The word organization Culture has got phenomenal significance when it comes to review social reputation of an organization. Organization culture directly reflects in the employer brand, Employee engagement, Investors’ Confidence, Customer satisfaction and social reputation of the organization. Culture building is not a short term activity; years of building employees’ confidence, balanced decision making, transparent processes, flawless corporate governess and social commitment lead to a decent and professional Organization culture. Organizational Culture is an outcome of many things and it is evolved over a period of time.
Being a psychological factor, it is an experience by various stakeholders. The term quickly reminds us of the values, vision and practices an organization has been able to live with for years of their existence. The culture as a social and psychological term need to be judged by the people who are part of the organization’s processes.
Stakeholder such as Employees, Customers, Vendors, Bankers, Investors, Job applicants, Contractual staff, Media, Statutory/Govt/Regulatory agencies, General Public etc have to experience the values, polices, processes, vision, mission, Leadership ideologies, social commitment etc to form an opinion of organization culture.
If someone experiences the below characteristics in an Organization, please be assured that it is an organization with Ideal Culture.
- Job Seekers prefer to join such organizations. They are normally an employer of Choice.
- Employees working at such entities will be cheerful, contented and positive.
- Employees stay for long in the service in such companies and refer their friends to join them.
- They are the brand ambassadors of such companies and promotes their services/products.
- They display ownership, hard work, social virtues and fellowship. They will be empowered.
- Leaders of such companies live by examples of values, integrity, transparency and professionalism.
- Leaders of such organization exhibit a clear vision and drive everyone towards that
- Leaders always consider employees as their strength and keep inspiring them.
- Professionally engage with all stakeholders with integrity and empathy.
- Zero tolerance on non-compliance of statutory/regulatory requirements.
- Always encourages social values and justice.
- Shows concerns about employees safety and wellbeing.
- Vendors and suppliers of such organizations are generally kept happy. Streamlined processes will ensure timely payment and better engagement.
- Investors of such organizations will be satisfied with the dividends and assurance of growth.
- They are normally social partners on various social movements and they will always happy to share their wealth for social causes.
- Customers of these companies are respected and delighted by the staff during engagement
In order to bring in the above experience to employees, Customers, Investors and other stake holders, every organization shall establish and constant promote:
Work environment free from fear and politics
Fear prevents creativity and innovation.Keeping the staff disciplined and process driven is important, but if they are under various fears, their outcome gets affected and they start to manipulate. A matured leadership always promotes fearless environment and discourages office polities.
Value System, Vision and Mission
A strong value system and Clear Vision and Mission of Organization need to be established and conveyed to one and all part to the organization without exception. This is more of displayed and taught.
Processes and protocols
The strength of organizations today is existence of Robust Processes and Protocols which make everyone’s life easier without any confusion.
Employee Friendly HR Policies
Many HR Leaders tend to create policies that are innovative and employee friendly. The traditional arrogance and control of HR is a thing of past and irrelevant. Such policies make the company popular among employees’ family also; like flexi time, work from home, paternity break etc.
Top Leadership commitment on professional echo system and Delegation of Authority
This is very critical. Unless there is a clear commitment from Top Leadership on empowerment of employees, work environment free from chaos, nothing will work better.
Performance Driven Rewards system
An objective R&R system that encourages performance and accountability will bring in energy in the team.
Spirit of partnership with suppliers and vendors
Your business associates are part of your business and they shall be dealt with transparency and honesty. Best practices in dealing with them will make your company popular and they become your brand ambassadors.
Exemplary Corporate Governess
This is a distinguishing factor for many companies today. Companies strategic decisions, Eagerness to regulatory and statutory compliance, Business prudence etc will reflect this.
Technology to optimize resource utilization and accountability
A good technology platform with digital dashboards always help tracking performance of all resources. This ensure objective assessment and integration of processes for proper decision making.
Author- Babu Thomas is an HR professional with more than 25 years of experience in various companies of repute. He had very successful stints with Bank of Baroda, GVK EMRI Vadilal, and Gujarat Ambuja Group. He is currently working as Chief Human Resources Officer at Shalby Ltd, a multispecialty hospital chain based out of Ahmedabad. His major interests are HR Strategies, Culture Transformation and Employee Engagement.
