I. The Meaning of Civilization and Corporate Culture
Civilization refers to cultural edification, which is in contrast to absolute militarization. It uses purely cultural methods to teach, lead, and persuade others with the aim of transforming and influencing them.
Civilization transforms and influences people's concepts and awareness. People’s viewpoints and awareness affect their attitudes towards things; these attitudes control behavioral trends and states at work; and these behaviors determine the results of actions. Civilization works by changing people’s consciousness — altering their mindset — adjusting behavioral trends and states — to ultimately change the outcomes of actions.
Corporate culture refers to a company using cultural methods to educate, guide, and persuade its internal employees with the aim of improving their quality and cultivation.
Every company has its own culture. Whether you are aware of it or have the determination to build it, from the moment a company appears, it begins to edify, influence, and transform the people within it. One could say that every existing corporate culture is the sum total of a long accumulation of the company's image, rules and regulations, conventions, members' words and deeds, and behavioral habits.
II. The Essence and Core Process of Corporate Culture Building
The essence of building corporate culture is to improve the existing corporate culture to form a new, better, and future-oriented corporate culture. It is a process where companies rejuvenate by eliminating outdated elements that hinder current growth.
In the process of corporate growth and development, due to various factors and conditions, companies inevitably accumulate some negative elements. These may not be immediately recognized for their adverse effects and side effects, or due to special reasons, compromises must be made to maintain the overall situation, allowing them to persist and even become norms. Some of these elements might have been positive for the company at one time.
However, as the company grows and develops, these elements have now become obstacles to further growth and must be changed, eliminated, and resolved. Otherwise, the company will gradually weaken and appear strong on the outside but weak on the inside.
For example, a company may have an experienced teacher or veteran who is very competent, hardworking, and trusted by both colleagues and the boss. Since the establishment of the company, he has been involved in all kinds of production tasks, overcoming every challenge. However, due to his lower level of education, he relies heavily on experience, struggles to adapt to new technologies and equipment, and finds it difficult to master them. If the company successfully introduces new technology or equipment, his authority within the company would be challenged. Therefore, whenever the company introduces new technology or equipment, he tends to speak against it, deliberately obstructing progress, refusing genuine cooperation, and even secretly sabotaging the introduction of new technology, causing trouble for various levels of management and wasting a lot of human resources and time. Despite this, no one can criticize him because his actions seem justified. Situations like this make success difficult when he is involved, but smooth when he is not. Dealing with him not only affects the use of existing equipment and technology for production but also creates significant opposition for managers —— this is a very typical issue that corporate culture construction needs to address.
Therefore, before embarking on corporate culture construction, it is essential to clarify: what needs to be transformed? What should it be transformed into? Why does it need transformation?
Corporate culture construction cannot simply copy other models but can only refer to them. Each company's situation differs — starting points differ, value systems differ, and goals may vary, so the process of culture construction will also differ.
Firstly, it is necessary to understand the current state of the enterprise and identify its problems, deficiencies, and shortcomings. Based on this, through the analysis of problems, deficiencies, and shortcomings — cause (behavior) analysis — mindset analysis — concept and awareness analysis, fundamental issues at the level of concepts and awareness can be determined. Measures can then be taken to address these fundamental issues, step by step, point by point, line by line, until a comprehensive corporate culture system is gradually established.
III. The Significance and Applicable Objects of Corporate Culture Construction
The role and influence of corporate culture are long-term, and its effects are subtle and not immediately apparent. When corporate culture work is done well, it eliminates many major fundamental issues that currently constrain managers and consume a lot of time and energy within the company, achieving "effortless governance" and a one-time solution that requires minimal maintenance costs. Its benefits are difficult to quantify in monetary terms. If a company wants to grow cohesively and remain stable over the long term while responding to external competition, corporate culture construction is a crucial and indispensable foundational project.
"The man without foresight will surely encounter immediate troubles." Corporate culture construction is suitable only for companies that do not face immediate troubles.
