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Defining Culture
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What’s the difference, if any, between Corporate Culture and Collaborative Culture? I’m working on the culture section of the first Employee Handbook for a small (50 EE’s), high tech
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Forums » Topic Forums » Work Views » Defining Culture
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Defining Culture
posted at 10/19/2007 5:20 AM EDT
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Posts: 15
First: 10/19/2007 Last: 6/6/2008 |
What’s the difference, if any, between Corporate Culture and Collaborative Culture? I’m working on the culture section of the first Employee Handbook for a small (50 EE’s), high tech start-up and I don’t want to sound too corporate in the message. |
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Defining Culture
posted at 10/22/2007 7:20 AM EDT
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Posts: 1771
First: 10/24/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
"Corporate culture" means the culture of oranizations. "Collaborative culture" refers to one type of coporate culture that some organizations have. (Othe corporate cultures would be things like concventional/traditional, family-style, fast-paced, entrepreneurial, lean 'n' mean, etc.) So if your organization has a collaborative culture, this means that your organization's corporate culture is collaborative.
One fun way to put together some descriptive words about your organization's collaborative corporate culture would be to have the employees collaborate and come up with some words for you. Make it fun - maybe a game or contest, with prizes, like chocolate bars etc. |
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Defining Culture
posted at 12/11/2007 4:22 AM EST
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Posts: 2
First: 12/11/2007 Last: 10/21/2008 |
Previous response is good. I've consulted with corporations on building corporate culture, and one used to refer to culture as "HWDTAH", that is, How We Do Things Around Here.
That means that procedures and policy are a foundation of the culture, but that you really see the culture when employees can't rely on a rule to do their thinking for them. (I explain more about this in an article on my web site: http://www.besttrainingpractices.com/tt/thoughtless.htm) In other words, when employees share common ideas, so that they tend to solve unexpected problems the same way, they share a strong culture. When different employees all come up with different solutions, you have a weak one. A strong culture adapts to new conditions much more quickly than a weak one. It is like rowers in a boat -- if they are all rowing in synch, and discover they are going in the wrong direction, they can quickly turn around and head in another direction. If they aren't working to a common rhythm, they can't. As pointed out above, "collaborative" is just a descriptive features of some culture, appropriate for some, not for others, not good or bad in itself. |
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Defining Culture
posted at 12/12/2007 4:11 AM EST
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Posts: 8
First: 1/16/2001 Last: 3/11/2008 |
IMHO, all organizations are learning organizations, and like it not, management is the faculty. Corporate culture is hugely impacted, if not defined by the actions of your management, over time. I wouldn't bother trying to describe corporate culture in a new organization, because the proof will be in the pudding. I wouldn't try to shape corporate culture through text in an employee handbook, since actions always speak much louder than words. My bid would be for sound and consistent principles, policies and practices. Have fun with the assignment, and let us know how it goes. |
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Defining Culture
posted at 12/12/2007 11:25 AM EST
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Posts: 40
First: 6/28/2005 Last: 2/26/2008 |
Anthropologists describe culture as The system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another. Works pretty well for corporate culture, too. Rich Hagberg, an executive recruiter and corporate culture expert, distinguishes between real culture (how things happen around here) and ideal culture (how we would like things to happen around here.) You have a bit of a dilemma, and a line to walk, to include real-culture feel and credibility, while pointing employees toward ideal behaviors, even if youll never quite get there.
You have an obligation to describe positive aspects of your corporate culture, and cite its boundaries (e.g., dishonesty will have consequences; diligence counts a lot, and you dont have to be brilliant to be diligent, etc.) The more you describe the most favorable aspects of what is, and anchor them in real-world examples, the more credible your corporate culture document will be. The company where I worked most of my career often amazed newcomers from elsewhere in our industry. For example: deadline-driven teams would get together in a conference room, bringing all their relevant documents with them, actually assemble successive drafts of a regulatory submission, trouble- shoot the resulting product together, and leave with their rework assignments and new deadlines. Thats a concrete example of collaborative cultureyou dont even need to use the buzzwordand has a story line that a new employee can apply to various work situations. We were among the most productive in our industry, as illustrated by being the last into the race, but the first out with FDA approval, for a nicotine patch. One MD said, Where I worked before, people would finish their parts and drop them into their outboxes. Whether it got to its destination, filled the need, or got assembled into the final product, they wouldnt find out until much later. Suggestion: find some stories like that from your companys history and embed them as examples in your handbook. Itll help it come alive, and sound a lot less remote, preachy, or abstract to new employees. |
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Re: Defining Culture
posted at 8/7/2012 12:30 AM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 8
First: 8/7/2012 Last: 8/7/2012 |
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