Organizational Culture and its Competitive Advantage

Every organization has its own culture. It surrounds the organizational vision, mission, values, policies as well as ethics. Therefore it can be defined as “a jointly shared description of an organization from within” (Rick 2015). Business leaders are crucial in the creation of communication of culture. Leaders can also be influenced by many different workplace cultures based on the level of experience.

Organizational culture is not stagnant; it evolves throughout the history of the organization. According to Cummings & Worley (2004) there are six guidelines for culture change. First is to formulate a clear strategic vision to provide direction for culture change. Second is to display top management commitment so that everyone else are interested in accompanying change. Next is to model culture change at the highest level as the top managers need to symbolize the kind of culture that should be followed by rest of the organization. Modifying the organization to support organizational change is essential so that existing principles are changed to match the new ones. Selecting and socializing newcomers can be done to encourage employees and build loyalty. Finally developing ethical and legal sensitivity can be done to identify obstacles, recognize, and reward employee improvements and to encourage them.

Corporate Culture as a Competitive Advantage

A strong positive corporate culture builds a sustainable organization with continuous learning. Such cultures attract employees who are competent and believe in the same values as the organization. “A dynamic, rich and accepting corporate culture celebrates the opportunity to bring together people from various walks of life” (Craig, 2017). Organizational culture that welcomes diversity is equipped with unity and kindness. They are better equipped for collaboration and more likely to take disagreements without conflict.

“A strong corporate culture can help a corporation to build its brand, for example Starbucks has built a culture and brand that includes very public dedication to international fair trade. Customers who care about fair trade are more likely to buy from and stay loyal to Starbucks” (Lumenlearning, 2019). Thus a strong cohesion between the company culture, employees as well general public will ideally result in sustainable businesses.

References

Craig, W. (2017). 8 ways company cultures drives performance [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamcraig/2017/08/03/8-ways-company-culture-drives-performance/#38baa9d36ce0 [Accessed 8 Jun. 2019]

Cummings, Thomas G. & Worley, Christopher G. (2004), Organization Development and Change, 8th Ed., South-Western College Pub.

Lumenlearning, (2019). What is organizational culture. [online] Available at https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-principlesmanagement/chapter/reading-organizational-culture-as-a-competitive-advantage/ [Accessed 8 Jun. 2019]

Rick, T. (2015). What is Organizational Culture [online] Available at : https://www.torbenrick.eu/blog/culture/organizational-culture/ [Accessed 8 Jun. 2019]