Unternehmenskultur und Führungsstile

“Corporate culture is what happens when nobody is looking or when the going gets tough.” (Axel Rittershaus)

A corporate culture is made up of the values that are lived in the respective company. It shapes the decisions, actions and behavior of employees, customers and sales partners and is therefore an important element in understanding the company. The corporate culture develops gradually and everyone in the company is involved in the development of the corporate culture through their actions and behavior.

Changing a corporate culture is not so easy with long-established structures. A change of management often initiates a different, new way of interacting with one another. Simply because a different person with a different way of communicating leads the company. This can lead to difficulties if the existing culture does not fit in. Analyzing the culture is therefore an important step when taking over the management of a company.

To analyze a corporate culture and values, here are a few questions as examples (according to Axel Rittershaus)

How can we describe the way employees interact with each other and with the various contact persons - sales, customer base, etc.?
How do you deal with hurdles and difficulties?
Employees pay attention to the effects of their actions (on other people, the economy, environmental protection...)
How do employees talk about their superiors when they are not present?
How do employees talk about the company when they are asked by friends whether they enjoy working there?

The corporate culture must match the company's goal, because then you will also find the people who want to pursue this goal and live the corporate culture. “Want” is the key word here.

When dealing with the corporate culture and the values that are lived in a company, it quickly becomes clear how strong the influence of the company management is. Even the management structure shapes the company: Are there several management levels and are the areas of responsibility divided up or does everything depend on one or a few people in the management?

The management style depends on the communication skills, vision, confidence and people skills of the manager. Experience and confidence in personal and professional leadership are therefore important for good entrepreneurs. How the management deals with conflicts plays a major role:

If it relies on dominance and demands obedience from the workforce, their individual needs are often disregarded. If this behavior is coupled with inner insecurities and stress, it can lead to choleric behavior in conflict situations, which is not helpful. Fear or inexperience can also lead to over-control, with employees having little creative freedom. This description fits an authoritarian leadership style.

If the focus of leadership is on attentive, skillful communication in which employees are taken along, empathy and sympathy also play an important role. However, this manager can also radiate respect and trust through a clear and confident manner. If they show profile in conflict situations, they take a far-sighted approach and make clear announcements when necessary. This is a successful cooperative leadership style.

However, if a manager is unable to position themselves clearly due to a lack of inner sovereignty and is possibly afraid to address conflicts, the weaknesses become apparent of a laissez-faire leadership style. However, employees can also utilise the creative freedom on the other hand and develop and evolve freely.

In reality, there is often a combination of different management styles, for example democratic-cooperative. It is important that the style suits the company. For example, a rescue operation cannot be solved in a laissez-faire style with grassroots democracy...

Here are a few typical behaviours of the respective leadership styles according to (German website) https://www.personal-wissen.de/grundlagen-des-personalmanagements/mitarbeiterfuhrung/fuhrungsstile/

In an authoritarian leadership style , all operational activities are organised by superiors alone and employees are not involved in decision-making processes. In this case, the employees simply take orders and are therefore not very creative (important, for example, in the fire brigade and police force).
In cooperative leadership style , line managers and employees work together to shape operational activities. A prerequisite for this management style is a high degree of independence on the part of the employees as well as a willingness to take on responsibility. They must be able to think for themselves and, as far as possible, control themselves independently.
In laissez-faire leadership style , indifference dominates and there is little or no leadership. Laissez-faire managed employee groups quickly fall apart again and are only able to perform to a limited extent.

Task: Use the questions to think about the existing and future company. What already exists and what could be developed?

Which leadership personality do you trust in the respective roles? What could be important and required for the future and the existence of the company?
To what extent can the manager place trust in the employees and motivate them to perform at their best by giving them freedom (e.g. in the time structure or in independent team processes)?
How can performance be recognised and acknowledged?
How can cooperation within the teams be promoted, e.g. through external events/trainings?
Which management structure fits the company's goal and vision?
How can the manager be seen as a coach for the employees? How could this be organised?

Decide what suits the company's tradition and vision. Which structures are good, which are more of a hindrance?

Corporate culture and leadership styles

Corporate culture

Leadership styles

Food for thought for the discussion on the topic: Leadership and corporate culture