When culture is the key to success

Warren Buffett said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” Having ethics in the organization and a strong culture that both costumers and employees believe in is the key to success. As Cinny Little mentions on her blog, “strong organizational culture is a powerful talent attractor.” When people believe in the culture of an organization, they want to become part of it and thus there is a huge pull of applicants for each job position. The company is then able to choose among the best employees in the workforce.

In organizations where there is customer service, such as airline companies or restaurants, the more the employee believes in the organizational culture, the more willing he is to help the costumer. Costumers gradually become loyal to the companies because they enjoy having good customer service and the organisation enjoys repeated sales. For example, as Ken Makovsky mentions in his blog, the success of Southwest Airlines mostly lies on its culture. As mentioned in the blog, Southwest inspires employees with the mission and the vision statement of the organization. Employees believe in what they do and that is reflected in their work, which in turn satisfies customers.

Ken Makovsky’s blog shows that Southwest Airlines values transparency among employees. This technique enables employees to feel included in the decision making process, which then makes them more willing to carry out the decisions made. The employees can follow the culture of the organization because they are selected mainly on the premise of whether they fit the culture or not. Sometimes it is better to select a “less skillful” employee that is perfectly in line with the organizational structure than one that is the “most competent” one. If the “most competent” one cannot eventually integrate himself into the organizational culture, chances are he will quit or not be motivated to work as efficiently, which is harmful for the organization.

The most important role of organizational culture is to make employees included. Simple things such as a company moto can significantly contribute to the employees’ sense of belonging to the organisation. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs highly emphasizes the importance of social needs in employee motivation and organizational structure highly contributes to that.

1 thought on “When culture is the key to success

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *