Culture In The Workplace

Since we all spend a significant portion of our life at work, our workplace environment is critical to us. The culture in that work environment can be the ingredient that helps us enjoy what we do. Culture is the way we interact with others and our work processes. We don’t always see culture except for the physical surroundings. Often the things you have on your desk, a bulletin, or a company newsletter will tell what the workplace is like. The actual culture in the workplace is somewhat harder to identify. Culture is many things that aren’t visual. Some of the nonvisual things involve the values, habits and interactions with other colleagues. Though workplace culture has several characteristics these three come to mind; it is ongoing, …show more content…
An organization’s culture includes the life experiences of its employees. That culture will be influenced by the organizations executives and the decision-making process in that organization. Culture is a process because of how people learn. Since most of us learn to perform behaviors through a system of rewards or consequences, this is also how we form our work culture. When employees are given compliments on jobs well done this can impact the workplace. If this is a standard and repeated behavior by managers it then becomes part of the culture. In addition, another way, that people learn, is through interaction. Most behaviors and rewards involve other people in an organization. In simple conversation employees can communicate the elements of their culture. When differences are recognized and discussed there is a chance to find common ground. There are many clues that help with identification of a particular workplace culture. One of the most noticeable is how a group is dressed. For instance, most of the employees are wearing tradtional office attire but that one employee has on a short sun dress. It would be plain to see who is not in the group. Many of the ways that identify culture are very sutle such as how the workspace is arranged or the walls are painted. A more traditional style may use muted shades while bright colors may mean a more dynamic workplace. For example, if you walked into an office and everyone is friendly, outgoing and socializing your perception would be one of openness. Another way might be if you walked into an office where the walls were covered with the history of the company you might depict that office culture as one of the values and the businesses history. In addition, if you walked into a room and doors are open, and everyone is walking around visiting you might think of collaboration and