"Organisational Culture and ChangeIn this module we will analyse organisational culture and explore the ways that it influences organisationalbehaviour, in both positive and negative ways. We will then explore how to change an organisation's culture andways to manage resistance to organisational culture change.Module Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)By the end of this module you should be able to:1. Explain how organisational culture can be a benefit or a liability to an organisation.2. Analyse an organisation’s culture using the cultural web.3. Identify the forces for organisational change.4. Identify sources of resistance to an organisational change and apply appropriate techniques to reducethe resistance.5. Apply Kotter’s model of change management to analyse elements of effective or ineffective changeleadership.Research and References You are expected to take a scholarly approach and should incorporate relevant organisationalbehaviour theory and research. Your group is expected to read and use information froma minimumof 15 academic research articles other than the research sources provided in class. Academicresearch articles refer to articles published in academic, peer-reviewed journal articles. Theacademic research articles should be relevant to the topic, contemporary (i.e., published in the last 5years) and of high quality (i.e., published in journals ranked by the Australian Business Dean’sCouncil or Australian Research Council as A*, A, or B). You are encouraged to use additional high quality sources beyond the minimum requirement. Forexample, you may want to refer to additional journal articles, book chapters, industry surveys,reputable websites and practitioner publications. Note that Wikipedia and similar sources are notacceptable for this assignment. Tips for finding appropriate references will be posted on the LMSand further assistance is available from the teaching staff and the library. Citeall sources in the main text of the document and include a separate reference page at the end ofthe document. The in-text citations and references should be formatted using either the currentth version of the Harvard style or APA 6 edition. Refer to the tips on applying these styles in theAssessments module of this LMS site. It is important to maintain consistency of the reference styleyou have chosen. Organisational Culture and Change I don‘t know that one can say that there is a ?disadvantage? of organizational culture. It issomething that exists — period. When an organization is created, an organizational culturewill emerge, whether one wants it to or not. On that note, there are things that acompany/organization can do to guide/influence the organizational culture:1. Transparency.At my company, we go over all the key metrics of the business with the entire company. Thegoal is for all employees to feel they know the thinking, responsibilities, and strategy atvarious levels of the company and can share ideas and feedback no matter who they are.2. Time to disconnect.We all need to hit the reset button once in a while people can't come in early and leave lateevery single day without getting burnt out at some level. It‘s important to understand thatsometimes life will get in the way of business and everyone should be allowed to take care ofpressing personal matters.3. Empowerment and a sense of freedom.You empower people by not micromanaging, erring on the side of giving people generalguidelines rather than explicit, detailed directions. Informed employees are more involvedand empowered in a company.4. Physical space.Although open spaces are great for some, other people need to be able to close the door to beat their most productive. It‘s important to consider the comfort level of your employeesbefore you decide how to lay out space.5. Talking to customers and employees.At different points in a company‘s maturation process, you're almost guaranteed to gothrough weeks or even months where you feel lost. When you haven‘t nailed a productmarket fit or you‘re having challenges relating to your product or corporate vision, the naturaltendency is to turn your attention to where you or your team went wrong. Another way to tryto solve these problems is by talking to your customers.6. Your organizational design. It‘s ?how you do things.? This will include your communication, company policies, teambuilding, performance indicators, performance evaluations, division of responsibilities, andeven how you schedule, and run, meetings. Using the Cultural WebWe use the Cultural Web firstly to look at organizational culture as it is now, secondly tolook at how we want the culture to be, and thirdly to identify the differences between the two.These differences are the changes we need to make to achieve the high-performance culturethat we want.ElementsThe Cultural Web identifies six interrelated elements that help to make up what Johnson andScholes call the "paradigm" – the pattern or model – of the work environment. By analyzingthe factors in each, you can begin to see the bigger picture of your culture: what is working,what isn't working, and what needs to be changed. The six elements are:Stories– The past events and people talked about inside and outside the company. Who andwhat the company chooses to immortalize says a great deal about what it values, andperceives as great behavior.Rituals and Routines – The daily behavior and actions of people that signal acceptablebehavior. This determines what is expected to happen in given situations, and what is valuedby management.Symbols – The visual representations of the company including logos, how plush the officesare, and the formal or informal dress codes.Organizational Structure – This includes both the structure defined by the organizationchart, and the unwritten lines of power and influence that indicate whose contributions aremost valued.Control Systems – The ways that the organization is controlled. These include financialsystems, quality systems, and rewards (including the way they are measured and distributedwithin the organization.)Power Structures – The pockets of real power in the company. This may involve one or twokey senior executives, a whole group of executives, or even a department. The key is thatthese people have the greatest amount of influence on decisions, operations, and strategicdirection. Forces of ChangeChange refers to any alteration that occurs in total work environment. Generally people areaccustomed to a well established way of life and any variation in or deviation from that lifemay be called a change. Change