Understanding corporate culture to get the most out of it

How do you describe corporate culture?

Also known as organisational culture, corporate culture helps to build the identity of any company (large group, start-up, etc.), to represent it both internally and externally, and to optimise inbound recruiting.

Moreover, team cohesion and the values that stem from it can be a powerful lever for motivating and boosting employee performance, as well as a significant strategic and competitive advantage.

But if you want to make the most of your company's culture, it's best to understand what it is exactly! And if you're wondering how to set up a corporate culture to better unite your employees, the answer is at the end of this article!

See all software Employee Wellness

Definition of corporate culture

What is corporate culture?

Corporate culture is something you live and feel rather than describe.

Nevertheless, if we had to define it, we could equate it with the core values, representations and behaviours that make up the DNA of companies, whatever their size or nature (SMEs, start-ups, large corporations, etc.). This is what makes them unique.

Corporate culture can be passed on :

• informally: every company, and therefore every employee, is influenced (often imperceptibly) by the country in which it is located, by its sector of activity, by the social, economic and political context, and so on.
  
• formal: the manager(s) often choose to consciously shape their company's culture (even if it means formalising it in writing, as an appendix to the company's internal regulations, for example). Why do they do this? Because today it is particularly important and involves a number of issues.

What are the 4 types of corporate culture?

To take the definition a step further, some experts distinguish between 4 types of corporate culture:

• 🤝 Clan culture: here, the company functions like a big family. The atmosphere is collaborative, and the emphasis is on employee well-being. This is an ideal pattern for startups and SMEs where commitment and cohesion count just as much as performance.
  
  
• 🚀 Adhocratic culture: innovation, creativity, boldness... this culture values experimentation and adaptability. Tech companies and hyper-growth startups are fond of it, as they rely on agility to stand out in the market.
  
  
• 🏛️ Hierarchical culture: this is the culture of large institutions, where everything is based on strict processes and pyramidal organisation. The aim? To ensure the stability and predictability of actions for the efficient management of resources.
  
  
• 🎯 Market culture: in this model, results and competitiveness prevail. In other words, the company is focused on performance, with a clear objective: to be the best in its sector.

The 5 components of corporate culture

What makes up a company's culture are its characteristics, its components (dress code, language, management structure, etc.).

The patterns are very varied, since they diverge from one company or start-up to another. Nevertheless, let's look at the different characteristics that offer companies an opportunity to differentiate themselves and build their own culture.

#1 The legend

Many companies develop their culture partly through their history and myths. They rely on real events and on the leadership of the founder to build their own legend and give continuity to the present moment (in particular to help young recruits get to grips with their new working environment).

What's more, it has to be said that human beings love stories, or storytelling, because the emotions they trigger leave a lasting impression on people's minds. Who hasn't heard of the Apple success story, which began in Steve Jobs' parents' garage?

#2 Vision and values

A company's vision and values are now clearly displayed, both internally and to customers.

Well-being in the workplace, a commitment to eco-responsibility, fair and ethical trade... these are all virtues that can be used as leverage in setting company strategies.

Provided, of course, that they are sincerely taken into account in day-to-day operations, but also in the way the business is developed and marketed. Not to mention that it's a plus for the candidate experience!

#3 Working and management methods

Working and management methods differ from one organisation to another. Participative management or vertical hierarchical structure? Agile working methods or more traditional processes?

While there are no right or wrong answers, the fact remains that these components play a major part in the company's culture, and consequently in the way in which each employee finds his or her place within the organisation.

#4 Rites

Each company builds its uniqueness and unites its teams around rituals:

• daily: breakfast, dress code, language, etc. ;
• occasional: afterworks, company seminars, team-building workshops, etc.

#5 Workspaces

Workspaces say a lot about each company and its culture.

In fact, the welcoming, designer offices of some companies are associated in the collective imagination with optimal working conditions.

Take GoDaddy, for example. The company, based in Arizona, promotes the retention of its talent by offering them a workspace where they can enjoy a basketball court, a climbing wall and a miniature golf course:

What is the purpose of corporate culture?

Although corporate culture has always existed by its very nature, it has become more conceptualised in recent years.

What is the point of corporate culture?

Here are a few advantages:

• Corporate culture allows you to stand out from your competitors by asserting a strong, unique identity.
  
• Corporate culture helps to maintain cohesion and teamwork. It provides a sense of belonging to the same entity, and therefore :
  • limits internal conflict ;
  • increases motivation and performance;
    
• Corporate culture contributes to the company's brand image: it increases its "sympathy capital" and encourages a certain closeness to the consumer.
  
• Corporate culture has a positive influence on recruitment. Indeed, thanks to the affirmation of the employer brand, candidates have all the keys in hand to select the organisations that truly correspond to their values.

Corporate culture: concrete examples

To illustrate our proposals, there's nothing like concrete examples, based on the different types of corporate culture presented above.

• Google, or the adhocracy culture: Google is committed to innovation and creativity. In fact, the company encourages its employees to experiment with its famous principle of "20% free time" to devote to developing personal projects. The result? Products like Gmail and Google Maps are born of this freedom.
  
  
• Netflix, or the culture of the market: Netflix applies a demanding policy focused on performance. The company values rapid decision-making and does not hesitate to let go of talent that no longer meets expectations. Its internal slogan? "Freedom and Responsibility".
  
  
• Zappos, or the clan culture: at Zappos, priority is given to the well-being of employees. The company invests in team cohesion and encourages everyone to embody the company's values. Its customer service, renowned for its excellence, reflects this philosophy.
  
  
• Toyota, or the hierarchical culture: Toyota is based on Lean Management, a structured model based on process optimisation and continuous improvement. Every employee follows precise procedures to guarantee impeccable quality.

Integrating employees into the corporate culture

It is sometimes difficult for management to define the contours of its own corporate culture. So how best to pass it on to employees?

Here are a few ideas. 👉

• Passing on corporate culture through concrete actions. Remember that corporate culture is something that is lived more than it is imposed or learnt. Consequently, only the implementation of concrete actions, in line with the company's rhetoric and values, will instil a strong culture in the day-to-day lives of its teams.
  
  
• Setting an example in the executive and managerial spheres. Otherwise, employees may feel torn and misled by the lack of consistency between the values (sometimes ostentatiously displayed on the walls of the premises) and actual practices.
  
  
• Involving employees. Are organisations really in a position today to impose a culture on their employees in an authoritarian manner? Since the answer (as you might expect) is no, some organisations are now involving employees in defining the company's values, so that they can take greater ownership of them and find them more motivating and inspiring.
  
  
• Spreading the corporate culture through recruitment. We have seen that a company's culture has a positive impact on recruitment. For this reason, some human resources managers opt to advertise distinctive job vacancies, describing the company's traditions and values in detail and in an appropriate tone.

See all software Employee Wellness

What are the limits to corporate culture?

However, companies must ensure that their culture does not become a brake on their development. If it is too rigid, it will not be able to properly embrace change, particularly that linked to digital transformation.

It should also be remembered that organisational culture does not have to turn into indoctrination: its acceptance by the workforce depends on its development. As a result, companies sometimes have to deal with the emergence of sub-cultures within the same structure. Accepting, for example, that an accounting department does not adopt strictly the same working methods as an IT department means preventing certain employees from feeling aggrieved or marginalised.

Sincerity, scalability, collective support, transparency and consistency are, ultimately, the foundation of values accompanying the spread of a strong corporate culture that drives commitment and performance. 💪