Chapter 19 Organisation Culture and Change

A central feature of the successful organisation is the diagnosis ofits culture, health and performance, and the ability of theorganisation to adapt to change. It involves the applications oforganisational behaviour and recognition of the social processesof the organisation. The manager needs to understand the natureand importance of organisational culture and climate, employeecommitment, and the successful implementation andmanagement of organisational change.

Learning outcomes

After completing this chapter you should be able to:

■ outline the meaning and nature of organisation development;

■ examine the nature, types and main features of organisational culture;

■ evaluate influences on the development of culture and the importance of culture;

■ detail the characteristics of organisational climate and employeecommitment;

■ explore the nature of organisational change and reasons for resistance to change;

■ examine the management of organisational change, and human andsocial factors of change;

■ review the importance of organisational culture and the ability of the organisation to adapt to change.

ORGANISATION CULTURE AND CHANGE

Critical reflection

19

‘An organisation cannot develop, or change. It is the people comprising theorganisation who determine the culture of the organisation, develop andchange. The study of organisation culture and change should thereforeconcentrate on the actions, behaviour and effectiveness of individuals.’

What is your view? What does organisation development mean to you?

CHAPTER 19 ORGANISATION CULTURE AND CHANGE

737

ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT, CULTURE AND CHANGE

Organisation development (OD) is a generic term embracing a wide range of loosely definedintervention strategies into the social processes of an organisation. These intervention strategies are aimed at the development of individuals, groups and the organisation as a totalsystem. In a very general sense, OD is concerned with attempts to improve the overall performance and effectiveness of an organisation. Essentially, it is an applied behaviouralscience approach to planned change and development of an organisation. A goal of OD canbe seen as the transformation of an organisation into a learning organisation, discussed inChapter 20.

The broad nature of OD means that many interrelated topics could be included under thisheading or ‘label’. Given the importance of people, topics that are normally included underthe heading of organisational behaviour can also be seen as relevant to the study of OD.However, the emphasis of OD is more on the development of the organisation than the actualprocesses of organisation and management. Organisational culture and organisation changeare two major topics that are central and critical features of OD.

Organisation culture

An example of a comprehensive definition of OD in the behavioural science sense of theterm is given by French and Bell:

Organization development is a long-term effort, led and supported by top management, to improve anorganization’s visioning, empowerment, learning, and problem-solving processes, through an ongoing,collaborative management of organization culture – with special emphasis on the culture of intact workteams and other team configurations – utilizing the consultant-facilitator role and the theory and technology of applied behavioral science, including action research.1

French and Bell include culture prominently in their definition as they believe that cultureis the bedrock of behaviour in organisations. They summarise the primary distinguishingcharacteristics of organisation development in terms of the following:

■ a focus on culture and processes with specific encouragement of collaboration betweenleaders and members;

■ a focus on the human and social side of the organisation, the importance of teams of allkinds, and participation and involvement in problem-solving and decision-making;

■ a focus on total system change with organisations viewed as complex social systems;■ OD practitioners as facilitators, collaborators and co-learners with the overarching goal to

make the client able to solve problems on their own;■ a reliance on an action research model and the adoption of a developmental view that

seeks betterment of both individuals and the organisation.2

Organisation change

The relationship between OD and change is emphasised by Hamlin, Keep and Ash, who maintain that ‘For organisations that do manage change effectively, change itself becomesthe driving force that perpetuates future success and growth. In these organisations, everychange becomes welcomed as an opportunity for increasing efficiency and building neworganisational success.’3

According to Church, OD ought to be about large-scale organisational change that is basedon people’s perceptions and behaviours – human data.

I would draw the line at that kind of work. I would say that downsizing is not OD. I would say that alot of training and development is not OD. Process consultation is, in my way of thinking, not OD. It’sa skill that OD practitioners have, but it’s not doing OD. I really think of OD as being systematicorganisational change.4

PART 6 ORGANISATION MANAGEMENT

738

The implementation of OD

In order to bring about effective change, OD makes use of a number of approaches – oftenreferred to as intervention strategies – including survey research and feedback, T-groups,team building and grid training.

■ Survey research and feedback involves the use of questionnaire surveys to help determinethe attitudes of members to the functioning of the organisation. Results of the surveys are fed back to top management and then to work groups for interpretation and analysis.Group members participate in discussions on the implications of the information, thediagnosis of problems and the development of action plans to help overcome the problemsidentified.

■ T-groups (or sensitivity training) involve small, unstructured, face-to-face groupingswho meet without a planned agenda or set activities. Training is intended to concentrateon process rather than content: that is, on the feeling level of communication rather thanthe informational value of communication. With the guidance of the trainers, participants’patterns of behaviour become the focus of attention for the group. The objectives are usually to increase participants’ sensitivity to the emotional reactions in themselves andothers, their diagnostic ability, and their behavioural flexibility and effectiveness. (T-groupsare discussed in Chapter 9.)

■ Team building is the process of diagnosing task procedures and patterns of human inter-action within a work group. The basic objective is to improve the overall performance ofthe organisation through improvements in the effectiveness of teams. Attention is focusedon work procedures and interpersonal relationships, and especially the role of the leaderin relation to other members of the group.

■ Grid training is a development from the Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid® approach(discussed in Chapter 12). An implied goal of grid training is that changes are aimed atattaining a 9,9 orientation (maximum concern for both production and people) on theGrid.5

There are, however, a number of other possible intervention strategies. Naylor refers alsoto the following ‘OD techniques’:

■ role analysis – the systematic clarification of roles and allocation of them among groupmembers;

■ life and career planning – people are encouraged to develop and express personal goalswith strategies for integrating these goals with those of the organisation;

■ quality of work life – links between quality of work life and career planning, and a philosophy of improving the climate in which work occurs; and

■ counselling – to help individuals better understand what it is like to work with them and,through this, assist them to attain their goals.6

A pluralistic approach

No two organisations are the same. Each organisation has its own types of problems and mostappropriate remedies. OD is action-oriented and tailored to suit specific needs. It takes anumber of forms with varying levels of intervention. OD concerns itself with the examin-ation of organisational health and the implementation of planned change. This may includetraining in interpersonal skills, sensitivity training, and methods and techniques relating tomotivational processes, patterns of communication, styles of leadership and managerialbehaviour.

Although an OD programme is legitimised by the formal system, it focuses on both the formal and the informal system. The initial intervention strategy is usually through theinformal system, which includes feelings, informal actions and interactions, group normsand values, and forms part of the culture of an organisation. In Chapter 1, it was suggestedthat the term ‘organisational behaviour’ is a misnomer. The same caveat also applies to the


739

term ‘organisation development’. An organisation is made up of people. When we talk aboutorganisation development it is important to emphasise a pluralistic approach and rememberthat, in practice, we are referring to the development and performance of those individualsand groups of people who comprise the organisations.

The ethical nature of OD

Although the OD approach should care about people as the instrument of improved productivity, the wide range of activities and attention to organisation change, values andattitudes inevitably give rise to questions about the ethical nature of OD. In addition toorganisational issues, the interventions target interpersonal behaviour and the developmentof individuals and teams. Critics may view OD as serving the best interests of managementand little more than an exercise in the manipulation of employees. For example, Woodallnotes that most culture change initiatives assume that strong cultures are associated with successful organisations and that the values held by employees should match with the management vision.7

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

Although most of us will understand in our own minds what is meant by organisationalculture, it is a general concept with many different meanings and difficult to define orexplain precisely. The concept of culture has developed from anthropology. Although people may not be aware consciously of culture, it still has a pervasive influence over theirbehaviour and actions. There is, however, no consensus on its meaning or its applications to the analysis of work organisations.8 Furthermore, there is sometimes confusion over thedifference between the interpretation of organisational culture and organisational climate(discussed later in this chapter). A popular and simple way of defining culture is ‘how thingsare done around here’. For example, Atkinson explains organisational culture as reflecting theunderlying assumptions about the way work is performed; what is ‘acceptable and notacceptable’; and what behaviour and actions are encouraged and discouraged.9

A more detailed definition is:

The collection of traditions, values, policies, beliefs, and attitudes that constitute a pervasive context foreverything we do and think in an organisation.10

The culture of an organisation is also often likened to the personality of an individual11 (seeAssignment 1 at the end of this chapter).

Charters questions the extent to which the concept of ‘folklore’ offers the potential toexplore the existence of company myths and legends. Dictionary definitions, and discussionsof the term in research papers, point to its close connection with culture.

Elements of folklore include myths and legends, and hence the concept of folklore appears to validatethe exploration of organisational stories as part of cultural research . . . If folklore really is an expres-sion of culture, then it could be argued that it should be possible to discern aspects of the culture of anorganisation through the legends and myths of that organisation, the stories told which may or may nothave a foundation in history.12

System of management authority

Cartwright sees culture as a system of management authority. When accepted by employees,cultural values increase the power and authority of management in three ways. Employees

■ identify themselves with their organisation and accept its rules when ‘it is the right thingto do’;

■ internalise the organisation’s values when they believe they are right; and■ are motivated to achieve the organisation’s objectives.13


740

Levels of culture

Schein suggests a view of organisational culture based on distinguishing three levels of culture,from the shallowest to the deepest: artefacts and creations; values; and basic assumptions.14

■ Level 1: Artefacts. The most visible level of the culture is artefacts and creations – the constructed physical and social environment. This includes physical space and layout, the technological output, written and spoken language and the overt behaviour of groupmembers.

■ Level 2: Espoused values. Cultural learning reflects someone’s original values. Solutionsabout how to deal with a new task, issue or problem are based on convictions of reality.If the solution works, the value can transform into a belief. Values and beliefs become partof the conceptual process by which group members justify actions and behaviour.

■ Level 3: Basic underlying assumptions. When a solution to a problem works repeatedlyit comes to be taken for granted. Basic assumptions are unconsciously held learnedresponses. They are implicit assumptions that actually guide behaviour and determinehow group members perceive, think and feel about things.

Schein suggests that the basic assumptions are treated as the essence – what culture reallyis – and values and behaviours are treated as observed manifestations of the culture essence.

TYPES OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

There are a number of ways to classify different types of organisational culture. Developingthe ideas of Harrison,15 Handy describes four main types of organisational cultures: powerculture; role culture; task culture; and person culture.16

■ Power culture depends on a central power source with rays of influence from the centralfigure throughout the organisation. A power culture is frequently found in small entre-preneurial organisations and relies on trust, empathy and personal communications forits effectiveness. Control is exercised from the centre by the selection of key individuals.There are few rules and procedures, and little bureaucracy. It is a political organisationwith decisions taken largely on the balance of influence.

■ Role culture is often stereotyped as a bureaucracy and works by logic and rationality. Roleculture rests on the strength of strong organisational ‘pillars’ – the functions of specialistsin, for example, finance, purchasing and production. The work of, and interaction between,the pillars is controlled by procedures and rules, and co-ordinated by the pediment of a small band of senior managers. Role or job description is often more important thanthe individual, and position is the main source of power.

■ Task culture is job-oriented or project-oriented. In terms of structure the task culture canbe likened to a net, some strands of which are stronger than others, and with much of thepower and influence at the interstices. An example is the matrix organisation. Task cultureseeks to bring together the right resources and people, and utilises the unifying power ofthe group. Influence is widely spread and based more on expert power than on positionor personal power.

■ Person culture is where the individual is the central focus and any structure exists to servethe individuals within it. When a group of people decide that it is in their own intereststo band together to do their own thing and share office space, equipment or clerical assistance, then the resulting organisation would have a person culture. Examples aregroups of barristers, architects, doctors or consultants. Although it is found in only a few organisations, many individuals have a preference for person culture, for exampleuniversity professors and specialists. Management hierarchies and control mechanismsare possible only by mutual consent. Individuals have almost complete autonomy andany influence over them is likely to be on the basis of personal power.


741

Every organisation will have its own unique culture and most large businesses are likelyto be something of a mix of cultures with examples for each of the four types in varying areas of the organisation. Different people enjoy working in different types of organisationculture and they are more likely to be happy and satisfied at work if their attributes and personalities are consistent with the culture of that part of the organisation in which they areemployed.

Four generic types of culture

From an examination of hundreds of business organisations and their environments, Dealand Kennedy categorise corporate cultures according to two determining factors in the marketplace:

■ the degree of risk associated with the organisation’s activities; and■ the speed at which organisations and their employees receive feedback on the success of

decisions or strategies.

These factors give rise to four generic types of culture: the tough-guy, macho culture; thework-hard/play-hard culture; the bet-your-company culture; and the process culture.17

■ Tough-guy, macho culture – an organisation of individualists who frequently take highrisks and receive quick feedback on the right or wrong of their actions. Examples citedinclude police departments, surgeons, construction, cosmetics, management consultingand the entertainment industry. Financial stakes are high and there is a focus on speed.The intense pressure and frenetic pace often results in early ‘burn-out’. Internal competi-tion and conflict are normal, stars are temperamental but tolerated. A high staff turnovercan create difficulties in building a strong cohesive culture.

