Food Safety Magazine - June/July 2013

Creating a Culture
By Geoff Schaadt, M.Sc., M.B.A.
“We have to change our culture.”
It’s been muttered by every frustrated leader,
in every company, in every sector of the business
world.
But what most of them mean is, “We have to
change the way we do things around here.”
Fundamentally, this is what the term “corporate
culture” means—“the way things are done
around here.”
Corporate culture is the sum of everything that
makes up the modern workplace. It is the stated
values of the organization. And, more importantly,
it is the unstated values that have never been codified—yet
which every employee fully understands.
It includes the symbols of the organization.
Some are obvious, like the company logo or
the mission and vision statements that hang so
prominently in the main lobby. Others are not
so obvious to the public—parking spaces, bathrooms
and dining rooms, corporate jets that are
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