BNET Business Dictionary
Business Definition for: Corporate Culture
- the combined beliefs, values, ethics, procedures, and atmosphere of an organization. The culture of an organization is often expressed as "the way we do things around here" and consists of largely unspoken values, norms, and behaviors that become the natural way of doing things. An organization's culture may be more apparent to an external observer than an internal practitioner. The first person to attempt a definition of corporate culture was Edgar Schein, who said that it consisted of rules, procedures, and processes that governed how things were done, as well as the philosophy that guides the attitude of senior management toward staff and customers. The difficulty in identifying the traits of culture and changing them is borne out by the fact that culture is not merely climate, power, and politics, but all those things and more. There can be several subcultures within an organization, for example, defined by hierarchy—shop floor or executive—or by function—sales, design, or production. Changing or renewing corporate culture in order to achieve the organization's strategy is considered one of the major tasks of organization leadership, as it is recognized that such a change is hard to achieve without the will of the leader.
- Also known as Organizational Culture
Additional Resources
- How Do You Tell the CEO that His/Her Baby is Ugly?
- Much has been written about corporate culture: how to evaluate it, how to influence it, and how to change it. There is danger in dismissing the idea of corporate culture as another one of those new-age concepts dreamt up by some annoying self-proclaimed business guru. Corporate culture is important. It...
- White papers 1999-12-01
- What Is My Company's Corporate Culture?
- "The article discusses 'How can an employee determine what his company's corporate culture is?' The easiest way to get an idea about an organization's culture is to listen to what people inside and outside say about the company. Corporate culture is created by what people say and...
- White papers 1999-01-17
- The Role Of Corporate Culture In Change Efforts
- Corporate culture refers to the set of values, beliefs, and behavioral dynamics existing in an organization. It is unique for a particular organization. The paper examines the role of corporate culture in managing change in organizations. The change needs to be fully institutionalized in the organization for its successful implementation....
- White papers 2003-01-01
- Corporate Culture And Leadership
- Corporate culture refers to the values, beliefs, behaviors, customs, and attitudes that help the members of the organization understand what it stands for, how it does things, and what it considers important. This presentation provides the importance of organization culture. Culture determines the overall ?feel? of the organization, although it...
- Presentations 2003-01-01
- Emerging Technologies and Corporate Culture at Microsoft: A Methodological Note
- This paper explores factors important in the study and examination of corporate culture and change. The particular focus is on the technological methods used to conduct a study of accessible technology and corporate culture at Microsoft Corporation. Reasons for particular approaches are explained. Advantages and challenges of emerging technologies that...
- White papers 2005-02-08
- Cultivating a Positive Corporate Culture
- Corporate culture isn't something that one can define. It's intangible: a state of mind, a feeling, a collective consciousness that's infused in a business and its employees. If one were to ask 20 CEOs to define their corporate cultures, the person would get 20 different responses. The important thing isn't...
- White papers
- HR Impact On Corporate Culture
- From the executive summary: ‘A great strategy is no guarantee of long-term business success. Many other factors impact organizational performance. One such factor is corporate culture, which helps an organization create a high performance environment and supports business strategy implementation. Since, culture is an important factor for the success of...
- White papers 2003-01-01
- Groups, Teams, And Corporate Culture
- Groups are formed when two or more people come together and work in cohesion towards attainment of common goals and objectives. The group becomes a team when the individual members develop complimentary skills and develop interdependency towards attainment of the common goal. Corporate culture is the set of values, beliefs,...
- Presentations 2003-01-01
- Change Initiatives Fail Because Of The Culture
- Between plans and reality lie years of habits, customs, unwritten ground rules, parochialism, and vested interests: the corporate culture. And make no mistake, a corporate culture exists at every business, no matter how small or large it might be. Culture can not only stop a change effort dead in its...
- White papers 2003-01-01
- A Model of the Impact of Corporate Culture on Information Technology Adoption
- When corporate culture is considered in conjunction with the relationship between the independent and dependent variables of information technology adoption, the culture of an organization may play a major role in the adoption of information technology. This paper describes a model that examines how the corporate culture impacts IT adoption.
- White papers 2002-12-02
- Corporate Culture and Expatriate Selecting Strategies in MNCs: Are They Related? - Some Empirical Evidence
- The purpose of the study presented in this paper is to examine whether an organisation's corporate culture has an impact on the expatriate selection strategies including policies and criteria used in MultiNational Corporations MNCs. In an exploratory study conducted in this paper, sixty-seven recruitment and selection professionals (such as human...
- White papers 2005-07-01
- Culture and Customer Loyalty - But Will They Love Me Tomorrow? Thriving With Customers Through Corporate Culture
- Leveraging corporate culture is the right next step in the evolution of sustainable success for many companies who are just past the initial growth spurt of establishing a market presence. While too many businesses think of brand identity only in terms of taking advantage of whatever opportunities the marketplace provides,...
- White papers 2003-01-01
- Why Change Initiatives Fail: It’s the Culture, Dummy!
- "Between plans and reality lie years of habits, customs, unwritten ground rules, parochialism, and vested interests: the corporate culture. Culture can not only stop a change effort dead in its tracks, it can also propel it to great heights. More than just anecdotal evidence exists that change initiatives fail...
- White papers 2003-01-01
- TQM, Culture, and Performance in UAE Manufacturing Firms
- Many authors have argued that the success of total quality management TQM implementation is largely dependent on corporate culture. This article investigates TQM practices, corporate culture, and performance in UAE manufacturing firms. Questionnaires containing the three topics were distributed to general managers, quality managers, operation managers, and other functional managers....
- White papers 2005-08-27
- Corporate Culture Can Break (Or Make) A Merger
- One of the most important issues in contemplating a merger is the question of compatibility of corporate cultures of the proposed merging companies. Corporate culture defines the work systems and processes of the merged entity and, therefore, plays a major role in the merger activity. The paper examines this issue....
- White papers 2001-09-26
- Corporate Culture
- The dictionary meaning of culture is: "the moral, social, and behavioral norms of an organization based on the beliefs, attitudes, and priorities of its members." Every organization has its own unique culture or value set. Most organizations don't consciously try to create a certain culture. The culture of the organization...
- White papers 2003-01-01
- Creating a Successful Corporate Culture
- Gerhard Gschwandtner, founder and publisher of Selling Power magazine, interviews Matt Ferguson, the CEO of CareerBuilder.com about the tools needed to create a successful corporate culture.
- Videos 2007-09-07
- The Bucks Starts Here
- The working environment of a company goes a long way in reflecting its reputation. Corporate culture can make or break a company. It is the onus of the management to induce effective and good corporate culture, which reflects in the work done by employees. Most management experts and board members...
- White papers 2003-01-01
- Better Living Through Culture
- Corporate culture has become a rage in the modern technological era. It is being considered as an untapped asset for managers and companies alike. The paper examines that how the optimal balance of people and culture can normalize the difference between success and failure of an enterprise.
- White papers 2001-11-01
- How Effective is Your Risk Culture?
- A sub-optimal risk culture can undermine a company’s ability to manage risk across the organization. This paper outlines the key signs that could indicate a potential cultural problem in your organization. With increasing public scrutiny on corporate values and ethics, new regulation on corporate governance mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley events, many...
- White papers 2003-01-01
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