may be very simple just like to shift the location of an officeor it may be a more complex technological change which may even threaten the veryexistence of some people in the organization."The term change refers to any alteration which occurs work environment of anorganization."Forces for changeThere are a number of factors both internal and external which affect organizationalfunctioning. Any change in these factors necessitates change in an organization. The moreimportant factors are as follows :A. External ForcesExternal environment affects the organizations both directly and indirectly. The organizationsdo not have any control over the variables in such an environment. Accordingly, theorganization cannot change the environment but must change themselves to align with theenvironment. A few of these factors are :1. Technology : Technology is the major external force which calls for change. The adoptionof new technology such as computers, telecommunication systems and flexiblemanufacturing operations have profound impact on the organizations that adopt them.2. Marketing Conditions : Marketing conditions are no more static. They are in the processof rapid change as the needs, desires and expectations of the customers change rapidly andfrequently. Moreover, there is tough competition in the market as the market is flooded withnew products and innovations everyday. 3. Social Changes : Social and cultural environment also suggest some changes that theorganizations have to adjust for. There are a lot of social changes due to spread of education,knowledge and a lot of government efforts..4. Political Forces : Political environment within and outside the country have an importantimpact on business especially the transnational corporations. The interference of thegovernment in business has increased tremendously in most of the countries. An organization is also affected by the world politics. Some of the changes in the world politics which haveaffected business all over the world are e.g., the reunification of Germany, Iraq's invasion ofKuwait and the break of Soviet Union.B. Internal ForcesInternal forces are too many and it is very difficult to list them comprehensively. However,major internal causes are explained as follows :1. Nature of the Work Force : The nature of work force has changed over a passage of time.Different work values have been expressed by different generations. 2. Change in Managerial Personnel : Change in managerial personnel is another forcewhich brings about change in organization. Old managers are replaced by new managerswhich is necessitated because of promotion, retirement, transfer or dismissal. Each managerbrings his own ideas and way of working in the organization. As a result, the organization hasto change accordingly.3. Deficiencies in Existing Management Structure: Sometimes change are necessarybecause of some deficiencies in the existing organizational structure, arrangement andprocesses. These deficiencies may be in the form of unmanageable span of management,larger number of managerial levels, lack of co-ordination among various departments, and soon. However, the need for change in such cases goes unrecognized until some major crisisoccurs.4. To Avoid Developing Inertia: In many cases, organizational changes take place just toavoid developing inertia or inflexibility. Conscious managers take into account this view thatorganization should be dynamic because any single method is not the best tool ofmanagement every timeThe sources of resistance to change are discussed in the following paragraphs:1. Insecurity:For people working in a comfortable environment for quite some time, a change ofenvironment often brings about uncertainty and people no longer know exactly what toexpect from the implementation of change. A sense of insecurity prevails in people who aresubjected to change from one environment to another. For example, when a person movesfrom high school to college, or from one job in a city to another job in another city, a sense ofinsecurity may occur. 2. Possible social loss:Change has a potential to bring about social loss. The informal work group may be extremelystrong. If a change causes an individual to be transferred, the power of the group is likely tobe diminished. The individual who is transferred gets affected as he or she loses theassociation with the other members of the group. This loss is referred to as =social loss‘3. Economic losses:New technology may enable a firm to produce the same amount with fewer employees. Eventhough some of the employees rendered surplus in some department because of automation,may be redeployed and retained, some other workers may suffer an economic loss.4. Inconvenience:Even when a change is not associated with a social or economic loss, new procedure andtechniques may have to be learnt. Physical and mental energy need to be expended and somemay not like the same.5. Resentment of control:When employees are told that a change is to take place, they are made to realise that they donot have any other option other than implementing the change. This may create someresentment that employees may not have any control over their destiny. Even though thechange may be for better, they are likely to resent the change. For example, if themanagement makes it compulsory for the employees to wear uniform, then such change maybe resented because the employees feel that they do not have any other choice but to wearuniform.6. Unanticipated repercussions:Because the organisation is a system, a change in one department or division is likely to haveunforeseen repercussions in another. For example, a newly designed job may require achange in supervisory behaviour and supervisors may resist this change even if they initiallysupported the concept of job enrichment by redesigning the jobs.7. Threats to influence:When a change is likely to reduce the power base of a group, department or division, even ifit is good for the organisation as a whole, it is likely to meet resistance of employeesconcerned with the change. Techniques of handling resistanceDo change management right the first timeExpect resistance to changeAddress resistance formallyIdentify the root causes of resistanceEngage the ?right? resistance managersThere are many theories about how to "do" change. Many originate with leadership andchange management guru, John Kotter. A professor at Harvard Business School and world- renowned change expert, Kotter introduced his eight-step change process in his 1995 book,"Leading Change." We look at his eight steps for leading change