■ Work-hard/play-hard culture – characterised by fun and action where employees takefew risks, all with quick feedback. There is a high level of relatively low-risk activity.Examples include sales organisations such as estate agents and computer companies, mass consumer companies such as McDonald’s, office equipment manufacturers andretail stores. Organisations tend to be highly dynamic and the primary value centres oncustomers and their needs. It is the team who produce the volume, and the cultureencourages games, meetings, promotions and conventions to help maintain motivation.However, although a lot gets done, volume can be at the expense of quality.

■ Bet-your-company culture – where there are large-stake decisions with a high risk butslow feedback so that it may be years before employees know if decisions were successful.Examples include oil companies, investment banks, architectural firms and the military.The focus is on the future and the importance of investing in it. There is a sense of delib-erateness throughout the organisation typified by the ritual of the business meeting. Thereis a hierarchical system of authority with decision-making from the top down. The cultureleads to high-quality inventions and scientific breakthroughs, but moves only very slowlyand is vulnerable to short-term fluctuations.

■ Process culture – a low-risk, slow-feedback culture where employees find difficulty inmeasuring what they do. Typical examples include banks, insurance companies, financialservices and the civil service. The individual financial stakes are low and employees getvery little feedback on their effectiveness. Their memos and reports seem to disappear into a void. Lack of feedback forces employees to focus on how they do something, notwhat they do. People tend to develop a ‘cover your back’ mentality. Bureaucracy resultswith attention to trivial events, minor detail, formality and technical perfection. Processcultures can be effective when there is a need for order and predictability.

Note, however that in a subsequent publication, Deal and Kennedy suggest revisions to the original typology. For example, under process cultures, banks might not yet fit into thework-hard/play-hard culture but have evolved more into sales-type organisations.18

Critical reflection

‘Attempting to analyse culture in terms of different levels or generic typologies is toosimplistic and prescriptive and serves no useful purpose in evaluating applications ofmanagement and organisational behaviour.’

What do you think? How would you analyse organisation culture?


742

INFLUENCES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE

The culture and structure of an organisation develop over time and in response to a complexset of factors. We can, however, identify a number of key influences that are likely to play animportant role in the development of any corporate culture. These include history, primaryfunction and technology, strategy, size, location, management and leadership, and the environment.19

■ History. The reason, and manner in which, the organisation was originally formed, its age,and the philosophy and values of its owners and first senior managers will affect culture.A key event in the organisation’s history such as a merger or major reorganisation, or a newgeneration of top management, may bring about a change in culture. Corporate historycan be an effective induction tool to assist a growth programme, and to help integrateacquisitions and new employees by infusion with the organisation’s culture and identity.20

Failure in mergers and acquisitions can arise from cultural clashes and failure to integratedifferent cultures.21

■ Primary function and technology. The nature of the organisation’s ‘business’ and its primary function have an important influence on its culture. This includes the range andquality of products and services provided, the importance of reputation and the type ofcustomers. The primary function of the organisation will determine the nature of the tech-nological processes and methods of undertaking work, which in turn also affect structureand culture.

■ Strategy. Although a business organisation may pursue profitability, this is not by itselfvery clear or a sufficient criterion for its effective management. For example, to whatextent is emphasis placed on long-term survival or growth and development? How muchattention is given to avoiding risks and uncertainties? Or how much concern is shown forbroader social responsibilities? The organisation must give attention to objectives in allkey areas of its operations. The combination of objectives and resultant strategies willinfluence culture, and may itself be influenced by changes in culture. (See also Chapter 14and Chapter 18.)

■ Size. Usually larger organisations have more formalised structures and cultures. Increasedsize is likely to result in separate departments and possibly split-site operations. This maycause difficulties in communication and inter-departmental rivalries with the need foreffective co-ordination. A rapid expansion, or decline, in size and rate of growth, andresultant changes in staffing will influence structure and culture.

■ Location. Geographical location and the physical characteristics can have a majorinfluence on culture – for example, whether an organisation is located in a quiet rural location or a busy city centre can influence the types of customers and the staffemployed. An example could be a hotel or restaurant. Location can also affect the natureof services provided, the sense of ‘boundary’ and distinctive identity, and opportunitiesfor development.

■ Management and leadership. Top executives can have considerable influence on thenature of corporate culture. Examples are the key roles played by Sir Richard Branson,Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop,22 and Marjorie Scardino and her change ofstyle when she took over as the new chief executive of Pearson.

Figure 19.1 The cultural web of an organisation

Source: Johnson, G., Scholes, K. and Whittington, R. Exploring Corporate Strategy, seventh edition, Financial Times Prentice Hall (2005), p. 202. Reproduced with permission from Pearson Education Ltd.


743

Her candour works . . . As an example of straight talking winning over a sceptical City and press,it is brilliant. As an example of just how much a company’s culture can change under a new chiefexecutive, it is breathtaking.23

Another example is Louis Gerstner, who defined a strategy for the computing giant IBMand remade the ossified culture bred by the company’s success, rebuilt the leadershipteam and gave the workforce a renewed sense of purpose.24

However, all members of staff help to shape the dominant culture of an organisation,irrespective of what senior management feel it should be. Culture is also determined bythe nature of staff employed and the extent to which they accept management philosophyand policies or pay only ‘lip service’. Another important influence is the match betweencorporate culture and employees’ perception of the psychological contract (discussed inChapter 1).

■ The environment. In order to be effective, the organisation must be responsive to exter-nal environmental influences. For example, if the organisation operates within a dynamicenvironment it requires a structure and culture that are sensitive and readily adaptable tochange. An organic structure is more likely to respond effectively to new opportunitiesand challenges, and risks and limitations presented by the external environment.

THE CULTURAL WEB

In order to help describe and understand the culture of an organisation, Johnson, Scholes andWhittington present a cultural web, which brings together different aspects for the analysis oforganisational culture (see Figure 19.1).


744

■ Routine behaviours – the ways in which members of the organisation behave towardseach other and towards those outside the organisation and which make up how things aredone or how things should happen.

■ Rituals – the particular activities or special events through which the organisation emphasises what is particularly important; can include formal organisational processesand informal processes.

■ Stories told by members of the organisation that embed the present and flag up importantevents and personalities, and typically have to do with successes, failures, heroes, villainsand mavericks.

■ Symbols – such as logos, offices, cars, titles, type of language or terminology commonlyused – which become a shorthand representation of the nature of the organisation.

■ Power structures – the power of the most powerful individuals or groups in the organ-isation may be based on management position and seniority, but in some organisationspower can be lodged with other levels or functions.

■ Control systems – the measurement and reward systems that emphasise what it is import-ant to monitor, and to focus attention and activity upon – for example, stewardship offunds or quality of service.

■ Organisation structure – which reflects power structures and delineates important relationships and activities within the organisation, and involves both formal structureand control and less formal systems.

■ The paradigm of the organisation, which encapsulates and reinforces the behavioursobserved in other elements of the cultural web.25

Other interpretations of culture

There are, however, many other ways in which people attempt to describe and understandwhat constitutes organisational culture, and different areas of attention for analysing the elements of culture. Wilson suggests that culture is a characteristic of the organisation, not ofindividuals.

One way of examining the culture of an organization is to look at its corporate image to see what andwho is valued in the organization. A corporate image is the mental picture the clients, customers,employees, and others have of an organization. The impression is the combination of unconscious, unintended, conscious, and intended factors that arise.26

ACAS distinguishes two different organisation cultures and different ways of doing things:

■ Control culture with the emphasis on rules and procedures, control and compliance withprecedent providing guidelines; and

■ Quality of working life culture with the emphasis on core values, with mission statementsproviding guidance and commitment via shared goals, values and traditions.27

Naylor suggests that seeing quite what forms organisational culture is difficult, and tomake a start we need to recognise both the visible and invisible layers. On the surface is the visible layer made up of elements such as artefacts, symbols, languages, stories and activities which can be collected, compared and assembled into a description of the organ-isation. Underpinning this ‘visible culture’ is the invisible layer of beliefs, values, norms,basic assumptions and understanding.28

THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE

Applications of organisational behaviour and the effective management of human resourcesare dependent not only upon the nature of the industry or business, but also upon the characteristic features of the individual organisation – and its culture. The pervasive natureof culture in terms of ‘how things are done around here’ and common values, beliefs and


745

attitudes will therefore have a significant effect on organisational processes such as decision-making, design of structure, group behaviour, work organisation, motivation and job satis-faction, and management control. For example, many managers claim that their organisation’sculture contributes considerably to their stress.29

Harrison and Stokes maintain that organisational culture influences the behaviour of allindividuals and groups within the organisation.

Culture impacts most aspects of organizational life, such as how decisions are made, whomakes them, how rewards are distributed, who is promoted, how people are treated, how theorganization responds to its environment, and so on.30

A similar point is made by Reigle, who refers to culture as an important factor in successfultechnology implementation, innovation, mergers, acquisitions, job satisfaction, organisationalsuccess and team effectiveness, and to the importance of determining whether organisationsexhibit organic or mechanistic cultures.31

Culture and organisation control

Egan refers to culture as the largest organisational control system that dictates how crazy or idiosyncratic people can be. Companies and institutions have both an overt and covertculture that influences both business and organisational behaviour.

The covert set can be quite dysfunctional and costly. Culture – the assumptions, beliefs, values andnorms that drive ‘the way we do things here’ – is the largest and most controlling of the systems becauseit affects not only overt organisational behaviour but also the shadow-side behaviour . . . Culture laysdown norms for the social system. In one institution you had to be an engineer to rise to the top. Therewas no published rule, of course, it was just the way things were. In one bank you could never be madean officer of the company if you wore polyester clothes. Culture tells us what kind of politics are allowedand just how members of an organisation are allowed to play the political game.32

Egan also distinguishes between the ‘preferred culture’ which serves the business and the‘culture-in-use’. This culture-behind-the-culture carries the real beliefs, values and norms thatdrive patterns of behaviour within the company. These remain unnamed, undiscussed andunmentionable and these covert cultures lie outside ordinary managerial control. The firststep in changing such limiting behaviour features is to identify the preferred culture and toensure that the company’s way of operating effectively serves the business right now.33

Culture and work ethic

Culture can influence people’s attitudes and behaviour at work. For example a report from the Chartered Management Institute found that one in three managers felt that in their organisation there was a culture of not taking time off for sickness and nearly half feltthey would not be treated sympathetically if they took sick leave.34 Bunting draws attentionto the link between work ethic (discussed in Chapter 1) and culture, and the extent to whichpeople have a choice over how hard they work. Although some people have no choice, for the vast majority of people there is a degree of choice but the choices are not made inisolation:

they are the product of the particular organisational culture of our workplaces, which promote conceptsof success, of team spirit so that we don’t let colleagues down, and a powerful work ethic. We are alsoinfluenced by a culture that reinforces that work ethic and its cycle of continual achievement and consumption as measures of self-worth.

Bunting maintains that it is through work that we seek to satisfy our craving for a sense ofcontrol, mastery and security and that clever organisations exploit this cultural context bydesigning corporate cultures that meet the emotional needs of their employees.35


746

Culture in short-life organisations

The importance of culture raises interesting questions relating to its nature and influence in‘short-life’ organisations – that is, organisations created to run for only a short period of timesuch as arts festivals or national garden festivals. For example, how does culture developwhen the organisation has little or no prior history, has short-term goals and objectives andhas only limited time for top management to exercise influence? How do managers in suchorganisations attempt to inculcate culture? From a study of Garden Festival Wales, Meudelland Gadd found that success in creating a culture occurred as a direct result of their recruit-ment and training initiatives. However, it is not only culture but climate that is importantfor organisational effectiveness.

Rigorous training in customer care/corporate culture might produce an automatic ‘Have a nice day’ butonly the engendering of a suitable climate will encourage people to say it and mean it.36

Culture and organisational performance

Culture is clearly an important ingredient of effective organisational performance. In commenting, in a study of Europe’s top companies, on Heineken’s superiority in world markets, Heller makes the point that it rests in part on its remarkable corporate culture:

There is nothing accidental about cultural strengths . . . There is a relationship between an organisa-tion’s culture and its performance.37

In their original study of highly successful companies, Goldsmith and Clutterbuck identifiedeight characteristics built into the day-to-day culture of the organisation. From their sub-sequent study of the world’s top companies, it appears that a key characteristic of high-performing companies is a challenge culture. All the companies are very demanding of thepeople who work for them but this is balanced by a nurturing culture that shows that theyalso care for their employees in numerous ways.38

And according to Cummings and Worley:

An organization’s culture is the pattern of assumptions, values and norms that are more or less sharedby an organization’s members. A growing body of research has shown that culture can affect strategyformulation and implementation as well as a firm’s ability to achieve high levels of excellence.39

Use of managerial tools

Chatman and Cha suggest that every company has a culture – good or bad. However, there ismore to a good culture than happy staff. In order to aid long-term performance, there arethree main criteria needed to develop a suitable culture:

■ it must be strategically relevant;■ it needs to be strong in order that people care about what is important; and■ the culture must have an intrinsic ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

In order that leaders can develop, manage and change their culture for better performance,Chatman and Cha refer to the use of three managerial tools:

■ Recruitment and selection – hire people who fit the company’s culture even if this mayinvolve overlooking some technical skills for a better cultural fit. Look carefully at thecharacteristics of your recruiters and consider your selection decision in the light of culture.

