The Essay On Organizational Culture And Managing Change Highlights Their Importance.

Understanding Organizational Culture

Question:

Discuss about the Culture of the organization and Change management.

The concept of the organizational culture is one of the hotly debated topics in organization science. The researchers, managers and public often use the term organization culture, even though there is no clear interpretation universally. All the organization has culture, but some are stronger than others (Deshpande & Webster Jr, 1989). Culture is the total sum of the knowledge, beliefs, customs and the attitudes to which people expose themselves in their social condition. Individuals can acquire values; learn a language and habits of the thoughts and behaviors (Carmeli & Sheaffer, 2009). Every day in our life we are facing the idea of the change.

Changes always affect the workers in the organization and therefore it is important to manage it carefully to avoid the resistance to change or failure of the modification. Change in the management can take in radical form, gradually or rapidly. According to the Lewin's model; the refreezing stage is a good definition of the change  (Burnes, 2005). In the 21st century, there is no need to refreeze because competition will overtake the organization.  (Zeffane, 1996) suggests that change management is how the change affects the organization, and the processes are the same irrespective of whether there is reassigning of the work practices in one area or the re-specification of the management and whole organization structure Organization is dynamic entities and therefore changes all the time due to the development of their outputs and operation in the case of the effectiveness and efficiency. Management of the change is one of the most discussed topics in the management field (Patterson, Warr, & West, 2004). Hence, it is crucial to understand why individuals resist change to support that part which cannot cope with the modification through coaching and motivate and handling the problems that arise as a result of the change. As William Shakespeare thought” Thing must change or cease”  (Day, 1994).  Management of change is about detailed planning, inspirational leadership and comprehensive implementation.

Culture of the organization or group is a collection of beliefs and assumption about the world, nature of the space and time, human relationships and life.  The beliefs are cultured responses to the problems of the survival in the external environment (Prajogo & McDermott, 2005). The core of the existence of the organization is the fundamental external problems. The primary objectives are based on these strategies and mission to conform to the mentioned purpose. Culture establishes and reinforces order, membership criteria, conditions, communication patterns, priorities, punishment and nature of power and reward, management practices and decision-making processes.

Managing Change

Numerous models describe the relationship between the variables and phenomena of organization culture  (Khazanchi, Lewis, & Boyer, 2007). The system approach emphasizes on the interdependencies between various elements and sub-system in an organization and also offers a holistic approach. The organization system models show the relationship between organization sub-system; technology, psycho-sociology, management, structure and goal (Khazanchi, Lewis, & Boyer, 2007). The primary determinant in the workplace depends on the complex interaction between groups and individuals which take place at different levels within the firm, between other body and external environment. Complex environment represents the patterns of the interaction between roles, peoples, and the external technology in business.

The dimensions of the culture encompass the following; mission and vision; it determines personnel’s understanding of the values, vision and purposes of the company and it can transform into team goals and objectives  (Spender, 1996). External environment determines the extent of focus on internal customers, external and employee’s perception of the effectiveness of community surrounding  (Spender, 1996). Another dimension is the leaderships which concentrate on particular sections that strengthen leadership. Interpersonal relationship focuses on the relationship between personnel, managers and management of conflict. Management process focuses on the method in which management takes place including formulation of the goals, controls and innovation process, goal development and communication  (Prajogo & McDermott, 2005). Finally, the organization image focuses on the how the outside perceives the organization.

As earlier mentioned, five concepts of the organization culture include; job challenge, communication, trust, innovation and social cohesiveness  (Prajogo & McDermott, 2005). Job challenge concept refers to the complexity and diversity of the work. Communication principles focus on the effectiveness of communication between employees, top management and between employees (Spender, 1996). Trust exists between the managers and their staff or in-between employees who enable open-minded environment and free discussion. Social cohesion is the relationship among members of the organization which further features as a sense of solidarity and cooperation  (Ford, 1999). Finally, innovation concept is the supportive environment for new ideas, problem-solving and creativity.

