What Is Organizational Culture?

Organizational culture includes an organization’s expectations, experiences, philosophy, as well as the values that guide member behavior, and is expressed in member self-image, inner workings, interactions with the outside world, and future expectations. Culture is based on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and written and unwritten rules that have been developed over time and are considered valid (The Business Dictionary).

Culture also includes the organization’s vision, values, norms, systems, symbols, language, assumptions, beliefs, and habits (Needle, 2004).

Simply stated, organizational culture is “the way things are done around here” (Deal & Kennedy, 2000).

While the above definitions of culture express how the construct plays out in the workplace, other definitions stress employee behavioral components, and how organizational culture directly influences the behaviors of employees within an organization.

Under this set of definitions, organizational culture is a set of shared assumptions that guide what happens in organizations by defining appropriate behavior for various situations (Ravasi & Schultz, 2006). Organizational culture affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders. Also, organizational culture may influence how much employees identify with their organization (Schrodt, 2002).

In business terms, other phrases are often used interchangeably, including “corporate culture,” “workplace culture,” and “business culture.”