Page 204 - FLL Virtual Binder 2018

Culture
Why is Culture Important?
Think of companies that have been successful over the long term. What differentiates these extraordinarily successful firms from others? The major distinguishing feature in these companies, their most important competitive advantage, the factor that they all highlight as a key ingredient in their success, is their organizational culture.
The sustained success of these firms has had less to do with market forces than company values; less to do with improvement programs than personal beliefs; less to do with resource advantages than vision.
What is Culture?
Culture is the environment that surrounds you at work all of the time - a powerful element that shapes your work enjoyment, your work relationships, and your work processes. In many ways, culture is like personality. Personality is made up of the values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, interests, experiences, upbringing, and habits that create a person’s behaviour.
Culture is the behaviour that results when a group arrives at a set of generally unspoken and unwritten rules for working together. Corporate culture sets the organizational context for human behaviour. It creates the framework for performance expectations and the ways in which people relate to one another.
How is Culture Created?
An organization’s culture is reflected by what is valued, the dominant managerial and leadership styles, the language and symbols, the procedures and routines, and the definition of success that make an organization unique.
Formal Components Culture
Informal Components Culture
• Mission & Vision • Policies
• Procedures
• Rules
• Artifacts & symbols
• Rituals & ceremonies
• Beliefs & assumptions
• Stories & myths
Front Line Leadership Module: Leadership
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