Corporate-Culture

"If you are lucky enough to take part in the creation of a corporate culture – do not miss your chance!"

Biography of Adlai Goldberg Adlai Goldberg is a representative of Ernst & Young, who heads the CIS department for improving the efficiency of companies. Adlai is an American, but has been working outside the USA for more than 20 years – in Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, CIS countries. Before moving to Moscow, Adlai headed Ernst & Young's consulting services practice in Ukraine for several years. Adlay usually conducts large-scale projects, including those related to corporate culture, the development of a communication strategy, support for organizational changes that result from the optimization of business processes and organizational structures, mergers of companies and the entry of companies into the market. As part of his professional activity, Adlai has worked with companies producing consumer goods, multimedia and telecommunications companies, as well as companies operating in other industries. Now he is cooperating with our company, helping to create EPD in Eventum Premo.

In 1998, Hay Group, together with Fortune magazine, conducted a study "What distinguishes the 500 best companies in the world from the rest?" (What makes companies great?) The results showed that the key success factor is the ability of an organization to attract, develop and retain talented employees, which, in turn, is largely determined by the corporate culture. Underestimation of the human factor was among the most common causes of failures in the implementation of the chosen strategy (up to 70% of cases)… This is confirmed by research from Harvard Business School. For more than 10 years, researchers have studied the activities of 160 companies. The results indicate that the success of the company is directly related to the corporate culture. Research by the Corporate Leadership Council (2002) also clearly showed that the company's financial performance is influenced by corporate culture, especially its aspects such as risk-taking, active exchange of information within the organization, flexibility in decision-making, as well as innovation and focus on performance.

What is corporate culture? Perhaps everyone has heard the phrase corporate culture. But do you really know what it is and why it is so important? Despite the fact that there are many meanings and more than 300 definitions of culture, in a broad sense, culture is understood as beliefs, values, work rules, norms and traditions shared by a group of people.

"Every organization has its own culture, because it is a group of people who interact closely with each other. And corporate culture is the manner of behavior accepted in the company. She embodies the common ideas and values of employees...". However, let's leave the scientific definition and try to explain the meaning of corporate culture in simple words.

It is important to understand that there are two sides to corporate culture: visible and invisible. Corporate identity, rules of dress, working atmosphere, staff privileges, job titles in the company and other things are just external attributes of corporate culture.

The invisible side of corporate culture has a much stronger influence. These are beliefs, values, standards, and worldviews that form the basis for actions and decision-making in a team. Symbolic examples of such a community of interests can be statements like "quality is more important than quantity", "our company takes care of its people", etc.

All this affects the existing norms of behavior in the company. They are based on a single conceptual system that defines the process of perception, understanding of events and what we pay attention to. For example, it may be accepted and considered normal in an organization that employees stay up late at work or try to respond to customer requests as quickly as possible, that management actively involves subordinates in the decision-making process, or, conversely, makes all decisions independently.

What forms the corporate culture? Why do most of the company's employees usually begin to share common values, beliefs and norms of behavior?

A person, as you know, is shaped by the environment. Observing the behavior and work of people around him, he gradually begins to follow the same principles of behavior and value system. Culture often works on a subconscious level. A person may not fully realize how work affects his behavior, although it is often noticeable from the outside.