A company without prospects, without strategic planning, doing business deal by deal, does not need to expend great effort on corporate culture construction, as its existence tomorrow is uncertain. Engaging in such construction would have little significance, merely serving others’ purposes. In such a company, the boss’s culture is the corporate culture; what the boss demands must be followed; if one cannot tolerate it, they leave. For the boss, it is mainly about using tactics, cunning, strategy, emotion, and short-term benefits to win hearts.
IV. How to Conduct Corporate Culture Construction
People, especially Chinese people, generally have a psychological flaw: they only want to hear praise and are unwilling to listen to truthful feedback reflecting real issues. It seems that if problems are not mentioned, they do not exist. Two Chinese idioms vividly reflect this mentality and behavior — “self-deception” and “a single leaf blocking the view.”
To conduct corporate culture construction, first, the boss and top management must unify their understanding, be able to recognize problems, deficiencies, and inadequacies, and correctly address exposed issues instead of covering them up. Otherwise, corporate culture construction will lack clear objectives and fall into blindness and formalities.
Secondly, it is necessary to understand the future requirements for personnel and the gap between these requirements and the current state of employees.
Thirdly, it should be treated as a project managed by dedicated personnel. A long-term perspective and holistic approach are needed for comprehensive planning and systematic implementation. It cannot be done haphazardly or just to meet deadlines by filling publications with random content.
Corporate culture construction is a highly complex, patient, and time-consuming endeavor involving many tasks, especially preliminary analysis and design work. Although few people are required, it is not something that can be done by just anyone. It requires deep research and rich practical experience in behavioral psychology, and merely having theoretical knowledge of behavioral psychology is insufficient. From the perspective of traditional culture, those capable of this work should possess "know thyself and know others," skillfully understand others' daily habits, "see the big picture from small details," identify latent problems from everyday trivial matters, nip problems in the bud, and often see things from others' perspectives. A person who is arrogant, impatient, overly confident, and views this task simplistically is unlikely to succeed, regardless of how good their writing skills are. Such individuals may waste effort without achieving the goal of improving people's concepts and mindsets.
The actual content of corporate culture construction primarily involves contemplating how to change people's concepts and mindsets, which is somewhat similar to the political thought work conducted in former state-owned enterprises. The main difference is that the political thought work in state-owned enterprises was individualistic, general, abstract, and passive, whereas corporate culture construction should be proactive, preventive, and constructive. Those who have sincerely engaged in grassroots political thought work or dispute mediation would have a relatively good foundation for corporate culture construction.
V. Special Matters to Consider in Corporate Culture Construction
It is worth noting that the most important aspect of corporate culture is not the company’s journals, magazines, or bulletin boards but the content and substance of these materials. Journals, magazines, and bulletin boards are merely its form, not its essence. Corporate culture construction should not degenerate into merely producing external forms like journals, magazines, and bulletin boards without considering the impact of the published material on readers’ mindsets, whether it could have negative effects, side effects, or contribute positively to corporate culture construction.
Of course, journals, magazines, and bulletin boards are excellent tools for promoting and disseminating corporate culture, but for small and medium-sized enterprises, they are not necessary as there are many other ways to spread and promote culture.
I have observed that many companies hiring personnel for corporate culture roles are essentially looking for text editors rather than true corporate culture researchers. They seek individuals who can deeply analyze problems at the conceptual and awareness levels and know how to influence and change people's perceptions and attitudes. Their focus is solely on whether you have experience in text editing or layout design. Their corporate culture emphasizes form over substance, often just for show. Their corporate culture construction aims for the company to appear prestigious with journals, magazines, and bulletin boards, showing an emphasis on corporate culture. As for the actual impact, extent of influence, and potential side effects of these publications, they remain vague. Establishing such corporate culture consumes time and effort but holds little substantial meaning internally, serving only to temporarily impress outsiders unfamiliar with the field.
In a certain sense, tangible items like journals, magazines, and bulletin boards are merely carriers of corporate culture, representing some forms and tools of corporate culture expression. Their purpose is merely to allow people convenient access to corporate culture. The content of journals and magazines — ideas and concepts — is the organic part of corporate culture.
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