and merit-based where staff strive to be top performers. The drive to achieve goals and success are key values of this style.
Authority: is characterized by strength, decisiveness, and boldness. This style features a competitive work environment with strong control and dominance.
Safety: concentrates on planning and preparedness. This style makes staff increasingly risk-conscious and encourages them to consider things carefully.
Order: is defined by respect, structure, and common norms. With this style, staff behave by the rules and are encouraged to fit in.

Each of the styles has its own pros and cons, therefore, firms need to carefully take them into account in order to improve company culture.

The most popular styles include results and caring. The results-oriented style facilitates effective implementation, capability building, and target achievement. The caring style helps to improve teamwork, and engagement of staff as well as enhance communication, and trust and gives them a sense of belonging.

Why Firms Need to Improve Company Culture

1. Performance

A strong company culture is likely to result in positive performance.

According to the global survey by PwC on company culture, 66 percent of C-suite executives and board members agree culture is more important to performance than the organization’s strategy or operating model.

72 percent of senior management believe that their culture helps facilitate successful change initiatives, according to the report.

Researchers also agreed that there is a strong link between organizational culture and economic performance. They found that surveyed firms that have a strong culture enjoy a return on investment that is almost twice as high as those with less efficient cultures. This serves as a powerful motivation for organizations to improve company culture.

On the other hand, corporate culture is considered to be a critical factor in driving both success and failure of firms. It can have a positive or negative influence on the effectiveness of the company.

A healthy and efficient culture helps firms increase the productivity, engagement, cooperation, and team spirit of staff. It also acts as a means of control to reduce the work for the executives.

A survey by BambooHR Research indicated that 87 percent of their respondents believe culture plays a significant role in supporting their business goals.

66 percent of C-suite executives and board members agree culture is more important to performance than the organization’s strategy or operating model.

2. Employee Retention

The second reason why firms need to consider improving company culture is that it helps them deal with the high turnover.

An efficient corporate culture is “the best retention strategy” in the light of high turnover, according to Forbes.

Retention strategy is not limited to increasing wages and benefits. It’s also about understanding the people in the company and their personal needs as well as their struggles.

Staff want to feel good about their job, therefore, creating a strong company culture is an effective strategy to protect the firm from the threat of another Great Resignation.

Specifically, a company with a supportive work environment will make employees feel appreciated, enable them to join the decision-making, raise their voices, and have respectful feedback.

When employees fit in well with the company culture, they become more satisfied, perform better, and are less likely to quit their jobs.

Why Leadership is Crucial to Improve Company Culture

Leadership from the top plays an essential role for firms to improve company culture. Though every staff has an impact on the company’s direction, leadership has the largest and most important influence on corporate culture.

Leaders have the authority and capability to not only influence but also motivate company members. Their behaviors at work, communication style, and how they deal with challenges all have impacts on strategies to improve company culture. Here’s how leadership influences organizational culture:

Strengthen accountability: Good leaders can establish a culture of accountability by specifying the responsibilities of staff and standards of success measurement. This helps staff have a clear picture of expectations and targets they need to strive towards.
Facilitate effective communication: Communicating targets of the business and listening to the voices of staff are crucial in effective corporate culture. This helps enhance the relationship between leaders and employees and improve work productivity and employee satisfaction.
Promote shared vision and core values: Vision and values are key elements that push the company forward. When leaders spread the vision and goals of the business, the staff is encouraged to work more efficiently. Likewise, once they have a good grasp of the core values of the firm, staff tend to work harder towards the goals.

How Diversity and Inclusion Help Improve Company Culture

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is an integral part of the efforts to improve company culture. It is essential to create an environment where all members feel welcome and are encouraged to contribute their ideas and talents.

A company with a strong D&I culture welcomes people from different backgrounds, genders, and races who represent a wide variety of perspectives. This helps the company facilitate innovation and creativity.

A study by Boston Consulting Group found that enhancing diversity leads to not only better innovation but also improved economic performance.

Firms that have a more diverse management team see 19 percent higher revenue thanks to innovation. This is especially relevant for tech companies, start-ups, and those operating in fields where innovation is the driver for growth.

Meanwhile, an inclusive culture gives the staff a great sense of belonging, respect, and psychological security, according to Forbes. By incorporating D&I into company culture, firms can increase the engagement and productivity of their employees.

Firms that have a more diverse management team see 19 percent higher revenue thanks to innovation.

Conclusion

If you are reading this, we hope that you now have a clearer picture of why firms are racing to improve company culture.

If you are running a business that needs to review and evaluate its corporate culture, don’t hesitate to contact Consultport. Our top-notch consultants from all over the world are here to help you ace your business strategies with a strong and efficient company culture.

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