■ Social tools and training – develop practices that enable new people to understand thevalues, abilities, expected behaviour and social knowledge in order to participate fully asan employee, and to create strong bonds among members.

■ Reward system – culture is an organisation’s informal reward system but it needs to beintricately connected to formal rewards. Examples include staff meetings where the seat-ing arrangement is in accordance with level of sales, name badges that include inventorylosses, and payments of large commissions in front of customers and other staff.40


747

Culture change

The pervasive nature of organisational culture means that if change is to be brought aboutsuccessfully, this is likely to involve changes to culture. For example, Stewart makes the following comment on the relationship between culture and change:

In recent years attention has shifted from the effects of the organization of work on people’s behaviorto how behavior is influenced by the organizational culture. What is much more common today is the widespread recognition that organizational change is not just, or even necessarily mainly, aboutchanging the structure but often requires changing the culture too.41

A similar view is held by Naylor, who points out that ‘In the holistic system, any changewill affect the culture and the culture will affect or constrain the change . . . Cultural changeis intimately bound up with the process of organisational change.’42

However, although attention is often given to shifting the prevailing activities and atmosphere of an organisation to a brighter future, changing the ethos and culture of anorganisation is not easy. In practice, organisations usually appear to alter their underlyingethos only on a gradual basis and the complexity of environmental pressures may itself hinder rapid change. Culture is often deep-rooted and commitment to the objectives andpolicies of the organisation, people’s cognitive limitations and their uncertainties and fears,may mean a reluctance to accept a change in behaviour. Culture is reinforced through thesystem of rites and rituals, patterns of communication, the informal organisation, expectedpatterns of behaviour and perceptions of the psychological contract.

Clearly most organisations are not the stable, predictable structures of the past. Keeping followers motivated and committed in an era of unrelenting change, means that leaders must beable to create organisational cultures that foster not only performance, but also a sense of prideand fun. Because cultures evolve over many years and are usually deep-rooted, they can be difficult to change. Some commentators have observed that it is easier to change behaviour bychanging processes and systems in an organisation than it is to change people’s attitudes. Whilegoals change in the course of a person’s life, values tend to remain constant and help determinean employee’s attitudes to their employer.

DTI (2004)43

The nature of organisational change is discussed later in this chapter.

National and international culture

Culture helps to account for variations among organisations and managers, both nationallyand internationally. It helps to explain why different groups of people perceive things intheir own way and perform things differently from other groups.44 With greater internationalcompetition, an understanding of national culture has become of increasing importance formanagers. According to Siddall, for example, ‘International business, the issue of culture andthe need for better understanding have become major parts of organisational behaviour.’45

Cultural practices vary widely among different countries and because of our own values maybe difficult to understand.

Schneider and Barsoux suggest that cultural beliefs and values influence the meaning of management and also show up differences in conceptions of organisations. National differences and cultural reasons raise concerns about the transferability of organisationalstructures, systems and processes and question the logic of universal ‘best practice’.46 Cheng,Sculli and Chan also question the universality of theories of management and organisationalbehaviour on the grounds that they have not adequately addressed the factor of culture.47

Those fortunate enough to have shared the experience of the author in visiting both WaltDisney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Resort Paris would probably have witnessed

Critical reflection

‘The proliferation of definitions and explanations of culture, its anthropological originsand lack of clarity undermines its value to our understanding of organisational behaviour.It is too ambigious a concept for the effective day-to-day management of theorganisation.’

Do you agree? What role do you think culture plays in the management of modern workorganisations?


748

the cultural differences in the attitudes to, and acceptance of, the Disney approach and pro-cedures between American and French employees.

According to Francesco and Gold, culture has recently been accepted as an explanation oforganisational behaviour. One reason is the increase in competitiveness of nations and a second reason is that managers encounter different cultures in their contacts with peoplefrom other nations. However, there are limits to the use of culture to explain organisationalbehaviour, and the relationship between national cultural values and actual behaviour inorganisations is complex.48

Recall also the discussion on the international context of management and organisationalbehaviour in Chapter 1.

ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE

In addition to arrangements for the carrying out of organisational processes, managementhas a responsibility for creating a climate in which people are motivated to work willinglyand effectively. Organisational climate is another general concept and difficult to define precisely. It is more something that is felt. It can be likened to our description of the weatherand the way in which the climate of a geographical region results from the combination ofenvironmental forces. Some of these forces are better understood than others. In a similarway that culture was defined simply as ‘how things are done around here’, climate can bedefined as ‘how it feels to work around here’.

Applied to organisations, climate can be said to relate to the prevailing atmosphere sur-rounding the organisation, to the level of morale, and to the strength of feelings of belonging,care and goodwill among members. Climate will influence the attitudes that members of theorganisation bring to bear on their work performance and personal relationships. The extentto which employees accept the culture of the organisation will have a significant effect on climate. Whereas organisational culture describes what the organisation is about, organisa-tional climate is an indication of the employees’ feelings and beliefs of what the organisationis about. Climate is based on the perceptions of members towards the organisation.

Organisational climate is a relatively enduring quality of the internal environment of an organisationthat (a) is experienced by its members, (b) influences their behavior, and (c) can be described in termsof the values of a particular set of characteristics (or attributes) of the organisation.49

From a detailed study of approaches to organisational climate, Moran and Volkweinconclude that:

since climate operates at a more accessible level than culture, it is more malleable and, hence, the moreappropriate level at which to target short-term interventions aimed at producing positive organisationalchange . . . [however,] interventions to change climate must consider the deeper patterns embedded inan organisation’s climate.50

Climate also relates to the recognition of the organisation as a social system and theextent to which membership is perceived as a psychologically rewarding experience. It can


749

be seen as the state of mutual trust and understanding among members of the organisation.For example, Rentsch suggests that ‘One assumption of climate theory is that organizationalmembers perceive and make sense of organizational policies, practices, and procedures inpsychologically meaningful terms’.51

Characteristics of a healthy organisational climate

Organisational climate is characterised, therefore, by the nature of the people–organisationrelationship and the superior–subordinate relationship. These relationships are determinedby interactions among goals and objectives, formal structure, the process of management,styles of leadership and the behaviour of people. Although similar types of organisations willshare certain common features and norms, each organisation will have its own different anddistinctive features. In general terms, however, a healthy organisational climate might beexpected to exhibit such characteristic features as:

■ the integration of organisational goals and personal goals;■ the most appropriate organisation structure based on the demands of the socio-technical

system;■ democratic functioning of the organisation with full opportunities for participation;■ justice in treatment with equitable HRM and employment relations policies and practices;■ mutual trust, consideration and support among different levels of the organisation;■ the open discussion of conflict with an attempt to avoid confrontation;■ managerial behaviour and styles of leadership appropriate to the particular work situations;■ acceptance of the psychological contract between the individual and the organisation;■ recognition of people’s needs and expectations at work, and individual differences and

attributes;■ concern for flexibility and the work/life balance;■ opportunities for personal development and career progression;■ a sense of identity with, and loyalty to, the organisation and a feeling of being a valued

and important member.

Climate and organisational performance

If organisational climate is to be improved, then attention should be given to the above features. A healthy climate will not by itself guarantee improved organisational effectiveness.However, an organisation is most unlikely to attain optimum operational performanceunless the climate evokes a spirit of support and co-operation throughout the organisation,and is conducive to motivating members to work willingly and effectively. Gray maintainsfrom his research to have found a clear correlation between successful workplace outcomesand a range of climate characteristics and that a climate conducive to successful outcomesalso tends to be conducive to individual happiness. The climate of an organisation has asignificant impact on the quality and quantity of work that gets done and on the well-beingof employees.52

EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT

Among the factors that contribute to a healthy organisational climate is the extent to whichmembers of staff have a sense of commitment to the organisation. The extent of their commitment will have a major influence on the level of work performance. The concept ofemployee commitment itself, and the manner in which it is actually created, is not easy todescribe. There does, however, appear to be a growing acceptance of the notion of engage-ment or attachment and loyalty. O’Reilly refers to the term ‘organizational commitment’ as‘typically conceived of as an individual’s psychological bond to the organization, includinga sense of job involvement, loyalty, and a belief in the values of the organization’.53


750

People clearly differ in what motivates them and what they are seeking from work. Butunless people feel fully engaged with the organisation they will not be intellectually andemotionally committed or motivated to give willingly of their best. Walton suggests that a significant change in approaches to the organisation and management of work is fromorganisational control to commitment in the workplace. The evidence is well grounded that underlying all the policies of commitment strategy is a management philosophy at the centre of which ‘is a belief that eliciting employee commitment will lead to enhancedperformance’.54

Securing the commitment of staff

Genuine commitment requires not just a recognition or understanding of what the organ-isation expects but an emotional and behavioural response from staff. After the downsizing,de-layering, streamlining and outsourcing of recent years, Altman, Cooper and Garner ques-tion whether companies can continue to count on commitment from employees when theyare no longer seen to be committed to them. The more companies downsize, the more theyare seen to be breaking the psychological contract. A new psychological contract needs toconsider the organisation of the future.

The old ‘command and control’ interpretation of loyalty in the workplace needs to be replaced with an attitude of commitment by both sides which leads to a more pragmatic relationship within the limited horizons against which businesses are being managed today worldwide. Employers will still commit themselves to their employees but employment can no longer be guaranteed.55

Galunic and Weeks suggest that with the demise of job security, companies need other strate-gies to encourage commitment. Examples include paying more attention to compensation,flexible working, spending to support telecommuting and lifestyle-friendly perks. However,while such initiatives may encourage employees to work hard, they are no substitute for jobsecurity. In order to help restore commitment without again offering job security, Galunicand Weeks propose that in addition to company-specific training, there is a programme of investment in generic training that focuses on general skills and education to raise the professional level of employees. By developing ‘employability’ and the ability to earn a living through professional or occupational – not job – security, employees are in turnlikely to respond with greater commitment to the company.56

According to Gratton, the obligations of the firm to individual members are expressed continuously and the first obligation is true commitment to people.

On the face of it ‘true commitment to people’ is an overused phrase, appearing as it does onevery CEO’s annual business report. The obligation or ‘true commitment’ is tested, not whentimes are good, but when times are hard.57

Circle of employee engagement

De Vita suggests that after the cost-cutting and downsizing of the 1990s, how we feel aboutwork is becoming the prime concern of a growing number of companies. Employee engage-ment should not be written off as just another HR fad but neither should it be viewed as a quick fix. Engagement relates to the core of a business – its values, culture and way of man-aging, and changing that is a tall order. But a truly engaged company is likely to be a ‘great’one. As an example De Vita quotes the success of the John Lewis Partnership as a result of itsco-ownership by employees combined with a collective management approach and the fullengagement of employees.58 The positive behaviour of a deeply engaged employee will ruboff on clients, customers and colleagues. A highly engaged company is known to performbetter; enjoy high staff retention; sustain long-term success; display energy, productivity andinnovativeness; and win regard as an attractive place to work. See Figure 19.2.

Figure 19.2 Virtuous circle of employee engagement

Source: De Vita, E. ‘Get Engaged’, Management Today, April, 2007, p. 40. Reproduced from Management Today magazine with thepermission of the copyright owner, Haymarket Business Publications Limited.


751

Underlying influences

In addition to the above, there are a number of underlying influences on the extent ofemployees’ commitment to the organisation.

■ People differ in their work ethic and the manner of their involvement with, and concernfor, work and the extent to which they have an instrumental, bureaucratic or solidaristicorientation. Some people may well have a set attitude to work, whatever the nature of thework environment.

■ People’s behaviour and the level of their commitment is also influenced by the nature of the psychological contract and the degree to which it is perceived as fair by both theindividual and the organisation.

■ In terms of their relationship with the work organisation, employees may reasonably havethe approach of ‘what’s in it for me?’. An important influence on the strength of commitmentis the nature of the reward system and the satisfaction of needs and expectations at workin terms of economic rewards, intrinsic satisfaction or social relationships (see Chapter 7).

THE NATURE OF ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

Change is an inevitable and constant feature. It is an inescapable part of both social andorganisational life and we are all subject to continual change of one form or another.


