Organisational culture. How to build it and why is it worth it?

The organizational culture of a company is a collection of shared values, beliefs, and behaviors that shape the way a team works and the relationships with customers – it goes far beyond the regulations or values listed on the website. According to the Gallup meta-analysis (11th edition, May 2024), teams with the highest levels of engagement achieve 23% higher profitability than teams with the lowest levels of engagement. In this article, we show what the organizational culture consists of and how to consciously build it.

What is organisational culture?

Organizational culture is an unwritten code that shapes the atmosphere in the workplace, influences decision-making, and determines the way the company interacts with customers and business partners. It permeates every aspect of a company’s functioning: recruitment processes, the way employees are trained, the way products are developed, and the way the company is managed. internal communication, The approach to innovation and relationships with external clients. A strong organizational culture can become a tool in the hands of leaders, helping to achieve business goals and build competitive advantage – but only if it is consciously shaped, not left to chance.

Scheina model – three levels of organizational culture

Edgar Schein, one of the most frequently cited researchers on the topic, described organizational culture as a structure of three levels:

The discrepancy between the second level (declared values) and the third (actual assumptions) is the most common reason why employees do not believe in the values written on the company website – the declaration and daily practice are at odds with each other.

Four types of organizational culture according to Cameron and Quinn

Another frequently used model – the Competing Values Framework, developed by Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn – describes organizational culture in four types that rarely occur in a pure form, but help to understand which direction the company naturally tends towards:

• Clan culture – oriented towards cooperation, relationships and mentoring, typical of smaller, family-run organizations.
• Culture of adhocracy – oriented towards innovation, flexibility, and taking risks, common in startups and technology companies.
• Market culture – focused on results, competitiveness and the achievement of goals, typical of companies focused on rapid growth in sales.
• Culture of hierarchy – based on procedures, stability and predictability, common in large, formalized organizations and in administration.

None of these types is inherently „better” – the hierarchy culture works well in regulated industries where repeatability and compliance with procedures are important, while the adhocracy culture – where speed of reaction to market changes gives an advantage – appears to be more appropriate. The problem arises when the declared type of culture (e.g. „we are innovative”) does not match the structure and processes that the company actually applies on a daily basis. Many organizations combine elements of several types at the same time – the R&D department may operate in an adhocracy style, while the finance department of the same company needs a culture closer to hierarchy, and this is a natural, not a mistaken situation.

Edgar Schein, a recognised expert on organisational culture, distinguishes three levels of this phenomenon:

 

1. Artefacts - visible elements such as the logo, office design or dress code.

2. Values - the officially declared principles and objectives of the organisation.

3. Basic assumptions - deeply ingrained, often unconscious beliefs and attitudes.

The importance of organizational culture – examples of companies

The example of Zappos, known for its exceptional approach to customer service, illustrates well how far a consciously built organizational culture can go. As described by the Harvard Business Review (2008), Zappos offers new employees 2,000 dollars to leave the company after completing an onboarding training – the company prefers to pay and part with the person who does not fit the organizational culture than to keep them on the payroll. The new employees also undergo several weeks of customer service training before they start taking calls themselves, and they do not use ready-made scripts in conversations with customers.

Another often-cited example is Google, where a culture of experimentation and acceptance of risk has led to the creation of many products, including Gmail – the company has been known for years for its policy of allowing engineers to dedicate part of their working time to their own side projects. Zappos and Google show two different aspects of the same mechanism: a strong, cohesive organizational culture translates into how the company actually operates on a day-to-day basis, not just what it declares in recruitment materials.

It is worth noting that both examples have a common denominator: the organizational culture was supported by a concrete, costly mechanism for the company, and not just by a slogan. Zappos really pays for the departure of people who do not fit the culture – this is a cost that the company consciously bears in order not to keep people who do not fit the team on payroll. Similarly, on a smaller scale: a company that declares openness to experimentation, but punishes an employee for a failed attempt at a new solution, in practice builds a culture of fear of risk, regardless of what is written in the value document.

Organizational culture in a smaller company

Examples of large, well-known companies are easily dismissed by the statement „it’s impossible for us; we’re too small”. In practice, a smaller company has an advantage in this regard: organizational culture is formed faster because fewer people need to be convinced of the change, and the decisions of the owner or management board are visible to the team almost immediately. The disadvantage is that in a small organization culture often relies solely on the personality of the founder – when the founder leaves or the company grows and hires middle-level managers, the lack of written, clear rules leads to a disconnect between departments. Therefore, the moment the company exceeds a few dozen people is a good point to consciously document values instead of continuing to rely solely on informal verbal communication.

How to build an organizational culture step by step?

Building a strong organizational culture requires a strategic approach and commitment at all levels of the company, not just declarations from the management.

