CULTURE AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT

WEEK #

Dr. Tazeem Ali Shah

 Culture
what is culture?
• Culture … is how organizations do things!

• The values, beliefs and behaviors practiced in an organization because of shared

subconscious assumptions and tacit beliefs.
• Edgar Schein, MIT psychology professor, ‘Organizational Culture and Leadership’
• culture is
• “A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its
problems that has worked well enough to be considered valid and is passed on to new
members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.”
Conti….
• Culture and ingrained assumptions

• Tacit and below the surface

• They are not easy to see or deal with
• Although they affect everything the organization does
The organizational culture model
by Edgar Schein
The Schein’s model – artifacts and
behaviors
• Are defined as elements that sets the behavioral norms and standards in an
organization.

• It includes the dress codes, furniture and architecture, office humor that
altogether reflects the culture prevailing in an organization.

• They are the visible elements that make up the corporate culture of an
organization.
The Schein’s model – values
• Values underlie and, to a large extent, determine behavior, but they are not
directly observable (as behaviors are).
• There may be a difference between stated and operating values.

• Are frequently expressed through norms–characteristic attitudes and accepted

behaviors.

• “The unwritten rules on the street”– and every employee quickly picks them up
The Schein’s model – basic assumptions
• The deepest level

• Basic assumptions are known as the norms and behaviors that are embedded
deep within the culture of an organization.

• These behaviors are taken for granted and very well integrated within the office
dynamics that are hardly recognizable.
Dimensions of Culture
• Which values characterize an organization’s culture?
• Even though culture may not be immediately observable, identifying a set of
values that might be used to describe an organization’s culture helps us identify,
measure, and manage culture more effectively.
• For this purpose, several researchers have proposed various culture typologies.
One typology that has received a lot of research attention is the organizational
culture profile (OCP), in which culture is represented by seven distinct
values.Chatman, J. A., & Jehn, K. A. (1991).
Conti….
 Innovation. A high value is placed on new product
innovation. It is the foundation for winning in the
marketplace.

Attention to detail. The emphasis on measures,

Conti…. performance, and accuracy indicates there is a high value

on attention to detail. Characterized as emphasizing
precision and paying attention to details

Emphasis on outcome. While there is constant pressure to

get the desired result, there is a strong focus on accuracy
and measures. This indicates that the company places a
lower value on the outcome. It is the process that will
deliver the desired outcome that is important.
 Emphasis on people. People-oriented cultures value fairness,
supportiveness, and respect for individual rights.

Teamwork. The company places a high value on teamwork, to

the point that you are likely to be identified as a team member
rather than an individual. Companies with team-oriented
cultures are collaborative and emphasize cooperation among

Conti… employees.

Aggressiveness. The company wants to win in the marketplace

and outperform the competition. Thus, the company places a
high value on aggressiveness.

Stability. The focus on new products and the short window of

opportunity available to achieve gold strongly suggest that
stability is not a priority.
Attributes to Evaluate Your
Organization Culture
• An organization’s culture consists of the values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors
that employees share and use on a daily basis in their work.
• The organization culture determines how employees describe where they work,
how they understand the business, and how they see themselves as part of the
organization.
• Culture is also a driver of decisions, actions, and ultimately the overall
performance of the organization.
Here are 12 attributes to evaluate your
organization culture:
• Respect/Fairness: Do employees feel like they are treated with fairness and
respect regardless of their position, sexual identity, race, or tenure? Are policies
implemented consistently across the organization? Do managers play favorites?
• Trust/Integrity: Do leaders live up to the values of the organization? Is there
transparency in communication? Do employees feel trusted to do their jobs?
• Change/Adaptability: Do we promote change as a competitive advantage? Do we
allow enough time for changes? Is there effective communication about change?
Are employees allowed to speak up before changes are made that affect them?
• Results Orientation: Do we strive to achieve results as an organization? Are people
held accountable to their commitments? Do we have incentives that encourage
the right behaviors?
Conti…
• Teamwork: Do we collaborate well across departments and functions? Are there clear
expectations for how we do our work? Is there clear ownership for different processes in the
system?
• Employee Engagement: Do we value the talents and contributions of our employees as the key
factor for our success? Do we create an environment where people can engage?
• Responsibility/Accountability: Do we do what we say we will do? Do we encourage people to take
risks and allow them to make mistakes? Do we have a “blame” culture?
• Learning Opportunities: Do we focus on providing growth opportunities for our employees? Are
there clear learning objectives for every position in the organization? Do we encourage
employees to take on new projects?
• Meaning/Purpose: Is our mission important to our employees? How does our organization
contribute to better the world? Do employees understand how their job role contributes to the
greater good?
Conti…
• Communication: Do we communicate frequently and consistently about what’s
going on? Are we transparent in our communications? Do we explain the why
behind changes?
• Decision Making: Do we provide the appropriate decision-making authority to all
employees in the organization? Do I know who to work with to get a decision
made?
• Goals/Strategy: Are we aligned with the overall organization goals and strategy? Is
the strategy meaningful to employees? Is everyone clear on how we will achieve
our strategy?
Change begins …
• ‘The evidence is growing that real change does not begin until the organization
experiences some real threat of pain
• that in some way dashes its expectations or hope open to the possibility of
learning.’

