There are an immeasurable amount of categories of corporate behavior. The trick is finding out what behavior you need your company to adopt. This could include adopting values like punctuality or safety. A great corporate behavior can make or break a company, so it is important to provide the appropriate support for your employees. We are going to explore together some of the more major categories of corporate behavior.
Managerial Structure
Managerial structure relates to how the management team is put together, and what types of employees make it up. Unfortunately, many of us have dealt with an incompetent boss. Nothing squashes employee morale quicker than a poorly trained manager. A supervisor should meet three major qualifications:
Leadership skills: Understand how to lead a team effectively. Understand the proper way to address employees and how to encourage and motivate them. Should have knowledge on how to give constructive criticism.
Departmental Knowledge: Knowledge of the processes and function of the department. This means that the manager should know how to perform the job tasks of the employees they supervise. The worst thing in the world is to have a boss that doesn’t know how you do your job, and wants to critique you.
Company Knowledge: The manager should be knowledgeable about what product or service the company provides to the public, and about what is new with the company. They should know what the company goals and values are, and what the future plans are for the company.
Values and Ethics
A value is a standard of a person’s behavior. There are two types of values; terminal values and instrumental values. A terminal value is a value that a person would like to achieve during their lifetime. What it means, in a nut shell, is that if you want to have great success in business, you have to work hard. The terminal value is having great success in business, and the instrumental value is working hard. Ethics are moral foundations that regulate a person or group of people’s behavior. Ethics and instrumental values may seem like they are the same, but they are not. An ethic is a moral basis, it is not hinged on accomplishing a value. An ethic is a conviction that a person or a group of people have because they feel like it’s the right thing to do.
Employee Accountability
Employee accountability basically means that an employee takes responsibility for their actions. This could refer to positive or negative actions. So how do you promote accountability? It starts with the employees identifying with the company’s mission. As a supervisor, it’s also important to make sure the employees understand that the company wants them to take ownership of the results of their job. Suppose you were a janitor, and one of your job tasks was to remove the trash daily. The company does not want you to take ownership of the act of removing the trash. The company wants you to take ownership of the trash can being empty- thus making the area look clean. Accountability also relates to something that an employee is doing that is inappropriate. An employee who is constantly late for work needs to take accountability for their actions.
Workplace Incidents
Workplace incidents cover a broad range of scenarios. An incident is defined by an event or an occurrence. In this context, it is an unfavorable event or occurrence. A workplace incident can be an on the job injury, a complaint of harassment, or an act of workplace violence. As an employer, it is your job to do everything you can to keep your employees safe. Adopting behaviors within the company to protect employees will make them feel like you care.
This post is from November’s topic on Developing Corporate Behavior.