Corporate Culture

I have been spending the week starting a new job and learning the company product. Two variables that become apparent very quickly is company and customer culture.

Company culture seems to be influenced by the leadership, the people that make up the company, the particular business of the company, the level of quality of the product or service provided by the company and the customer base.

The leadership of a particular company has the largest influence on the fundamental cultural characteristics of a company. The level of open communication, trust and honesty perceived from the senior leadership is transferred and magnified across the organization. This is magnifed even moreso in a small to mid-size company. Smaller company culture can be affected to a larger degree by the individuals that make up the company. Larger companies are more affected by senior leadership, brand, history and tradition.

The level of product quality can have an extreme effect on a company culture for good or bad. For larger, successful companies this is typically a positive effect, otherwise, they might not still be in business. However, market disruption or financial challenges can tip this ingredient to one side or the other. For smaller companies, a high quality product can push morale higher, promoting a self-sustaining positive environment for future growth. A low quality product can undermine morale and create bickering and blamecasting across departments.

Even though customer culture has a uniqueness quotient between each individual company, there appears to be some common ground across customers of a particular product, especially a software or technology product. The bond that grows between users of a particular product, especially if that group is small, can affect the team culture of that user group.