Businesses without culture are stupid

In the process of Jack Welch's transformation of GE from a manufacturing company to a world-leading company, corporate culture change has played an extremely important role. In Welch's values, the foundation of corporate success is the success of strategy, and the essence of strategy is corporate culture. According to "Building to Last", "Foresighted companies believe that preserving their core values is the way to a long and healthy life."

In the eyes of many business owners, corporate culture seems to be an act of retreat, and it is precisely because of the lack of corporate culture that many companies have internal resistance in the operation process. What unique cultural connotations do successful companies have? How should companies develop corporate culture? What internal and external factors are related to corporate culture? How to make the corporate culture really land?

Interactive topic: The most powerful corporate culture is tolerance, do you agree?

To this end, we invite Shen Ying, Organization Development Manager of GE Greater China and Mongolia, Huang Jing, Senior HR Director of eBay China, and Chen Hongyong, General Manager of Shanghai Fuwei Brand Planning Company, to jointly analyze the above problems.

Good companies have their own cultural characteristics

What is the connotation of corporate culture? How is corporate culture reflected in the specific behavior of employees?

Shen Ying: The connotation of GE's corporate culture is that of peers, a cohesive elite culture. The most basic requirement is integrity. Employees must comply with the regulations in everything they do, and they never have to worry that after entering the company, the company's requirements will conflict with their original personal character or behavior. GE's competitive environment is fierce, and there is no big pot of rice. Every outstanding employee is surrounded by better competitors, urging and motivating every employee to continuously improve. We will especially reward those employees who perform well and help others, where the personal background of the employees is not important, and the efforts will be recognized, so each employee is particularly confident.

We also emphasize that every employee must have excellent leadership. Among the Fortune 500 companies, there are more than 200 CEOs from GE. Excellent leadership does not mean that a person must manage a team or a high position, but must have the desire to pursue excellence, be willing to help others, and make everyone stronger together to achieve a better career. Finally, it is emphasized that all employees must support each other and cooperate with each other to form a synergy. The business environment is always changing. We cannot react passively, but lead the change. Only when we form a joint force can we lead the trend.

Huang Jing: The most distinctive feature of eBay's corporate culture is the equality between employees. In our eBay China office, all employees have the same seats, managers and executives sit among the employees, and there is no special office. CEOs in China enjoy the same benefits as ordinary employees, and our parking spaces are determined by lottery.

We give employees enough voice and follow the process of debate, decision-making and implementation in the decision-making process. For example, the annual growth plan in China is not directly assigned by the US headquarters, but is the result of discussions between the president of China and the headquarters according to the actual situation. After obtaining the annual goals, the leaders of Hong Kong, Taiwan and the mainland sat together to discuss ideas that could achieve the goals, and put money and people in the development direction that everyone agreed. After reaching an agreement on the direction, everyone will discuss what kind of resources they need, and what kind of results can be achieved by promising to obtain such resources. There is no leadership assignment in the whole process, but the result of everyone's negotiation.

Chen Hongyong: The consensus of China's top entrepreneurs is that "an enterprise without culture is a stupid enterprise" . The attention to corporate culture shows the transition from "cost economy" to "behavioral economy" in the management process. Corporate culture is the driving force for enterprise development. It can realize the same desires from top to bottom within the enterprise, thereby reducing the resistance of enterprise management and improving the efficiency of enterprise operation. Corporate culture is a force, and this force shows six functions: cohesion, motivation, restraint, orientation, bond and radiation.

Externally, through the dissemination of the corporate product image and employee behavior style, the corporate image will also be established to ensure that the company establishes a good social relationship with stakeholders such as users and suppliers. When it comes to "do not dare to save labor even if the processing is complicated, and do not dare to reduce material resources even if the taste is expensive", everyone knows that it is an ancient motto that Tongrentang abides by, and when it comes to "abstain from cheating", it will remind people of Hu Qingyutang's entrepreneurial spirit. These corporate cultures are not only the foundation of the inheritance of the company, but also the brand of the company.

