4.3 Organizational Culture and Change

Organizational culture

refers to a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations.

strong

An organization’s culture is considered “ “ when its core values are both intensely held and widely shared.

Barrier to change

Culture is a liability when shared values are not in agreement with those that will further the organization’s effectiveness

Barrier to diversity

Strong cultures put considerable pressure on employees to conform.

They limit the range of values and styles that are acceptable.

Barrier to acquisition and mergers

Although a favorable financial statement or product line may be the initial attraction of an acquisition candidate, whether acquisition works seems to have more to do with how well the two organizations’ cultures match up.

Stories

They typically include narratives about the organization’s founders, rule breaking, rags- to-riches successes, reductions in the workforce, relocation of employees, reactions to past mistakes, and organizational coping.

Rituals

Repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the key values of the organization—what goals are most important and which people are important, and which are expendable (ex. company chant)

Material Symbols

These convey to employees who is important, the degree of egalitarianism top management desires, and the kinds of behavior that are appropriate, such as risk taking, conservative, authoritarian, participative, individualistic, or social.

Language

Unique terms describe equipment, officers, key individuals, suppliers, customers, or products that relate to the business.

Selection Practices, Actions of Top Management, Socialization

Three forces at play in creating a sustaining culture:

Goals of Planned Change

• It seeks to improve the ability of the organization to adapt to changes in its environment.

• It seeks to change employee behavior.

Lewin’s Three-Step Model

1. Unfreezing the status quo

2. Movement to a new state

3. Refreezing the new change

Action Research

A change process based on the systematic collection of data and then selection of a change action based on what the analyzed data indicate

diagnosis, analysis, feedback, action, evaluation

Action Research involves the following steps: D, A, F, A, E

Sensitivity Training

changing behavior through unstructured group interaction

Survey Feedback

one tool for assessing attitudes held by organizational members, identifying discrepancies among member perceptions and solving these differences

Process Consultation

makes use of outside consultant

Team Building

uses high interaction group activities to increase trust and openness among team members

Intergroup Development

seeks to change the attitudes, stereotypes and perceptions that groups have of each other

Appreciative Inquiry

accentuates the positive