Corporate culture: strengthening it with intelligence
A strategic axis for companies of all sizes, corporate culture is now the focus of much attention. Intranets, charters, seminars... there are numerous initiatives aimed at à shaping it, whether to stimulate employeesésense of belonging, or to steer a change of organization or method. Except that corporate culture is a living, moving thing, and that a few institutional documents are not enough to bridge the gap between the will of a management team eager to set the course and the reality of employees' day-to-day practices. In a word, corporate culture is not just about advertising. It's much more than that.
The product of learning
"A set of sharedéférences in the company, consciously or unconsciously, which have developedéveles throughout its history." This is how Maurice Thévenet defines corporate culture. For this specialist, professor at Cnam and à l'Essec and author of Que sais-je? La culture d'entreprise, it is therefore the product of learning: learning about références and ways of doing things.
According to Sèbastien Point, co-author of RH - les meilleures pratiques du CAC40/SBF120 and lecturer à l'IAE de Besançon, it is composed as follows. At the top, the vision: the companyés general philosophy. Below that, the mission. Then come the objectives. Values are the foundation. "Following a similar pattern, Carrefour distributedé à to its employees in 29 countries a booklet presenting its vision of the world, its ambition, its values and its policies."
"A strong culture motivates people if it is supported by a cohesive way of working."
Maurice Thévenet
As a collection of rituals, taboos and rules, corporate culture is in réalité forméof everything that makes up the organization's history and everyday life. Some companies, à like Alcatel and Saint-Gobain, have called in à a historian. For others, it's the founder or chief executive who personifies the company's culture. "For example, relève Sébastien Point, Lindsay Owen-Jones truly embodied é the performance culture of L'Oréal."
A motivating corporate culture is a cohesive culture
.As soon as several people are brought together, a common culture is created. So a company always has a culture. Maurice Thévenet observes: "Companies that succeed have a strong culture. And the reverse is not always true: just as good war managers don't necessarily make good peace managers, a strong corporate culture may not be adapted to the challenges it faces."
The question of corporate culture is not just a question of corporate culture.
If the question of corporate culture is most often consideredéréas very strategic, it is because by véhiculating its values, it develops the employeeés sense of belonging, which will serve as a motivational lever. Maurice Thévenet relativizes: "And even then, that's what we hopeère hoping for, but motivation undoubtedly has more to do with the magic of the encounteréA strong culture motivates people if it's based on a coherent operation which, moreover, corresponds to them. But ités the consistency, the response to the employeeés need for order, that motivates him. It is in this alone that culture is motivating: there are strong cultures that are not motivating, such as sects."
Or à at a time of corporate internationalization, management décentralization and mergers & acquisitions, it's not always easy é to find or make émerger a cohérence, a common dénominator.
An asset in the face of à competition
Another role that corporate culture can play: êbeing a driving force behind change management. "For example, to move from paternalistic management à to a more performance éand results-oriented management, a company will be able to rely on a certain number of supports that relate èto the corporate culture," he adds.
.Finally, a cohesive and strong culture is certainly consideredéan asset for the company's image vis-é-vis external partners and also serves éto enhance it with potential candidates.
Riséalisé by Flore Fauconnier, JDN Management 19/09/2007
