Corporate culture is the shared values and meanings that members hold in common and that are practiced by an organization's leaders. Organizational and corporate cultures are formal and informal. They can be studied by observation, by listening and interacting with people in the culture, and by reading what the company says about its own culture, by understanding career path progressions, and by observing stories about the company. As R. Solomon stated, "Corporate culture is related to ethics through the values and leadership styles that the leaders practice; the company model, the rituals and symbols that organizations value, and the way organizational executives and members communicate among themselves and with stakeholders. As a culture, the corporation defines not only jobs and roles; it also sets goals and establishes what counts as success- (Solomon, 1997, p.138). Corporate values are used to define corporate culture and drive operations found in "strong- corporate cultures. Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, and the Borg-Warner firm all exemplify "strong- cultures. They all have a shared philosophy, they value the importance of people, they all have heroes that symbolize the success of the company, and they celebrate rituals, which provide opportunities for caring and sharing, for developing a spirit of "oneness- and "weness-(Weiss, 1994). Organizations that stress competition, profit, and economic or self-interests over stakeholder obligations and that have on morally active direction often have cultures that are in trouble.
The founders of an organization set the tome for the beginning staged of what a company's culture will be. The practices of the founders and first employees begin the rituals, the corporate stories, and norms. Ethics are a major factor in the development of a positive or negative culture. If companies allow unethical acts to occur, this behavior will perpetuate itself through the life of the organization.