LibGuides: Organizational Behaviour: Organizational Culture

Tip: Company Web Sites & Annual Reports

Check company websites and annual reports for sections to gain insights in to organizational culture and strategy. Bear in mind, though, that these are self-reported as opposed to third-party analysis.

Company websites: The "About Us" and "Careers" sections of a company's can be especially insightful. Often, these sections include links to a company's current Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report.
Annual reports and filings: A company's annual report also provides insights in to the culture of an organization, e.g. through the letters of the CEO or the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) sections. See the Annual Reports page for more help on finding annual reports for companies.
Corporate calls and earnings reports: These also provide insight into organizational culture, and often include full discussions. These are available via Factiva and Proquest.
Analyst reports: Third-party analysis provides a less biased view than self-reported documents such as annual filings, and they often include additional industry-related context. See our Analyst Reports guide for a list of many sources for these reports..

Finding Articles on Corporate Culture

When looking for information about corporate culture articles can often be a very useful source of information, e.g. articles in scholarly, trade magazines, the popular press, and newspapers.

Explore our finding business articles guide below to get links to useful databases you can use to find articles, as well as tips on searching them:

Finding Business Articles

Use the search tips shared below to explore two highly recommended articles databases - Business Source Premier and Proquest Business.

Proquest Business
Use "Corporate culture" rather than "Organizational culture" as a subject heading. Enter company name in separate row and select company/organization option from the drop-down menu provided.
Business Source Complete (Ebsco)
Offers premium content including peer-reviewed and business-related journals, magazines and newspapers, including scholarly, trade, and popular titles. Included as part of the comprehensive coverage offered by Business Source Complete are indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals, dating back as far as 1886. In addition, searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,300 journals. Other content includes business e-books, case studies, company profiles, country economic reports, faculty seminar videos, industry reports, executive and analyst interviews, market research reports, SWOT analyses, and working paper collections.

Career Resources & Organizational Culture

The careers section on a company website provides information supplied by the company, and can provide insights in to company culture and strategic priorities. Companies also use online resources such as Eluta, Workopolis and Monster.ca to advertise positions available, and they include information about the company.

The annual reviews of the best companies to work for describe why they are rated as being the best.