752

Like it or not, change happens. Change is also a pervasive influence and much of the following discussion provides links with other topics in other chapters. The effects of changecan be studied over different time scales, from weeks to hundreds of years, and studied at different levels. Change can be studied in terms of its effects at the individual, group,organisation, society, national or international level. However, because of its pervasivenature, change at any one level is interrelated with changes at other levels, and it is difficultto study one area of change in isolation. At the individual level there could for example, bea personal transformational change where circumstances have not changed but because of some emotional or spiritual happening the individual was transformed or changed. Thistransformation may have some effect on their behaviour and actions at work and relation-ships with colleagues. But our main focus of attention is on the management of organisa-tional change. Organisational change can be initiated deliberately by managers, it can evolveslowly within a department, it can be imposed by specific changes in policy or procedures orit can arise through external pressures. Change can affect all aspects of the operation andfunctioning of the organisation.59

The forces of change

An organisation can perform effectively only through interactions with the broader externalenvironment of which it is part. The structure and functioning of the organisation mustreflect, therefore, the nature of the environment in which it is operating. There are factorswhich create an increasingly volatile environment, such as:

■ uncertain economic conditions;■ globalisation and fierce world competition;■ the level of government intervention;■ European Union social legislation;■ political interests;■ scarcity of natural resources;■ rapid developments in new technologies and the information age.

In order to help ensure its survival and future success the organisation must be readilyadaptable to the external demands placed upon it. The organisation must be responsive tochange. Other major forces of change include:

■ increased demands for quality and high levels of customer service and satisfaction;■ greater flexibility in the structure of work organisations and patterns of management;■ the changing nature and composition of the workforce; and■ conflict from within the organisation.

According to a survey from the Management Consultancies Association, four interrelatedforces are driving change, each of which brings organisations and individuals into conflict:

1 outsourcing and the continual redefinition of what constitutes an organisation’s corebusiness;

2 the distribution of work across different people, organisations and locations, and theextent to which this makes work fragmented;

3 changing demographics and expectations that create an employees’, rather than employers’,market;

4 the double-edged sword of technology, which enables people to do more but temptsorganisations to do too much.60

Change within the organisation

Change also originates within the organisation itself. Much of this change is part of a natural process of ageing – for example, as material resources such as buildings, equipmentor machinery deteriorate or lose efficiency; or as human resources get older, or as skills and abilities become outdated. Some of this change can be managed through careful planning

Critical reflection

‘Change is nothing new and a simple fact of life. Some people actively thrive on newchallenges and constant change, while others prefer the comfort of the status quo andstrongly resist any change. It is all down to the personality of the individual and there islittle management can do about resistance to change.’

To what extent do you accept this contention? What is your attitude to change?


753

– for example, regular repairs and maintenance, choice of introducing new technology ormethods of work, effective human resource planning to prevent a large number of staff retiring at the same time, and management succession planning – training and staff develop-ment. However, the main pressure of change is from external forces. The organisation mustbe properly prepared to face the demands of a changing environment. It must give attentionto its future development and success; this includes public sector organisations and thearmed forces.61

Public sector executives face unique obstacles in leading organisational change, in part because ofentrenched civil service bureaucracies, procedural constraints such as managing performance and firingemployees, and dealing with many different stakeholders with competing priorities.62

A concept map of needs and drivers of organisational change is presented in Figure 19.3.

PLANNED ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

Most planned organisational change is triggered by the need to respond to new challengesor opportunities presented by the external environment, or in anticipation of the need tocope with potential future problems, for example, uncertain economic conditions, intendedgovernment legislation, new product development by a major competitor or further techno-logical advances. Planned change represents an intentional attempt to improve, in someimportant way, the operational effectiveness of the organisation.

The basic underlying objectives can be seen in general terms as:

■ modifying the behavioural patterns of members of the organisation; and■ improving the ability of the organisation to cope with changes in its environment.

ACAS refers to initiating and maintaining a Quality of Working Life (QWL) change programme. Such initiatives could stem from a variety of issues that might provide ‘a window for change’ to management and/or worker representatives. Examples include:

■ a general sense that the organisation could perform better;■ the need to improve organisation flexibility, quality or to develop new customer concern;■ a sense that skills and abilities of people are under-utilised or concerns about a lack of

commitment from employees;■ the need to introduce changes in technology or working practices;■ workers feeling over-controlled by supervision or by the process or jobs seen as being

boring;■ concerns about ineffective communications or poor performance indicators;■ fractious relationships between managers and the managed.63

Behaviour modification

A programme of planned change and improved performance developed by Lewin involvesthe management of a three-phase process of behaviour modification:

Figu

re 1

9.3

Con

cept

map

of

orga

nisa

tiona

l cha

nge

– ne

eds

and

driv

ers

(Not

e th

at t

he e

xam

ple

s ar

e ill

ustr

ativ

e an

d n

ot e

xhau

stiv

e.)

Sou

rce:

Cop

yrig

ht ©

200

8 Th

e V

irtua

l Lea

rnin

g M

ater

ials

Wor

ksho

p.

Rep

rod

uced

with

per

mis

sion

.


754

Figure 19.4 Stages in a planned-change effort

Source: Adapted from French, W. L., Kast, F. E. and Rosenzweig, J. E. Understanding Human Behavior in Organizations, Harper and Row(1985), p. 9.

1 Initial problem identificationUnfreezing 2 Obtaining data

3 Problem diagnosis

Movement4 Action planning5 Implementation6 Follow-up and stabilisation

Refreezing 7 Assessment of consequences8 Learning from the process


755

■ unfreezing – reducing those forces which maintain behaviour in its present form, recognition of the need for change and improvement to occur;

■ movement – development of new attitudes or behaviour and the implementation of the change;

■ refreezing – stabilising change at the new level and reinforcement through supportingmechanisms, for example policies, structure or norms.64

French, Kast and Rosenzweig list eight specific components of a planned-change effortrelated to the above process (see Figure 19.4).65

Changes in managerial work

Change is reciprocal and changing organisations will affect the nature of managerial work.In Chapter 11 we referred to the major study by the Chartered Management Institute on whatthe world of work and management will be like in 2018. To repeat a key finding of the study:

The working population will be more diverse. Changing expectations of work and the impact of newtechnologies will require managers and leaders to develop a range of skills that focus on emotional andspiritual intelligence, judgement and the ability to stimulate creative thinking to improve productivity.66

(Recall also the discussion in Chapter 3 on the future world of work and the ‘Y’ factor.)According to Gratton, ‘understanding the soul of the organisation and building trust and

commitment is crucial to ongoing adaptation and change’.67 And Lockhead maintains that‘most successful organisations develop a culture that welcomes change and the opportun-ities it brings’.68 However, according to Crainer, many managers refuse to accept the necessityof change. Instead of being proactive, change is often reactive, the last resort.

Research repeatedly shows that it is managers who are the chief stumbling block to making change happen. Changing organizational structures and managerial thinking challenges and undercuts traditional power bases . . . For the manager reared on the old functional certainties, the new worldorganization is very difficult to manage. Indeed, the vast majority of managers are neither trained norequipped to manage in such an environment.69

The impact of change on work organisations and their management draws attention to theimportance of lifelong learning and self-development discussed in Chapter 5.

The challenge of e-business

It is impossible to know exactly what the future of e-business will bring but it will continueto bring tremendous change. One of the biggest changes for managers, especially within largeorganisations, is learning how to get to grips with an increasingly flexible workforce. As a result of the e-business environment many people can work at any time, anywhere and at


756

any place. Many employees work at home but although the virtual office may help organisa-tions to cut costs, it also poses many management challenges including the challenge to putstructures in place to ensure regular meetings take place. Flexible working calls for flexiblemanagers. This means that the traditional line managers need to become leaders, coaches andfacilitators. Given the accelerating rate of change, particularly with the internet, it is essentialthat organisations invest in and develop their managers to succeed with this change.

RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

Despite the potential positive outcomes, change is often resisted at both the individual andthe organisational level. Resistance to change – or the thought of the implications of thechange – appears to be a common phenomenon. As long ago as 1970, Toffler wrote aboutthe psychological dimension of ‘future shock’, and that people are naturally wary of change.‘Among many there is an uneasy mood – a suspicion that change is out of control.’70

Resistance to change can take many forms and it is often difficult to pinpoint the exactreasons. The forces against change in work organisations include: ignoring the needs andexpectations of members; when members have insufficient information about the nature ofthe change; or if they do not perceive the need for change. Fears may be expressed over suchmatters as employment levels and job security, de-skilling of work, loss of job satisfaction, wagerate differentials, changes to social structures and working conditions, loss of individual control over work, and greater management control.

Individual resistance

Some common reasons for individual resistance to change within organisations include thefollowing:

■ Selective perception. People’s interpretation of stimuli presents a unique picture orimage of the ‘real’ world and can result in selective perception. This can lead to a biasedview of a particular situation, which fits most comfortably into a person’s own perceptionof reality, and can cause resistance to change. For example, trade unionists may have astereotyped view of management as untrustworthy and therefore oppose any manage-ment change, however well founded might have been the intention. Managers exposed to different theories or ideas may tend to categorise these as either those they already practise and have no need to worry about or those that are of no practical value and whichcan be discarded as of no concern to them.

■ Habit. People tend to respond to situations in an established and accustomed manner.Habits may serve as a means of comfort and security, and as a guide for easy decision-making. Proposed changes to habits, especially if the habits are well established and requirelittle effort, may well be resisted. However, if there is a clearly perceived advantage, forexample a reduction in working hours without loss of pay, there is likely to be less, if any,resistance to the change, although some people may, because of habit, still find it difficultto adjust to the new times.

■ Inconvenience or loss of freedom. If the change is seen as likely to prove inconvenient,make life more difficult, reduce freedom of action or result in increased control, there willbe resistance.

■ Economic implications. People are likely to resist change that is perceived as reducingeither directly or indirectly their pay or other rewards, requiring an increase in work for the same level of pay or acting as a threat to their job security. People tend to haveestablished patterns of working and a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

■ Security in the past. There is a tendency for some people to find a sense of security in thepast. In times of frustration or difficulty, or when faced with new or unfamiliar ideas ormethods, people may reflect on the past. There is a wish to retain old and comfortable ways. For example, in bureaucratic organisations, officials often tend to place faith in well-established (‘tried and trusted’) procedures and cling to these as giving a feeling of security.


757

■ Fear of the unknown. Changes which confront people with the unknown tend to causeanxiety or fear. Many major changes in a work organisation present a degree of uncer-tainty, for example the introduction of new technology or methods of working. A personmay resist promotion because of uncertainty over changes in responsibilities or theincreased social demands of the higher position.

Organisational resistance

Although organisations have to adapt to their environment, they tend to feel comfortableoperating within the structure, policies and procedures which have been formulated to dealwith a range of present situations. To ensure operational effectiveness, organisations oftenset up defences against change and prefer to concentrate on the routine things they performwell. Some of the main reasons for organisational resistance against change are as follows.

■ Organisation culture. Recall that the culture of an organisation develops over time and may not be easy to change. The pervasive nature of culture in terms of ‘how thingsare done around here’ also has a significant effect on organisational processes and thebehaviour of staff. An ineffective culture may result in a lack of flexibility for, or acceptanceof, change.

■ Maintaining stability. Organisations, especially large-scale ones, pay much attention tomaintaining stability and predictability. The need for formal organisation structure andthe division of work, narrow definitions of assigned duties and responsibilities, establishedrules, procedures and methods of work, can result in resistance to change. The moremechanistic or bureaucratic the structure, the less likely it is that the organisation will beresponsive to change.

■ Investment in resources. Change often requires large resources that may already be committed to investments in other areas or strategies. Assets such as buildings, technology,equipment and people cannot easily be altered. For example, a car manufacturer may not find it easy to change to a socio-technical approach and the use of autonomous workgroups because it cannot afford the cost of a new purpose-built plant and specialisedequipment.

■ Past contracts or agreements. Organisations enter into contracts or agreements withother parties, such as the government, other organisations, trade unions, suppliers andcustomers. These contracts and agreements can limit changes in behaviour – for example,organisations operating under a special licence or permit, or a fixed-price contract to supply goods/services to a government agency. Another example might be an agreementwith unions that limits the opportunity to introduce compulsory redundancies, or theintroduction of certain new technology or working practices.

■ Threats to power or influence. Change may be seen as a threat to the power or influenceof certain groups within the organisation, such as their control over decisions, resourcesor information. For example, managers may resist the introduction of quality circles orworker-directors because they see this as increasing the role and influence of non-managerialstaff, and a threat to the power in their own positions. Where a group of people have, overa period of time, established what they perceive as their ‘territorial rights’, they are likelyto resist change.

Perceptions and change

Although change is often resisted, Cunningham maintains that one of the greatest myths inmanagement is the generalisation that people resist change. In fact people love change. Thecommonest reason for resistance is where people perceive a potential loss. For example,because of negative rumour-mongering, people may perceive that they will be worse off froma proposed change even if the opposite is in fact true. In a different context, changes that result,for example, in the loss of one’s job, can create real, fact-based resistance. While people welcome change that they want, they have to be careful about the pace of change. In a moregeneral context people may be enthusiastic for change, for example in large organisationswhere some people want to see changes and improvements in communication.

