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CHANGING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE:Move decisively, defuse resistance

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Organizational Psychology­ (PSY510)
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LESSON 09
CHANGINGORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
An organization's current customs, traditions andgeneral way of doing things are largely due to what it has
done before and the degree of success it has had with thoseendeavors. The originalsource of an
organization's culture usually reflects the vision or mission of the organization's founders. Because the
founders have the original idea, they may also exhibit biases in how to carry out the idea. They are not
constrained by previous customs or approaches. The founders establish the early culture by projecting an
image of what the organization should be. Thesmall size of most new organization also helps the founder
instilltheir vision in all organization members. However, it is notonly the organizational culture thatplays a
significant role. The organization, if considered as an open system, it interacts withits environment as it
takes in inputs and distributes outputs. The external environment refers to forcesand institutionsoutside
the organization that potentially can affect the organization's performance.
The external environment is made up of twocomponents, the specific environmentand the general
environment.
Thespecific environment includesthose constituencies thathave a direct and immediateimpact on
manager'sdecisions and actions andare directly relevant to the achievement of the organization's goals. It
includes the customers, suppliers, publicpressure groups etc.
Thegeneral environment includes the broad economic, political, legal, socio-cultural, demographic,
technological and global conditions thatmay affect the organization. This brings us to the fact that if the
external environment undergoes a change, it impacts the organization. In order to adapt to the external
change, the organization must undergo a change in terms of its culture as well. Further, if there is a change
in the internal environment of the organization, it also needs to undergo a change in terms of the culture of
the organization.
Whychange theculture?
Organizational culture needs to be changed since it has a direct impact on managerialdecision making.
Because it constrains what they can and cannot do, an organization's culture is particularly relevant to
managers.These constraints are rarelyexplicit. They are notwritten down. It is unlikelythat they will even
be spoken. But they are there,and all managers quicklylearn what to do and what not to do in their
organizations.
Change is specifically required in an organization due to the following reasons:
·  Mergersand acquisitionshappen
Merger is a tool used by companiesfor the purpose of expanding their operations often aiming at an
increase of their long term profitability. Evidence on the success of mergers andacquisitions however is
mixed: 50-75% of all mergers andacquisitions deals are found to fail adding value.
Usually mergers occur in a consensualsetting where executivesfrom the target company helpthose from
the purchaser in a due diligenceprocess to ensure that the deal is beneficial to bothparties.
Acquisitions can also happen through a hostile takeover by purchasing the majority of outstanding shares of
a company in the open market against the wishes of the target's board. In the United States, businesslaws
vary from state to state wherebysome companies have limitedprotection against hostile takeovers.One
form of protection against a hostile takeover is the shareholder rights plan, otherwise known as the "poison
pill".
Mergersand acquisitions affect the culture of the organization since it either completely changesnorms and
values of the organization or partially amendsthem.
·  Rapidly changing external environment
The external environment of organizations is also in a process of change. This can be best understood by
considering the impact of the globalization on organizations.
Globalizationrefers to the greater international movement of commodities, money, information,and
people;and the development of technology, organizations,legal systems, andinfrastructures to allow this
movement.The effects thatGlobalization has had on the modern day living of mankind are as follows:
·  InternationalCultural exchange
·  Multiculturalism
·  Diversity
·  Greater international travel and tourism
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Organizational Psychology­ (PSY510)
VU
·
Greater immigration, including illegal immigration
·
Spread of local consumer products (e.g., food) to other countries (oftenadapted to their culture)
·
World-widefads and fashions
·
Formation or development of a set of universalvalues
·
Development of a global telecommunications infrastructure
·
Increase in the number of standards applied globally; e.g.copyright laws, patents andworld trade
agreements.
·  Corporate Imperialism: Dominance of MNCs
·  CulturalImperialism
·  Emergence of virtual organizations require change in organizational culture, a global alliance is required
in trust, communications, negotiating, etc.
