adminCORPORATE culture is usually defined as a set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and determines how it perceives, thinks and reacts to various environments.
National and cultural beliefs seem to have a significant effect on ethical beliefs, shaping what individuals regard as acceptable business practices. It is these beliefs that ultimately determine the DNA of a company and how it relates to the market.
In essence, it shapes its corporate philosophy. Differences in the corporate culture of organisations can manifest themselves in the form of individualism or collectivism, power distance, risk-taking appetite and masculinity and feminity.
Individualism and collectivism describes the extent to which the corporate culture emphasises the autonomous individual as opposed to group and community goals. If, for instance, the company operates based on what the CEO likes and not what is best for the company, the culture at that organisation may be to please the CEO. Between 1977 and 1988, eminent business thought leaders John Kotter and James Heskett researched 207 companies in 22 industries and discovered that corporate culture affects economic performance.
Their research indicated that a company outperforms its counterparts when its culture emphasises customers, investors and employees. They also found that a business has to fit its business environment and adapt to changes for it to be successful.
It is believed that companies that have experienced only short-term success differ from those that have enjoyed long-term success in one key way: they have no time to introduce changes to their corporate culture. With time, the same culture that once suited the environment and facilitated growth can become a hindrance.
To a greater extent, the hyper-inflationery environment that affected Zimbabwe – fuelled by economic embargoes sponsored by the United States and European Union – seriously distorted the country’s corporate culture.
Unscrupulous thrift and convenient short cuts became handy tools of doing business. The cancer has grown so big that corruption now seems to be an acceptable norm. Although there exists efforts to stop the scourge, the problem has become so deep-seated that more effort is still needed.
Most people are now obsessed with personal gain rather than the interest of the company or Government, and this comes at a cost. Kickbacks have become central to most businesses, and the State Procurement Board has been the worst affected.
There is belief that some of tenders are not won on merit but simply because someone is getting something in return.
The economic cost of awarding tenders to undeserving and in some cases incompetent service providers is huge.
Suffice to say, our culture has to change from being motivated by greed to being driven by the desire to focus on national developmental goals. Similarly, a culture of talking more and acting less has to be eliminated. It doesn’t mean that the more eloquent a manager is, the more efficient he becomes.
Many CEOs are very good at talking and selling their ideas but unfortunately cannot competently steer their companies to success. They compensate what they lack for in competence with a spell-binding ability to talk.
Quite clearly, there is need to inculcate a results-driven culture, including in the public sector. Not only is there a problem of inefficiency, there is now a dearth of ethics and principles. There are now growing cases where businesses do not honour undertakings they make to creditors and suppliers. It is slowly becoming the norm that some businesses simply do not pay for goods or services, especially those received on credit.
Some only pay after inordinate and painful delays. This cannot be good for business.
While it must be acknowledged that in some cases the reason for delaying payments might be genuine, most often it is a sheer reluctance to pay.
Clearly the culture of dodging suppliers and creditors is a terrible culture.
Integrity is what defines businesses in the market place. It builds brands and grows businesses; thus, it is sacrosanct to business. It is always good to be honest with your stakeholders.
Lies and dishonesty can never be good for business. The situation is even made worse if a company has workers that have a culture of skiving work. As the wages and salaries in most organisations are not linked to production, workers can conveniently skip work and be paid their full salaries. This seriously affects production.
Zimbabweans are known to be hard workers and this culture should not die.
It is not all doom and gloom as some organisations are on the right path.
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority seems to be working hard to change how their business is being conducted.
They have introduced some very strong systems that make it difficult for companies and Zimra employees to engage in corruption. It definitely eliminates short cuts and is bound to increase revenue collections for Zimra in the long run. Putting strong systems can surely change an organisation’s culture.
Culture, particularly in large organisations that have a great deal of internal momentum, can be difficult to influence or change. The size of the organisation and the strength of its culture are the biggest contributors to cultural inertia.
Big and strong organisational cultures will always have a powerful tendency to continue moving in the direction they are already moving (momentum). Therefore, managers must understand not only how to create a culture but also how to change it when necessary to ensure a positive efficient and ethical culture. If a company is not performing well, it might be advisable for it to change its culture.
Taurai Changwa is an articled accountant, ACCA finalist and MD of SAFIC Consultancy. He writes in his personal capacity and can be contacted at [email protected], Facebook page SAFIC Consultancy, and WhatsApp on 0772374784
Online Reporter