Organizational Culture and

Change
Lesson Objectives
At the end of the session, the learners will be able
to:
1. Learn about Organizational Culture
2. Understand why Org Culture is important
3. Discuss about organization culture
 Culture is the soul of the organization—the
beliefs and values, and how they are
manifested.
The Role of
Culture in
Organizations Culture provides stability to an organization
and gives employees a clear understanding
of “the way things are done around here.”

Culture sets the tone for how organizations

operateand how individuals within the
organization interact.

Organizational Culture,
definition.
Organizational culture is the
pattern of shared values,
beliefs, and assumptions
considered to be the
appropriate way to think and
act within an organization.
The key features of culture are as follows:
• Culture is shared by the members of the organization.
• Culture helps members of the organization solve and understand the thing
sthat the organization encounters, both internally and externally.
• Because the assumptions, beliefs, and expectations that make up culture
have worked overtime, members of the organization believe they are valid.
Therefore, they are taught to people who join the organization.
• These assumptions, beliefs, and expectations strongly influence how
people perceive, think, feel, and behave within the organization.
 Levels of Culture

Artifacts Beliefs

Values Assumptions
Characteristics of Culture
Outcome orientation. - The
Attention to detail. - The degree People orientation. - The degree
Innovation and risk-taking.- The degree to which management
to which employees are to which management decisions
degree to which employees are focuses on results, or outcomes,
expected to work with take into consideration the
encouraged to be innovative rather than on the techniques
precision, analysis, and effect of outcomes on people
and take risks. and processes used to achieve
attention to detail. within the organization.
these outcomes.

Stability.- The degree to which

Team orientation.- The degree
to which work activities are
organized around teams rather
than individuals.
Aggressiveness. - The degree to
organizational activities
which people are aggressive
emphasize maintaining the
and competitive rather than
status quo in contrast to
easygoing and supportive.
growth.
Culture functions.
It has a boundary-defining role because it creates distinction between one
organization and others.

It conveys a sense of identity to organization members.

It helps create commitment to something larger than an individual’s self-interest.

It enhances stability; it is the social glue that helps hold the organization together
by providing appropriate standards for what employees should say and do.

It serves as a control mechanism that guides and shapes the attitudes

andbehaviour of employees, and helps them make sense of the organization.
Do Organizations have uniform cultures?

A dominant culture expresses the

Subcultures tend to develop in large
core values that are shared by a
organizations to reflect common
majority of the organization’s
problems, situations, or experiences
members. When we talk about an
that members face. These subcultures
organization’s culture, we are referring
are likely to be defined by department
to its dominant culture. It is this
designations and geographical
macro view of culture that gives an
separation
organization its dis-tinct personality.
How a CULTURE begins?
A culture can be created in three ways.

First, founders hire and keep only employees who think and feel the way they do.

Second, they indoctrinate and socialize these employees to their way of thinking and
feeling.

Finally, the founders’ behaviour acts as a role model, encouraging employees to

identify with the founders and internalize those beliefs, values, and assumptions.
Keeping a CULTURE alive
• Selection
The explicit goal of the selection process is to identify and hire
individuals who have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the
jobs within the organization successfully.
Typically, more than one candidate will meet any given job’s
requirements. The final decision as to who is hired is significantly
influenced by the decision maker’s judgment of how well each
candidate will fit into the organization
Keeping a CULTURE alive
• Top Management
The actions of top management also have a major impact on the
organization’s culture. Through what they say and how they behave,
senior executives establish norms that filter down through the
organization. These norms establish whether risk taking is desirable;
how much freedom managers should give their employees; what is
appropriate dress; what actions will pay off in terms of pay raises,
promotions, and other rewards; and the like.
Keeping a CULTURE alive
• Socialization
No matter how effectively the organization recruits and selects new
employees, they are not fully trained in the organization’s culture when
they start their jobs. Because they are unfamiliar with the organization’s
culture, new employees may disturb the beliefs and customs that are in
place. The organization will, therefore, want to help new employees
adapt to its culture. This adaptation process is called socialization
The Liabilities of ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
• Culture as a Barrier to Change
Culture is a liability when the shared values do not agree with those that
will further the organization’s effectiveness. Employees are less likely to
have shared values when the organization’s environment is dynamic.
When the environment is undergoing rapid change, the organization’s
entrenched culture may no longer be appropriate.
The Liabilities of ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
• Culture as a Barrier to Diversity
Hiring new employees who, because of race, gender, disability, or other
differences, are not like the majority of the organization’s members
creates a paradox. Management wants the new employees to accept the
organization’s core cultural values. Otherwise, these employees are
unlikely to fit in or be accepted. But at the same time, management
wants to openly acknowledge and demonstrate support for the
differences that these employees bring to the workplace
The Liabilities of ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
• Culture as a Barrier to Mergers and Acquisitions
Historically, the key factors that management looked at in making
merger or acquisitiondecisions were related to financial advantages or
product synergy. In recent years, culturalcompatibility has become the
primary concern.
 Assimilation.- The entire new organization is
determined to take on the culture of one of the
merging organizations. This strategy works best when
one of the organizations has a relatively weak culture.

Strategies for Merging Separation.- The organizations remain separate and

Cultures keep their individual cultures. This strategy works best
when the organizations have little overlap in the
industries in which they operate.

Integration.- A new culture is formed by merging parts

of each of the organizations. This strategy works best
when aspects of each organization’s culture need to be
improved.
Approaches in Managing CHANGE
Lewin’s Three-Step Model
• Unfreezing - the status quo
• Moving to a new state, and
• Refreezing the new change to make it permanent.
Kotter’s Eight-Step Plan for Implementing
Change
Positive Approaches to CHANGE
• Appreciative inquiry- Rather than looking for problems to fix, this
approach seeks to identify the unique qualities and special strengths of
an organization, which can then be built onto improve performance.
That is, it focuses on an organization’s successes rather than on its
problems.
Appreciative Inquiry Process
• Discovery -The idea is to find out what people think are the strengths of the
organization. For instance, employees are asked to recount times they felt the
organization worked best or when they specifically felt most satisfied with their
jobs.
• Dreaming- The information from the discovery phase is used to speculate on
possible futures for the organization. For instance, people are asked to envision the
organization in five years and to describe what is different.
• Design- Based on the dream articulation, participants focus on finding a common
vision of how the organization will look and agree on its unique qualities.
• Destiny- In this final step, participants discuss how the organization is going to
fulfill its dream. This typically includes the writing of action plans and the
development of implementation strategies.
RESISTANCE to CHANGE
Thank You.