Knowing About Corporate Culture

A corporate culture is values, beliefs, habits and goals of a organization or a company. It involves a learned set of behaviors that is common knowledge to all the participants. These behaviors are based on a shared system of meanings which guide our perceptions, understanding of events, and what we pay attention to. As Sun Tzu, a Chinese military general from 3000 BC, indicated in his explanation of strategy, culture forms an integral part of any organizational strategy. It consists of Tao – the created and shared beliefs, values, and glue that holds an organization together, and it also involves the very nature of the organization. Culture is about individuals in a group sharing patterns of behavior. There is no cultural absolute. Because culture is relative, we have the power to create a culture that is the best fit for an organization’s future direction.

Observing Culture

Culture plays out in a variety of ways. We can identify the specifics of it from how information is communicated, feedback is given, performance is managed, and projects are co-coordinated within the organization. It is reflected in the way the corporation or institution is structured; whether work is conducted cross-functionally or within silos, how the hierarchical levels are set up, and the types of job titles used. Culture is often defined by the systems that are used, the processes that are followed, and the rituals, symbols, and stories that abound in the organization. It is even reflected in how meetings are held in an organization.

Corporate Culture as an Obstacle

When working towards company goals or when trying to effect change in the organization, your organizational culture can be the very thing that trips you up. If insufficient effort is put towards identifying aspects of the culture that may impact on what you are trying to achieve, then insufficient actions will be taken to circumvent obstacles in a timely manner or harness the way things are done in an opportune direction. This is best explained through an example.

An organization espouses that “people are our most important asset” as part of its new philosophy. However, employees witness a senior executive being escorted off site with his belongings by security guards after being laid off. They receive an e-mail explaining where they will be sitting and who they will be reporting to in the future restructure – with no fore-warning or personal contact. Training and development opportunities for employees are stopped in order to cut costs. Actions that consistently reflect a certain core culture will more effectively emphasize to employees what the leadership’s true values are than any widely publicized statement. If a direction is truly desired, then all actions that will reflect the required culture need to be considered and instituted accordingly.

Aligning Culture for Success

Once a strategy is set for the organization, the way deliverables are produced in the organization needs to be examined and challenged. This is to ensure that every process is geared towards achieving the strategy.

Every component of the corporate culture needs to underpin what is required from all stakeholders in order to realize the strategic goals. There must be a reinforcing stream of communications. All the actions in the organization need to translate into the cultural realities. A culture can be created or reinforced through the use of socialization. Avenues for socialization abound in functions like selection, placement on the job, job mastery, the measurement and rewarding of performance, and recognition and promotion. Reinforcing a culture can emerge through the stories told and the folklore propagated and, most importantly, through the adherence to chosen important values. The key to the success of the above is to ensure that the culture you wish to socialize others into is an ideal one, necessary for breakthrough performance in your work area or organization. If it is not, then you need to involve everyone in the evaluation and creation of a more suitable culture.

Strong Leadership is Required

One of the surest ways to align the culture to the organization’s strategy is to apply leadership practices that are also aligned. The leaders, at all levels, need to know what the required culture is and then determine ways of establishing practices and procedures in all operations that will closely reflect the desired culture. They also need to role model the very behaviors they wish exhibited by everyone in the organization and provide the necessary support to others that will enable them to function accordingly as well. Particular attention also needs to be given to all communications.

Being a leadership, if you know clearly about your company’s culture, you can better understand how your employees think, how to communicate with them, and how best to use your culture to improve your company. Your company could develop well from that.

Italian Tourism Guides

Many people choose Italy is destination. Why? There are so many reasons for you to spend your holidays in Italy!

Italy is a country with a great history behind it, sheltering some of the world’s most ancient and important tourist sites, considered to be the cradle of European civilization and culture. Tourism in Italy is very well developed, this magnificent European country attracting millions of tourists from all over the world each year. Italy is known to be the forth most desired tourist destination in the world, welcoming an annual number of 39 million tourists! The scaffolds for today’s well defined tourism in Italy were built ages ago, during the times of the prosperous and flourishing Roman Republic, when tourists from all over the world came to visit famous regions such as Venice, Florence, Capri, Naples and Baiae, symbols for the prosperity, beauty and majesty of the Roman society.

Priding with the beauty and the variety of Italy’s landscapes, its extended, world renown artistic and architectonic patrimony and its magnificent history and culture, locals refer to their country as “Il Belpaese” – “The Beautiful Country”. Situated in the Southern region of the European continent, Italy consists of a small continental region, a large peninsula that spreads to the Mediterranean Sea and two large islands – Sicily and Sardinia. Italy is divided into 20 regions, each of them having a specific landscape and offering various tourist attractions. When you travel in Italy, you should spend some time visiting all these magnificent regions, as they offer a wide range of distinctive, important tourist sites.

Although every single region of “Il Belpaese” has a prominent potential for tourism, Italy is mostly famous for its magnificent capital, which attracts millions of visitors each year. One of the greatest cities in the world, Rome is a major center for history, culture and arts, and the perfect reason for you to spend your holiday in Italy! The main pillar of European civilization, Rome shelters magnificent ancient tourist sites such as the Colosseum, Circus Maximus, the Pantheon, the Golden House of Nero, the National Gallery, St. Peter’s Basilica and Trevi Fountain. These are only a few of the diversified tourist resorts specific to Rome, a major center for tourism in Italy. In fact, it is said that a lifetime is not enough for one to learn everything about this imposing
ancient metropolis.

An autonomous state situated in the central region of Rome, Vatican has been the headquarters of politics and religion for ages, various historic events of great importance for Europe being decided right here, within the borders of this very small state. For thousands of years, Vatican has been the coronation place for many different generations of popes, prominent figures with a great influence worldwide. If you decide to spend your holiday in Italy, you shouldn’t neglect to visit the Vatican Museum, the most famous and vast museum in the world!

Milan is yet another important center for tourism in Italy. Situated in the ancient region of Lombardy, Milan is the country’s center for commerce and also the most stylish city in Italy. When you travel in Italy, make sure you don’t miss the opportunity to visit “Il Duomo di Milano” – The Dome in Milan, and Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie, major attractions of “Il Belpaese”.

When you spend your holiday in Italy, you should definitely visit the most romantic and mysterious cities found in this country, Venice and Verona. Venice is famous for its unique water canals, beautiful gondolas and carnivals, while Verona, the décor for “Romeo and Juliet”, is well known for its magnificent summer opera season at the Arena, a vast Roman amphitheatre located in Piazza Bra.

Coming to Italy, any places you decide to visit in “II Belpaese” , surelly you will get a marvelous, rewarding and unforgettable holidays.