Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Identify companies that use organizational culture as a business tool. Identify examples of how
the company you have selected uses its organizational culture as a business tool.
Defining organizational culture, one source states: “It’s a very complex set of values,
beliefs, missions and goals that guide the way an organization acts, being shared by all of its
employees… Basically, organizational culture is how a business perceives, thinks, feels, and acts
through its team and representatives, which is known and practiced by all.” (Hotmart, 2019). As
performance and productivity, which means that culture can be used as a business tool. There are
many examples of companies that are using organizational culture as a business tool. The source
Patel (2015) lists ten (10) such organizations and Reiners (2019) lists twenty-seven (27).
My first example is the company Zappos. This business uses culture as a tool in the form
of a cultural fit interview whose scoring accounts for 50% of the marks a candidate needs to
obtain to be hired to work at Zappos (Patel, 2015). Ten cultural core values are instilled in every
team member which enable them contribute to the business’ goals. These values are (Zappos,
2022):
10. Be Humble
As one can easily note from reviewing the cultural core values above, each one enables
the employee to make Zappos a great, customer-focused business. That is how culture can be
used as a business tool. Zappos, in fact, lists “Company Culture” on its website as one of the
Four C’s that help the company “deliver happiness to customers, as well as employees, vendors,
shareholders and the community, in a long-term, sustainable way” (Zappos, 2022). Offering
proof that Zappos goes even further, one source stated: “New employees are offered $2,000 to
quit after the first week of training if they decide the job isn't for them. Employee raises come
from workers who pass skills tests and exhibit increased capability, not from office politics.
Portions of the budget are dedicated to employee team building and culture promotion” (Patel,
2015).
Another example is the company Twitter. It has been reported that “Employees of Twitter
can't stop raving about the company's culture. Rooftop meetings, friendly coworkers and a team-
oriented environment in which each person is motivated by the company's goals have inspired
that praise. Employees of Twitter can also expect free meals at the San Francisco headquarters,
along with yoga classes and unlimited vacations for some. These and many other perks are not
unheard of in the startup world. But what sets Twitter apart? Employees can't stop talking about
how they love working with other smart people. Workers rave about being part of a company
that is doing something that matters in the world, and there is a sense that no one leaves until the
work gets done” (Patel, 2015). Based on this comment, one can obviously see that Twitter is
using culture as a business tool to achieve its goals through its employees.
My last example is Zoom, a company all of us came to know of during the COVID-19
pandemic. In terms of how this company uses culture as a business tool, one source stated: ““The
happiness crew maintains the company culture at each location through events, celebrations,
Zoom. That’s right, they created a happiness crew whose primary focus is to maintain a close-
knit culture as the company grows.”” (Reiners, 2019). The source adds: “New hires from across
the globe attend a training session in San Jose to build relationships and learn about the company
and its culture before their first day. Once they start, new hires are paired with a mentor to learn
more about company culture and company outreach. During their weekly company-wide office
meeting, employees recognize a colleague who supported them and share updates to keep
everyone in the loop and show appreciation for individual successes” (Reiners, 2019). Such a
culture enabled Zoom to reliably meet the needs of millions around the world during the
pandemic, making the company rich from its use of culture as a business tool.
References
Hotmart (2019). What is Organizational Culture and How Can I Identify It? Online:
https://hotmart.com/en/blog/organizational-culture
https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/10-examples-of-companies-with-
fantastic-cultures/249174
Reiners, B. (2019). 27 Company Culture Examples to Get You Inspired. Online:
https://builtin.com/company-culture/company-culture-examples