Premium Essay

How Do You Change an Organizational Culture

In: Business and Management

Submitted By freeman7022
Words 2517
Pages 11
Leadership 7/23/2011 @ 6:09PM |50,364 views
How Do You Change An Organizational Culture?+ Comment now
Changing an organization’s culture is one of the most difficult leadership challenges. That’s because an organization’s culture comprises an interlocking set of goals, roles, processes, values, communications practices, attitudes and assumptions.
The elements fit together as an mutually reinforcing system and combine to prevent any attempt to change it. That’s why single-fix changes, such as the introduction of teams, or Lean, or Agile, or Scrum, or knowledge management, or some new process, may appear to make progress for a while, but eventually the interlocking elements of the organizational culture take over and the change is inexorably drawn back into the existing organizational culture.
Changing a culture is a large-scale undertaking, and eventually all of the organizational tools for changing minds will need to be put in play. However the order in which they deployed has a critical impact on the likelihood of success.
In general, the most fruitful success strategy is to begin with leadership tools, including a vision or story of the future, cement the change in place with management tools, such as role definitions, measurement and control systems, and use the pure power tools of coercion and punishments as a last resort, when all else fails.

Frequent mistakes in trying to change culture include: * Overuse of the power tools of coercion and underuse of leadership tools. * Beginning with a vision or story, but failing to put in place the management tools that will cement the behavioral changes in place. * Beginning with power tools even before a clear vision or story of the future is in place.
These lessons are evident in successive efforts to change the organizational culture of the World Bank over a period of almost half a century.
The

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Personality Reflection Paper

...Leading a team or a group is a real skill that takes time, thought and dedication. Leadership is the most studied aspect of business and organization because it is the one over aching topic that makes the difference between success and failure. At times, it may seem overwhelming complex, but by focusing on some fundamentals you will find that you can lead your team with confidence and skill. Leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary systems of action. Each has its own function and characteristics activities. Both are necessary for success in an increasingly complex and volatile business environment. Strong leadership with weak management is no better, and is sometimes actually worse, than the reverse. The real challenge is to combine strong leadership and strong management and use each to balance the other. Both leadership and management skills are needed for success. At times, “leadership” will need to manage task and projects, and “managers” will need to influence and inspire people. Managers are not confined to management and leaders are not restricted to leadership the critical issue is about getting the right balance for the job you do. Management is generally seen to involve overseeing day to day operations, accomplishing goals and achieving tasks, while leadership spans a wider remit that includes influencing and inspiring others, generating ideas and defining a strategy and vision. GROUP DYNAMICS The term “group dynamics” describe the way in...

Words: 2920 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Organizational Culture & Change Management

...workplace is "organizational culture." We define organizational culture as the set of shared beliefs, truths, assumptions, and values that operate in organizations. Organizational culture has been described as "How people behave when no one is looking." We spend more than 8 hours at work each day. Most of us spend more time at work than we do with families. Everyone needs an enjoyable, meaningful and engaging work environment. A strong organizational culture will attract many talented people. Organizational culture is the first thing that prospective employees consider when assessing an organization. The talent market is tighter and those looking for a new organization are more selective than ever. Talented people not only needs good salary and benefit, but also a good environment that they can enjoy and succeed in. What’ more, a strong organizational culture will help you to solve a tough problem when facing a crisis. For example, Toyota found some potential safety hazard of their cars, but they didn’t recall these cars because of enormous repair costs. Unfortunately, many people died in an accident due to this potential safety hazard. If Toyota has a strong organizational culture, they will recall these defective cars as soon as possible without regard to the repair costs. And what would they got is “public praise”—the most important thing for a company. There is no doubt that organizational culture is very important. The organizational culture will urge you to think the work...

Words: 1172 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Orgs Culture and Its

...1. Define organizational culture and discuss its three layers. Organizational culture represents the shared assumptions that a group holds. It influences employees' perceptions and behavior at work. The three layers of organizational culture include observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic assumptions. Artifacts are the physical manifestations of an organization's culture. Espoused values represent the explicitly stated values and norms that are preferred by an organization. Basic underlying assumptions are unobservable and represent the core of organizational culture. 2. Discuss the difference between espoused and enacted values. Espoused values represent the explicitly stated values and norms that are preferred by an organization. Enacted values, in contrast, reflect the values and norms that actually are exhibited or converted into employee behavior. Employees become cynical when management espouses one set of values and norms and then behaves in an inconsistent fashion. Chapter Scan Corporate cultures provide identifying characteristics and values for organizational members to appreciate and learn. Cultures are distinguished by artifacts, values, and basic assumptions. The socialization process is the entry stage in an organization that provides clues about its culture. Cultures are difficult to change, yet change is necessary in some instances for survival. Organizations need an adaptive culture in order to respond effectively to the...

