Jun 24, 2025
🧬 What is organizational culture
🏛 Organizational culture is the company's DNA — it influences behaviors, decisions, and results. Understand what it is, what types, levels, and how to create a strong, aligned, and strategic culture to sustain the growth of your business.
🧬 What is organizational culture
Culture is the set of processes, aspects, and behaviors of a company and its members. It covers all traits, values, premises, teachings practiced by the organization and the activities carried out by employees.
Culture is what makes a company unique. It influences the beliefs and actions of its members, directly impacting the results. Culture establishes patterns of behavior that determine how the company faces new challenges, market changes, and future activities.
Commonly, culture develops naturally, based on the behaviors and thoughts of founding leaders, which are replicated over time and updated as new leaders enter.
It is also possible to define a culture model based on the market in which the company operates, considering its demands and strategic objectives.
Generally, the organizational culture begins to be structured with Mission, Vision and Values. They represent the foundation of the company. However, there is the challenge of taking these words off the wall and transforming them into practical actions in everyday life.
🧭 Types of Organizational Culture
👥 Clan Culture
An environment is built that is favorable to the approximation between employees, creating a sense of unity. The environment tends to be friendly and positive. Leaders offer great support to employees. This format is functional with small teams or divided into several clans, which can later be grouped into guilds.
This type of culture works best when there is a clear goal, represented as a challenge to be conquered by the clan.
🧪 Culture of Adocracy
It is guided by dynamic and collaborative work, divided into small groups. There is a lot of freedom for teams to act autonomously, always focusing on generating results for the company.
There are no fixed rules about how work should be done; flexibility is highly valued. Creativity is at the heart of culture, and success is measured by new products and services that bring more efficiency and innovation.
🏛 Hierarchical Culture
Based on the centrality of leadership, processes and procedures are defined by leaders and must be followed with little flexibility. There are fixed work policies. All operations take place in formal and well-structured environments.
Employees are closely supervised, following rules with the aim of reducing risks. The goals are pre-defined and their fulfillment is strictly monitored.
📊 Market Culture
Ideal for workaholic profiles, this culture is focused on achieving results, even at fast paces. Employees are encouraged to work hard until goals are met.
Organizations with this profile are often ambitious, valuing awards and recognition in the industry. The main goal is growth and increasing market value or equity.
🏢 Practical examples
An interesting parallel can be made with Netflix's culture, similar to adocracy, with a high degree of autonomy for employees, including to take vacations. All information is public and accessible to everyone in the company.
The culture of Spotify and Steam resembles that of the clan, with small, autonomous groups deciding what they need to develop to drive the organization's bottom line.
In market culture, companies in the financial sector are typical examples. A close case is that of companies in the financial sector , which encourages the workaholic style with high bonuses.
Each type of crop has positive and negative points. Depending on the industry and the founders' vision, a model may make more sense, or even a mix between them. Cultures are unique and must be aligned with the essence of the organization.
🛠 How to create an organizational culture
To build an organizational culture, it is necessary to understand the implicit values of the organization, considering its members, challenges, and sector. This will help determine the company's key unique characteristics and drive those values to all team members.
This process should be conducted in collaboration with the members of the organization, in order to clearly identify its main challenges, strategic objectives and organizational momentum. This work will make values clearer and more tangible in everyday life.
Culture is not just what is written on paper, but what is experienced on a daily basis. Therefore, the values or the culture guide must be clear and objective, providing support in the decision-making of all members.
🧩 Some of the items that make up the organizational
culture
🎯 Mission, Vision, Values: They are the organization's guide.
📘 Standards: Conducts, internal policies and unspoken rules.
💭 Assumptions and beliefs: Implicit assumed truths.
🗣 Communication: Clarity, transparency and openness to dialogue.
📚 Stories and myths: Inspiring accounts that shape legacy.
⭐ Heroes: Symbolic figures that reinforce cultural pillars.
🧊 What are the levels of organizational culture?
Culture emerges from processes rooted in the company. Before choosing a type of culture, it is essential to understand what level it is at.
Iceberg Model:
🔹 Surface – visible elements (behaviors, rituals, layout, technologies).
🔹 Center – shared values and perceived rules (internal norms, standards, principles).
🔹 Depth – invisible basis of culture (beliefs, thoughts, feelings, perceptions).
✅ Checklist for building the culture
Diagnose the moment and challenges of the business.
Actively listen to employees and leaders.
Co-create the values with those who experience the company on a daily basis.
Document clearly and actively disseminate.
Create rituals, recognition and leadership programs for example.
Measure, review, and update periodically.
Start by understanding the environment in which your company is inserted. Map out the core values and drivers attached to founders. Then, dig deeper to understand the culture practiced on a daily basis. Listen to employees and build culture collaboratively.
🎯 Importance of having a well-defined culture
The company's culture is its essence. If it is not well established, it will be spontaneously shaped by employees, which can lead to multiple subcultures or even an unwanted path.
Knowing your culture, it will be easier to attract talent compatible with the company's profile. It will also be simpler to highlight differentials to attract top performers.
A clear culture supports decision-making, especially in the most difficult moments, aligning actions with the objectives and needs of the business.
Another essential factor is happy employees. Environments with less ambiguity and strategic clarity tend to generate greater satisfaction and a sense of direction.
In evolved cultures, the chance of an employee considering himself happy increases by up to 25%.
Employees in well-established cultures tend to be more engaged and loyal, developing a sense of belonging, friendships, and team spirit, which increases their tenure with the company.
Customer satisfaction also correlates strongly with internal satisfaction. According to Qualtrics, positive customer evaluation is up to five times higher in companies with engaged employees.
✅ Conclusion
The company's culture is its DNA and must be continuously developed to create a strong identity that offers competitive differentials. This impacts everything from customer results to internal engagement and team productivity.
Every culture should be revisited periodically, including the ambitions and development of employees. This is a powerful way to retain talent and keep them productive.
Companies are made by people and serve people. Culture is your greatest asset and drives your results. Organizations without a defined culture can have results, but certainly below their true potential.
In the current scenario, the biggest competitive differentiator is how the company structures its culture to sustain consistent results over time, while remaining innovative and centered on the customer experience.
💡 The main mission of founders, when they leave the operational — or as a strategy for it — should be to take care of the company's culture: its mechanisms, gears, and results.