• Change and learning anxiety

• ‘… Change creates learning anxiety’
learning anxiety can be fueled of the fear
of …
• … loss of power/position

• … temporary incompetence

• … subsequent punishment

• … loss of personal identity

• … loss of group membership

• ‘The higher the learning anxiety is, the stronger is the resistance and the
defensiveness’
Conti….
• ‘The only way to overcome resistance is to reduce the learning anxiety.

• By making the learner feel “psychologically safe”

Create ‘psychological safety’
• Communicating a compelling vision
• Formal training
• Involvement of the learner
• Informal training of groups
• Practice fields coaches and feedback
• Positive role model
• Support groups in which learning
• Problems are discussed and consistent
• Systems and structures with the new way of thinking and working
‘The change goal must be defined
concretely … ’
• ‘… in terms of the specific problem you are trying to fix, not as culture change.

• The change may not be possible without cognitive redefinition whereby

people will have to unlearn the former way of working to learn the new one.

• This unlearning period is psychologically painful.

• These new cultural elements can only be learned if the new behavior leads to

success and satisfaction.’

How does organizational culture impact
the change process?
• If an organization's culture promotes open and collective decision making, people
would know beforehand about a change that's coming.
• They would know the reasons and understand the importance behind it. Some
level of resistance is almost unavoidable.
• In some creative way, if you can make the people itself responsible and let them
drive the change, that would be wonderful.
• For that, they need to be convinced genuinely that the change will benefit them
and the overall organization.
Conti…
• The root cause of any resistance to change is uncertainty. To a greater extent,
proper training to cope with the changes help in eradicating this concern. Few
other things that can be done are:

• Decide how you are going to analyse the success of the change –
• the definite parameters and their values.
• You will have to do that on certain assumptions.
• But make sure once the implementation starts, you monitor for those
assumptions closely. The incurred cost and ROI must be justifiable.
• Not every benefit is easily quantifiable, but organization management should be
able to help with measurement and analysis.
Conti….
• Explain the benefits of the change to everyone involved. Clear and effective
communication would be a key here. Identify all the stakeholders and categorize
the type of communication that's effective for each.
• Training, as mentioned above is the most important technique to achieve a
successful change implementation. Invest in your people's skill upgradation, if
necessary. Educate them well not only for the change, but beyond (carrying it
further and improving on it).
• Convincing 100% stakeholders is hard. You will eventually have to talk to those
rigid individuals, no matter what. But don't avoid or ignore it. Sometimes the
genuineness of a problem will surprise you.
• Depending on your organization, some level of customization is always the best.
No process or tool can be perfect for all. Keep your mind open towards making
little changes to the overall big change. Iterate until it looks satisfactory.
Conti….
• What methods you apply to introduce, execute and monitor the change depends
largely on the type of your organizational culture. Although there is no standard
formula for categorizing the cultures. The three parameters it tries to categorize
an organization on are:
• Constructiveness
• Passiveness and
• Aggressiveness