Critical reflection

‘The biggest difficulty with change is the associated fear and uncertainty. If managementmaintains effective and continuous communications at all levels of the organisationbefore and during the introduction of change this would minimise any problems.’

What is your view? What has been your experience of organisational change?


758

What seems to get in the way is the continual chanting of the untrue generalisation that ‘people resistchange’. People resist some change – if they perceive that they are going to lose out. People welcomechange that makes things better.71

Neuroscientific approach to resistance to change

Riches questions why some organisations struggle to change and applies an interesting approachto resistance to change based on a neuroscientific understanding. Whether consolidating a merger, re-engineering business processes, restructuring, changing value propositions,introducing new IT systems, relocating premises, or changing the culture – all too often the process is derailed by the resistance of employees. Resistance to change is one of the most powerful drivers of human behaviour, and the key to dealing with it effectively is tounderstand both its physical and emotional components. Most organisations make two fatalerrors when dealing with resistance. First, they underestimate the strength of current patternsthat employees are comfortable and familiar with. Second, they underestimate what will berequired to change those patterns and deal with the automatic, though sometimes subtle,fight or flight responses that occur when employees interpret changes as threats.

The amygdala and The Almond Effect®

According to Riches, our brains are hard-wired to do three things: match patterns, resist orfight any threats to survival, and respond first with emotion over logic. Our neural pathwaysand amygdalae are the key players in these reactions. The amygdala is an almond-shapedpiece of the brain that triggers the ‘fight or flight’ reaction. Your brain has two amygdalae,and they play a fundamental role in ensuring your survival. Sometimes, though, the amygdalae set off a false alarm. This is what Riches calls The Almond Effect®. Put simply, youact without thinking and get it wrong. You can probably think of many times when this hashappened, times when you said or did something in the heat of the moment, and almostimmediately afterwards regretted it.

The Almond Effect® is critical if survival really is at stake, but at work it often gets in theway. It is the reason why all too often, human beings automatically react to change withresistance, even before they fully understand the nature of the change. The amygdala hasactivated the fear response based on previous memories of change (old neural pathways)associated with, for example, job losses, more work, new skills required, change of roster,cost cutting and so on. Stress hormones are released as part of the inbuilt flight/fight mech-anism and show up at work as anger, anxiety, lethargy, poor performance and reluctance to change.

The only way to overcome this resistance is to convince employees that the changes ornew initiatives enhance their ability to ‘survive’. If you don’t convince them, they may com-ply with changes for a while but will soon fall back into the old way of doing things. Theirolder, established neural-pathway patterns are simply more hard-wired than the new ones.Neuroscientists show us that although rational decision-making is inextricably intertwinedwith emotions, human beings are primarily emotional and secondarily rational, so emo-tions call the shots in business and in life. Unless an organisation accepts and addresses thisreality, managing change with an emphasis on logic rather than emotion will not diminishresistance to organisational change.72


759

THE MANAGEMENT OF ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

The successful management of change is clearly essential for continued economic performanceand competitiveness and is the life-blood of business success. New ideas and innovationsshould not be perceived as threats by members of the organisation. The efforts made bymanagement to maintain the balance of the socio-technical system will influence people’sattitudes, the behaviour of individuals and groups, and thereby the level of organisationalperformance and effectiveness.

Stewart is among those writers who point out how changes in technology and in domesticgovernment policies have had a radical impact on managers in many companies and in public service organisations.

One of the most difficult problems for managers is rapid change. How British managers react tochange will have an important influence on Britain’s economic future. This is true for managersin the public service as well as for those in industry and commerce. The tempo of change hasspeeded up; hence the demands made on managers to plan for, and adjust to, change aregreater. All change requires both abilities.73

Organisational responses to change

Christensen and Overdorf suggest a framework to help managers understand what types ofchange the organisation is capable and incapable of handling. They identify three factorsthat affect organisational responses to different types of change and what an organisationcan and cannot do:

■ resources – access to abundant, high-quality resources increases an organisation’s chancesof coping with change;

■ processes – the patterns of interaction, co-ordination, communication and decision-making employees use to transform resources into products and services. Processes maybe formal and explicitly defined and documented, or informal and routines or ways ofworking that evolve over time;

■ values – the standards by which employees set priorities that enable them to judgewhether an order is attractive, whether a customer is more or less important, whether anidea for a new product is attractive or marginal.

The factors that define an organisation’s capabilities and disabilities evolve over time –they start in resources, then move to visible, articulated processes and values, and finallymigrate to culture. Christensen and Overdorf maintain that when an organisation faces thesame sort of problem that its processes and values were designed to address, managing canbe straightforward. However, when the problem facing the organisation is fundamentallydifferent these same factors constitute disabilities, especially when the organisation’s cap-abilities have come to reside in processes and values. There are three possible ways in whichmanagers can develop new capabilities to cope with change:

■ create organisational structures within corporate boundaries in which new processes canbe developed;

■ spin out an independent organisation from the existing organisation and develop newprocesses and values;

■ acquire a different organisation whose processes and values match closely the newrequirements.74

Actions to secure effective change

Many books and articles refer to the steps or actions to be taken to secure successful and sustainable change.75 For example, Kotter and Cohen list the following eight steps for successfullarge-scale change:


760

1 Create a sense of urgency among relevant people, whatever the nature or size of theorganisation.

2 Build a guiding team with the credibility, skills, connections, reputations and formalauthority to provide change leadership.

3 Create visions which are sensible, clear and uplifting, and sets of strategies.4 Communicate the vision and strategy in order to induce understanding and commitment.5 Empower action and remove obstacles that stop people acting on the vision.6 Produce short-term wins that help to provide credibility, resources and momentum to

the overall effort.7 Don’t let up but maintain the momentum, consolidate early changes and create wave

after wave of change.8 Make change stick by nurturing a new culture, and developing group norms of behaviour

and shared values.76

Change and the environment

Newton points out that change takes many forms and, typically, organisations are under-taking many changes in parallel all the time. Newton provides a variety of optional guidanceto help review the nature of change being made and the environment in which one is working.

The central point is: there is not one type of change, and there is not a single way to approach change.Change management methodologies are only helpful if they are applicable both to the change you wantto make and the environment in which you work. The approach you take to change must be tailoreddepending on the nature of the change you are making and the character of your organisation.77

Minimising the problems of change

Activities managed on the basis of technical efficiency alone are unlikely to lead to optimumimprovement in organisational performance. A major source of resistance to change arisesfrom the need of organisations to adapt to new technological developments. The followingdiscussion on how to minimise the problem of change centres on the example of the impactof information technology. The general principles, however, apply equally to the manage-ment of change arising from other factors.

■ An important priority is to create an environment of trust and shared commitment,and to involve staff in decisions and actions that affect them. It is important that members of staff understand fully the reasons for change. Organisations should try toavoid change for the sake of change as this can both be disruptive and lead to mistrust.However, considerations of the need to change arising from advances in informationtechnology simply cannot be ignored.

■ There should be full and genuine participation of all staff concerned as early as possible, preferably well before the actual introduction of new equipment or systems.Information about proposed change, its implications and potential benefits should be communicated clearly to all interested parties. Staff should be actively encouraged tocontribute their own ideas, suggestions and experiences, and to voice openly their worriesor concerns.

■ Team management, a co-operative spirit among staff and unions and a genuine feeling of shared involvement will help create a greater willingness to accept change.A participative style of managerial behaviour that encourages supportive relationshipsbetween managers and subordinates, and group methods of organisation, decision-making and supervision, are more likely to lead to a sustained improvement in work performance. There is an assumption that most people will direct and control themselvesmore willingly if they share in the setting of their objectives.


761

■ As part of the pre-planning for new technology there should be a carefully designed‘human resource management action programme’. The action programme should bedirected to a review of recruitment and selection, natural wastage of staff, potential fortraining, retraining and the development of new skills, and other strategies to reduce thepossible level of redundancies or other harmful effects on staff. Where appropriate,arrangements for greater flexibility or a shorter working week, and redeployment of staff,should be developed in full consultation with those concerned.

■ The introduction of incentive payment schemes may help in motivating staff by an equitable allocation of savings which result from new technology and moreefficient methods of work. Incentive schemes may be on an individual basis, withbonuses payable to each member of staff according to effort and performance; or on a group basis, where bonuses are paid to staff in relation to the performance of the groupas a whole. By accepting changes in work methods and practices, staff share in the economic benefits gained from the improved efficiency of information technology andautomated systems.

■ Changes to the work organisation must maintain the balance of the socio-technicalsystem. Increased technology and automation may result in jobs becoming more repeti-tive and boring, and providing only a limited challenge and satisfaction to staff. It isimportant, therefore, to attempt to improve the quality of work, to remove frustration andstress from jobs, and to make them more responsible and interesting. Actual workingarrangements rely heavily on the informal organisation and effective teamwork and canhave a significant influence on the successful implementation of change.

■ Careful attention should be given to job design, methods of work organisation, thedevelopment of cohesive groups, and relationships between the nature and content ofjobs and their task functions. The introduction of new technology has also highlightedthe need to give attention to the wider organisational context including the design of tech-nology itself, broader approaches to improved job design, employee involvement andempowerment, the development of skills and problem-solving capacity, and the effectivemanagement of change. (The subject of technology and organisations is discussed morefully in Chapter 16.)

Style of managerial behaviour

One of the most important factors in the successful implementation of organisationalchange is the style of managerial behaviour. Some members may actually prefer, andrespond better, to a directed and controlled style of management. (Recall, for example, thediscussion on Theory X and Theory Y styles of managerial behaviour in Chapter 12.) In mostcases, however, the introduction of change is more likely to be effective with a participativestyle of managerial behaviour. If staff are kept fully informed of proposals, are encouragedto adopt a positive attitude and have personal involvement in the implementation of thechange, there is a greater likelihood of their acceptance of the change. However, Reis andPena maintain that too often, management ignores human resistance issues and the need toaddress them in the implementation plan.

The success of any change depends on the willingness of employees to accept it with enthusiasm andimplement it with care. Yet, business changes at times are undertaken without understanding how thehuman element influences the success or failure of a project. Frequently, companies develop impressivetechnical plans and simply assume the change – technical or organizational – will occur. The difficultand often neglected part of such initiatives is leading and managing behavioural change with those persons who interface with the new technology or the new initiatives.78

OVERCOMING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

The effective management of change must be based on a clear understanding of humanbehaviour at work. Most people are not detached from their work but experience a range of


762

emotional involvements through their membership of the organisation, and they feel threat-ened and disoriented by the challenge of change. Emotions such as uncertainty, frustrationor fear are common reactions. It is understandable therefore that people often adopt a defensive and negative attitude, and demonstrate resistance to change. It is important to remember that change is a complex and powerful psychological experience, and that individuals react internally to change.

According to Atkinson, a major problem in driving change in organisations is dealing with and managing the resistance that will be encountered – but that resistance should be welcomed as a healthy response. Resistance is natural and should not be viewed only asa negative response to change. In the absence of really positive benefits from the proposedchange, the ‘default’ response of resistance is acceptable.

It is unusual for any change not to attract some resistance. Even with foresight, pre-planning and all the apparent logic behind the need to change, you should expect some resistance as the norm.Recognise and welcome it as a healthy response and an opportunity to openly debate possibilities andtreat resistance as a powerful ally in facilitating the learning process.79

People are the key factor

The successful implementation of new work methods and practices is dependent upon thewilling and effective co-operation of staff, managerial colleagues and unions. People are the key factor in the successful management of change. If change is to work, it must change the perceptions, attitudes and behaviour of people.

However, Lucas reminds us that a high proportion of change initiatives fail, derailed bythe people factor.

Given that change has become such a fact of business life, it is worrying that so many change man-agement programmes fail to fulfil their potential. The consensus among the experts is that it is often thepeople factor that derails the effort. Put simply, organisations know where they want to go – but theyare not taking their people with them.80

Taylor points out that one of the most stressful aspects of change is often the sense of loss of control that accompanies it. The individual can feel powerless and helpless. Manyorganisations spend a great deal of attention and energy focusing on the operational outcomes of proposed changes but often pay scant attention to enabling employees to adaptpsychologically to the new situation.81 Reeves and Knell suggest that ‘knowledge leadersunderstand that change provokes an emotional response, that successful change involvesallowing people to feel angry, resentful and afraid as well as excited, hopeful and energised’.82

Behaviour change is a personal issue. Groups don’t change, teams don’t change, companiesdon’t change: individuals change. Teams change the way they operate when every member ofthe team changes the way he or she operates. Companies change the way they operate whenthe people in them change the way they behave.83

Responsibilities of top management

The successful management of change is a key factor of organisational performance andeffectiveness and should emanate from the top of the organisation. Top management has aresponsibility for the underlying philosophy and attitudes of the organisation, for creating andsustaining a healthy climate, and for establishing appropriate and supportive organisationalprocesses. The successful implementation of change demands positive action from top man-agement and a style of transformational leadership in order to gain a commitment to change.