A Virtual Organization is an organization existing as a corporate, educational, or otherwiseproductive
entitythat does not have a central geographical locationand exists solely through telecommunication
tools. It comprises a set of (legally) independent organizations that shareresources and skills to achieve
itsmission / goal, but that is not limited to an alliance of for profit enterprises. Theinteraction among
members of the virtual organization is mainly done through computer networks. A Virtual
Organization is a manifestation of CollaborativeNetworks.
OrganizationalCulture Must Change In TermsOf:
o  Change in organizational structure
Organizational structure is the arrangement of variousjobs levels of managementwithin the
organization. It may be flat, i.e. fewerlayers of management or it may be vertical, i.e. large
number of managerial layers. Therefore, in an organization, whenever there needs to be
incorporated a change in terms of its culture; the structure needs to be revised.For example,
organizationsare moving away fromcentralized decision making towardsdecentralized
decisionmaking. This requires a change in the organizational structure which has to have lesser
number of layers than before.
o  Change in organizational politics
Politics is the art of gaining and sharing power.Every organization has itsset of politics. In
order to change the culture, the politics of the organization need to be reviewed andadjusted
according to the requirement of the new culture.
o  Change in organizational emotions
The emotions of the organization refer to the feelingswhich are possessed within the
organization by the employees. They also need to be manipulated according to the
requirements of the changing culture.
How to Change OrganizationalCulture
Followingare the steps in changing the organizational culture:
Assesscurrent culture
Thefirst step in changing organizational culture is to assess the current culture and the requirements, i.e.
whyand what needs to be changed?
Setchange goals, bottom line
Thesecond step in the changeprocess is to set goals andtargets, i.e. to define what shall be the ultimate
motivebehind a cultural changeeffort.
Recruit experienced people
Thethird step is to involve people to carry out the changeprocess. It is imperative to involveexperienced
people from within and fromoutside the organization to carry out the change.
Makechanges and include employees in changes
Once the changes are made,employees need to be made a part of the change since they shall be the first
ones to get affected.
Expect problems, be ready to tackle
Once the culture is changed, the problems mayarise in terms of non-compliance from the employees.
These should be expected and plansalready in place to help sort out such problems.
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Organizational Psychology­ (PSY510)
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Movedecisively, defuseresistance
The cultural change should be enforced withrigor and the resistanceshall be countered withtactful
measures.
Persist,get feedback
Thechange should not be rolledback since it wasmeticulously designed in the beginning. Feedback may be
takenfrom the employees to ensurethat the change causes the desired results.
Do no abandon roots
An important consideration in making the change is to not to abandon the cultural roots of the
organization. This means that the change should be congruent with the mission statementand the original
culture of the organization.
REFERENCES
·  Mejia,Gomez. Balkin, David & Cardy, Rober. (2006). ManagingHuman Resources (FourthEdition). India:
Dorling Kidersley Pvt. Ltd., licensee of Pearson Education in South Asia.
·  Changing Culture in Organizations.www.managementhelp.org/org_perf/culture.htm
·  Changing Organizational Cultures.
