Researcher María Teresa Kóbila pointed out that business cultures are changing more frequently and quickly than before, so it is necessary to implement a new look towards the future.

In recent years, there has been an accelerated change in company cultures, leading managers to look for new ways to adapt and maintain the effectiveness of their organizations. A research team from the Faculty of Economic Sciences and Statistics of the Universidad Nacional de Rosario works to address this cultural complexity, reaching the conclusion that the growth of a company not only depends on economic aspects, but also on ethical, social and environmental considerations.

“Through various recent projects, we found that organizational cultures were changing more frequently than they did before. In other words, the changes are now more accelerated,” explained researcher María Teresa Kóbila, who has been involved in the world of organizational culture for more than 15 years. 

Organizational Culture can be defined as the compendium of values, rules, procedures and principles that all members of an organization share. 

The professional highlighted that the organizational culture always went through transformations and that it was never set in stone, but that “it took a long time” to do so, although at present the changes occur much faster. “That was the first issue that caught our attention. For this reason, we decided to start interviewing different companies, a process that was not easy because we had the pandemic in the middle, but in which we noticed that acceleration in the foreground. All the directors and area managers with whom we spoke confirmed that in recent years, and especially since the measures that had to be taken due to COVID-19, they began to work in a different way by adding home office spaces and different distribution of tasks. 

After detecting this accelerated change, managers from different organizations created work alternatives to be able to reconvert this culture and keep it working. “These cultural changes at the beginning were derived from the impact that occurred in the context. We also discovered that the managers who could not adapt to the changes caused a serious problem for the management of the organizations.” 

The research team, taking note of this situation, began working since the beginning of last year to address the cultural complexity of organizations and new ways of managing them. “From there, we began to collect a lot of information and observed that not only did the growth of a company or organization go through the economic aspect, but also that this process had to be accompanied by ethical, social, sustainable, and inclusive growth. That is to say, the human question had a lot of relevance in these new forms.”   

In this way, a fundamental question arises: Is it necessary to reinvent organizations inspired by human development? “We conducted interviews and adjusted our own questionnaires, always with the goal of asking ourselves if it was necessary to reinvent organizations by building a more inclusive culture.” 

The project began at the beginning of 2023 and is in its second year. “Last year we were gathering a lot of literature and doing pilot tests in different organizations from various sectors, to have a broad vision of the context. We found that there are many companies in the food and clothing sectors that are very focused on converting themselves into sustainable and sustainable organizations, with a strong imprint on promoting recycling. There are also many large companies that are in the process of integrating these perspectives, such as health organizations or insurance companies, that seek to be more inclusive and be able to strike a balance between three dimensions: economic, social and environmental.

A fundamental factor that promotes this change in structure is the introduction of new generations to these work areas, who are the ones who promote actions that respect sustainability and care for the environment. “We clearly notice that this is so. There is a greater notion of the consequences of pollution and lack of care, and that is very present in the new generations. The social and cultural issue does not escape this either, and it is young people who incorporate these notions most quickly.” 

The research takes small, medium and large companies, as it seeks to “have a general snapshot”, and in this context they identified that it is the majority of entrepreneurs who incorporate these changes more quickly. “The majority already came with these ideas and have well understood this issue of sustainability.”

The researcher highlighted that the terms sustainability and sustainability are often confused, since they are sometimes taken as synonyms but in reality they are not. “Many authors frame sustainable as only taking into account natural resources, while they affirm that sustainability takes into account all processes since they seek a comprehensive change in the environment, social, economic, political, and cultural. We found several entrepreneurs in Rosario who were doing different things in relation to the latter, so we certified that the idea was not just a philosophy but was a practice.” 

In the definition of sustainable development, much emphasis is placed on social development and that is one of the keys to understanding cultural changes. “A serious problem we have in our country is linked to the tons of garbage that is produced, and approximately 15 percent is plastic. This question of seeking alternatives to this problem by organizations, such as using spoons that are not made of plastic, is vital to reduce the social and environmental impact. In this way, we notice a genuine commitment to reality, we see that there is great collective progress.” 

The researcher certified that a path that many organizations already follow and that others are in the process of adaptation is being strengthened. “Are we facing a paradigm shift? I believe that the current paradigm must be renewed, every process usually has a transition period, where the bases are shaped. I think we are at the turning point, and since the changes today are more accelerated, I think it won't be long before we see how this aspect continues."

Journalist: Gonzalo J. García/Photographer: Camila Casero.