Anti-crisis Transformation of Corporate Culture in Russian Companies During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

From April 2020 to August 2021 the Public Opinion Foundation conducted a study of the top management of small, medium and large businesses in a pandemic. We focused on “success stories” and on what characteristics of a company determine its survival. Despite the pandemic crisis these organizations were successfully able to adapt, they launched new products and processes, their teams stayed consolidated and in some cases even grew to accommodate new functions. One of the factors of a company’s success and its survival in a crisis is having a system of values shared by all team members, which is an integral part of corporate culture. The heads of companies point out: taking care of the collective means to make a very profitable investment in business development. During the crisis, corporate culture helped managers to preserve a tightly knit team around them, create a certain work atmosphere in the collective and inspire employees to continue growing. This article examines different levels of corporate culture, showing the role of each of them when it comes to the survival of a business in a pandemic crisis. The text also contains the results of a case study and content analysis of 70 in-depth interviews with company leaders, reflecting changes in corporate culture given an ongoing pandemic. Particular attention is paid to the transformation of the role of the business leader. In the final section we consider the specifics of culture for businesses of various sizes, and then summarize the results by outlining areas for future research.