Business Culture

Question 1

What is Business Culture?

Answer 1

The set of shared beliefs and actions that are built into the way that people in an organisation behave

Question 2

What is Company Culture?

Answer 2

The norms and values of a business.

Question 3

How might the culture of a business be shown?

Answer 3

• How employees are recruited.
• The way that visitors and guests are looked after.
• How the working space is organised.
• The degree of delegation & individual responsibility.
• The management style.
• How long new employees stay in a business.
• How contracts are negotiated and agreed.
• The personality and style of the sales force.
• The responsiveness of communication.
• The methods used for communication.
• How staff call each other (e.g. first name)
• The nature and style of marketing materials.
• The speed with which decisions are taken.
• The number of layers in the management hierarchy.

Question 4

How Is Corporate Culture formed

Answer 4

• Founders and owners - are key decisions still based round their ethos or influence?
• The nature of the business and the products it sells.
• The degree to which products are sold have changed over time.
• The business environment when it started (war time / 80s dot com).
• The recruitment of key staff.
• Working hours.
• Attitude to customer service.

Question 5

What is a Vision?

Answer 5

A culture usually starts with an organisation setting out their business vision, mission and values/ethos

A Vision Statement sets out the organisation’s aspirations and where they would like to be in the future.

Question 6

What are Mission Statements?

Answer 6

A Mission Statement is a qualitative statement of the organisation’s purpose, aimed at all stakeholders.

The mission should be brought to life and not simply hung on a wall as a statement. Everything the organisation and employees do should reflect their mission.

Supports the “stated” vision for the future.

Question 7

What makes a good Mission Statement?

Answer 7

• A clear sense of business purpose.
• Excites, inspires, motivates & guides.
• Easy to understand and remember.
• Differentiates the business from their competitors.
• For all stakeholders - not just shareholders and managers.

Question 8

What are Business Values?

Answer 8

Business values/ethos - the personal beliefs that the organisation has that guides their decisions, e.g. they will not trade with any company that tests on animals.