Typically, most companies start out with just a handful of people. Everyone knows everyone else, usually quite intimately. These small enterprises don’t have a rigid structure. They are flexible, agile and possess a flatter hierarchy than bigger firms. This leads to a very intimate and personal culture that’s acknowledged and understood by everyone that works there.
As companies grow, inevitably this leads to cultural change. The personal element begins to become fade, especially as newcomers join the organisation with different values and mind-sets. At the same time, you may see some original personnel leave and move on.
As businesses evolve, so too does company culture
The beliefs, values and behaviours that make up company culture are situational. The culture of any company, while shaped by its founding members, evolves in response to the history and development of the company and is also sculpted by the challenges it meets along the way.
You certainly can’t run a company of five people the same way as you run a company of 100, and this directly impacts on culture. Whereas you can change the way you work at a moment’s notice in the small firm, there’s too many other parties involved in a big company to do that without causing issues elsewhere.