Many job seekers wonder what kind of company cultures they will find if they take a job in the tech industry. Corporate culture is what gets employees engaged in and excited about their jobs, but 51% of Americans told Gallup they are not enthusiastic about their work. But what is company culture? If you’re curious about how a tech company’s culture might differ from other industries, and what that might mean for you, here are the eight kinds of company culture you’ll find in tech.
What is corporate culture?
The corporate culture definition is as broad as the many kinds of businesses there are. In the most basic sense, organizational culture is the shared values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of a business. “I think that culture…permeates every aspect of your employee and customer experience,” said Jeb Banner, CEO of Boardable. “So it’s your brand, it’s your office, it’s your compensation…the values you have as an organization; defining those values, refining them over time, and even changing them over time to keep healthy.”
Outside these broad definitions, there are some company culture definition examples that demonstrate the many types of internal culture you might find in the tech industry. For instance, at Doxly, the focus is on shared wins between teammates and with clients, too. “We take each win together and we mean it that we want to help clients if they aren’t successful in how they use Doxly. But when we use [those opportunities] to say, okay, we’re going to win together… to be able to do that we must have a great environment where everyone feels supported and everyone feels celebrated.” Metonymy Media CEO Ryan Brock added that sometimes this is intentional, but sometimes it can’t be. “Culture I think is just a collection of every little moment, of different people interacting with each other, trying to work together,” Brock said.
8 types of company culture you’ll find in tech
These company culture types just represent some of the 8 types of company culture. When it comes to the adjectives to describe culture, the 8 types of company culture vary based on both how flexible and how independent the environment is. Some types of corporate culture might encourage personal independence, but not allow full flexibility. These roles will be more results oriented, while other types of culture allow more flexibility and prioritize employee enjoyment more than results. Types of organizational culture in healthcare or other regulated industries will likely be more interdependent, but still allow flexibility for the sake of purpose or caring for staff. “Corporate culture is created by what people value and the way that translates into the way decisions get made, and the way that it translates into what kinds of behaviors get recognized and celebrated,” observed Heather Haas, president of ADVISA.
Eight Types of Tech Company Culture:
- Purpose Culture: compassionate, open-minded employees united around a cause
- Caring Culture: loyal employees motivated to work well due to personal relationships with colleagues
- Order Culture: methodical employees united around rules and standards
- Safety Culture: risk conscious and aware employees who like to plan ahead
- Authority Culture: a strongly competitive environment where people seek to get ahead for personal gain
- Results Culture: a merit-based culture where successful goal achievement is rewarded
- Enjoyment Culture: a light-hearted, stimulating environment where every day is different
- Learning Culture: a culture where innovation and new insights are prized among curious employees
Heidi Barker of Parker Technology shed some inside light on how an org determines their direction on this list. “It really does depend on the business you have, the clients that you’re serving, and what you’re trying to accomplish…. Take a step back and say ‘what are we really trying to bring in?’”
One types of organizational culture pdf breaks the possible answer down into 4 categories, while this types of organizational culture ppt also answers with four categories…but different ones. Others identify seven types of organizational culture, not eight. Ultimately, anyone can say all they want about their culture, but the proof is in the daily lives of the employees in the company.
Other company culture examples
When asked about employer branding, Joe Mills of Element Three said, “We tell clients, you can’t imitate culture, so you have to think about your own. We don’t focus on good vs bad culture, just culture that is authentically yours.” Positive organizational culture is obvious in the daily lives of the employees working at a tech company, but there are also bad corporate culture examples. In fact, a survey of 12,000 tech workers by Biz Journals found that slightly more than half consider their work environments unhealthy or toxic. Intel, Amazon, and eBay were found to be some of the weak organizational culture examples in the survey. Over 40% of the employees at each of those companies found them toxic.
On the flip side, some good company culture examples were LinkedIn, Google, and Uber. Many of the good corporate culture examples are among businesses that have recently faced employee dissatisfaction head-on and made authentic changes. This just goes to show that company culture words are only the beginning, and that those words must be put into action to mean anything in the real world.
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CATEGORY: Culture