Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Company Culture

I was struck by ECI's Janet Pringle's recurrent comment about the importance of fitting in with the culture of the company you intend to work with. Does this apply to all companies? This may also mean that you focus less on your skills and more on who you are, your appearance and so on. This also seems in contradiction to what Andrew Hofmeyr suggested. For him, the focus was on your skills and what you have to offer. Perhpas there are different types of employers and they look for different things in a candidate. I guess the trick is to be aware of what type of comany you want to work with and shape your profile and presentation towards that objective. In an article in the weekly magazine 'noiseweek'the talk was about 'fifo' - fit in or fuck off. There are those who require uniformity and adherence to strict rules but no doubt there are others who look form more diversity amongst the workforce.

2 comments:

Ijeoma Uche-Okeke said...

Hi there,I agree that these two ideas are contradictory. As you also pointed out, it is incumbent on the job-seeker to really think realistically about what the options are out there. It is important to research the various types of organisations available and see where you think you can fit in. Will a specific organisational culture be forced on you? I suppose at one time or another in one's working life, there will be compromise. How do you handle all these different facets when considering your best option?

Susan Mwangi said...

The discussion on self-awareness comes to mind. Given, there is a place for compromise and negotiation but, one needs to have clear boundaries. One must not allow an organisation to trample all over one's values (like being forced into something as ridiculous as cultic activity...)

If the shoe does not fit, keep walking... you will find an organisation that is suitable for you. As CCDU's Eileen told us, you could just be a square peg trying to fit into a round hole...