Company Culture

How strange it was that a colleague whom I seldom spoke to ended up at the breakfast table for a chat. I had heard people from her department saying that she had tendered her resignation, and here while having breakfast she confirmed it.

Of course, who could resist asking her the cliche question of "Why are you leaving?"? She smiled a little, half expecting the question and answered that it had something to do with the company culture. She revealed that the company seemed to exploit the capable people by piling them with work, while the less capable employees just shared in the fruits of the labour without much contribution and in some cases even make life more difficult for others. It wasn't a rewarding experience for a hard worker like her and enough was enough.

What is company culture? It is the distinctive personality of the organisation. It determines how members act, how energetically they contribute to teamwork, problem solving, innovation, customer service, productivity, and quality. It is a company's culture that makes it safe (or not safe) for a person, division or the whole company to raise issues and solve problems, to act on new opportunities, or to move in new, creative directions. A company's culture is often at the root of difficult people-related problems such as motivation, morale, absenteeism, communications, teamwork, retention, injuries, and insurance claims. (See CompanyCulture.com)

The company culture ultimately affects the bottom-line since it is people that make up the organisation and how they act really determines how a company would perform. Many companies fail to realise how important the company culture is. A company that realises this would seek to motivate her employees to peform to their full potentials and not penalising them for failing to meet company targets and expectations. A high morale workforce would see the incentive to work towards common company objectives and thereby propelling the company forward.