Culture Within Cultures
Back to: Energize Your Workforce With A Vibrant Company Culture
Within organizations you’ll find sub-cultures or mini-cultures within the larger culture. This is often driven by the style / background from one manager to another. In the feelings about being the “manual” laborers who work in the store or field versus those who work behind a desk.
Organization
The Human Resource and Training teams make sure everyone understands the culture of the company when you’re hired. This is the “template” for the organization culture.
But, then you also have…
Location
How employees behave in one store is slightly different from another. You often see this in chains, especially Starbucks. Customers experience the difference in behavior and attitude from one store to the next.
Team & Title
The cashiers who work the POS have a different culture than the guys who stock the shelves after midnight. The restaurant floor staff versus the kitchen staff.
The stereotypical difference between titles and status. The mailroom employees call the office workers “suits.” The COO makes reference to, “even the guy who sweeps the floors…”
Sub-Cultures develop because no two people are the same and have the same background. People bring their own styles and cultures they experienced from a previous organization. The ability to keep the intended organizational culture is based on…
- How effective your onboarding and training process is in explaining, demonstrating and reinforcing the intended culture, and
- How intense the individual is in maintaining and enforcing that culture.
