Corporate Culture - What is corporate culture? - 3.4.2

Corporate culture - The values, beliefs and standards shared by people and groups within an organisation. These will impact on the way that people within the organisation interact with each other and with other stakeholders.

"The way we do things around here" - Charles Handy

The culture of a business is reflected in many ways, e.g;

• How employees are recruited - the cultural factors that make one applicant more suitable than another 
• The way that visitors and guests are looked after
• How the working space is organised
• The degree of delegation and individual responsibility (effects decision making)
• How long new employees stay in a business (retention)
• How contracts are negotiated and agreed
• The personality and style of the sales force
• The responsiveness of communication (impacts staff motivation)
• The methods used for communication (impacts staff motivation)
• How staff address each other (first name, last name etc)
• The speed in which decisions are made (effects decision making)
• The number of layers in the management hierarchy
• How performance is rewarded in the workplace
• How competitive the business e.g. through innovation
• How is brand image perceived