An Empirical Investigation of the Corporate Culture-Financial Article

An Empirical Investigation of the Corporate Culture-Financial Performance Relationship in Multinational Corporations - Article Example Webster's Dictionary defines corporate culture as "the shared values, traditions, customers, philosophy, and policies of a corporation; also, the professional atmosphere that grows from this and affects behavior and performance." In essence, "corporate culture is the personality of your organization. It's the way your company does business and how it conducts itself. It's employees' beliefs and expectations of work." (Ceridian, 2005). Corporate culture and the cultural statements that it engenders then become the modus operandi for corporate members when the executives' voice and document the values of the corporation to provide models for how corporate members should behave (1000ventures). There are various numbers of definitions available regarding corporate culture. Various academic scholars and authors have defined it in different ways. Despite having differences in definitions many would agree on one thing that corporate culture can be referred to as a set of values, beliefs, and behavior patterns that form the core identity of the organization, and help shape the employees' behavior ( Rashid et al, 2003). According to Tichy et al ( 1982), corporate culture is a directive glue where the appropriate questions to ask concern the values and beliefs that are needed to support the corporate strategy, the subcultures that might also contribute to this goal and whether or not there should be an umbrella corporate culture as well. As an extension of the foregoing, another question is also on the role of the human resources department in shaping and molding the corporate culture. Corporate culture can also be interpreted as collective mental programming that binds the organization together through shared values, which ensure that employees are committed to their nominated responsibilities which can lead to achieving organizational goals together ( Hofstede, 1980). Much of what has been written on the definition of corporate culture proceeds by comparison of one type with another. Culture is by definition a varied and variable subject. There is no overall cultural norm in the world, nor any cultural "mean" or average that can be usefully applied. By comparison with the financial sections of corporate annual reports that allow average revenue, profitability, investment and so on to be calculated precisely (which is not necessarily the same as meaningfully), corporate culture requires a different tack (Hofstede, 1980). Having said that culture is defined by comparison, rather than any intrinsic and absolute qualities, corporate culture does display a difference in how it acquires shape and form. Within the corporate environment, culture is strongly influenced by the corporate leaders who are natural role models for other employees. The qualities of a leader in his opinion are forged by experience, trial and error, and practical application. The more a leader has been exposed to these aspects, the stronger the leadership becomes and the more influence the leader exerts on the corporate culture of the company concerned (Mintzberg, 1989).