Company Culture
“If someone asked you to recite your corporate values or mission statement without looking it up, could you?”
- Hsieh, Tony (2010-05-20). Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose (p. 139). Business Plus. Kindle Edition.
I thought about it, and if someone were to ask me that question about the place I work at, I would seriously respond with: To sell. It’s sad because after reading a book that enforces my idea of what company culture should be like, I realize that I work at a place where the intended goal of the company is to sell at all costs. This includes suppressing company culture and staff unity for the sake of profiting. Hsieh states in his book that company culture, to him, is extremely important. After careful thought, he asked his staff to submit answers to the question, “What does Zappos culture mean to you?” Hsieh wanted their honest opinion, and allowed them to submit the answers anonymously if they wanted. They were simply asked not to discuss their answers with each other because he wanted each individual honest opinion. Where I work, they feel that an employee’s honest opinion is just a complaint. True. It may be at times; however, if you pool all those complaints into one giant pile, and find the similarities between each one, you’ll find something much bigger. In other words, read between the lines.
If that specific idea were used at the place I work at, I could probably assume that every single letter would be filled with hate and disdain. Not for the physical act of actually working, but for the lack of respect employees receive as a group. Here’s what I’ve noticed, people don’t mind working. People don’t mind putting in effort. However, ones’ relationship with work is like ones’ relationship with any other person. If the other person isn’t going to show appreciation for the amount of work and effort you put in, why work so hard? Simple as that.
Now, thinking about it again, to say that there is no company culture at my workplace would be a lie. Every company has a culture; however, it isn’t always as positive. Company culture IS NOT what the company defines as its culture. That’s like if Panda Express claimed their food was authentic Chinese food without the consensus of the Chinese people, in which the entire concept would be silly of course. What defines company culture, or culture in general is, according to wikipedia, “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization, or group.” The idea doesn’t need to be written down or explicitly stated, but it still exists. In the case of the place I work, it isn’t my place to necessarily define the culture, being that I’m only one person with an opinion. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t be surprised if the shared attitude about the place would be of disdain, and what is valued between everyone would be the time and experiences enjoyed with each other.
As I sit here typing this, I notice two giants sitting to my right stuffing their face with crispy chicken. I’m a fattist. =(