Corporate culture is the core value of an enterprise

Where does corporate culture come from? How should the corporate culture be determined?

Shen Ying: GE has a history of 130 years. From Jack Welch to today's Jeff Immelt, successive outstanding leaders have not only brought the company to new heights, but also Contribute excellent culture to the enterprise.

Nine years ago, we conducted a systematic review of corporate culture. We interviewed more than 2,000 top GE leaders at all levels around the world to find out which styles of conduct have led to their success. At the same time, we also refer to the research reports of top business schools and scientific research institutions to sort out the qualities required by future leaders. Based on this, we systematically summarize a set of cultural requirements applicable to enterprises. Now, we reorganize every year to ensure that the corporate culture keeps pace with the times.

Huang Jing: eBay is a platform that provides business exchanges for global sellers and sellers. The original intention of founder Pierre to create eBay is to provide ordinary people with a chance to succeed. Corporate culture is actually a very centripetal magnetic field. The code of conduct of corporate founders and executives will let employees know what we admire here. We attribute these behavioral patterns that are beneficial to the company's development together and promote it as our company's corporate culture.

Chen Hongyong: The corporate culture comes from the development process of the company and from the choices made by entrepreneurs in each milestone. Therefore, the best way to build a corporate culture is to extract the most essential requirements of the company, and then use appropriate landing methods to carry it forward. As Shi Zhengrong, chairman of Acer Group said, "corporate culture is the common value of employees", the determination of corporate cultural values should be the result of the participation of all employees. The more fully discussed by employees and the more detailed the definition of cultural connotation, the easier it is for everyone to reach a consensus. This is the premise for the implementation of corporate culture.

How should companies determine their own corporate culture?

Shen Ying: Every element of GE's corporate culture is closely related to its business and the competitive environment in which it operates. We keep pace with the times in the midst of changes and constantly enrich the connotation of our corporate culture. GE is a diversified company with business all over the world. In the era of high-speed electronic information, the business of any country is not an isolated existence. Events such as the Japanese tsunami, the financial turmoil, and the European debt crisis have affected global business, and event disturbances in any corner of the world will trigger a butterfly effect. Therefore, we emphasize that employees must be decisive in uncertain environments.

In China, more and more state-owned and private enterprises are growing stronger. In the face of stronger competitors and partners, no company can remain the best in all fields, so in 2012 we added humility to our corporate culture for the first time, letting employees put down their posture and absorb the best of the outside world.

We advocate sharing and communication because GE has nearly 300,000 employees around the world. Whenever an employee has a smart idea, they should think that there may be teams doing similar things in other corners of the world. , through the exchange can greatly reduce waste and improve efficiency. As times have changed, so has our workforce structure. There are 18,000 GM employees in China, and they have gradually changed from those born in the 1960s and 1970s to those born in the 1980s and 1990s. The behavior of employees is changing. We ask the new generation of employees to ask why you want to Work with the same people and help leaders adjust their leadership style to changes in talent.

Huang Jing: The corporate culture of each company is different. The most important thing is whether it can support the company's business development and realize the company's social value. A good corporate culture and the company's field are highly correlated with the business model. Employees in all our regions jointly manage seller users, and the regions are very closely connected. The Internet eliminates differences in time and space, and is more borderless than traditional industries. The endless opportunities and competitors on the Internet also make the business environment extremely complex. Behind the rapid development of eBay is rapid adjustment and continuous innovation. So even though eBay has more than 10,000 employees worldwide, it must maintain the flexibility of a startup. The characteristics of these business models require our employees to have the ability to understand and be able to solve new problems in creative ways.

Chen Hongyong: The authenticity of corporate cultural goals and the behavioral concepts that the company has consistently conformed to are more important than their specific expressions. Therefore, corporate values must be able to truly reflect the long-term goals of the company. The industry, business scope and product characteristics of the company are all important factors that affect the corporate culture. The age distribution, knowledge structure and character maturity of the employees of the enterprise will also affect the choice of the core value of the enterprise. Therefore, the enterprise culture must pay attention to the driving factors to ensure that the culture advocated by the enterprise can become the driving force for the employees to strive.

