Business leaders believe a strong organizational culture is critical to success. Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values , norms and beliefs which governs the operating style of the people within organizations. Culture is how organizations ‘do things’. Culture is consistent, observable patterns of behavior in organizations.
Aristotle said, “ We are what we repeatedly do.” This view elevates repeated behavior or habits as the core of culture and deemphasizes what people feel, think or believe. It also focuses our attention on the forces that shape behavior in organizations. Organizational culture goes a long way in creating the brand image of the organization.The beliefs, ideologies, principles and values of an organization form its culture. The culture of the workplace controls the way employees behave amongst themselves as well as with people outside the organization.
Organizational culture is a collaborative process of creating shared awareness and understanding out of different individuals’perspectives and varied interests.Organizational culture is the sum of values and rituals which serve as glue to integrate the members of the organization.These organizational cultures are important because they can encourage employees to work in different ways. Sometimes collaboration is more important than competition, and at times strict control is more important than creative freedom. Culture provides not only a shared view of “what is” but also of “why