In managing change, consideration of areas such as activities, behaviors and structure is vital. Leadership affects culture more than management (Ford, 1999). For the employee to acceptance, employees need to understand the requirement for the new positions and organization implications regarding the relationships and behaviors and new activities which can result in their needs satisfaction.

Successive change comes through the participative approach of the management even though it originates from the senior level of the control (Day, 1994). To cope with change and ensure acceptance and motivation, managers should listen to employee concerns accordingly and provide them with advice, assist and support.

Dimensions of Organizational Culture

(Burnes, 2005) Suggest managing change model that relates to the managerial strategies to counter the resistance to the change. They suggest that contingency approach should adapt to every change in management; the leaders should select the best way of responding to an individual situation. Selection for appropriate management style and strategy for change is crucial for each type of resistance.

Basically, six approaches have been put forward as a method of controlling resistance to change; education and communication, participation, negotiation and agreement, facilitation and support, and coercion  (Burnes, 2005). Firstly, The McKinsey 7S model comprises of “S” component and changing of any “s” it will have an impact on the other elements. This element includes; staff, skills, systems, style, shared values, strategy and structure. The McKinsey 7s model provides an efficient model for analyzing an organization and its operation that determines if the organization is weak to adjust to any changes (Burnes, 2005). Additionally, the model assists in avoiding sources that contribute to resistance to change.

Secondly, Lewin three step model of change consists of the steps; unfreezing, changing and refreezing  (Burnes, 2005). The unfreezing stage, there is the creation of the motivation for the change in the workforce. At this point, the employee should get enough reasons, and good communication is essential before the implementation step. Hence, to avoid the resistance to change, management should encourage and discuss, and explain the reasons for the change. Change level is where there is an identification of the new behavior, procedure and encouragement of employee to adopt new norms  (Patterson, Warr, & West, 2004). Managers should implement change successfully, monitors and assess the feeling of workers. Refreezing is the final stage and leader should reinforce, and stabilize the new culture to avoid employee to go back to the old habit  (Burnes, 2005). Incentives regarding the rewards are crucial for motivating employees for adapting to the new culture. Hence, the whole process is achievable through communication, leadership, training and education.

Different researchers explain the concept of the change communication in a very differing way. Change communication is the propagation of information that concentrates on the training, knowledge, ideas, facts and directives of action concerning the change (Armenakis & Bedeian, 1999).  (Todnem By, 2005), argues that communication is informing the desired changes as well as giving the reasons for them. Effective communication helps the leaders to get the individuals in the accomplishing certain task and therefore assist in implementing change successfully.  (Todnem By, 2005), proposes that if employees do not participate in the change process, they will feel that there is no value to their opinions and suggestions.

Concepts of Organizational Culture

Study shows that the participations raise the level of the commitment among workers and decrease the levels of the resistances towards a particular change (Mintzberg & Westley, 1992).  Participation offers specific benefits to workers to reduce the degree of the resistance of the employees.

Conclusion

Clearly, in the present days, change is inevitable, and it is vital in the current competition for a business to survive in its operation. Taking the company at the right time and step will save the firm from getting out the business. Change should reflect the organization’s goals in a sense that the organization members can understand, implement and its goals accordingly. For the resistance reduction, there is no universal way, but likely approaches suggest in various management literature. Moreover, participative management is one of the better ways to reduce resistance.

Additionally, the participative approach is useful in improving the change process. An analysis of the organization culture and on how to overcome resistance to change shows that change will always affect all the organization globally. Therefore, it is safe not to be reactive but proactive. For the organization change to occur efficiently, then innovation is very crucial. It is also essential to manage change carefully and successfully and avoid change resistance since change always affects people in an organization. Structure, people and technology are factors that determine the organizational effectiveness (Todnem By, 2005). Structural are more of policies, control and procedures of the organization. People factors are leadership skills, attitudes and characteristics of the human resources. Lastly, technology factors are any types of the process that helps members in the performance of their jobs.

References

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