The Four Types of Organizational Culture (With Examples) Part 2

Market Culture

Market culture is an organizational culture that places an emphasis on profit margins and beating the competition. Marketing cultures and clan cultures are competing values framework. Companies with this type of organizational culture are results-driven and focus on customer satisfaction. At it’s core, market culture focuses on the longevity of the business. Many large corporations implement cultural values that align with market culture to help grow the business, improve products or services, and increase customer satisfaction.

Examples of Businesses With a Market Culture

A lot of sales companies will have market cultures. Based on the description of market culture, many people assume all businesses use this culture, but that’s not entirely true. You’ll often see a lot of corporate companies with this workplace culture, particularly those heavily based in sales of some sort. You’ll see many employees striving to hit their goals thanks to the competitive atmosphere and the top performers being rewarded in some shape or form. Some of the most popular businesses that have a market culture are Amazon, McDonald’s, Microsoft, and Tesla.

Pros of Market Culture

• This culture allows for substantial business and market growth
• It helps create a sense of competitiveness which can increase results and beat competitors
• Many leaders within this organizational culture are inspiring to employees

Cons of Market Culture

• Many employees at a company with market cultures often burnout quickly due to high demands and expectations
• There’s usually left focus on a positive employee experience and their satisfaction

Tips for Creating This Type of Organizational Culture

• Evaluate your company’s market position
• Evaluate every position within your company
• Determine the return on investment (ROI) of every single role
• State reasonable benchmarks for production that will increase profit margins
• Think about rewarding employees who reach or exceed their personal goals to encourage similar behavior and motivate employees

Hierarchy Culture

Similar to market culture, hierarchy culture is incredibly common in the corporate culture throughout the United States. The main thing to know about hierarchy culture is that it requires well established procedures and clearly defined levels of authority throughout the company. Every employee there understands the chain of command and who to report to based on what their job is at the company. Hierarchy culture clearly has defined duties and operations so day to day operations run as smoothly as possible. This detailed hierarchy allows companies to better manage risk, operate efficiently, and remain stable.

Examples of Businesses With a Hierarchy Culture

There are certain businesses that benefit from a hierarchy culture over others. Many corporate companies like gas companies, healthcare institutions, banks, and health insurance companies use this type of organizational culture. IBM and General Motors (GM) are great examples of a business that uses a hierarchy culture. Even though this type of culture is commonly used in large, corporate businesses, small to medium-sized businesses might benefit from this culture as well.

Pros of Hierarchy Culture

• There are well-defined chains of command and policies
• Businesses with this culture run efficiently and tend to be more stable than those without a strict hierarchy
• Everyone within the company knows what the company values are, how their operations work and what their goals and duties are

Cons of Hierarchy Culture

• This organizational culture tends to lack the flexibility needed to remain relevant within an agile market
• It cannot respond to sudden changes as fast as other companies

Tips for Creating This Type of Organizational Culture

• Tighten up all business processes
• Ensure there are no gaps in the chain of command
• Establish all long and short-term goals with everyone in the company for company success

Final Thoughts

An organization’s culture is one of the most important things when it comes to the success of a business. Every business has different goals and a company’s culture can drastically affect how a business reaches those goals. Your company’s culture can change the course of your business in the best way, or the worst. It’s important to remember that as your company grows or changes, you might need to reevaluate what type or organization culture you have.

Staying flexible and open to making changes within your work environment is just as important to succeeding in whatever industry you work in as choosing the right organizational culture. Implementing a strong organizational culture will allow your company to better reach goals and succeed in the way that you want your business to succeed.

To learn more about how to establish and reach your business goals, contact Lori at Catalyst Group ECR today.