Effective development of people in line with business ambitions is central to managingchange and ensuring competitive edge during times of economic uncertainty. Organisationsface tough decisions in times of change. These can involve business refocusing,rationalisation and restructuring, innovating, seizing new market opportunities, and re-engineering the skills base to boost competitiveness. However all will include engaging the workforce. Organisations need to be responsive to changing conditions but also toacknowledge what this means to their people.

The Investors in People approach recognises that, in order to get the best out of your people,it is vital that all employees are clear about the goals of the organisation as well as theirindividual workplace objectives. Cascading the vision and direction of the organisation is one of the strongest levers you can pull to generate improved business performance. Duringtimes of change it is key that these objectives are regularly reviewed to ensure they remain up to date and relevant. It is also critical that people are kept informed of organisation-widegoals so they are clear about how their role contributes to these.

Changing goals can also create a need for investment in training and development to ensurethe workforce has the ability to meet new objectives. The importance of developing new skillsto respond to change and of supporting the workforce to work in new ways should not beunderestimated. However, this investment will not provide a sustained impact on performanceunless underpinned by strong leadership and communication. Managers need to be able tosupport their teams effectively. What this means in practice is being able to explain toemployees both the reason for change and the effect it will have on them; creating a culturewhere feedback is given on a regular basis and acted upon; one where people areencouraged to give their ideas for working smarter and take responsibility for their objectives.The role of inspirational leadership and effective communication is vital.

By getting the people management practices right, you open the way to a responsive andflexible workforce which is able to respond effectively to a changing business environment.Once this culture has been created, organisations cannot afford to stand still. Effective peoplemanagement needs to be seen as an ongoing project rather than one with an end date toensure that organisations stay ahead of the competition and continue to perform whatever themarket conditions.

Source: Investors in People. © Investors in People, July 2009.

Managing change in the workplace is dependant on goodpeople management


763

Leading IT change

A report published jointly by the Chartered Management Institute, the British ComputerSociety and the Change Leadership Network refers to challenges facing senior executives toensure they are better prepared to lead technological change. Change always involves riskand on the basis of examination of ten detailed organisational case studies the reportidentifies five key challenges in obtaining best value from IT-enabled change:

■ Creating transformational value rather than just implementing IT projects.■ Building capability for ongoing change. Being able to predict future business needs and

how IT can help shape new business models and deliver the desired benefits.■ Creating a climate of open communication.■ Managing confidence and trust – understanding the impact of external changes.■ Building personal capability, learning and confidence.84

Change leaders

An interesting proposition is put forward by Drucker, who contends that ‘one cannot managechange. One can only be ahead of it. We do not hear much anymore about “overcomingresistance to change”.’ Everyone now accepts that change is unavoidable.

Critical reflection

‘The socialisation of new members into an organisation’s culture and climate is no morethan a management control system and manipulation of the individual. It is thereforeunethical and should be condemned.’

How would you challenge the validity of this statement? What has been your personalexperience?


764

But in a period of upheavals, such as the one we are living in, change is the norm. To be sure, it ispainful and risky, and above all it requires a great deal of very hard work. But unless it is seen as thetask of the organization to lead change, the organization – whether business, university, hospital andso on – will not survive. In a period of rapid structural change, the only ones who survive are theChange Leaders. It is therefore a central 21st-century challenge for management that its organizationbecome a change leader. A change leader sees change as opportunity. A change leader looks for change,knows how to find the right changes and knows how to make them effective both outside the organiza-tion and inside it. This requires:1 Policies to make the future.2 Systematic methods to look for and to anticipate change.3 The right way to introduce change, both within and outside the organization.4 Policies to balance change and continuity.85

SYNOPSIS

■ Organisation development (OD) is a generic termembracing a wide range of intervention strategies intothe social processes of an organisation. In a very generalsense, OD is concerned with attempts to improve theoverall performance and effectiveness of an organisa-tion. The broad nature of OD means, however, thatmany interrelated topic areas could be included underthis heading. OD makes use of a number of inter-vention strategies, and is action-oriented and tailoredto suit specific organisational needs. Two central andcritical features of OD are organisational culture andorganisational change.

■ Organisational culture helps to explain how thingsare performed in different organisations. Culture is,however, a general concept, and difficult to explainprecisely. There are a number of ways to classify dif-ferent types of organisation culture. It develops overtime and in response to a complex set of factors. Thereare a number of different ways in which to understandwhat constitutes organisational culture.

■ Applications of organisational behaviour and theeffective management of human resources are depend-ent upon the characteristic features of the individualorganisation – and its culture. The pervasive nature ofculture has an important effect on the behaviour andactions of individuals, on the process of managementand on organisational performance. It describes what

the organisation is all about. Culture helps to accountfor variations among organisations and managers,both nationally and internationally.

■ Organisational climate is based on the perceptionof members towards the organisation, and can be seenas the state of mutual trust and understanding amongmembers of the organisation. Climate influences theattitudes that staff bring to bear on their work perform-ance and personal relationships. Among the factorswhich contribute to a healthy climate is the extent towhich employees have a sense of commitment to, andpsychological bond with, the organisation.

■ Organisations operate within an increasingly volatileenvironment and are in a state of constant change.Change is a pervasive influence and an inescapable partof social and organisational life. There is a wide rangeof forces acting upon organisations which make theneed for change inevitable. Change can affect all aspectsof the operation and functioning of the organisation.Planned organisation change involves a process ofbehaviour modification. Change is reciprocal andchanging organisations may affect the nature of man-agerial work.

■ Despite the potential positive outcomes, change isoften resisted at both the individual and the organisa-tional level. Resistance to change can take many forms

1 Explain fully what you understand by the meaning and nature of organisation development (OD).

2 Suggest how you would attempt to explain the concept of organisational culture. What factors mightinfluence the development of culture?

3 Discuss critically the importance of culture for effective organisational performance. Give practical examplesfrom your own organisation.

4 What do you understand by organisational climate and what do you think are its main characteristic features?From your own organisation, give examples of features that have contributed to and/or detracted from ahealthy climate.

5 Explain the concept of employee commitment and suggest how it might actually be created. Give examplesof factors that have contributed to your own strength of commitment in any work situation.

6 Give specific examples of major changes confronting management today and their probable implications foran organisation of your choice.

7 Why do individuals and organisations tend to resist change? To what extent do you believe such resistancecan be effectively overcome?

8 Explain fully what you believe are the most important features in the successful implementation oforganisational change.

REVIEW AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

The time is ripe for fresh ideasLynda Gratton

Sou

rce:

iSto

ckph

oto

MANAGEMENT IN THE NEWS

Forget business workshops and case studies –recessions provide real-time opportunities for executivelearning as old myths are brought into question and management innovations emerge. Historically a downturn has been a time when business models,organisational structures, labour markets andemployee contracts come under immense strain.Accepted wisdoms are challenged and this break inthinking can result in the adoption of new practicesand the adoption of new habits and skills. There aretwo points of tension emerging in this recession thatmay allow for innovation in management practices.

Wider distribution of leadershipThis recession has brought into stark perspective therole of the leader. Up to this point, the dominant normhas been the ‘command and control’ leadership style.In this model, the organisation is viewed as a hierarchyin which decisions are escalated to the top, where a CEO makes the decisions. But many people are nowquestioning the wisdom of placing so much power in

the hands of so few. At the same time, insights fromresearch in decision sciences and technologicaladvances have shown that often the best decisionsare made by an ‘intelligent crowd’, rather than one all-powerful individual.

FT


765

and it is not always easy to pinpoint the exact reasons.It is important that management adopt a clearly definedstrategy for the successful initiation of change, includ-ing attention to the style of managerial behaviour, and

the human and social factors of change. The effectivemanagement of change is a key factor of organisationalperformance and competitiveness, and should emanatefrom the top of the organisation.

➔

Recessionary times can act as the catalyst to spur changes inorganisational cultures.

Management in the news – continued

Senior leadership cadres have traditionally beenessentially homogeneous – middle-aged men withsimilar backgrounds. Research on innovative teamshas shown that such groups are likely to be lesscompetent in decision-making than diverse teams.With the dominant model under question, this is agood time to bring diversity back on to the agenda.

Creating flexible virtual teamsPast recessions have often served to accelerate theadoption of management practices and processes thatalready had some popularity pre-recession. The sameis true of virtual working. Assembling teams to workon projects and task forces has become more viablein the past decade, often hastened by the pressures ofglobalisation. Yet while virtual working is emerging asa trend, there is still an assumption that face-to-faceworking trumps virtual working. As a result, everySunday night thousands of executives board aircraftand trains to get to Monday morning meetings. Withmany companies freezing travel budgets, this is likelyto change and many executives will have to do morework virtually.

At the same time, the entry and exit roads of theworld’s big cities are clogged from early dawn withcommuters hurrying to and from work. This movementof people has been based on two assumptions: thatpeople need to meet every day to get their work done;and that when at home, they are likely to slack andneed the discipline of an office to ensure they perform.

Both assumptions are wrong. First, people do notneed to meet every day to get their work done. Our research has shown that virtual teams – wheremembers rarely meet – can be highly productive. Whatis important in these teams is that they are all inspiredby a meaningful task, fascinating question orcompelling vision. The second assumption – thatpeople need the discipline of an office to ensure theyperform – is also a myth. Much research has shownthat when people have the opportunity to work onengaging, well-planned tasks at home they aresignificantly more productive and committed thanthose who toil through the commuter traffic every day.

Source: Gratton, L. ‘The Time Is Ripe for Fresh Ideas’, FinancialTimes, 5 February 2009. Copyright © 2009 The Financial TimesLimited, reproduced with permission from Lynda Gratton.

Discussion questions1 With reference to Lewin’s model of change

management, as shown in Figure 19.4, suggestthe steps that would need to be taken by anorganisation to introduce the two innovatorymanagement practices advocated by Gratton.

2 Crainer suggests that managers are themselvesoften the source of resistance to change. Usingthe information in the chapter about resistance tochange as the basis for your analysis, explain whymanagers might resist such changes.

3 What steps would you take to overcome thesetypes of resistance?

Understanding your organisation’s personalityAn important part of any manager’s, sales person’s or frontline staff’s role is to be an ambassador for the organisation. This means representing its values, its image and its style in a variety of situations.

In each case, you represent the personality not only of yourself, but of your organisation – and one of the mosteffective ways to explore the personality of your organisation is by describing it as if it were a person.

Ask yourself the following questions about your organisation.

■ What gender would it be?

■ How old would it be?

■ Where would it live?

■ Where would it prefer to holiday?

■ What car would it drive?

■ What interests or hobbies would it have?

■ If it were to win the lottery, what would it do?

Source: Reproduced with permission from David Hill, Director, Echelon Learning Ltd.

(Some feedback may be given by your tutor.)

ASSIGNMENT 1


766

Rate your readiness to change – a quizThe left-hand column lists 17 key elements of change readiness. Rate your organisation on each item. Givethree points for high ranking (‘We’re good at this; I’m confident of our skills here’), two for medium score (‘We’respotty here; we could use improvement or more experience’) and one point for a low score (‘We’ve hadproblems with this; this is new to our organisation’). Be honest. Don’t trust only your own perspective; askothers in the organisation, at all levels, to rate the company too. The consultants at Symmetrix believe – nosurprise – it helps to have an outsider do the assessment with you.

Readiness scoringHow to score: High = 3, Medium = 2, Low = 1.