Words: 4897 - Pages: 20

Premium Essay

Marks and Spencer Analysis

...Culture and strategy Introduction In the strategic literature the need to develop a strategy that requires the foundations of a culture that is compatible with the intended strategy is widely recognized. However, what is less widely understood is what happens when you have to fast track both cultural and strategic change when the strategy and its desired outcomes are both incompatible with the culture of the organization. How should managers deal with these challenges? How should such cultural appreciations be brought in to the discussion to develop and implement the business strategy? Cultural change is strategic change It is important to understand cultural change as also involving strategic change. Strategy can be considered as a cultural production that may involve cultural adaptation, or transformation, or both. This conceptualization is particularly useful if the organization is “betwixt and between” cultures and organizational identities i.e. a local authority department aspiring to become a commercially driven company. I will use a case study of such an organization that was changing from a council department into a Limited Liability Partnership to flesh out some ideas that illuminate the relationship between strategic development and organizational culture. Culture is not like a skin that an organization can discard as it selects a new organizational culture that is perceived to have strategic fit with its commercial strategy. In my view culture is the organization...

Words: 3690 - Pages: 15

Premium Essay

Management

...TEACHING NOTE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND CHANGE By Romuald Stone, DBA The construct of organizational culture has raised considerable interest of both academics and practitioners in the field of change management. Organizational culture is “derived from the anthropological concept of culture that attempts to explain why people in societies believe and behave as they do.” It has “become a common way of thinking about and describing an organization’s internal world—a way of differentiating one organization’s ‘personality’ from another.” This organizational self-image develops over a period of time with the core elements typically coalescing during the organization’s formative years. In many organizations we find a strong dominant culture that is pervasive not only in the headquarters element but across divisions and geographic regions. However, in large organizations this culture is not uniform but instead is composed of many subcultures. Subcultures may share certain characteristics, norms, and values yet they can be totally different with some functioning collaboratively and others in conflict with each other. Definition Organizational culture is defined as a complex set of shared beliefs, guiding values, behavioral norms, and basic assumptions acquired over time that shape our thinking and behavior; they are part of the social fabric of the organization—its genetic code. As such, culture drives the organization and guides the behavior of everyone in that...

Words: 6289 - Pages: 26

Premium Essay

Grening Ob

...Organizational Behavior and Organizational Change Organizational Culture Roger N. Nagel Senior Fellow & Wagner Professor Lehigh University 1 CSE & Enterprise Systems Center Lehigh University Roger N. Nagel © 2006 Topics This Presentation Organizational Culture Characteristics 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Innovation and risk taking Attention to detail Outcome orientation People orientation Team orientation Aggressiveness Stability Agility eleventh edition organizational behavior stephenp. ro s bbin 2 Organizational Culture USA & China What Do Cultures Do? How Employees Learn Culture “Organizational behavior” “Organizational behavior” Eleventh Edition Eleventh Edition By Steve Robbins By Steve Robbins ISBN 0-13-191435-9 ISBN 0-13-191435-9 Reference Book Reference Book 2 CSE & Enterprise Systems Center Lehigh University Roger N. Nagel © 2006 What Is Organizational Culture? Organizational Culture A common perception held by the organization’s members; a system of shared meaning. Characteristics: Characteristics: 1. Innovation and risk 1. Innovation and risk taking taking 2. Attention to detail 2. Attention to detail 3. Outcome orientation 3. Outcome orientation 4. People orientation 4. People orientation 5. Team orientation 5. Team orientation 6. Aggressiveness 6. Aggressiveness 7. Stability 7. Stability 8. Agility 8. Agility Page 485 Page 485 3 CSE & Enterprise Systems Center Lehigh University Roger N. Nagel © 2006 Culture Characteristics...

Words: 2335 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Business

...McShane−Von Glinow: Organizational Behavior, Second Edition Part Four Organizational Processes Organizational Culture © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2002 C H A P T E R 15 Organizational Culture AFTER READING THIS CHAPTER , YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO : Learning Objectives I Describe the elements of organizational culture. I Discuss the importance of organizational subcultures. I List four categories of artifacts through which corporate culture is communicated. I Identify three functions of organizational culture. I Discuss the conditions under which cultural strength improves corporate performance. I Discuss the effect of organizational culture on business ethics. I Compare and contrast four strategies for merging organizational cultures. I Identify five strategies to strengthen an organization’s culture. McShane−Von Glinow: Organizational Behavior, Second Edition Part Four Organizational Processes Organizational Culture © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2002 C arly Fiorina is taking Hewlett-Packard back to the future by reformulating the California-based technology company’s legendary culture, known as the H-P Way. “The H-P Way is about innovation; trust and respect and integrity; contribution to community; and performance,” says Fiorina, H-P’s first CEO hired from outside the company. The problem, she argues, is that employees have distorted these values over the years. “The H-P Way has been misinterpreted and twisted as a gentle bureaucracy...

