Culture - The Beating Heart of an Organization

“Culture is how organizations ‘do things’.” — Robbie Katanga

An organization is the association of individuals, united by a common purpose. But, that purpose alone is not enough to motivate the organization to be effective or productive. For, as individuals, they may belong to different backgrounds, cliques, groups or societies. Hence, it is very important for an organization to establish the right mindset amongst the employees so that they start thinking as a team. This is where ‘culture’ in an organization comes into play.  

        

“Company Culture is the product of a company’s values, expectations and environment.”  - Courtney Chapman

Any organization is governed by a set of official and unofficial policies, values, ideologies and principles that the company follows. With repetition and consistency, these morph into culture. It is this culture that presides over the behavior and interaction among the employees.

“Shaping your culture is more than half done when you hire your team.”  - Jessica Herrin 

It is all very ideal to talk about establishing the perfect organizational culture, but when it comes to practicality, it takes time, patience and, more importantly, the right kind of people. Or, to put it more eloquently, the right people help develop the perfect culture for the organization. Therefore, for the idealistic culture to be realistic, the people hired should have similar visions and aspirations. So, it is the culture that selects the team,….to create and refine.

“Performance more often comes down to a cultural challenge, rather than simply a technical one.” - Lara Hogan

Time has shown that the sense of belonging has always been a prime factor for motivation and encouragement. The culture in an organization will give incentives to look forward to. These will in-turn, inculcate friendly and healthy competition among the peers. A good organizational culture will have all the employees working individually to make a team effort. And the outcome of the effort would be a direct reflection of the organization and its culture.

“Culture is the organization’s immune system.” — Michael Watkins

Organizational culture can also be thought of as a fall-back mechanism. Even when the organization fails, the ideals, values and practices, the culture, if potent, will hold up to serve the results and promises, in a golden platter. It will also make sure that the individuals will know the clear demarcation on the companies’ definition of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, hence, reducing the chances of mistakes and blunders.

“Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.” - Simon Sinek

Passions are infectious. If you love something; you are bound to be good at it. The same rule applies for companies as well. A happy and passionate company will have happy customers. And a passionate company is made of passionate employees.  The culture also plays an important role in infusing enthusiasm among the workers. An agreeable working culture will result in happy and satisfied employees.

Culture is a team effort. It takes a great team to have the perfect culture for an organization. Having a commendable team, means good communication, good decisions, a respectable hierarchy and power-flow, respectable and friendly treatment. All of these mirror the productivity of the organization and the success of the venture.

Culture is not just the nexus of an organization; it’s the institutions’ life support system – the beating heart. 


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