Company Culture - Should I Care ?

An essential component of an organization, company culture is something that speaks about the company even without putting it on paper or on the wall. It is not formally written like a policy or guideline, but each member of the organization follows it.

It’s a silent thing that works in the background of every organization. It inspires people to work and engages them to contribute to the success of the company.

Company culture is what makes your company unique. Your products and processes can be copied by your competitors. They may even try to pirate your employees, but they can never copy your culture. It’s only yours to keep, develop and live with it.

It’s what makes your people proud to be called your employees. Culture defines your organization. Your employees get a sense of pride and fulfillment to be part of your organization that imbibes the company culture.

Company culture is a deciding factor to know whether an employee fits in or not in the organization. An employee may be a high performer in his previous company, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that he will also be a high performer in his new company. It depends upon how he fits in the culture of the new company.

It defines who are the members of the organization. It describes the employees’ beliefs. It depicts the employees’ inspirations in life. It identifies where the employees are going. It characterizes how it looks like when their dreams are fulfilled.

As part of the organization, you should care about the company culture. Whether you are the boss or a staff, you have a say and a contribution to the company culture. It’s expected that each member of the organization strictly observes what the company culture is.

Company culture is not something that you wear while in the company premises like a uniform or a company ID and something that you take off when you leave and go home. It’s something that you carry wherever you are. It identifies you as part of the organization and it identifies the organization within you. Even without personally knowing you, people would know that you are a member of the organization.

Strictly observing the company culture is easy as it is something inherent to the individual. If the individual fits in the company culture, he doesn’t have to put an effort to carry out the company culture, but if he doesn’t fit in he would put much effort to carry out the company culture until he gets tired and leaves.

Company culture is an instrument in attaining the company’s vision and mission. If you want your company to be successful, you would definitely care about the culture.

As an engaged member of the organization, it’s a good practice to always have a culture check to see if what you are doing is in line with the company culture. It also helps to make decisions whereby the company culture will be used as a deciding factor to know if the decision would yield positive results or not. In strategic planning, company culture should always be taken into consideration.