Setting The Cultural Tone

Once the banking sector started to implode and the various scandals came to light there was a lot of talk about the 'culture' – a concept that is not always easy to define. Now, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has issued a new version of the code that clearly states that company boards are responsible for 'establishing the culture, values and ethics' of their organisations it is time to get serious about culture.

Corporate culture is not new. The consequences of national cultural differences was investigated by Dutch Social Psychologist Geert Hofsede in the 1980s and the idea popularised as 'the ways we do things around here by – McKinsey consultants Terrence Deal and Allen Kennedy.