企业文化与引导企业行为（英文版）_28页

报告摘要

Summary of "Culture and Channelling Corporate Behaviour: Summary of Findings"

Core Content

This report, published by ACCA in collaboration with the ESRC, explores the relationship between corporate culture and organisational behaviour, emphasizing the critical role of culture in shaping both functional and dysfunctional conduct within companies. It is part of a series of four reports aimed at helping boards assess and understand their corporate culture.

Main Authors

Paul Moxey: Head of Corporate Governance and Risk Management at ACCA, visiting professor at London South Bank University. His work focuses on the behavioural aspects of governance and risk.
Pauline Schu: Corporate governance researcher at ACCA, managing the culture and channelling corporate behaviour initiative. She has expertise in strategic risk analysis and organisational behaviour.

Key Partners

ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council): The UK's largest funder of research on economic and social issues, contributing academic insights and supporting the research process.

Purpose of the Report

The report seeks to provide a practical framework for boards to understand and shape their organisational culture. It argues that culture is a central factor in corporate governance and risk management, and that a strong, ethical culture can drive functional behaviour without the need for excessive control mechanisms.

Key Findings

Culture is a shared set of beliefs and values that defines appropriate behaviour and priorities within an organisation.
Culture is dynamic and adaptive, influenced by the organisation’s goals, structure, leadership, and external environment.
Tone at the top is crucial in setting the ethical direction and influencing organisational culture.
Corporate culture can act as a mechanism of central control, enabling compliance without surveillance when norms and values are widely shared and deeply held.
Leadership and example set by top management are vital in maintaining ethical standards and influencing employee behaviour.

Methodology

Academic literature review: Analyzed theories and studies from various social science disciplines.
Roundtable discussions: Engaged over 150 experts from different regions and sectors.
Member survey: Collected responses from nearly 2,000 ACCA members globally, highlighting their perceptions of corporate culture and its influence on behaviour.

Main Themes

1. The Nature of Corporate Culture

Corporate culture is not something you can simply measure, but it is essential to understand.
It is both unique and dynamic, shaped by the organisation’s identity, leadership, and operational context.
It includes subcultures within larger organisations, reflecting different departments or functions.

2. Culture as a Mechanism of Control

Culture can guide behaviour and promote compliance without the need for strict surveillance.
The Salz review of Barclays supports the idea that culture is formed through shared assumptions and interactions.
Tone at the top plays a significant role in shaping the organisation’s culture and influencing employee actions.

3. How to Get It Right

Three key steps were identified for boards to effectively manage corporate culture:
1. Know the culture you want.
2. Understand the culture you have.
3. Take actions to reconcile the two.

4. Cultural Trade-offs

The report outlines 14 cultural trade-offs that boards should consider in shaping their culture:

Values as a wealth driver versus values as a protector
Openness to mistakes versus zero tolerance
Leadership versus followership
Conformity versus challenge
Independence versus involvement
Enforcing versus avoiding or exploiting regulation
Common sense versus rules and procedures
Empowerment versus rules, and tight rules versus loose rules
Quantitative measures versus qualitative performance
Innovation versus control
Risk seeking versus risk avoiding
Trust versus accountability
Profit versus public value
Human capital versus human cost

Each of these trade-offs is explored in detail in Chapter 4 of the report.

Survey Insights

60.7% of ACCA members believe that tone at the top has the most influence on corporate behaviour.
20.2% cite incentives (not only related to pay) as the next most influential factor.
10.0% and 9.3% point to rules and procedures and personal agendas, respectively.
57% of respondents work for a multinational or multi-centred organisation, indicating the importance of understanding cultural differences across locations.
60% of respondents agree that multiple subcultures exist within their organisation, highlighting the complexity of cultural management in large firms.

Conclusion

Corporate culture is a key determinant of organisational behaviour and should be a central focus of governance.
Boards need to move beyond pass or fail models and instead adopt a holistic, continuous improvement approach to culture.
Understanding and managing cultural trade-offs can help organisations align their culture with desired outcomes and ensure ethical and functional conduct across all levels.