Organizational Culture

Change Models
 Culture Change Mechanisms
(Schein Model)

• Scandal & explosion of myths

• Systematic promotion from selected subcultures • Mergers & Acquisitions
• Technological seduction
• Infusion of outsiders

Midlife Turnaround

Destruction
& Rebirth
Founding
• Incremental change through general & specific evolution
& Early
• Insight
Growth
• Promotion of hybrids within the culture

2
Conditions for Transformational
Change
1. Principle 1: Survival anxiety or guilt must be greater than learning
anxiety
2. Principle 2: Learning anxiety must be reduced rather than
increasing survival anxiety
3. Principle 3: The change goal must be defined concretely in terms
of the specific problem you are trying to fix, not as “culture
change.”
4. Principle 4: Old cultural elements can be destroyed by eliminating
the people who “carry” those elements, but new cultural elements
can only be learned if the new behavior leads to success and
satisfaction
5. Principle 5: Culture change is always transformative change that
requires a period of unlearning that is psychologically painful
 Culture Change

Kim Cameron Robert Quinn

Six Steps when designing and implementing
organizational culture change

6
5
4 Determine
3 Reach what
2 Reach consensus on changes will
1 consensus on the desired and will not
Determine the current future mean
Reach what changes culture culture
Reach consensus on will and will
consensus on the desired not mean
the current future culture
culture
Culture Change

Other Models
Lewin’s Three-Stage Process of Change
Why Organizations Resist Change

Organizations are coalitions of interest groups in

tension wherein balance (ultra-
stability, equilibrium) of forces has been
hammered out over a period. Change upsets this
balance.
 Lewin’s Organisational change occurs when:
• forces for change strengthen
Force-Field • restraining forces lessen, or
• both processes occur simultaneously
Theory of
Change
Steps in Force Field Analysis
1. Define problem (current state) and target situation
(target state).
2. List forces working for and against the desired changes.
3. Rate the strength of each force.
4. Draw diagram (length of line denotes strength of the
force).
5. Indicate how important each force is.
6. How to strengthen each important supporting force?
7. How to weaken each important resisting force?
8. Identify resources needed.
9. Make action plan: timings, milestones, responsibilities.
Assessing Resistance to Change - Strebel

1. Look for closed attitudes.

2. Look for an entrenched culture.
3. Look for rigid structures and systems.
4. Look for counterproductive change dynamics.
5. Assess the overall resistance to change by:
• Examining to what extent the various forces of
resistance are correlated with one another.
• Describing the resistance threshold in terms of power
and resources needed to deal with the resistance.
Responding to Resistance to Change

1. Strebel’s contrasting change paths

2. Beer, Eisenstat and Spector’s six

steps to effective change

3. Kotter & Schlesinger

Possible Change Paths - Strebel
Resistance Proactive Reactive Rapid
level

Closed to Radical Org re- Downsizing &

change leadership alignment restructuring

Can be opened Top down Process re- Autonomous

to change experim- engineering restructuring
entation
Open to Bottom-up Goal cascading Rapid adaptation
change experim-
entation
Change force
Weak Moderate Strong
Beer et al’s Six Steps to Effective Change
1. Mobilize commitment to change through joint diagnosis of business
problems.
2. Develop a shared vision of how to organize and manage for
competitiveness.
3. Foster consensus for the new vision, competence to enact it, and
cohesion to move it along.
4. Spread revitalization to all departments without pushing it from the
top.
5. Institutionalize revitalization through formal policies, systems and
structures.
6. Monitor and adjust strategies in response to problems in the process.

Source: Beer, M., Eisenstat, R.A. and Spector, B. (1993) Why change programs don’t produce change, IN
Mabey, C. and Mayon-White, B. (eds) Managing Change, London, P.C.P.
Kotter’s Theory of Change
Possible Ways of Dealing with
Resistance (Kotter & Schlesinger)
1. Education & communication
2. Participation & involvement
3. Facilitation & support
4. Negotiation & agreement
5. Manipulation & co-optation
6. Explicit and implicit coercion