| Much has been written about changing organizational | | | | changes that succeed only do so after a frustrating |
| culture. It's an exciting topic because of the enormous | | | | uphill-battle against the status quo. We know that |
| potential benefits derived from changing an | | | | powerful organizational members have a vested |
| organization's culture. While exciting because of its | | | | interest in maintaining the status quo. |
| enormous potential, attempting to change organizational | | | | So, my question to you is this: Should an organization |
| culture can lead to enormous frustration. | | | | spend its limited resources (time, energy, and money) |
| It is important to understand how deeply the roots of | | | | to change the organization's culture? My answer is |
| organizational culture go. Organizational culture is | | | | "yes." Let me explain. |
| rooted in the shared tacit assumptions of the | | | | Organizational culture change is necessary to support |
| organization. These tacit beliefs drive behavior | | | | almost all organizational change efforts (strategic, |
| throughout the organization. | | | | structural, or process). Organizational change efforts |
| Edgar Schein believes organizational culture provides | | | | will fail if organizational culture remains fundamentally |
| members of the organization "stability, consistency, and | | | | the same. The effectiveness of organizational change |
| meaning." The change agent who threatens those | | | | efforts requires embedding improvement strategies in |
| three things will surely meet strong resistance. | | | | the organizational culture. |
| Schreyoegg, Oechsler, and Waechter (three German | | | | Changes in procedures remain superficial and |
| researchers) believe organizational culture provides | | | | short-lived unless there are fundamental changes in |
| members with a worldview: how to perceive, how to | | | | values, ways of thinking, and approaches to problem |
| conceptualize, and how to make decisions. | | | | solving. The resisting forces will simply renew their |
| In my book, "Strategic Organizational Change," I | | | | efforts to re-establish the old status quo. |
| offered six reasons for organizational culture's | | | | Cameron and Quinn bluntly state, "The status quo will |
| stubborn resistance to change: | | | | prevail. We repeat! Without culture change, there is little |
| 1. it is implicit rather than explicit | | | | hope of enduring improvement in organizational |
| 2. it is woven into everyday practice | | | | performance." |
| 3. it leads to uniform thinking and behavior | | | | Cameron and Quinn offer the following hints for |
| 4. it is historically rooted | | | | change agents: |
| 5. it guides all decision making | | | | 1. Find something easy to change first. |
| 6. it is used to socialize newcomers | | | | 2. Build coalitions of supporters. |
| The main reason changing organizational culture is so | | | | 3. Set targets for incremental completions. |
| difficult is that it resides in the dark, unexamined | | | | 4. Share information/reduce rumors. |
| recesses of the corporate mind. The unexamined | | | | 5. Define how results will be measured. |
| assumptions that make up the organizational culture | | | | 6. Reward desired behaviors. |
| have not been questioned in years. | | | | Organizational cultural change can be slow and |
| We know that most organizational culture change | | | | frustrating, but the benefits can include dramatically |
| efforts fail. We know that organizational culture | | | | improved organizational performance. |