Category Score

Sponsorship The sponsor of change is not necessarily its day-to-day leader; he or she is the visionary, chief cheerleader, and bill payer – the person with the power to help the team change when it meets resistance. Give three points – change will be easier – if sponsorship comes at a senior level; for example, CEO, COO, or the head of an autonomous business unit. Weakest sponsors: mid-level executives or staff officers. �

Leadership This means the day-to-day leadership – the people who call the meeting, set the goals, work till midnight. Successful change is more likely if leadership is high-level, has ‘ownership’ (that is, direct responsibility for what’s to be changed) and has clear business results in mind. Low-level leadership, or leadership that is not well connected throughout the organisation (across departments) or that comes from the staff, is less likely to succeed and should be scored low. �

Motivation High points for a strong sense of urgency from senior management, which is shared by the rest of the company, and for a corporate culture that already emphasises continuous improvement. Negative: tradition-bound managers and workers, many of whom have been in their jobs for more than 15 years; a conservative culture that discourages risk-taking. �

Direction Does senior management strongly believe that the future should look different from the present? How clear is management’s picture of the future? Can management mobilise all relevant parties – employees, the board, customers, etc. – for action? High points for positive answers to those questions. If senior management thinks only minor change is needed, the likely outcome is no change at all; score yourself low. �

Measurements Or in consultant-speak, ‘metrics’. Three points if you already use performance measures of the sort encouraged by total quality management (defect rates, time to market, etc.) and if these express the economics of the business. Two points if some measures exist but compensation and reward systems do not explicitly reinforce them. If you don’t have measures in place or don’t know what we’re talking about, one point. �

Organisational How does the change effort connect to other major goings-on in context context of the organisation? (For example: Does it dovetail with a continuing total quality

management process? Does it fit with strategic actions such as acquisitions or new product lines?) Trouble lies ahead for a change effort that is isolated or if there are multiple change efforts whose relationships are not linked strategically. �

ASSIGNMENT 2


767

➔

Assignment 2 – continued

Category Score

Processes/ Major changes almost invariably require redesigning business processes that cut functions across functions such as purchasing, accounts payable, or marketing. If functional

executives are rigidly turf-conscious, change will be difficult. Give yourself more points the more willing they – and the organisation as a whole – are to change critical processes and sacrifice perks or power for the good of the group. �

Competitor Whether you are a leader in your industry or a laggard, give yourself points for benchmarking a continuing programme that objectively compares your company’s performance

with that of competitors and systematically examines changes in your market. Give yourself one point if knowledge of competitors’ abilities is primarily anecdotal – what salesmen say at the bar. �

Customer focus The more everyone in the company is imbued with knowledge of customers, the more likely that the organisation can agree to change to serve them better. Three points if everyone in the workforce knows who his or her customers are, knows their needs, and has had direct contact with them. Take away points if that knowledge is confined to pockets of the organisation (sales and marketing, senior executives). �

Rewards Change is easier if managers and employees are rewarded for taking risks, being innovative, and looking for new solutions. Team-based rewards are better than rewards based solely on individual achievement. Reduce points if your company, like most, rewards continuity over change. If managers become heroes for making budgets, they won’t take risks even if you say you want them to. Also: If employees believe failure will be punished, reduce points. �

Organisational The best situation is a flexible organisation with little churn – that is, structure reorganisations are rare and well received. Score yourself lower if you have

a rigid structure that has been unchanged for more than five years or has undergone frequent reorganisation with little success; that may signal a cynical company culture that fights change by waiting it out. �

Communication A company will adapt to change most readily if it has many means of two-way communication that reach all levels of the organisation and that all employees use and understand. If communications media are few, often trashed unread, and almost exclusively one-way and top-down, change will be more difficult. �

Organisational The fewer levels of hierarchy and the fewer employee grade hierarchy levels, hierarchy the more likely an effort to change will succeed. A thick impasto of middle

management and staff not only slows decision-making but also creates large numbers of people with the power to block change. �

Prior experience Score three if the organisation has successfully implemented major changes in the with change recent past. Score one if there is no prior experience with major change or if

change efforts failed or left a legacy of anger or resentment. Most companies will score two, acknowledging equivocal success in previous attempts to change. �

Morale Change is easier if employees enjoy working in the organisation and the level of individual responsibility is high. Signs of unreadiness to change: low team spirit, little voluntary extra effort, and mistrust. Look for two types of mistrust: between management and employees, and between or among departments. �


768

Category Score

Innovation Best situation: the company is always experimenting; new ideas are implemented with seemingly little effort; employees work across internal boundaries without much trouble. Bad signs: lots of red tape, multiple signoffs required before new ideas are tried; employees must go through channels and are discouraged from working with colleagues from other departments or divisions. �

Decision-making Rate yourself high if decisions are made quickly, taking into account a wide variety of suggestions; it is clear where decisions are made. Give yourself a low grade if decisions come slowly and are made by a mysterious ‘them’; there is a lot of conflict during the process, and confusion and finger pointing after decisions are announced. �

Total score �

If your score is:

41–51: Implementing change is most likely to succeed. Focus resources on lagging factors (your ones andtwos) to accelerate the process.

28–40: Change is possible but may be difficult, especially if you have low scores in the first seven readinessdimensions. Bring those up to speed before attempting to implement large-scale change.

17–27: Implementing change will be virtually impossible without a precipitating catastrophe. Focus insteadon (1) building change readiness in the dimensions above and (2) effecting change through skunkworks orpilot programmes separate from the organisation at large.

After completing your total score, compare and discuss your response with those of your collegues.

Source: Stewart, T. A. ‘Rate Your Readiness to Change’, Fortune, 7 February 1994, pp. 63–4. Copyright © 1999 Time Inc. All rightsreserved. Reproduced with permission.

ObjectivesCompleting this exercise should help you to enhance the following skills:

■ Relate classifications of culture to different types of organisations.

■ Assess influences on the development of culture.

■ Evaluate the appropriateness of culture for specific organisations.

ExerciseUsing the classifications of organisational culture proposed by Handy, and by Deal and Kennedy, you arerequired to:

1 Compare and contrast influences on the development of culture in any two different types of organisations.Your two organisations could be, for example:

private and public sector; for-profit and not-for-profit; service sector and manufacturing sector; productionand academic; private enterprise and one other different type.

2 Suggest, with supporting reasons, which of either the Handy or the Deal and Kennedy typologies you wouldtry to foster if you were appointed as a senior manager in any three of the following organisations:

– wheel-clamping contractor;

– research laboratory;

– naval submarine;

➔

PERSONAL AWARENESS AND SKILLS EXERCISE


769

– private hospital;

– second-hand car business;

– high-fashion clothing store;

– fast-food chain;

– advertising agency.

Discussion■ How important is organisational culture? How would you attempt to foster a change in the prevailing culture

of an organisation?

■ To what extent do textbook classifications aid our practical understanding and analysis of organisationalculture?

■ Should there be/is there a most ‘suitable’ culture for specific organisations?

Personal awareness and skills exercise – continued


770

Moving with the times

CASE STUDY

Sou

rce:

Cou

rtes

y of

NH

S W

orkf

orce

Rev

iew

Tea

m (

WR

T)

The NHS Workforce Review Team (WRT) is a group ofdedicated health-care workforce planners who provideobjective modelling, analysis and evidence-basedrecommendations in order to enable patient-centredand clinically driven strategic decision-making acrossthe health-care workforce. WRT was established in 1999by Dr Judy Curson, a medical doctor turned specialist inworkforce planning and staff development. Today, WRTcomprises an experienced team of analysts, datamodellers and professional health-care advisers.

In early 2007 it was clear that WRT would need torelocate its main office within the following 12 to 24 months. Consequently, two conflicting needsemerged: to improve the standard of the facilitiesavailable to staff, and to maintain costs at anappropriate and affordable level.

An important first step in planning and delivering an office environment that allowed the team to performwell but remain cost-effective was recognising some ofthe key features of the organisation and its staff. Theculture of the organisation was characterised by a strongbelief in the values of public service combined with a drive to be successful. It also had a reputation fordelivering projects effectively. It was crucial to maintainflexibility both in organisational terms to allowresponsiveness to business needs, and on an individuallevel within the team. It was also important to maintainits reputation for efficiency.

WRT in Winchester comprised 40–45 staff, with four individuals located in a satellite office in Leedswho were not directly affected by this relocation. A significant proportion of the WRT team worked part-time and/or were frequently out of the office forbusiness reasons. The total number of staff fluctuatedaccording to the demands of the business through the use of a small pool of temporary workers. An earlylist of essential needs in the new accommodationincluded:

One team of professionals shows the way to make hot-desking reallywork.


771

■ approximately 45 desk units■ three meeting rooms■ accessibility via public transport■ availability of staff parking.

However, it became clear that it would be costly to lease an office that would provide all these features. A more innovative approach was needed, so WRT gaveall staff the opportunity to put forward ideas andsuggestions. The relocation project group proposed a solution which extended the use of open-plan officespace together with a hot-desking system for themajority of staff. This would reduce both the number of desks and the total floor space required, thereforereducing the cost to an affordable level. Once it wasagreed that this would form the basis of the officesystem, suitable premises were located and the finalselection was made by the senior management teamusing a points system.

Implications of adopting a hot-desking systemThe decision to move the whole team to hot-deskingcould not be made in isolation. It was anticipated that itwould have a wide-ranging impact on most other officesystems. The WRT team as a whole recognised thepotential effect the physical work environment couldhave on its effectiveness and cohesion. The diagrambelow shows other working practices that had to bedeveloped either to support hot-desking directly or toimprove the team’s efficiency. The design of the newworking area provided 26 standard desk units for the40–45 staff, situated in an open-plan office. To supportthis area and necessary new working practices, WRT planned the following additional facilities:

■ five small to medium-sized meeting rooms,including one with soft seats intended for one-to-onediscussions, and two rooms with a moving dividebetween them to extend the room when needed;

■ a central area where printers, fax, scanner and smallphotocopier machines were located in an ‘S’-shapedcurve to serve all staff;

■ a bistro-style kitchen area with essential facilities andseating for use during breaks;

■ a tea bar area of six to seven seats equipped withpower and telephone sockets as an overflow area forbusy days, intended for use by staff who are only inthe office for a short time or who were mainly inscheduled meetings;

■ an enclosed bank of built-in, full-height storagecupboards on one wall to provide a range of storageoptions.

Follow me!A key part of the success of hot-desking lay in ensuringthat the IT and telephone system could ‘follow’ an individual as they moved from one desk to anotherand as they worked in the office or at home. This wasachieved relatively inexpensively as all staff were givenlaptops. However it was essential that staff workingremotely could still access the main shared drivebecause data and information cannot be carried out ofthe office, for example on memory sticks, for reasons ofconfidentiality and security.

The telephone system was adapted to allowallocation of an extension number (rather than aspecific handset) to each individual. The software allowsstaff to remain on the same extension number when


772

working from home. On arrival at a desk the individuallogs into the telephone system and calls are routed tothat handset until they log out. All hot desks areequipped identically with power and network points, an adjustable mounted screen, keyboard and mouse.The whole office area is covered by wireless accessallowing those temporarily working from the tea bar orelsewhere full access to WRT systems and the internet.

Where am I sitting today?A total of six members of staff were allocatedpermanent desks spaced throughout the open officearea. These were all administrative members of theoperations/business support team who are office-based.Other team members, including senior managementand the WRT directors, are allocated a hot desk. Afterconsidering other options such as a first come firstserved system, it was decided that desks would beallocated each day by a simple rota system scheduled a week at a time by each member of the operationsteam in turn. This system was felt to be fairer as itwould avoid small groups/teams colonising preferredareas. It also ensured that staff who chose to start andfinish later under the existing flexitime system were notdisadvantaged.

Guidelines were drawn up requiring staff to movearound the office each day and not sit in the same placethroughout a working week. On the occasions when thetea bar was needed as overflow space, staff memberswith the most meetings in their diaries were allocatedthe space. In practice this tends to mean that membersof the senior management team are most oftenallocated this area, providing further high-level, visiblemanagement support for the policy. The next day’sseating allocation is displayed every afternoon.

Where’s my stuff?One of the logistical challenges WRT faced inintroducing the hot-desking system was how to providestorage for items such as working documents andlaptops (although staff members are encouraged to taketheir laptops home). The solution was to provide aplastic storage box with handles for each person – theseare stored in a section of the storage wall and havebecome known as the ‘blue boxes’. They have thecapacity to store a laptop, a good number of files andpaperwork, and personal effects. To achieve this changein working practices WRT undertook a comprehensivereview of all the material it held prior to moving anddramatically reduced the volume of material held inhard copy. Material that needed to be retained for any

reason and was not available electronically was archivedand kept in remote storage. A central resource centre ofkey reference material was developed, and is maintainedin a designated part of the storage wall to provide an up-to-date resource for the whole team. It includes a single printed copy of many official publications,articles and ‘grey’ literature not widely availableotherwise.

But will I like it?One of the challenges WRT faced in developing thisworking practice was the doubt felt by some teammembers prior to the changes; the loss of their ‘own’desk and therefore their own personal space was onesuch concern. These concerns had to be recognised andaddressed as far as possible as they had importantimplications not only for individuals but for thecohesiveness of the whole team.

In order to allay the concerns and provide anoverview of how the new office would function, a draftoffice systems document was developed and circulatedto all staff giving them an opportunity to comment,raise questions or make suggestions. Following thisconsultation a final working draft was agreed thatformed the basis of the office systems in the periodimmediately after the move. A comprehensive reviewafter three months in the new premises, involving allteam members, was also planned. The Leeds office staff were involved in this process, as it was recognisedthat the changes in the main office, and to IT systems,could affect those working more remotely. It was felt to be important that the Leeds staff should not bealienated by the Winchester group’s preoccupation with their approaching move and new workingpractices.

