INCLUSIVE CORPORATE CULTURE AS AN ENVIRONMENT FOR EFFECTIVE TEAM BUILDING

Abstract

The article is devoted to topical issues of forming an inclusive corporate culture. The article substantiates the role of inclusive corporate culture as an environment that facilitates the effective implementation of team-building processes in companies, with a particular focus on the IT sector. Corporate culture is considered as an important managerial resource that shapes values, norms, behavioral patterns and interaction practices within teams. The study analyzes the functional manifestations of corporate culture and its ambivalent impact on team cohesion, effectiveness and adaptability. An author’s definition of inclusive corporate culture is proposed, and its key differences from other types of corporate cultures are identified. So, we propose defining inclusive corporate culture as a system of values, norms, management practices, and behavior models within a company (team) that ensures equal opportunities for participation, respect for diversity, and psychological safety for all employees, promoting their engagement, effective interaction, and realization of professional potential regardless of individual differences. It is argued that inclusive culture ensures psychological safety, equal participation, open communication and a high level of employee engagement, which are critical prerequisites for sustainable and effective team building. The functions of inclusive corporate culture in the context of team formation are outlined, including integrative, communicative, motivational, adaptive and innovative functions. Special attention is paid to the transformation of corporate culture in Ukrainian IT companies under wartime conditions, where inclusivity becomes a factor of resilience, trust and organizational stability. The results demonstrate that inclusive corporate culture creates favorable conditions for productive use of team diversity, reduction of conflicts and strengthening of team identity. The article emphasizes the importance of purposeful and strategic management of corporate culture and outlines prospects for further research related to the development of integrated models of inclusive culture management and empirical assessment of its impact on team performance and organizational development.