A Foundation of Success
Why Corporate Culture Matters
Corporate culture influences every aspect of your business, from employee engagement to customer satisfaction. A strong corporate culture aligns with your strategic goals, ensuring that every team member is working towards a common objective. At Core International, we believe that a healthy corporate culture is essential for every organization. It promotes innovation, enhances employee morale, and improves overall performance. By aligning your structure with your strategy, you can create a cohesive environment where your business can thrive.
Our clients often ask us…
What’s the connection between strategy, structure, and culture?
How do I decide whether the culture I have is the culture I want?
The term Corporate Culture was first used by Dr. Elliott Jaques, whose pioneering work includes Stratified Systems Theory—the foundation of the tool set we use with our clients. Elliott’s definition of the elements required to build and sustain a healthy culture is very clear and specific. It is based on four dimensions, and helps to connect the dots between strategy, structure, and culture.
The Four Dimensions of Corporate Culture:
1: Vision/Mission Alignment
A common and key principle of organization design work is “form follows function,” or “structure supports strategy.”
An organization’s strategy determines the nature of the work and work activities that need to take place.
A key driver of culture is understanding, at the individual and team level, how each person’s work, behaviours, outputs and contributions support the strategy.
2: Role clarity and structure
Structure establishes the boundaries of the human system that completes the work of the organization. It is the framework within which management distributes work, accountability and authority.
To be effective, individuals need to have a clear understanding of role accountabilities, decision authorities, and cross-boundary relationships.
A well-designed structure sets the conditions for effective decision making, task execution, goal achievement, teamwork and trust.
3: Managerial Leadership
A robust management system sets out the key accountabilities, role relationships and authorities that support effective completion of work within an organization.
The management system allows for effective, consistent, and trust enhancing behaviours by managers, employees, and managers-once-removed that are foundational to improving productivity, reducing bureaucracy and costs, and increasing shareholder value
4: Organizational Sustainability
Clear understanding of the work required and role accountability is vital to sustaining the drivers of culture and unleashing each individual’s potential.
Ensuring the right person is in the right role, doing the right work engages employees and drives business results. Sustaining organization culture requires the fair treatment of all employees and establishing clear and valued development opportunities.
How do you decide whether the corporate culture you have is the one you need?
Explore Our Expertise in Corporate Culture
Our partners have extensive experience in shaping corporate cultures that drive success. Read our latest article to gain valuable insights and practical tips on how to cultivate a strong corporate culture in your organization.
Authority Magazine
“Every company has a corporate culture. This culture can foster innovation and a fresh exchange of ideas or it can promote selfishness and backbiting which will damage the bottom line of any business. Sensitivity to the culture of a business goes beyond mere awareness; it’s about actively adapting and responding to create the culture that you want to represent your brand. This is crucial for building successful, respectful, and inclusive working environments and for creating products and services that resonate with a diverse customer base. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Core International’s Managing Partner Ed McMahon.”