Including cultural concepts, values, entrepreneurial spirit, ethics, code of conduct, historical traditions, enterprise system, internal and external environment of enterprises, enterprise management behavior, corporate social responsibility, enterprise products and image. Among them, the enterprise spirit and business philosophy that embody enterprise values are the core content of enterprise culture. As a kind of culture, corporate culture is not only an ideological thing, but also a material thing, a combination of spirit and material.
(A) the origin of corporate culture
In the middle and late 1970s, the most shocking event in the world economic history was the rapid rise of Japanese economy. An eastern island country with scarce resources and narrow territory has developed at an incredible speed in just two or three decades, jumping out of the world's third largest industrial country (and later becoming the second largest industrial country) and shocking the world. Therefore, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there appeared a research upsurge of Japanese-American management comparison in management circles. Scholars believe that American management pays attention to "hard" aspects and emphasizes rational management; Japanese management not only pays attention to "hard" aspects, but also pays attention to "soft" aspects: paying attention to cultural factors in enterprises. Pay attention to the values shared by all employees of the enterprise; Pay attention to enhancing employees' centripetal force and loyalty to the enterprise; Attach importance to interpersonal relationships in enterprises. Scholars regard these "soft" characteristics as a corporate culture. From 65438 to 0982, a series of works represented by the book Corporate Culture written by Terrence Deere and Ellen Kennedy appeared, which marked the rise of corporate culture research.
In 1980s, the reform and development broke the enterprise system, and the enterprises in China really started the process from monopoly to competition. "Corporate culture" began to attract the attention of the theoretical and business circles in China. 1984, when the enterprise lost1470,000 yuan, Zhang Ruimin of Haier Company first put forward the idea of putting culture first and enterprise concept first, which injected a shot in the arm for the construction of enterprise culture in China.
(B) the connotation of corporate culture
The following explains the connotation of corporate culture from the following angles:
1, corporate culture is a concept, which belongs to the ideological category in form.
Corporate culture belongs to the category of human thought and is the value concept of human beings. This kind of values and social morality belong to the same category. When we propose to govern society, we first propose to govern the country according to law, and people should abide by the law, but perfect laws sometimes fail. What is the constraint of invalid law? Relying on social morality, we should not only rule the country according to law, but also rule the country by virtue. The same is true of enterprise management. First of all, it depends on the enterprise system, but when the system is perfect, it will be invalid. What are the constraints of enterprise system failure? Subject to culture. Therefore, corporate culture, like social morality, is an inherent value concept. Is an internal constraint. That is to say, people's ideological self-discipline is a supplement to external constraints, but social morality has an effect on society, while corporate culture has an effect on enterprises, with different fields of action. Therefore, from the formal point of view, corporate culture is a concept belonging to the ideological category.
Because of this, corporate culture is extremely important. For example, the financial system is out of order, but if a person has the value concept of not taking money that doesn't belong to me, then even if the enterprise system doesn't constrain him, he won't take money that doesn't belong to him. On the contrary, if a person has the value of taking nothing, he will make mistakes once the financial system fails. ?
2. From the content point of view, corporate culture is a value concept that reflects corporate behavior.
In content, corporate culture is a reflection of the actual business process of the enterprise. Specifically, it is the institutional arrangement of the enterprise and the reflection of the strategic choice of the enterprise on human values. In other words, all related activities of an enterprise will be reflected in people's values, thus forming a corporate culture.
It can be seen that from the content, corporate culture is a kind of value concept related to corporate activities, not other values. It is the value concept that reflects all the activities of an enterprise in the actual operation process, and it is the reflection of human values in the enterprise system arrangement and strategic choice. For example, if an enterprise wants to widen the income gap in institutional arrangements, it must have the concept of hierarchical differences in corporate culture; For another example, if an enterprise wants to expand its business strategy, it must have the concept of integrity in its corporate culture, and so on.
In short, corporate culture is a kind of value concept that reflects corporate behavior in content. ?
3. Corporate culture is essentially a value concept attached to practice.
In fact, values can be divided into two categories, one is values that are believed and advocated, and the other is values that must be put into practice. Corporate culture is not only a value concept that enterprises believe in and advocate, but also a value concept that must be put into practice. Corporate culture really constrains employees' behavior, is a real value concept, and plays a role in the operation of enterprises.
Therefore, when we talk about corporate culture, we should understand that it actually has an effect on enterprises. Corporate culture has lost its due role without putting it into practice, and it is a dead letter.
4. Corporate culture belongs to corporate values in attributes.
Culture can be said to be a category corresponding to matter, so the content of culture is extremely rich. That is to say, for values, if they are classified from the subject they own, they can be divided into natural person values, national values, national values, corporate values and corporate values, and corporate culture belongs to the values of enterprises and is the soul of enterprises.
5. Functionally, corporate culture belongs to the value concept of standardizing corporate behavior.
Corporate culture, as the value concept of the enterprise, is the value concept that really plays a role in the enterprise; Corporate culture has played a very good role in regulating the behavior of enterprises and employees. For example, the symmetrical management concept of responsibility, right and benefit in corporate culture regulates the relationship between responsibility and right of employees; * * * enjoyment, * * commitment, ideas and norms in enterprises regulate the relationship between enterprises and employees in risk taking and benefit enjoyment.
In short, the core of corporate culture is the value concept of the enterprise. Its core element is the consistency of enterprise values. ?
(C) the composition of corporate culture
Based on various definitions and experiences at home and abroad, corporate culture is mainly divided into four layers, including: concept layer, system layer, behavior layer and material layer. According to the layering, a four-layer concentric circle model is established as follows:
Concept layer-also called moral layer-is the core layer of corporate culture, which stipulates the guiding concept, purpose, vision and mission of the enterprise, including enterprise spirit, enterprise management philosophy, enterprise ethics, enterprise values, enterprise slogan, enterprise style, etc., and is the main embodiment of the company's social value. Noble social values can be recognized by almost all stakeholders in the company and have a lasting incentive effect on shareholders, company executives and company employees. For example, Deere and Kennedy, the authors of Corporate Culture, found that two-thirds of the companies they investigated with clear beliefs did not take profit as the highest goal, but some lofty beliefs as the highest goal.
System level-it defines how to achieve the goals of enterprises, mainly including enterprise leadership system, enterprise organization and enterprise management system. Specifically, it includes business scale, operation mode, governance form, interpersonal relationship, management system, incentive mechanism, benefit distribution and so on.
Behavior layer-it defines the behavior norms and requirements of enterprise members to achieve their goals, including the behavior of entrepreneurs, the behavior of enterprise model figures and the behavior of enterprise employees.
Material layer-it defines the external performance of enterprise goals, including the products provided by enterprises, the enterprise environment and enterprise appearance, the enterprise production environment, and the modernization and civilization of technical equipment.