Corporate culture and the culture of enterprise are complex concepts. They aren\u2019t created on demand, and they don\u2019t evolve along a standardised path. It\u2019s simply not possible, given that a culture is made up of people, of individuals, not of machines. Although easy enough to understand on the surface, culture of enterprise is actually a set of approaches, ideas and interpretations of reality that is not easy to define and even less so to fully analyse.<\/p>\n
\u201cInfluence of corporate culture on innovative activity of employees of the enterprises\u201d, recently published by the Russian Academy of Sciences, is of help in this regard precisely because it seeks to define the complexity of corporate culture. V. N. Belkin, N. A. Belkina, O. A. Antonova and N. A. Luzin, the authors of the study, seek to understand corporate culture as a system of culture, morals and aesthetics which is introduced into the employees\u2019 working lives by the employer and by its CEO. It is based on this system that the rules and regulations of employee relations, customs, traditions and company habits are formed, as well as on business and technical knowledge, moral and social principles, and even aesthetic guidelines given that the company\u2019s image is reflected in its culture and vice versa, but it is also formed by the behaviour and interpersonal relationships that are established within the organisation\u2019s walls. According to the study, a company creates a complex, varied and multifaceted cultural system out of production and quality procedures, methods of employee organisation, electronic and hard-copy catalogues, and its various actions of social responsibility, and this culture needs to be seen as a whole in order to understand where the business itself is headed.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s not all, because the study then looks into the fact that corporate culture is connected with the general culture of the nation in which the organisation operates, both reflecting it and, to a certain extent, also contradicting it, and it is also possible to see conflict between conflict between the cultural values of the organisation and those of its employees. \u00a0Taking Japanese firms, and Toyota in particular, as case studies, the authors continue by explaining that high levels of employee innovation are not achieved through separate systems of material and moral incentives, but through the whole system of labour relations that is built upon the foundations of corporate culture. \u00a0This is a goal that is certainly difficult to reach, but one which can truly be the way forward for many businesses, particularly in times of economic difficulty such as the crisis that we continue to face to this day.<\/p>\n
One of the key ideas that emerge from the article is that people must be at the heart of corporate culture, not just the goods and services produced.<\/p>