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04 Cover Story
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many cases the values, norms and convictions
concealed behind the construct of corporate
culture are sometimes too soft, too intangible.
According to Edgar Schein, the following has
emerged as the lowest common denominator
for a definition:
“Corporate culture is a pattern of
common basic premises which the
group has learned in mastering
its problems of external adaptation
and internal integration, which
has proved successful and is thus
considered obligatory, and which
therefore is passed on to new members
as the rationally and emotionally
correct approach in dealing with
those problems.”
Stated slightly differently, corporate culture
is a dynamic fabric of values, norms and
convictions shared by employees, which has
evolved over a long period and steers the
behavior of the collective comprising all the
employees of an enterprise in a particular
direction.
The success of a company
depends on the dedication
of its employees.
tHe functIons of corporAte cuLture
are above all those of identification, integration,
communication and coordination, motivation,
innovation and satisfaction of customers’
needs. The motivation function is of
especial importance in corporate culture; as
motivated employees can better identify with
the company, perform better, and by doing
so increase both customer satisfaction and
commercial success. Often enough one asks
oneself, what is it that really makes a business
successful: Is it the price policy? Is it
the organization or the better advertising?
These factors are not alone in making a business
successful. The success of a business
is just as dependent on the attitude and consciousness
of the people who work in it. Of
course, the employees have to be receptive
to the corporate culture and actively support
it. When the employees and management
identify themselves with their company, they
stand together for better or for worse – an
ace that many competitors do not have up
their sleeves.