Corporate culture: our expert opinion

Corporate culture is heavily promoted by managers or communications departments, however big or small the firm. Based on values, beliefs and implicit behavioural norms, a particular culture frequently comes to the forefront when it is confronted by another one. This may happen, for example, during a rapprochement such as a merger, acquisition, or restructuring. An extensive European study conducted a few years ago by consulting firm AT Kearney confirms that, according to the managers questioned, corporate culture is the main reason that such rapprochements fail.  

During the 1980s, increasing consideration was given to corporate culture, with an eye to everyday business as much as to plans for expansion, even though the very notion provoked confusion and consternation from executives at the time. Experts highlight how the period following the economic crisis of the 1970s encouraged thinking about corporate culture: company executives found themselves obliged to address the challenge of raising the morale of employees who had survived the understandably traumatising wave of redundancies. Corporate culture came into its own as a binding factor within the firm, providing the essential foundations for all large-scale projects.

But how can we define this culture so that it can be integrated better with operational procedures and corporate strategies? This is no simple topic, as cross-cultural specialists warn, since an excessive desire to define an entity’s culture quickly runs the risk of transposing this culture along lines previously defined by the hierarchy or along usual operational divisions, whereas the boundaries between cultural groups do not always reflect this segmentation. For example, managers may feel culturally removed from colleagues (since they work in different areas such as marketing, finance or production), and yet still feel close as members of the same socio-cultural group.

In concrete terms, defining a culture clearly requires close examination of fundamental questions, free of taboos. Does the firm tend to take risks and to seek out opportunities, or does it seek to maintain the status quo? Do managers take into account their firm’s role in society, or do they seek productivity at all costs? Does the firm trust its personnel and partners, or does it prefer to keep information as confidential as possible? Are decisions taken unilaterally by an executive or are they discussed in a cooperative fashion? Do the firm’s values count for more than its financial results?

Armed with such a mutually prepared “general portrait”, the HR department will then be able to provide precious help to senior and middle managers who want to embrace their firm’s corporate culture in the best of conditions.
 

It will be their responsibility to relay and share this culture with their colleagues.

Only a commitment to strong corporate values will enable companies to consolidate and develop the genuine spirit that corporate culture represents.

Executive managers who seek to consolidate the values and cultural specificities of their company frequently choose to set up a university, whose primary mission is to transmit these very ideas. As places for experimentation, networking and interaction, renowned corporate universities like those at General Electric or AXA have proved their worth over the long-term.

New learning technologies are making their own contribution to these initiatives. By focusing on learning concepts and fundamentals through distance learning, the new teaching methods used in corporate universities allow more time in seminars to be devoted to sharing experiences. Communities of individuals who have graduated together can meet up later online to continue interacting. We can expect the new Web 2.0 communities in turn to accelerate knowledgesharing and cultural awareness.