Definition of Corporate Culture

Are you looking for a clear definition of corporateobserve. You can see the dress code, work
culture? You have come to the right place!environment, perks, and titles in a company. This is the
I have developed a definition of corporate culture aftersurface layer of culture. These are only some of the
nearly 20 years of working with organizations andvisible manifestations of a culture.
viewing them from the perspective of a culturalSurface Layer of Corporate Culture: Visible
anthropologist as well as a strategy consultant with anExpressions ·Dress Code · Work
MBA in finance.Environment · Benefits · Perks ·
The easiest way to think of corporate culture is that itConversations · Work/Life Balance · Titles &
is an energy field that determines how people think,Job Descriptions · Organizational Structure ·
act, and view the world around them. I often compareRelationships
culture to electricity. Culture is powerful and invisibleThe far more powerful aspects of corporate culture
and its effects are far reaching. Culture is an energyare invisible. The cultural core is composed of the
force that becomes woven through the thinking,beliefs, values, standards, paradigms, worldviews,
behavior, and identity of those within the group.moods, internal conversations, and private
Corporate culture is created naturally and automatically.conversations of the people that are part of the group.
Every time people come together with a sharedThis is the foundation for all actions and decisions
purpose, culture is created. This group of people couldwithin a team, department, or organization.
be a family, neighborhood, project team, or company.Core Layer of Corporate Culture: Invisible
Culture is automatically created out of the combinedManifestations · Values · Private
thoughts, energies, and attitudes of the people in theConversations (with self or confidants) · Invisible
group.Rules · Attitudes · Beliefs · Worldviews
I have worked with entrepreneurs and venture· Moods and Emotions · Unconscious
capitalists involved in the start-up of technologyInterpretations · Standards · Paradigms ·
companies. They want to work on the corporateAssumptions
culture once the company is profitable or "in the black".Business leaders often assume that their company's
It is much more difficult to change the corporate culturevision, values, and strategic priorities are synonymous
once it has emerged than to proactively create thewith their company's culture. Unfortunately, too often,
corporate culture they want from the start.the vision, values, and strategic priorities may only be
The corporate culture energy field determines awords hanging on a plaque on the wall.
company's dress code, work environment, work hours,Corporate culture is actually the container for the
rules for getting ahead and getting promoted, how thevision, mission and values. It is not synonymous with
business world is viewed, what is valued, who isthem. In a thriving profitable company, employees will
valued, and much more.embody the values, vision, and strategic priorities of
Every company or organizations has numeroustheir company.
corporate cultures. For example, the marketingWhat creates this embodiment (or lack of
department and the engineering department may haveembodiment) is the corporate culture energy field that
very different corporate cultures which are bothpermeates the employees' psyches, bodies,
influenced by the overall organizational corporateconversations, and actions. Companies need a good
culture. Many times these two sub-cultures clash.definition of corporate culture before they can begin to
Culture shows up in both visible and invisible ways.understand how to change the corporate culture.
Some expressions of corporate culture are easy to