There are a lot of factors that can go into determining an organizational culture, including:
- Management attitude: an aggressive, hard-driving, abusive boss communicates to the rest of the organization that this behavior is not just acceptable, but encouraged
- Markets served: banks have different cultures from breweries
- Stage of life: startups will not have the roles, policies and procedures as compared to established companies
- Regulations: the government keeps a close eye on regulated businesses like financial institutions or hospitals so that deviations from the rules can't be tolerated
- Finances: cash-starved startups vs. any of the high-flying social network companies
The culture is also determined to some extent by the business structure, so take some time to review those pages.
