I- Levels of corporate culture
We can understand that the Culture Level of the companies is a way to "visualize" the factors mentioned above to consider the culture in an organization. According to Edgar Henry Schein, a former professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, an expert on group process consultation and organizational culture, organizational culture is divided into three levels:
2.1 Level one: Processes and tangible structures (Artifacts)
These are things that can be seen at first contact because you can immediately recognize them clearly. Some factors can be mentioned such as:
- Architecture, business layout
- Organizational structure, departments
- Documents specifying the operating principles of the organization
- HR policies
- The company's logos, symbols, mission, ...
- Common behavior of members working there.
Through the factors mentioned above, it can be seen that this level is heavily influenced by the industry in which the companies operates. Besides, it is also formed based on the wishes, goals, and thinking of the leadership in the company. Because they are visible factors, at this level, corporate culture is also easy to change and shows little of an organization's core values.
2.2. Second level: declared values and beliefs
The values declared and accepted in this second level include:
- Core values
- General rules and regulations of the company
- Corporate strategy and mission
As can be seen, these are often widely published documents, intended to guide members of the enterprise. This is the "guideline" of an organization, the members will carry out the mission based on these values.
In fact, large enterprises often have very clear statements about the above factors, because it not only guides the beliefs of employees but also the long-term goals of an organization. Besides, in terms of communication, regulatory documents of this level also help the public to have an accurate view of the company.
2.3. Level 3: Basic underlying assumptions
Common concepts can be understood as corporate cultural values. It is the implicit beliefs and perceptions that are recognized in a company.
To get these concepts often takes a long time, going through many real situations, so individuals in an organization consider it as an unwritten law that is automatically understood by workers without explanation. According to experts, this is the peak value of corporate culture because all the rules and judgments have gone deep into the behavior of people in the organization and become the self-consciousness of each individual.
By dividing corporate culture into 3 levels to help us understand the important components to create a culture in the company, the higher the level, the lower the adaptability and the harder it is to change. However, from there leaders can develop a phased development strategy for the organization.
II- The role of corporate culture
You must have heard somewhere that: Culture is the core value of a company. What are the benefits of a company with a healthy, innovative culture, let's find out together about its role in an organization.
1. Easy brand recognition
Another story about the image of a company in the public eye and in the market. The founder of Zappos - an online clothing and footwear retailer based in LA, USA declared "Your culture is your brand".
2. Increase employee retention
Job-hopping is a big "problem" nowadays, with the mentality of "old ghosts bullying new ghosts", this is a situation that quite a few young people who have just graduated from school encounter. In addition, many companies are experiencing a situation where there is no system of documents and rules on remuneration, salary and bonus for employees. The problem of overlapping regulations and principles is not implemented in a uniform way, making the workforce feel unfair, leading to a lot of layoffs, unstable human resources affecting affect the entire operation of the company.
3. Recruiting is easier
Corporate culture helps the public to have a better view of an organization. The main reason that large corporations always try to build culture is partly to increase their brand image, increase public recognition.
And a high level of recognition will contribute to easier recruitment. We can realize that large corporations often do not have to find candidates, but candidates will find them on their own, thereby helping the human resources in the queue to be quite abundant, helping to reduce costs, businesses have many advantages more choice.
4. Employee Development
When working in a civilized and modern environment, companies will always encourage their employees to come up with new ideas and improve creativity. For employees, the opportunity to hone skills and knowledge to facilitate personal development is what they always aim for. In addition, having a human resource management system with automation capabilities helps to improve performance and manage human resource operations quickly and effectively.
5. Improve work efficiency
A company with a good cultural environment will attract talented people. Building a corporate culture that connects individuals into a team with the same background and skills that can interact and support each other at work, thereby helping to improve operational performance.
In a healthy corporate environment, employees see themselves as part of the organization and take satisfaction in the overall success of the company. When employees feel that they are contributing to the team's success, their level of commitment to quality work will also improve.
6. Reduce Conflict
Working in a cultural environment with a system of clear regulations will help members feel fair and respected. From there, the working spirit will always be comfortable, the competition will help each other improve. A good cultural environment will attract good individuals, so conflicts will also be limited.
III- The process of building an optimal corporate culture
Step 1: Understand the business environment and strategy
To be able to form the culture of an enterprise, the first thing that managers must do is understand the environment and the corporate strategy towards:
- Environment: Living environment: The living environment has a lot of influence on an individual's behavior. This aspect includes many factors such as: weather, geographical area, physical conditions, chemistry, ... surrounding a person and plays an important role in the development of an individual.
- Working environment: The working environment includes the following aspects: Landscape, company ecosystem, colleagues, leaders, etc.
- Environment is a broad concept but it greatly affects the behavior, lifestyle and working style of each individual. Therefore, this is the root factor to determine the cultural style for the company.
- Strategy here includes elements: Mission, business method, long-term goals of a company. Strategy is often quite difficult to study and take a long time to define because it has an impact on the development of the organization in the long term.
The two main environmental and strategic factors are the foundation that needs to be determined to be able to start a plan to build a corporate culture.
Step 2: Assess Current Culture & Values
Company culture is a single individual in the general social culture of the community. Therefore, we must build our culture based on the common goals of society and each organization has common responsibilities to the community and a part of corporate culture must also be built on the culture of the company.
Not only that, cultural assessment is also an assessment of ideological culture and material culture.
- Ideological culture: Consists of beliefs and ideals based on which individuals in the enterprise develop emotions and intelligence that govern daily activities.
- Material culture: Includes the achievements of how the team works to bring that result to the company.
After identifying the cultural factors that need attention, the administrator must also rely on the factors and goals that the company has to make a plan to build a culture for his or her company.
Step 3: Hire the right people
To form a strong organization, the individuals that exist within must also be. To have an effective recruitment process, companies should note the following:
- Build a system of appropriate interview questions about the vision, mission, and values of the company
- Ask questions to get candidates to express their views on the values that a business should have
After having a specific look at the candidate's point of view, it will help you determine if they are a good fit for your organization's culture and working style.
Step 4: Determine what you want about your business
For a business, it's important to build something lasting and great. So, right from the start, always define what your organization's growth goals are. To do that, answer the following questions:
- What: What does your business serve?
- Who: Who does your business serve?
- How: How will your business serve?
Each organization will have its own goals and characteristics, so do not imitate any other business but learn, learn and build a plan to build and develop your own corporate culture.
Step 5: Identify leadership in building culture
Company culture is built from leaders and is nurtured largely based on their views and decisions. Managers who show enthusiasm and have a standard working style will help arouse the spirit of dedication in each individual.
Besides, transparency must always be a top priority. A good work culture is one where everyone must feel comfortable and fair, not just managers who feel this is a fair environment. So let's build from the smallest, which is the inner person of the leader.
Step 6: Reinforcing the core values of the business
Core values are factors that managers must always maintain and develop. We can understand this as the center of a circle and growth will always move around it.
In general, in order to strengthen core values, you need to pay attention to the following factors:
- Encourage employee work-life balance.
- Using technology in the working environment and workflow.
- Create opportunities for employees to build relationships.
- Recognition of employee achievements.
- Make sure employees know what to expect from you.
Building corporate culture is also a difficult problem for leaders. The newer and smaller the company, the easier it is to build. So, start now to create a culture that grows with the flow of your company.
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