What is corporate culture? It is more than just the superficial things that catch our eye when we first encounter a company, like the company’s logo and the style of the staff’s clothes. The roots of corporate culture are those ideas, opinions and fundamental values that unite the members of an organization and let them work together effectively and harmoniously.

Let’s take a look at some examples of manifestations of corporate culture in an unidentified company. One can learn a lot about how a company functions by looking at such signs.

On Friday the company has a "casual day." It also has an educational day, when all the staff go on an excursion out of town. The company pays for pizza and beer for those who do overtime. Staff receive a bonus at the end of each year that they have worked. They address each other using "ty" (the informal Russian form of address) and are on a first-name basis. The president’s door is always open and people can go in and ask him questions at any time. The staff is encouraged to use the products/services that the company produces. This company obviously highly values a feeling of solidarity and friendliness among its employees and its corporate culture reflects this.

The most important thing that a manager can do to establish a corporate culture is to define the company’s most important values. There are foreign companies that have a very clearly defined set of such values that are made available to everyone. For example, when you enter the offices of Johnson and Johnson you see a big board on which the main principles of the organization are laid out. Here are some examples of statements on corporate culture found in another company’s brochure: "The most important thing in our company is our clients. We value flexibility and disposition to innovation. We uphold equal opportunities." Such a document helps new staff to adapt to the corporate culture of a company and gives general guidelines for action to everyone who already works there.

Traditionally, corporate culture has been particularly strictly defined in the financial world. Everything is explicitly proscribed, right up to the color of clothes and the way of wearing of make-up and accessories. Doing everything at the last minute and constantly working overtime are usually also a part of this corporate culture. There are also foreign and Russian companies where everyone is aware of the existence of such principles, although they aren’t actually written down anywhere.

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of newly created firms don’t have a focussed corporate culture. Instead, we often come across examples reminiscent of the Soviet years, companies where people are expected to work with urges of "davai, davai" (go on, go on) as their only motivation and where the most important thing is still the creativity of the person who writes the reports, and not the real results of production.

It is notable that companies with a clearly expressed corporate culture are much more effective in their use of HR. Corporate culture is one of the most effective means of attracting and motivating staff. Appealing to a person’s desire to identify him- or herself with a group of people and the company is one of the strongest means of motivating an individual. However, adapting to an existing corporate culture can be one of the hardest things about beginning a new job. Usually, the main source of help is the HR/personnel manager of the company. Some companies even offer adaptation training.

Our many years of practice show that one and the same candidate can make a very different impression at different companies. What is the reason for this? Of course, it in part has to do with whether or not the candidate has the desired professional qualities. However, the relationship between the company’s corporate culture and the person’s personality also plays a big part.

For instance, in the case of a certain Western company, all candidates being interviewed for any vacancies were told about the company’s traditions and how social interactions within the company usually took place. It was noticeable that, for some, the company’s specific corporate culture provided additional motivation, while others viewed it as a negative factor. Only those who could fit into the corporate culture began to work there and, as a rule, they stayed for a long time.

All traditions are different. The same goes for corporate culture. The most important thing is for a company to create a corporate culture that suits it.