Organizational Culture: Definition & Types

19 of October, 2022

There is an unseen force that drives both the employees and employers of any organization. This force plays a significant part in the success of the organization, and while it is unseen, it is substantial. This intangible force is called organizational culture, and it governs the happenings in every organization.

What Is Organizational Culture?

Organizational culture is the proper behavioral traits unique to an organization that stems from shared beliefs and values. These sets of shared beliefs are started by the founders and are sown into every employee who would be coming on board both in the present and the future. 

Essentially, a company’s organizational culture is its identity and provides the basic guiding principles by which it functions. These principles affect not only how the employees relate with one another, but also how they relate with customers.

The Importance Of Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is a useful tool for every company. Being the basic guiding principles that governs interaction within the company, it provides a level of direction and consistency everyone in the company can look to and fall back on.

This system essentially affects and even governs every aspect of the organization. From things like how employees interact with their employers to employee benefits and contract terms, organization culture sets the rules.

Having such a defined system makes carrying out the business’s day to day activities much easier. It also makes the boundaries clear to every member of the company making the does and don’t obvious.

Types Of Organizational Culture

Various types of organizational culture exist all over the world. Of the many, below are the four most popular ones.

Clan Culture

This workplace culture focuses on the organization as a community rather than a structure. This system values individuality, prioritizes communication, and employee engagement and development. Here, experienced employees mentor novices till they gain more experience. The system grows by developing the individual which, in turn, leads to the growth of the entire organization.

Adhocracy Culture

The workplace culture here screams flexibility. As long as employees get the job done, they are free to be as creative as they wish. This system encourages innovation and employees adapt to the circumstance as they present themselves. Employees take risks even when things are so uncertain. This system is common with growing tech startups and is rather effective.

Market Culture

This is a culture with a focus on profitability. With market culture, the financial objective reigns supreme. Targets and results are hammered into the employees who put their all into meeting them. Although these values bring success to the organization, it often risks employees burnout because of how fast-paced and competitive the system is.

Hierarchy Culture

Here, the company takes precedence over the individual. The chain of command takes precedence in this culture and individual employees disappear and the collective takes their place. This organization puts the need of the company as a whole over that of individual employees and is quite rigid but stable.

Conclusion

The mission, objectives, values and expectations of an organization built into a culture by which the employees think and act, ensures the success of the organization. This is because the organizational culture is a system that promotes the performance and productivity of the employees as well as encourages engagement with each other and with customers. Happy employees result in happy clients which in turn leads to a happy and successful organization.

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