Corporate culture: a critical fit

Nic Howell

Corporate culture is the common thread woven through every organization. It is all-pervasive. It can manifest itself explicitly – in hours worked, office environment, rewards or even dress codes. At other times culture can be less obvious but just as powerful, determining behavior towards fellow staff, management style and attitudes towards risk and decision-making.

For most executives, working in an unsuitable corporate culture will be a huge drag on their career. At best, it will mean a clash of styles. At worst it will make their lives a misery and prevent them fulfilling their promise.

Brian McGowan, consultant with Spencer Stuart in Atlanta, says that achieving cultural 'fit' is critical when matching candidate to company.

The more senior the role, the more delivery becomes expected – the question is not whether you can achieve results but how you go achieving them. “It is very easy to find someone who is a technical fit”, says McGowan. “The challenge – and why we're in business – is to people who are a natural fit in terms of chemistry and will fit the culture of an employer.”

Culture goes beyond the mission statement

Although pinning culture down can be difficult, companies sometimes attempt their own definitions. In 1957, Hewlett-Packard's co-founders David Packard and Bill Hewlett sought to enshrine the corporate culture of their high-tech company by publishing The HP Way. The book was their statement of cultural intent, explicitly stating values such as respect for others, community and hard work.

Such written guidance left new HP employees in no doubt as to the company they had joined. Since then, many companies have attempted to sum up their aims and values in writing.

The problem is that often these exercises say more about aspirations than they do about working at the company on a day-to-day basis. To find out more about a prospective employer, you need to go beyond the mission statement. Whether corporate culture is spelled out for you or not, you need to research it for yourself.

Basic culture clues

To get some basic co-ordinates on a company, start with the business press. The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Financial Times, and Business Week may well have covered the organization., while analyst reports, specialized trade press and directories can provide further background. Business books about the company, including autobiographies by its senior management, will usually give a feel for its culture as well as provide a useful background. Your research would not be complete without using the Internet. A visit to the company's website will certainly tell you how the company wants to be seen by the outside world.

Ask the right questions

Brian McGowan advises using your own network to find out what's going on inside the company. Make contact with current and former employees of the company to find out what it's like to work there.

Bear in mind that 'culture' is a highly subjective term that means different things to everyone. Simply asking, “what is the culture like?” will not deliver as much useful information as open-ended questions that probe attitudes and behaviors. The following sample questions can help map out company culture:

• What behaviors. and management styles are rewarded?
• What is the “hours” culture?
• What is the company's attitude to risk and failure?
• What are the company's guiding values?
• How does the company communicate with its people?
• How accessible is the senior management?
• How does the company involve its people in the business?

By asking all your contacts the same set of questions, themes will rapidly emerge. Asking the right questions should continue into the interview stage when you are meeting people at your potential employer. Throughout the process, listen out for differences of opinion so you gain a balanced perspective. “I always tell a candidate to look for discrepancies,” says Stephen Patrick, partner at Spencer Stuart London.

The consultant perspective

This fieldwork provides valuable data when working with a search firm. The earlier you begin gathering this data the better. “The best candidates do their homework ahead of meeting the consultant,” comments McGowan.

A reputable search firm will have conducted its own detailed research into its client's culture. At Spencer Stuart, this is formalized in a familiarization study, also known as an “e” (environment) study.

As part of this study, all the decision-makers involved with an appointment are interviewed by Spencer Stuart individually to identify what is being sought and, crucially, build a picture of the company's culture.

However sensitive the findings are, the process is kept as objective as possible so that an accurate candidate specification can be drawn up. Such rigour has the effect of holding up a mirror to the company. “We're always brave – often we tell the client things that they don't want to hear,” says Patrick.

While the familiarization study can add value beyond the recruitment brief, its primary purpose is to help the consultant understand the company's need. “Our job is to understand the psyche of the candidate and the psyche of the client,” Patrick explains, “and make sure both sides know what they are getting.”

The aim is more than mere corporate match-making. Every brief also has to take into account the amount of change required – sometimes Spencer Stuart will deliberately recommend candidates who are capable of acting as change agents at their new organization.

It's your due diligence

While consultants should be able to provide a valuable briefing on the culture of a prospective employer, assessing the cultural fit depends ultimately on you.

“The best people ask the best questions, and that's what due diligence is,” says Stephen Patrick. Corporate culture will be one of the most important considerations in sizing up a new role, so it’s in your interests to research it as thoroughly as you can. If you want to get to the heart of a company’s culture, start asking questions.

The five dimensions of corporate culture

The term “corporate culture” is usually attributed to Edgar Schein, professor at the Sloan School of Management at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Schein's work on corporate culture culminated in the 1985 book Organizational Culture and Leadership. He describes culture as:
A pattern of basic assumptions – invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration – that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.

These basic assumptions, says Schein, can be categorized into five dimensions:

• Relationship to nature
  Some companies see themselves as masters of their own destiny. Others are submissive, willing to accept the domination of their external environment.
• Perceptions of reality and truth
  Organizations and managers adopt a variety of methods to reach what becomes accepted as the organizational “truth”. This can be through debate, dictatorship or, by doing – if something achieves the objective it must be right.
• Views on human nature
  Organizations differ in their views of human nature. Some work on the principle that people will not do a job if they can avoid it. Others regard people more positively and try to enable them to fulfill their potential, for the benefit of both sides.
• Attitudes towards human activity
  The Western world has traditionally emphasis ed tasks and their completion rather than the more philosophical side of work. Different corporate cultures have different stances on this issue.
• The nature of human relationships
  Organizations make a variety of assumptions about how people interact with each other. Some facilitate social interaction, while others regard it as an unnecessary distraction.

These five categories are not mutually exclusive and are in a constant state of development and flux. Use them to plot the data you gather on a company and make sense of its culture.
Understanding corporate culture

• Corporate culture manifests itself in every aspect of an organization.
• Understanding corporate culture is vital for success in a new role.
• There is no substitute for gathering your own data.
• As well as standard reference sources, tap into your network.
• Don’t rely on your consultant alone.