1. Define the company's values and mission – values must go beyond empty slogans and reflect the organization’s real beliefs, not just what sounds good in marketing materials.
2. Involve employees in the culture creation process – culture imposed from above, without the participation of the team, rarely gets fully accepted. Workshops and internal surveys help to verify how the culture is really perceived, not just declared.
3. Communicate values and expectations clearly and consistently – vague, general-purpose phrases are more difficult to incorporate into everyday practice than specific, understandable rules of conduct.
4. Create consistent practices and rituals – regular meetings where the team discusses current work in terms of the company’s goals and values help maintain consistency in actions, rather than leaving values solely on a poster in the conference room.
5. Set an example from the top – leaders whose daily decisions and behaviors are inconsistent with their declared values weaken the culture faster than any internal message could strengthen it.

Benefits of a strong organisational culture

A strong organizational culture is not an objective in itself – it translates into specific, measurable areas of the company’s functioning.

• Engagement and financial results. According to the meta-analysis of the Gallup Q12 (11th edition, May 2024), teams in the top quartile of engagement achieve a median 23% higher profitability than teams in the bottom quartile of the same study.
• Retaining talent. Employees who identify with the company’s values are less likely to look for another employer – this reduces the costs of recruiting and onboarding new people.
• Innovation. A culture that tolerates trial and error encourages the testing of new solutions – a team that fears the consequences of failure is less likely to propose something new.
• The company's image outside. The way a company treats its own employees sooner or later becomes visible to customers and job candidates as well.
• Resilience to crises. Companies with a clearly defined culture make more consistent decisions in unusual situations because the team knows what rules to follow, rather than waiting for instructions from every level of management.

The most common mistakes in building organizational culture

• Values written down but not rewarded in practice. If a company declares openness to feedback but punishes people who report it, employees quickly stop believing in internal communications.
• Culture built only at the level of the HR department. Without the involvement of line managers, these values do not translate into day-to-day decisions for teams.
• Lack of consistency between departments. A different work culture in the sales department and another one in production hinder collaboration and internal communication.
• Treating culture as a one-time project. The workshop or a new document of value without further action returns to its previous state within a few months.
• No measurement. Without regular surveys (engagement questionnaires, exit interview discussions), it is difficult to determine whether the culture is actually changing or only the communication about it is changing.
• Copying another company's culture 1:1. What works in a technology company with an adhocracy culture may not work in a manufacturing company where safety procedures and process repeatability are crucial.

How to measure organizational culture?

Organizational culture can and should be measured, rather than relying solely on the management’s impression. The basic tools are: periodic engagement surveys (preferably anonymous and compared year by year), exit interview conversations with people leaving the company, employee turnover rates broken down by department, and qualitative group interviews. The result of a single study doesn’t say much without a point of reference – only comparing it with a previous measurement or with the industry average shows whether the culture is actually changing in the direction chosen by the company.

Numbers alone will not replace conversations with the team – the survey shows that something is changing, but it does not always explain why. Therefore, a good practice is to combine quantitative data (survey results, rotation) with qualitative conversations that allow understanding the reasons behind the numbers before the management makes a decision to change the organization.

Organizational culture and employer branding from Commplace – how we help

The organizational culture that the company shows on the outside should be consistent with how the company really operates – otherwise the first months of a new employee’s work will be met with disappointment, and that is the most common reason for leaving within the first year of employment. Commplace conducts activities that straddle the boundaries between internal communication and building a brand for the employer as part of its offering. HR PR and employer branding, By combining communication with candidates with the real-life experience of people already employed. Examples of such projects, along with 100 other implementations, can be found on the website Case Study Commplace® 360° – 101 projects in 10 areas, as of 26.09.2026.

The progress of work on projects for culture and internal communication – tasks, deadlines, risks – is visible in one place in the cockpit Commwork®AI, In this system, the decision is always made by a human being, and the team on the client's side has ongoing insight into the current status of each element of the project.

It is also worth reading: employer branding activities, adaptation of employees in a new company and Pro-Clen attitude – how to build it in a team. These three topics together form a complete cycle: from building a culture, through onboarding a new employee, to their daily behavior towards the customer.

Short answers to frequently asked questions

What is the company's organizational culture?

It is a set of common values, beliefs, and behaviors that characterize the company and its employees – influencing decisions, the work atmosphere, and relationships with customers beyond the formal regulations.

What are the three levels of organizational culture according to Edgar Schein?

Artifacts (visible elements, e.g., office decor), values (officially declared principles), and basic assumptions – deeply rooted, often unconscious beliefs that actually guide the team’s behavior.

How does a strong organizational culture affect a company's performance?

According to the meta-analysis of the Gallup Q12 (11th edition, May 2024), teams in the top quartile of engagement achieve a median 23% higher profitability than teams in the bottom quartile of the same study.

Where to start building an organizational culture?

Starting with defining the company’s real, not declarative, values, involving employees in this process and consistently setting an example by the leaders – without this last element, no declaration will work.

How to measure whether the company's organizational culture is improving?

With cyclical engagement surveys, exit interview discussions, and a turnover rate index broken down by department, compared to the previous measurement—a single result without a reference point says little about the direction of change.

Sources: Gallup, „Q12 Meta-Analysis” (11th edition, May 2024); Harvard Business Review, „Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit” (2008); Case Study Commplace® 360°, as of September 26, 2026.