Organizational Culture – How Vital Is IT?
I was in the pub last night talking to a friend of mine who is also employed in the HR industry. As the beer flowed, we did not talk about proper pub chats like Poland beating Wales on penalties to go through to the Euros. No, being the sad old men that we are, we started talking about organizational structures and how important it is that company values should dictate the company culture.
The Sweet Success of Cadbury
Bad cultures include things like the mass sacking of staff via email, as happened not so long ago, compared to good cultures of flagship companies around the world – those for which people will happily wait for a chance to join as they have already bought into the values it represents and the opportunities for good and well rewarded employment.
I live in Birmingham which is famous for three things, first building motor cars, second the Peaky Blinders TV show, and third the Cadbury’s chocolate factory that today celebrates 200 years of making chocolate that is loved around the world. I know people who work there, and one of the perks that they offer staff is free chocolate. This sounds great, however the reality is that once the novelty wears off no one bothers any more.
Workplace Culture: Lessons Learned from Cadbury’s Legacy
The strong religious values of the Quaker Cadburys family have been at the heart of the factory and its workforce for two centuries, so clearly they have done something right with whole families and generations joining the Cadbury family.
Key to this success is ensuring that the employee has a consistent experience reinforced by positive impressions and experiences. Cadburys did this really well: they built their own village, Bournville, to house the workforce, as well as schools and parks and recreation areas. Interestingly, because they were Quakers they did not build a single pub as they were tee-total, so clearly I could never live there.
How to make an employee an ambassador of the company?
It is as much about building an identity that the employee feels a part of, so that they end up becoming almost ambassadors for the brand. The reason for this in the case of the Cadbury family can be traced back to the founder of the Cadbury dynasty, John Cadbury. He started his empire by opening a small shop in Bull Street in Birmingham in 1824. He made his own cocoa and drinking chocolate using a mortar and pestle, which the locals loved. Then he brought a warehouse and his two sons George and Richard got involved and the rest is history. Different generations of the same family with the exact same values just kept doing the right things.
And that is what good organizations do, while others do not. So it’s always worth remembering why your Company has values. If it does not have any, why not? Go and build your own based on what you believe and once you identify them then live by them, after all what have you got to lose?
Author: Austin Birks, CEO, Verita HR Group
