Organizational culture is linked with organizational performance. It is among the most critical drivers of worker productivity, research has highlighted. It plays an imminent role in driving faster growth for both small and large organizations. However, apart from the other factors, culture is known to play a distinctive role in maximizing worker satisfaction and strengthening employer-employee relationships.
There are several examples across various industries that prove how organizational culture drives both worker performance and higher job satisfaction. Starbucks, Netflix, Facebook, Apple and Google are all examples of excellent organizational cultures. The tech industry is replete with examples of organizations that found faster growth and became industry leaders through a critical focus on organizational culture. In terms of job satisfaction, organizational culture can drive higher motivation, superior performance and faster innovation. Teamwork is important for organizations that want to grow their productivity faster. However, that requires creating an organizational culture that drives teamwork and collaboration across the organization at various levels.
There are also many examples, which show that the organizations which could not fix their cultures, experienced higher attrition and lower worker morale. Toxic cultures and micromanagement hurt worker productivity. The role of the leadership is also critical in this regard.
Culture can driver higher employee motivation:
Across all industries, organizational culture is positively linked with employee motivation and job satisfaction.
The organizations that have established a culture of creativity and focus on inclusion and diversity, experience growth in employee motivation. When employees feel more included, they feel motivated to work for such organizations. While there are several factors that drive higher employee motivation, companies that focus on organizational culture can achieve superior results faster.
An innovative culture is often linked with higher employee motivation across various industries including tech industry and healthcare. An innovative culture encourages employees to take challenges. Organizations that have established an innovative culture are also more resilient compared to their rivals.
One such example is Apple. An innovative culture drives individual employees to focus on taking challenges and achieving faster growth. Higher employee motivation is also linked with faster growth momentum.
In the 21st century, the focus on employee motivation and organizational culture has increased. Companies have come to recognize the importance of having motivated employees onboard.
Companies like Salesforce, Facebook and Google have achieved superior growth through their people oriented cultures. Their organizational cultures despite being distinct from each other are known to drive higher job satisfaction among employees.
Culture drives higher retention rates:
Organizational culture is like a glue that keeps people working for an organization together.
If employees like the culture of an organization that they work for, they will remain with it for longer.
It is why modern organizations apart from establishing an innovative organizational culture, also focus on inclusion and diversity.
However, the companies should also look for employees that fit well in their organizational cultures and environment.
Selecting the right employees to work for the organization helps companies avoid the extra costs that come with higher attrition rates.
One of the key factors that drives higher employee retention is employee engagement.
Research has shown that culture is inextricably linked with employee engagement.
Engaged employees will go above and beyond to deliver their best possible performance for their companies. Higher employee engagement is also linked with faster growth.
The critical thing that the leaders need to understand is that organizational culture and employee engagement are positively interlinked. Companies must listen to their employees to make continuous improvements to their company culture.
While on the one hand, it will help improve the organizational culture, on the other, it will help you retain your top talent for longer.
Higher employee engagement is a sign of a creative organizational culture and also leads to higher job satisfaction for employees.
Culture makes employees feel valued and respected:
Establishing a culture of respect and inclusiveness helps companies foster a feeling of unity throughout the organization.
Such companies are able to drive superior employee performance and higher job satisfaction.
Employees like to work for companies that value their contribution.
When employees feel like being valued and respected they feel motivated to deliver their best possible performance.
Let’s take Salesforce for example.
The CRM market leader refers to its people as a community.
The focus is on maximizing not just employee performance but also employee satisfaction and happiness. Ohana culture has played a vital role in driving higher employee happiness throughout the organization.
Ohana refers to the idea that families are bound together and that family members are responsible for one another.
Such cultures drive higher cohesiveness across the entire organization since they work as the glue that binds people together.
It also promotes higher employee accountability. Employees respect each other and feel responsible for one another’s happiness.
While it eliminates friction and other factors that can hurt employee motivation, it also drives higher satisfaction and a feeling of security and well-being throughout the organization.
A creative organizational culture helps instill a feeling of community among the employees and a sense of togetherness.
When employees support each other, they feel like a part of the family. It will drive both superior performance and higher retention rates.
It again establishes the fact that creative organizational cultures can give rise to an employee support system that enables them to tackle bigger challenges and work with motivation, while also experiencing higher job satisfaction and happiness and a stronger balance between their personal and professional lives.
Right work culture and the right work environment boost job satisfaction:
Both organizational culture and work environment are linked to higher employee satisfaction.
It is known that the organizations that have created a great work environment are able to maximize employee satisfaction and worker productivity.
Employees want career stability but they also want a safe, secure, balanced, and pleasant work environment.
However, creating the right work environment requires focusing first on the organizational culture.
Organizational culture and values can have a significant impact on the work environment and worker productivity.
The companies that have established an innovative work culture, find it easier to create the right work environment which sets their employees in the mood to deliver their best.
HP, one of the leaders in the PC industry, is among the earliest examples of how culture can drive fast paced innovation, higher employee creativity, organizational growth and higher job satisfaction for employees.
It became the leading example of a people oriented company that believed in providing its employees the right work environment across the globe. Brian Armstrong, the cofounder and CEO of Coinbase, writes,
“In Silicon Valley, you have HP to thank for flexible work hours, casual dress codes, employee stock options, and the idea of “management by walking around”. Most companies hit on one big idea, and are never able to make innovation repeatable. HP is a great case study in how to build a string of successful products and make innovation repeatable.”
Brian Armstrong on Medium.
Having the right work culture and work environment will boost worker productivity and help grow the organization faster.
While it boosts employee morale and satisfaction, it also improves customer satisfaction.
Culture drives team spirit:
There is a popular saying – “United we stand, divided we fall”. It is just as true in a business context as in a social or political context. Companies that want to prosper try to bring their people together and create large and cohesive teams.
Teamwork is the key to superior performance and higher organizational productivity.
In the technology industry especially, it is important for business leaders and managers to focus on teamwork.
However, the main question that most business leaders and managers face is how to bring their people together. Culture is a central driving force that binds people in an organization together.
An organizational culture of innovation and teamwork drives people to take challenges and collaborate.
Employees feel accountable in their roles but they also bear a sense of responsibility for their colleagues. Many times employees feel better working in teams rather than working in separate silos.
Several organizations have worked on developing cultures that bring higher unity among their employees.
However, these companies also make their other stakeholders feel valued and included.
For many leading organizations, unity is an important organizational value and an intrinsic part of their organizational culture.
Culture strengthens employer employee relationships:
Good organizations believe in their people. They create a work culture and environment that fosters higher trust in the employer-employee relationship.
Trust is important if organizations want to build long term relationships with their stakeholders including their employees.
Higher trust leads to a stronger bonding between the two and as a result, superior performance and higher job satisfaction for employees. In the words of Dave Packard, the cofounder of HP,
“From the beginning, Bill Hewlett and I have had a strong belief in people. It has always been important to Bill and me to create an environment in which people have a chance to be their best, to realize their potential, and to be recognized for their achievements.”
Dave Packard. HP Cofounder.
However, it is not just about creating an environment where your people can find faster growth and flourish.
It is a question of mutual trust and that is where the answer to several ills that a vast number of organizations face lies.
If organizations can build trust by valuing their employees’ contributions and creating a culture that makes everyone feel included and valued, their employees will be happy and the bottom line stronger.