Corporate Culture - How to Foster Sustainability
Guests:
- Andreas Zamostny, CEO, Schlange & Co. GmbH
- Annemarie Leniger, CEO, Ostfriesische Tee Gesellschaft GmbH & Co. KG
- Christian Augsten, Divisional Compliance Officer for Windpower & Renewables and Digital Factory, Siemens AG
The corporate culture of an organization is unique and represents company-specific values and norms. Essentially, corporate culture is the interplay of both formal and legal rules (compliance) as well as underlying values and social norms (integrity). These dimensions also define to what extent sustainability has relevance within an organization. Given the uniqueness of a company’s culture, it is fundamental to understand how it can be defined and implemented. What does corporate culture mean for a company? How does compliance foster sustainability? Should it be a top-down or bottom-up approach when introducing sustainability in the corporate culture at a firm? These were some of the questions raised at the 11th MIBAS Debates on CSR "Corporate Culture: How to Foster Sustainability" which took place on the 16th of November, 2016.
Three leading voices from the business world were invited to share their insights about the link between corporate culture, compliance, and sustainability. Andreas Zamostny, Co-Founder and Managing Partner from Schange & Co. GmbH, presented his views from the consulting perspective. Annemarie Leniger, Managing Director of the Ostfriesische Tee Gesellschaft GmbH & Co. KG, enlightened us with her views on corporate values from a traditional family-owned company. Christian Augsten, Divisional Compliance Officer for Windpower & Renewables and Digital Factory in Siemens AG, provided insights into managing corporate culture at a company on a multinational level. During the debate, the guests shared ideas and discussed aspects related to the importance of corporate core values and how to communicate them effectively.
Mrs. Leniger emphasized that her company’s values are created and shared in collaboration with her employees and argued that the size of the firm makes this process easier. On the other hand, Mr. Augsten pointed out that in big organizations, such as Siemens AG, corporate values need to be communicated to employees in a more formal way. Mr. Zamostny shared his experience on how exporting and/or changing corporate values is sometimes a challenge when deeply rooted in the heart of the company. The three guests agreed that sustainability and compliance are best implemented using a top-down approach, while not neglecting the fact that employees have to be involved in this process. When discussing compliance and sustainability, Mrs. Leniger pointed out the importance of having a good relationship with their tea suppliers and getting to know the culture of the countries where they are located. Regarding this, Mr. Zamostny argued that partnerships with suppliers are essential, in addition to a need for establishing the right selection criteria. Mr. Augsten mentioned the corruption scandal that affected Siemens AG in 2006 in order to argue that compliance is needed for establishing the basis of behaviour expected from all the members of the company. However, too many rules can also be too much for employees, which is why Siemens AG changed from a rule-based to a value-based approach.
An interesting topic was raised when guests were asked about the obstacles to implement sustainability. Mrs. Leniger commented that her company started making small steps towards it in a proactive manner to avoid possible future external pressure but efforts were increased when results showed that it is a good investment. On his side, Mr. Zamostny mentioned that companies need to define sustainability first (as well as making their values visible) and to understand why the change in mindset is needed, which is sometimes difficult. Mr. Augsten was convinced that being sustainable is not difficult when corporate values are aligned with good managing practices. One major agreement of the three guests was that sustainability needs to be shared and wanted within the top managing positions to integrate it with the company’s corporate culture.
The audience had the chance to ask valuable questions, and after the discussion, all guests reflected on the debate while enjoying some drinks and snacks together. Once again, the MIBAS Debates provide important insights regarding the link between sustainability and business practices.