How do I get to work?The new office is located in central Winchester and hasonly two parking spaces. It is, however, situated close toa railway and bus station, and is within 30 minutes ofan airport. There are ‘park and ride’ sites around the cityand several car parks in close proximity. To encourageother methods of travel, one of the two car parkingspaces was turned into a bicycle rack. The oneremaining car park space is allocated on a rota basis to individuals travelling long distances. This rota isdone at the same time as the seating plan. The team’sacceptance of this plan was influenced by the range oftravel options available and a perceived fairness andflexibility in the allocation of parking spaces.

Source: The case study was provided by Donna and Chris of WRT.

Your tasks1 Review the case study organisation in the light of the ‘cultural web’ (Figure 19.1) and try to pick out examples

of each aspect.

2 Write a brief description of WRT’s culture based on your findings and show how the aspects fit together.

3 Summarise the evidence you can find in the case about the use of the managerial tools (recruitment andselection, social tools and training, reward system) considered by Chatman and Cha.

4 Choose a model of change or change management from the chapter and use it to analyse the content of thecase. Write a short report explaining how the model can help managers to manage major workplace changessuch as this one.


773

1 French, W. L. and Bell, C. H. Organization Development:Behavioral Science Interventions for Organization Improvement,sixth edition, Prentice Hall (1999), pp. 25–6.

2 Ibid., p. 29.3 Hamlin, B., Keep, J. and Ash, K. Organisational Change and

Development, Financial Times Prentice Hall (2001), p. 13.4 Maier, D., Leban, B. and Orr-Alfeo, D. ‘A Values Statement

on OD: An Interview with Practitioner-Scholar Dr AllanChurch RODC’, Organization Development Journal, vol. 19,no. 3, Fall 2001, pp. 69–74.

5 Blake, R. R. and Mouton, J. S. The Managerial Grid III, GulfPublishing Company (1985).

6 Naylor, J. Management, second edition, Financial TimesPrentice Hall (2004), pp. 645–6.

7 Woodall, J. ‘Managing Culture Change: Can It Ever BeEthical?’, Personnel Review, vol. 25, no. 6, 1996, pp. 28–40.

8 See, for example, Smircich, L. ‘Concepts of Culture andOrganizational Analysis’, Administrative Science Quarterly,vol. 28, 1983, pp. 339–58.

9 Atkinson, P. E. ‘Creating Cultural Change’, ManagementServices, vol. 34, no. 7, 1990, pp. 6–10.

10 McLean, A. and Marshall, J. Intervening in Cultures, workingpaper, University of Bath, 1993.

11 See, for example, Oswick, C., Lowe, S. and Jones, P.‘Organisational Culture as Personality: Lessons fromPsychology?’, in Oswick, C. and Grant, D. (eds)Organisation Development: Metaphorical Explorations, PitmanPublishing (1996), pp. 106–20.

12 Charters, J. ‘Are You a “Woodentop?”’, The British Journal ofAdministrative Science, May/June 2000, p. 20.

13 Cartwright, J. Cultural Transformation, Financial TimesPrentice Hall (1999), p. 34.

14 Schein, E. H. Organizational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View, third edition, Jossey-Bass (2004).

15 Harrison, R. ‘Understanding Your Organization’s Character’,Harvard Business Review, vol. 50, May/June 1972, pp. 119–28.

16 Handy, C. B. Understanding Organizations, fourth edition,Penguin (1993).

17 Deal, T. E. and Kennedy, A. A. Corporate Cultures: The Ritesand Rituals of Corporate Life, Penguin (1982).

18 Deal, T. E. and Kennedy, A. A. The New Corporate Cultures,Perseus Books (2000).

19 See, for example, Handy, C. B. Understanding Organizations,fourth edition, Penguin (1993); and McLean, A. andMarshall, J. Cultures at Work, Local Government TrainingBoard (1988).

20 Kransdorff, A. ‘History – A Powerful Management Tool’,Administrator, October 1991, p. 23.

21 See, for example, Beckett-Hughes, M. ‘How to IntegrateTwo Cultures’, People Management, vol. 11, no. 5, 10 March2005, pp. 50–1.

22 Roddick, A. Body and Soul, Ebury Press (1991); Roddick, A.Business As Unusual, Thorsons (2000).

23 Blackhurst, C. ‘Up Front at Pearson’, Management Today,May 1997, pp. 50–7.

24 Gerstner, L. V. Jr. Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?: InsideIBM’s Historic Turnabout, HarperBusiness (2002).

25 Johnson, G., Scholes, K. and Whittington, R. ExploringCorporate Strategy, seventh edition, Financial Times PrenticeHall (2005).

26 Wilson, F. Organizational Behaviour and Work: A CriticalIntroduction, second edition, Oxford University Press(2004), p. 185.

27 ‘Effective Organisations: The People Factor’, AdvisoryBooklet, ACAS, November 2001.

28 Naylor, J. Management, second edition, Financial TimesPrentice Hall (2004).

29 Oliver, J. ‘Losing Control’, Management Today, June 1998,pp. 32–8.

30 Harrison, R. and Stokes, H. Diagnosing OrganizationalCulture, Pfeiffer & Company (1992), p. 1.

31 Reigle, R. F. ‘Measuring Organic and Mechanistic Cultures’,Engineering Management Journal, vol. 13, no. 4, December2001, pp. 3–8.

32 Egan, G. ‘The Shadow Side’, Management Today, September1993, p. 37.

33 Egan, G. ‘Cultivate Your Culture’, Management Today, April1994, pp. 38–42.

34 Worrall, L. and Cooper, C. The Quality of Working Life2007, Chartered Management Institute (2007).

35 Bunting, M. Willing Slaves, HarperCollins (2004), p. xxiii.36 Meudell, K. and Gadd, K. ‘Culture and Climate in Short-

Life Organizations: Sunny Spells or Thunderstorms?’,International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,vol. 6, no. 5, 1994, pp. 27–32.

37 Heller, R. In Search of European Excellence, HarperCollinsBusiness (1997), p. 229.

38 Goldsmith, W. and Clutterbuck, D. The Winning StreakMark II, Orion Business Books (1998).

39 Cummings, T. G. and Worley, C. G. OrganizationDevelopment and Change, eighth edition, Thompson South-Western (2005), p. 509.

Notes and references


774

40 Chatman, J. A. and Cha, S. E. ‘Culture of Growth’, MasteringLeadership, Financial Times, 22 November, 2002, pp. 2–3.

41 Stewart, R. The Reality of Management, third edition,Butterworth Heinemann (1999), p. 123.

42 Naylor, J. Management, second edition, Financial TimesPrentice Hall (2004), p. 79.

43 ‘Inspired Leadership: Insights Into People Who InspireExceptional Performance’, DTI, August 2004.

44 Potter, C. C. ‘What Is Culture: And Can It Be Useful ForOrganisational Change Agents?’, Leadership and OrganizationDevelopment Journal, vol. 10, no. 3, 1989, pp. 17–24.

45 Siddall, P. ‘Working With Cultural Differences’, CharteredSecretary, February 1998, p. 30.

46 Schneider, S. C. and Barsoux, J. Managing Across Cultures,second edition, Financial Times Prentice Hall (2003).

47 Cheng, T., Sculli, D. and Chan, F. ‘RelationshipDominance – Rethinking Management Theories from thePerspective of Methodological Relationalism’, Journal ofManagerial Psychology, vol. 16, no. 2, 2001, pp. 97–105.

48 Francesco, A. M. and Gold, B. A. International OrganizationalBehavior, second edition, Pearson Prentice Hall (2005).

49 Tagiuri, R. and Litwin, G. H. (eds) Organizational Climate,Graduate School of Business Administration, HarvardUniversity (1968), p. 27.

50 Moran, E. T. and Volkwein, J. F. ‘The Cultural Approach to the Formation of Organizational Climate’, HumanRelations, vol. 45, no. 1, 1992, p. 43.

51 Rentsch, J. R. ‘Climate and Culture: Interaction andQualitative Differences in Organizational Meanings’,Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 75, no. 6, 1990, p. 668.

52 Gray, R. A Climate of Success, Butterworth-Heinemann (2007).53 O’Reilly, C. ‘Corporations, Culture and Commitment:

Motivation and Social Control in Organizations’, in Steers, R. M., Porter, L. W. and Bigley, G. A. (eds)Motivation and Leadership at Work, sixth edition, McGraw-Hill (1996), p. 374.

54 Walton, R. E. ‘From Control to Commitment in theWorkplace’, in Steers, R. M. and Porter, L. W. (eds)Motivation and Work Behavior, McGraw-Hill (1991), p. 448.

55 Altman, W., Cooper, C. and Garner, A. ‘New Deal Neededto Secure Commitment’, Professional Manager, September1999, p. 40.

56 Galunic, C. and Weeks, J. ‘Survey – Mastering PeopleManagement’, Financial Times, 12 November 2001.

57 Gratton, L. The Democratic Enterprise, Financial TimesPrentice Hall (2004), p. 184.

58 De Vita, E., ‘Get Engaged’, Management Today, April 2007,pp. 38–43.

59 For a discussion of change in relation to the complexitiesof organisational life, see Senior, B. and Fleming, J.Organizational Change, third edition, Financial TimesPrentice Hall (2006).

60 Czerniawska, F. From Bottlenecks to BlackBerries: How theRelationship between Organisations and Individuals IsChanging, Management Consultancies Association(September 2005).

61 See, for example, Henderson, H. (Squadron Leader) ‘Flying High’, Manager: The British Journal of AdministrativeManagement, January/February 1998, pp. 10–13.

62 Fenlon, M. ‘The Public Spirit’, Mastering Leadership,Financial Times, 22 November 2002, p. 4.

63 ‘Effective Organisations: The People Factor’, AdvisoryBooklet, ACAS, November 2001.

64 Lewin, K. Field Theory in Social Science, Harper and Row(1951).

65 French, W. L., Kast, F. E. and Rosenzweig, J. E.Understanding Human Behavior in Organizations, Harper and Row (1985).

66 ‘Management Futures: The World in 2018’, CharteredManagement Institute, March 2008.

67 Gratton, L. Living Strategy: Putting People at the Heart ofCorporate Purpose, Financial Times Prentice Hall (2000), p. 191.

68 Lockhead, Sir M. ‘In My Opinion’, Management Today,September 2008, p. 12.

69 Crainer, S. Key Management Ideas: Thinkers That Changed theManagement World, third edition, Financial Times PrenticeHall (1998), pp. 144–5.

70 Toffler, A. Future Shock, Pan Books (1970), p. 27.71 Cunningham, I. ‘Influencing People’s Attitudes to Change’,

Professional Manager, vol. 14, no. 3, May 2005, p. 37.72 Material in this section reproduced with kind permission

of Anne Riches, creator of The Almond Effect®. For furtherinformation see www.AnneRiches.com.

73 Stewart, R. The Reality of Management, third edition,Butterworth Heinemann (1999), p. 161.

74 Christensen, C. M. and Overdorf, M. ‘Meeting theChallenge of Disruptive Change’, Harvard Business Review,vol. 78, no. 2, March–April 2000, pp. 67–76.

75 See, for example, Covington, J. and Chase, M. L. ‘EightSteps to Sustainable Change’, Industrial Management, vol. 14, no. 6, November/December 2002, pp. 8–11 and‘Implementing an Effective Change Programme’,Management Checklist 040, Chartered ManagementInstitute, July 2008.

76 Kotter, J. P. and Cohen, D. S. The Heart of Change, HarvardBusiness School Press (2002).

77 Newton, R. Managing Change: Step by Step, Pearson PrenticeHall (2007), p. 215.

78 Reis, D. and Pena, L. ‘Reengineering the Motivation to Work’,Management Decision, vol. 39, no. 8, 2001, pp. 666–75.

79 Atkinson, P. ‘Managing Resistance to Change’, ManagementServices, Spring 2005, p. 15.

80 Lucas, E. ‘Riding the Change Roller-Coaster’, ProfessionalManager, September 2002, pp. 27–9.

81 Taylor, G. ‘Managing the Situational and PsychologicalPressures Brought About by Change’, Professional Manager,vol. 16, no. 4, July 2007, p. 14.

82 Reeves, R. and Knell, J. ‘Your Mini MBA’, ManagementToday, March 2009, pp. 60–4.

83 Stuart-Kotze, R. Performance: The Secrets of SuccessfulBehaviour, Financial Times Prentice Hall (2006), pp. 17–28.

84 Tranfield, D. and Braganza, A. Business Leadership ofTechnological Change: Five Key Challenges Facing CEOs,Chartered Management Institute (2007).

85 Drucker, P. F. Management Challenges for the 21st Century,Butterworth Heinemann (1999), p. 73.

Now that you have finished reading this chapter, visit MyManagementLab atwww.pearsoned.co.uk/mymanagementlab to find more learning resourcesto help you make the most of your studies and get a better grade.INSTANT ACCESS TO INTERACTIVE LEARNING

Chapter 19 Organisation Culture and Change

Documents

Transcript of Chapter 19 Organisation Culture and Change