http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_trice_beyer_changing_organizational_cultures.html
·  KrisKrug `Change, Culture, Creativity,Communication'Thoughts.http//www.kriskrug.com/
·  Changing Culture & Managing Change. Bringing about significant change in the way an organization
works,... An Example of "Managed" CultureChange.http://www.thedelphigroup.com/change.html
FURTHERREADING
·  Changing culture and change stories.http://www.idea-
knowledge.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=76273
·  Mergers Articles. http://www.articleon.com/mergers-articles.html
·  Mergersand acquisitions - Wikipedia, the freeencyclopedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merger
·  A Case Study - Changing culture. http://
www.mercerdelta.com/organizational_consulting/change_culture_study.html -
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Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHLOGY:Hawthorne Effect
  2. METHODOLOGIES OF DATA COLLECTION:Observational method, Stability of Measures
  3. GLOBALIZATION:Aspects of Globalization, Industrial Globalization
  4. DEFINING THE CULTURE:Key Components of Culture, Individualism
  5. WHAT IS DIVERSITY?:Recruitment and Retention, Organizational approaches
  6. ETHICS:Sexual Harassment, Pay and Promotion Discrimination, Employee Privacy
  7. NATURE OF ORGANIZATIONS:Flat Organization, Neoclassical Organization Theory
  8. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE:Academy Culture, Baseball Team Culture, Fortress Culture
  9. CHANGING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE:Move decisively, defuse resistance
  10. REWARD SYSTEMS: PAY, Methods of Pay, Individual incentive plan, New Pay Techniques
  11. REWARD SYSTEMS: RECOGNITION AND BENEFITS, Efficiency Wage Theory
  12. PERCEPTION:How They Work Together, Gestalt Laws of Grouping, Closure
  13. PERCEPTUAL DEFENCE:Cognitive Dissonance Theory, Stereotyping
  14. ATTRIBUTION:Locus of Control, Fundamental Attribution Error
  15. IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT:Impression Construction, Self-focused IM
  16. PERSONALITY:Classifying Personality Theories, Humanistic/Existential
  17. PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT:Standardized, Basic Categories of Measures
  18. ATTITUDE:Emotional, Informational, Behavioural,Positive and Negative Affectivity
  19. JOB SATISFACTION:The work, Pay, Measurement of Job Satisfaction
  20. MOTIVATION:Extrinsic motive, Theories of work motivation, Safety needs
  21. THEORIES OF MOTIVATION:Instrumentality, Stacy Adams’S Equity theory
  22. MOTIVATION ACROSS CULTURES:Meaning of Work, Role of Religion
  23. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY:Criticisms of ‘Traditional’ Psychology, Optimism
  24. HOPE:Personality, Our goals, Satisfaction with important domains, Negative affect
  25. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE:EI IS Related To Emotions and Intelligence
  26. SELF EFFICACY:Motivation, Perseverance, Thoughts, Sources of Self-Efficacy
  27. COMMUNICATION:Historical Background, Informal-Formal, Interpersonal Communication
  28. COMMUNICATION (Part II):Downward Communication, Stereotyping Problems
  29. DECISION MAKING:History, Personal Rationality, Social Model, Conceptual
  30. PARTICIPATIVE DECISION MAKING TECHNIQUES:Expertise, Thinking skills
  31. JOB STRESS:Distress and Eustress, Burnout, General Adaptation Syndrome
  32. INDIVIDUAL STRESSORS:Role Ambiguity/ Role Conflict, Personal Control
  33. EFFECTS OF STRESS:Physical Effects, Behavioural Effects, Individual Strategies
  34. POWER AND POLITICS:Coercive Power, Legitimate Power, Referent Power
  35. POLITICS:Sources of Politics in Organizations, Final Word about Power
  36. GROUPS AND TEAMS:Why Groups Are Formed, Forming, Storming
  37. DYSFUNCTIONS OF GROUPS:Norm Violation, Group Think, Risky Shift
  38. JOB DESIGN:Job Rotation, Job Enlargement, Job Enrichment, Skill Variety
  39. JOB DESIGN:Engagement, Disengagement, Social Information Processing, Motivation
  40. LEARNING:Motor Learning, Verbal Learning, Behaviouristic Theories, Acquisition
  41. OBMOD:Applications of OBMOD, Correcting Group Dysfunctions
  42. LEADERSHIP PROCESS:Managers versus Leaders, Defining Leadership
  43. MODERN THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP PROCESS:Transformational Leaders
  44. GREAT LEADERS: STYLES, ACTIVITIES AND SKILLS:Globalization and Leadership
  45. GREAT LEADERS: STYLES, ACTIVITIES AND SKILLS:Planning, Staffing