Words: 12594 - Pages: 51

Premium Essay

Organizational Culture

...C H A P T E R Organizational Culture Learning Objectives After reading this chapter, you should be able to: • Describe the elements of organizational culture. • Discuss the importance of organizational subcultures. • List four categories of artifacts through which corporate culture is communicated. • Identify three functions of organizational culture. • Discuss the conditions under which cultural strength improves corporate performance. • Discuss the effect of organizational culture on business ethics. • Compare and contrast four strategies for merging organizational cultures. • Identify five strategies to strengthen an organization’s culture. 16 S I X T E E N 496 T o an outsider, PeopleSoft is one of the loopiest places on the planet. The Pleasanton, California, business management software company has nerf ball shootouts and minigolf tournaments in the hallways. Dress-down day is every day of the week. A white collar is usually a T-shirt. The bagels and gourmet coffee are free. Having fun is so ingrained that many employees—called PeoplePeople—say it’s the best place to have a bad day. PeopleSoft also values egalitarianism— treating everyone with respect and minimal status differences. Executives don’t have secretaries, special perks, or grandiose offices. “Don’t kiss up and slap down,” PeopleSoft cofounder Dave Duffield reminds everyone. In other words, give the bagel delivery guy the same respect as the company president. PeopleSoft is also extreme on...

Words: 12145 - Pages: 49

Premium Essay

Adapting to Organizational Culture

...How to Adapt to a New Organizational Culture after a Merger/Acquisition Introduction The organization that I will be researching is Wachovia Bank. Wachovia is a diversified financial services company that provides a broad range of retail banking and brokerage, asset and wealth management, and corporate and investment banking products and services. They are one of the largest providers of financial services in the United States, with retail and commercial banking operations in 21 states from Connecticut to Florida and west to Texas and California, and nationwide retail brokerage, mortgage lending and auto finance businesses. Its retail brokerage operations under the Wachovia Securities brand name manage client assets through offices nationwide. Globally, clients are served in selected corporate and institutional sectors and through more than 40 international offices. Over the last several years Wachovia has always been in the position of purchasing smaller banks. And with most acquisitions, Wachovia has implemented their policies and procedures without taken into account how this would affect the existing employees of the company that was bought. Now for the first time, in company history, Wachovia finds itself on the other side of the table. I’m currently a Business Analyst at Wachovia. I’ve been with the company for almost 2 years, but I’ve been there long enough to understand and adapt to the culture, their policies & procedures, their implementation of diversity within...

Words: 3313 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Abcd

...Cameron.ffirs 10/11/05 1:46 PM Page iii Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture Based on the Competing Values Framework REVISED EDITION The Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series Cameron.ffirs 10/11/05 1:46 PM Page i Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture Cameron.ffirs 10/11/05 1:46 PM Page ii Kim S. Cameron Robert E. Quinn Cameron.ffirs 10/11/05 1:46 PM Page iii Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture Based on the Competing Values Framework REVISED EDITION The Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series Cameron.ffirs 10/11/05 1:46 PM Page iv Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Published by Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741 www.josseybass.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department...

Words: 72417 - Pages: 290

Premium Essay

Ol Keywords

...Module 6 Organizational leadership 3 marks 1) What do you mean by “charisma”? Ans: Charisma is a trait found in individuals whose personalities are characterized by powerful charm and magnetism (attractiveness) and superior capabilities of interpersonal communication and persuasion. According to Weber, charisma is a pure form of authority based on the gift of divine grace. The term charisma is applied to a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he is considered extraordinary and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities. 2) Who is a charismatic leadership? Ans: Charismatic leadership is a leadership based on the leader’s ability to communicate and behave in ways that reach followers on a basic, emotional way, to inspire and motivate. 3) Define the term “transactional leadership”. Ans: A transactional leader is one who guides and motivates his follows in the direction of establish goals by clarifying role and task requirements. It involves exchange relationship between leader and the followers. It is a perception for mediocrity and that transformational leadership leads to superior performance in organization facing demands for renewal and change. 4) Differentiate between transformational and transactional leadership...

