heat and life :: essays research papers

When I see companies, I see different cultures. Each company has its unique culture, which probably represent almost everything about the company. The culture not only distinguishes a company from another company but also it sets values and norms that employees follow. Company’s culture has everything to do with its success or failure. For example, Nantucket Nectars’s founders, Tom First and Tom Scott, deliberately made things as informal as possible at the beginning. There were no hierarchy, no dress code, and no stodgy corporate culture. The free-spirited attitude of the two is flaunted throughout their company. But now, as juice sales approach $20 million, Nantucket Nectars is outgrowing its fraternity house culture. First and Scott are grappling with how to manage that growth without destroying the entrepreneurial spirit that has made the company special. Then, how do companies set up cultures as start up companies? Where does it come from? The founder, early in the company’s life, typically spawns it. First and Scott set the work ethic for Nantucket Nectars long before selling a single bottle of juice. During summers on Nantucket, they spent long hours, selling supplies from a boat to earn money and a reputation for service. Today, Nantucket Nectars’s employees put in equally long hours. The office is lit up well past 8p.m, and many staffers drop in on weekends to take care of business. Whether or not the founder of a company thinks much about cultural issues during its start-up phase, those issues become critical as a company matures. â€Å"How you maintain a culture during explosive growth is probably the No.1 thing that I worry about,† says Frank Ingari, chief executive of Shiva Corp. There are factors that make it easy or difficult to create or change an organization’s culture. A Company’s culture has something to do with its employees’ behavior, values and expectations. At Nantucket Nectars, weekly staff meetings include a guest speaker-an employee â€Å"who has to stand up and talk about their whole life, and what inspires them,† First says. â€Å"We are so busy, sometimes we don’t respect what other people do. I wanted everyone to understand who the people are and how they are helping this company.