September 2024

The first introduction of corporate culture dates back to the 1940s. In contrast to rational and control-based management, a relational and cultural dimension that encouraged cooperation and commitment to work developed. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, in the face of the difficulty of measuring these dimensions, measurable organizational elements came to the fore, with emphasis on employee attitudes, empowerment, status differences, interdepartmental coordination, and employee inclusion, which were characterized as corporate climate. Towards the end of the 1970s, more in-depth analyses of the invisible features of corporate life began to gain importance. The role, importance and characteristics of corporate culture were once again at the top of the agenda. Most importantly, attention turned to the effects of corporate culture on performance, its stages of development and its changeability. In recent years, it is now accepted that corporate culture is not a spontaneous phenomenon, but a manageable element that provides competitive advantage.

A nation’s history, social structure and culture are reflected in every aspect of its life. The values, norms and management styles of companies operating in that country are also affected by this influence. Ideas and behaviors influenced by national culture permeate corporate cultures, and even when a company expands internationally, organizational structures and processes embedded in national culture are carried overseas. Barlett and Ghoshal conducted a study on three nations and their companies that are the global leaders in business life. According to them, British companies developed under family management that emphasized personal relationships over institutional structures, and favored loose financial controls over technical and operational control systems. Until the Second World War, most British companies were examples of “family capitalism”. When they expanded overseas, either a family member or a loyal “servant” of the family was put in charge.

How did the “silent” protests that make a big noise in business life begin? Are we able to build safe cultures where employees can express themselves? In this content, where we discuss the silence of employees and the expression fatigue they experience; we touched upon the importance of the concept of “psychological safety” in corporate culture and its effects on employees. I first heard the concept of psychological safety 5 years ago from a foreign senior executive at an international meeting I was involved in. This executive emphasized that one of the main factors of employee loyalty and well-being was the concept of “Psychological Safety” and that it played a major role in the development of corporate culture. I thought that these two words, which I heard side by side for the first time in business life, had an important place in industrial psychology and I started to read about them.