A corporate culture is part of the identity of a business. It documents the way in which employees and managers should behave not only towards each other but also towards customers, suppliers and business partners. Motivation, staff turnover and customer loyalty are a mirror image of the corporate culture. It comes into being through people’s day-to-day practical experiences. It is influenced to a large extent by the quality of management. Business management and corporate culture influence each other. A corporate culture develops in three phases.

1. Set-up phase
   The central values of a business are clarified. How should business be conducted? Items from the values list, e.g. decency, openness, sustainability, will help to answer this question. It is important to involve employees in this process, as this is the only way to achieve general acceptance. A corporate culture which is forced upon people is bound to fail.
2. Introductory phase
   In the second phase, the ideas relating to the corporate culture must be made known and implemented on a mandatory basis. Information must be up to date and available to every employee at all times. Talks, printed matter, presentations and workshops all help to convey a corporate culture.
3. Experience phase
   Setting out the corporate culture in writing and making people aware of it are not enough. Employees must live by its principles every day. This is the most difficult part of the whole process.

Author

Dr. Dr. Cay von Fournier http://www.schmidtcolleg.de Email: info@schmidtcolleg.de