The Hindu Business Line : Creating a corporate culture

Nowadays, a number of companies confront the problem of their employees being lethargic and lackadaisical about the need to understand and espouse the corporate goals. Employees are keen on achieving their own personal goals, rather than pitching in to achieve the organisational goals.

Creating and nurturing a corporate culture that not only fits into the design and rationale of the work practices of the company, but also meets the character and needs of a large and diverse workforce — that is the real challenge chief executives encounter today. It is a matter of integrating and synthesising the personal agendas of their employees with the collective agenda of the corporate. The ability to do this in a way that will address the goals of both the constituencies will be the summum bonum of managerial excellence.

Building bonhomie

The basic purpose of creating a corporate culture is to provide a climate and an umbrella of mutual trust, so that all employees in that company may grow and develop under its aegis to their optimum potential and promise. It is only in this kind of trust-oriented culture that real leadership can blossom. Leadership is not so much the trait of an individual leader, as it is a function and feature of the culture in which he operates.

It is building bonhomie and esprit de corps in a group, rather than cultivating an individual charisma. It is a task of universalising values and principles, generating a common and popular appeal, which all employees will find attractive, acceptable, elevating, and lofty.

Cultivating mutual trust

Corporate culture is a powerful force. It guides and governs the lives of employees, both as individuals and as members of an organisation. Values are settled beliefs that people profess about what is good and true. Commonly-held values transcend the barriers of race, region, religion, caste, creed, and community. Common values cultivate trust. Trust is the foundation for cooperative action. In an environment ruled by mutual trust there is no manipulation, no hidden agenda, no constrictive control, and no synthetic smiles.

From the organizational point of view, the issue of building trust, which leads to culture creation, is the responsibility of the management. Employees will trust, or distrust their manager depending upon their experiences with him over a period of time. Trust will come into being only when a manager consciously creates and sustains congenial conditions in which his employees feel adequately confident and comfortable.

A collective phenomenon

Unfortunately, most management systems focus on the mechanics of control, and not on the cultural values essential for mutual and trustful relationships. No doubt, the mechanics of control is necessary for running a business enterprise. The risk, however, is that this focus may ignore the underlying values and beliefs, without which no techniques, procedures, or mechanics will work. If people who inhabit the workplace do not trust each other, they will not enjoy coming to work; and such an organisation is unlikely to long last.

Culture is both an individual and collective phenomenon. Managers leverage the corporate culture to elicit employee compliance and commitment. Employees comply and commit only when appealed to in terms of their values, beliefs, needs, and aspirations. It is a common set of values that binds people together in the corporate cultural milieu.

(The author is a Chennai-based freelance writer.)

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