below.Step 1: Create UrgencyFor change to happen, it helps if the whole company really wants it. Develop a sense ofurgency around the need for change. This may help you spark the initial motivation to getthings moving.This isn't simply a matter of showing people poor sales statistics or talking about increasedcompetition. Open an honest and convincing dialogue about what's happening in themarketplace and with your competition. If many people start talking about the change youpropose, the urgency can build and feed on itself.What you can do:Identify potential threats Add to My Personal Learning Plan, and develop scenarios Add toMy Personal Learning Plan showing what could happen in the future.Examine opportunities Add to My Personal Learning Plan that should be, or could be,exploited.Start honest discussions, and give dynamic and convincing reasons to get people talking andthinking.Request support from customers, outside stakeholders and industry people to strengthen yourargument.Step 2: Form a Powerful CoalitionConvince people that change is necessary. This often takes strong leadership and visiblesupport from key people within your organization. Managing change isn't enough – you haveto lead it. You can find effective change leaders throughout your organization – they don't necessarilyfollow the traditional company hierarchy. To lead change, you need to bring together acoalition, or team, of influential people whose power comes from a variety of sources,including job title, status, expertise, and political importance.Once formed, your "change coalition" needs to work as a team, continuing to build urgencyand momentum around the need for change.What you can do:Identify the true leaders in your organization, as well as your key stakeholders Add to MyPersonal Learning Plan.Ask for an emotional commitment from these key people.Work on team building within your change coalition.Check your team for weak areas, and ensure that you have a good mix of people fromdifferent departments and different levels within your company.Step 3: Create a Vision for ChangeWhen you first start thinking about change, there will probably be many great ideas andsolutions floating around. Link these concepts to an overall vision that people can graspeasily and remember.A clear vision can help everyone understand why you're asking them to do something. Whenpeople see for themselves what you're trying to achieve, then the directives they're given tendto make more sense.What you can do:Determine the values Add to My Personal Learning Plan that are central to the change.Develop a short summary (one or two sentences) that captures what you "see" as the future ofyour organization.Create a strategy Add to My Personal Learning Plan to execute that vision.Ensure that your change coalition can describe the vision in five minutes or less.Practice your "vision speech" often Step 4: Communicate the VisionWhat you do with your vision after you create it will determine your success. Your messagewill probably have strong competition from other day-to-day communications within thecompany, so you need to communicate it frequently and powerfully, and embed it withineverything that you do.Don't just call special meetings to communicate your vision. Instead, talk about it everychance you get. Use the vision daily to make decisions and solve problems. When you keep itfresh on everyone's minds, they'll remember it and respond to it.It's also important to "walk the talk." What you do is far more important – and believable –than what you say. Demonstrate the kind of behavior that you want from others.What you can do:Talk often about your change vision.Address peoples' concerns and anxieties, openly and honestly.Apply your vision to all aspects of operations – from training to performance reviews. Tieeverything back to the vision.Lead by example Add to My Personal Learning Plan.Step 5: Remove ObstaclesIf you follow these steps and reach this point in the change process, you've been talking aboutyour vision and building buy-in from all levels of the organization. Hopefully, your staffwants to get busy and achieve the benefits that you've been promoting.But is anyone resisting the change? And are there processes or structures that aregetting in its way?Put in place the structure for change, and continually check for barriers to it. Removingobstacles can empower the people you need to execute your vision, and it can help the changemove forward.What you can do:Identify, or hire, change leaders whose main roles are to deliver the change.Look at your organizational structure, job descriptions, and performance and compensationsystems to ensure they're in line with your vision.Recognize and reward people for making change happen. Identify people who are resisting the change, and help them see what's needed.Take action to quickly remove barriers (human or otherwise).Step 6: Create Short-Term WinsNothing motivates more than success. Give your company a taste of victory early in thechange process. Within a short time frame (this could be a month or a year, depending on thetype of change), you'll want to have some "quick wins Add to My Personal Learning Plan"that your staff can see. Without this, critics and negative thinkers might hurt your progress.Create short-term targets – not just one long-term goal. You want each smaller target to beachievable, with little room for failure. Your change team may have to work very hard tocome up with these targets, but each "win" that you produce can further motivate the entirestaff.What you can do:Look for sure-fire projects that you can implement without help from any strong critics of thechange.Don't choose early targets that are expensive. You want to be able to justify the investment ineach project.Thoroughly analyze the potential pros and cons of your targets. If you don't succeed with anearly goal, it can hurt your entire change initiative.Reward Add to My Personal Learning Plan the people who help you meet the targets.Step 7: Build on the ChangeKotter argues that many change projects fail because victory is declared too early. Realchange runs deep. Quick wins are only the beginning of what needs to be done to achievelong-term change.Launching one new product using a new system is great. But if you can launch 10 products,that means the new system is working. To reach that 10th success, you need to keep lookingfor improvements.Each success provides an opportunity to build on what went right and identify what you canimprove.What you can do:After every win, analyze what went right, and what needs improving. "