Institutional management makes the corporate culture truly land

How to make the corporate culture truly land and integrate into the behavior of employees?

Shen Ying: In GE's corporate culture manual, there is a detailed description of each person's performance at work and what each position should do. For example, we ask employees to pay attention to changes in the outside world, and refine it into the behavior of employees, that is, how often do you visit customers, can you tell the information of competitors in the market? If you can say it, you will pass the test. On the first day of employees' entry, intensive corporate culture training will be carried out. In our annual assessment, the completion of employee performance accounts for 50%, and the assessment result of corporate culture accounts for 50%. The annual assessment directly affects the annual bonus and salary increase. If the employee's performance is not completed, there may be some temporary influencing factors, and we will also guide and cultivate. And if there is a problem with the corporate culture assessment, for example, there is a problem of integrity, even if the performance is good, you have to leave the company.

We have a strict supervision mechanism. Each department has an integrity supervisor who is responsible for receiving reports through telephone, email and other channels. These report information will be submitted to the integrity officer of each department. The integrity specialist is a high-level professional in each department who understands all the details of the process. When he receives a report, he will mobilize legal affairs, personnel, etc. to form a part-time project research team. Regardless of the conclusion, he will feedback the results to the whistleblower.

We also have many programs or tools to support elements of corporate culture. We have an internal social networking platform where employees around the world can communicate and share the progress of similar projects. GE has a strong mentor culture. We have more than 200 mentors participating in the program in China this year. They take time out from time to time to communicate with "apprentices" about work and life problems. CEOs in China take time out every week to have coffee with a dozen employees and share their experiences. Through various exchanges and sharing, employees can contact each other across ranks and departments, and accelerate their own growth.

Huang Jing: We encourage employees to understand the needs of sellers, and the best way is to let employees themselves become eBay sellers, experience the ups and downs of doing business. At eBay, every employee onboarding is tasked with selling at least one item on eBay. Employees in product and business units, who are particularly close to customers, also continue to shop on eBay to find improvements to the platform. Encouraged by this policy, employees have a real feeling for our platform, and some employees earn more than their salary from opening a store.

We use many ways to encourage our employees to use their full enthusiasm and talents. In order to allow employees to express freely, we basically do not set any restrictions on employees. Any employee can email everyone, and we don't limit work communication beyond levels. A customer representative who discovered at work that the site function could be improved sent an email directly to the US headquarters, and his proposal was eventually approved. We also have some instant rewards that anyone can put forward for those employees who are innovative at work and help others, and the aforementioned employees received rewards from the US technology department.

We conduct an anonymous satisfaction survey on employees every year, allowing employees to anonymously evaluate the company's system and their own managers. Most of the research questions are related to corporate culture, such as whether managers respect employees' opinions and whether they give employees equal opportunities to express themselves. Managers receive comprehensive feedback from their subordinates and discuss with employees how to adjust their work styles. These satisfaction assessments are integrated into the performance system, and if managers are not recognized by employees, there will be no career development opportunities. Through this mechanism, under the supervision and evaluation of employees, the behavior of managers reflects the culture advocated by the company everywhere, and they in turn influence employees, so that all employees of the company have the same behavioral characteristics.

Chen Hongyong: Corporate culture is the investment of an enterprise at the strategic level. Only when it is effectively implemented and employees are familiarized with, complied with, comprehended, and agree with, and finally internalize the value requirements of the enterprise, can the investment value be maximized. To make the corporate culture come to fruition, first of all, it must become a kind of institutionalized management. The corporate culture requirements and management system should be relatively stable, and the cultural requirements should be transformed into specific codes of conduct. Incentive system in place is an effective means to encourage employees to actively practice corporate culture. From the perspective of psychological mechanism, it is necessary to let employees form thinking and behavioral stereotypes on the core connotation of corporate culture through repeated publicity; use the herd mentality, through the assimilation of departments and teams, and advanced and typical demonstrations to make employees follow the mainstream consistent behavior.