Words: 4081 - Pages: 17

Premium Essay

Leadership

...difference in how well organizations perform, assess how an understanding of organizational behavior concepts and theories is a useful knowledge base for career success and for improving an organization's effectiveness. | Key Concepts * Define organizational behavior and describe why is it important. * Analyze what organizations are like as work settings. B | Given the influence of factors such as values, attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and personality on individual behavior, demonstrate how knowledge of individual difference factors helps in understanding, predicting, and influencing individual behavior. Use a diagnostic instrument, such as the Life Styles Inventory (LSI) to assess your personal thinking and behavior styles and their role in accomplishing self-improvement goals. | Key Concepts * Describe the nature of managerial work. * List the individual differences and how they impact performance. * Define value differences among individuals. * Define emotions and attitudes. * Analyze job satisfaction and why it's important. * Describe personality types and how they differ. * Learn how to manage diversity and individual differences, and why this is important. The High Performance Organization Visionary Leadership | A Culture of Accountability | Affinity for Risk | Strategic Agility At the heart of the high performance organization (HPO) is people—in particular, leaders who model company values and create a culture that supports...

Words: 9996 - Pages: 40

Premium Essay

Strategic Leadership

...Decision Making 16 ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE One of the primary responsibilities of strategic leaders is to create and maintain the organizational characteristics that reward and encourage collective effort. Perhaps the most fundamental of these is organizational culture. But what do we really mean by organizational culture? What influence does it have on an organization? How does one go about building, influencing or changing an organization's culture? THE IMPACT OF CULTURE Why is culture so important to an organization? Edgar Schein, an MIT Professor of Management and author of Organizational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View, suggests that an organization's culture develops to help it cope with its environment. Today, organizational leaders are confronted with many complex issues during their attempts to generate organizational achievement in VUCA environments. A leader's success will depend, to a great extent, upon understanding organizational culture. Schein contends that many of the problems confronting leaders can be traced to their inability to analyze and evaluate organizational cultures. Many leaders, when trying to implement new strategies or a strategic plan leading to a new vision, will discover that their strategies will fail if they are inconsistent with the organization's culture. A CEO, SES, political appointee, or flag officer who comes into an organization prepared to "shake the place up" and institute sweeping changes, often experiences resistance...

Words: 5029 - Pages: 21

Premium Essay

Business

...Corporate Culture and Its Impact on Strategic Change Research and experience from ODR ® Culture—“the way we do things around here”—provides guidance, whether intentional or de facto, on what is done (or is not), how it is done (if it is), and why it is or isn’t done. Culture permeates every organization, and has the ability to either support or destroy even the most critical change initiatives. The power of culture is an important consideration when planning change. This paper will help you understand the dynamics of organizational culture and what contributes to supporting or obstructing change initiatives. It will also address whether or not to attempt shifting a culture, and how it should be approached if such an endeavor is warranted. Understanding how culture is formed and knowing how and when to take it on are essential foundations to successful strategy execution. You can deliver on transformative change promises only to the extent that you build a supportive culture. The Dynamics of Culture While there are many viable definitions of organizational culture, within this paper it is important to work with a definition that centers on the relationship of culture to major change. In this context, culture is defined as the patterns of mindsets and behaviors shared by people in an organization. Thus, an organization’s culture consists not only of what is done; it includes why. Corporate culture is, in effect, an organizational self-concept roughly analogous to an...

Words: 3403 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Bsbpmg522 Undertake Project Work

...of the fact that some organizations do a better job of training their project managers. So they may be more skilled and knowledgeable in the project management discipline. But the way your organization deals with training is just one aspect of your overall organizational culture. A number of big-picture factors influence your ability to deliver projects successfully. Let's look at two of them: culture and structure.    Culture has a huge effect on your success rate  Your organization's culture has a lot to do with the success rate of your projects. Keep in mind that I'm talking about projects all throughout your organization, not just about one particular project. The term culture generally means “how we do things around here.” Imagine that someone asks you how successfully your organization delivers projects. If you say, “We’re pretty poor at delivering projects,” you’re voicing a perception of one aspect of your culture. Culture comes into play on projects in a number of areas.    Process orientation  Many organizations have good processes in place and people generally follow them. This is perhaps the biggest single factor in overall project success. If your organization follows a good, scalable project management process, you’re more likely to be consistently successful on your projects. The entire project team generally knows how to create and follow a work plan, and can use standard processes to effectively handle risk, scope change, and issues.    Governance  Many...

Words: 1760 - Pages: 8