Organizational Culture

The article "Creating and Sustaining a Winning Culture" by Harvard Management Update discusses the importance of culture in an organization. What is culture, you ask? Culture is "the values, mindsets, and behaviors that constitute an environment conducive to success" (Harvard, 2008). The article goes on to state "91% of the 1,200 senior executives at global companies surveyed agreed that ‘culture is as important as strategy for business success'" (Harvard, 2008). In a more recent study, "81% of executives agreed that a company without a winning culture was ‘doomed to mediocrity'" (Harvard, 2008). To me this says that culture is very important in any organization, and more so, culture is a necessity to running a successful organization. Not every organization has the culture it needs to be successful and finding the right culture can prove rather difficult.

How do you find the so-called "right" culture? Harvard Management Update (2008) writes:

A winning culture has two defining characteristics: 1. A unique personality and soul based on shared values and heritage. 2. Cultural norms and behaviors that translate the organization's unique personality and soul into customer-focused actions and bottom-line results. (p. 1)

I agree with these characteristics in the sense that no two organizations are alike. One company in a similar field might view employee retention as extremely important whereas another company might not even think twice about it. Another company might value customer service where its direct competitor feels that customer service is unimportant. The point is no two organizations are alike. There's always going to be some differences; however, my belief is that most companies do have one similar goal in mind, and that goal is to be successful. How do you get everyone on the same page to reach that goal? That is where strong corporate culture comes into play. The article goes on to talk about how "instilling a winning culture can be a tough challenge, as it requires changing how people think about the company and altering habitual behaviors" (Harvard, 2008). That has got to be a work in progress because it is very challenging to change the way people think. You have to get employees to have the same mind set as the company, the same values and visions. Once you can get employees on the same page, it should be easier to accomplish the end goal. Even when you think you have all the employees on the same page, outside factors always come into play, be it new employees, new technology, new customers. There's always something there to ruffle the feathers. It will always be a continuing challenge, but I think as long as everyone is on the same page when it comes to reaching the ultimate goal and everyone really believes in the company and wants the company to succeed, the ending result