Social Differentiation Theory of Culture and Change - Assignment Example

?Strategic Management Table of Contents Introduction 3 Defining Organisational Culture 4 The Philosophy of Change Management 8 Discussion 12 Organisational Culture and Organisational Change 13 Organisational Culture on Employee Attitude and Change 15 Culture, Change and Resistance to Change 17 Social Differentiation Theory of Culture and Change 20 Organisational Culture in Embracing the Change 21 Conclusion 22 References 23 Introduction Change in an organisation can be referred as the shift of the prevailing working condition due to the inclusion of technology, new rules and regulations, operational strategic alterations or similar other reasons. Change is a reaction to certain substantial risk or prospect which may appear in the business environment of the organisation, both internal and external. In present day, the business context is transforming at a rapid rate. The improvement in cutting edge technology such as massive computerisation and introduction of e-business has generated a significant drive in communication, work procedures, and the procedure of conducting a business. With the imminent move toward internationalisation and liberalisation of industry, organisations need to be equipped with the rapid alterations in the business forces. Hence, every company require adjusting with the varying demand of customers as well as variations in the business environment. It is in this context that change is the response of business and other economic occurrences. Change is the procedure of administrative awareness, selection of alternatives and implementation of new or modified functions where managers view certain actions taking place, representing the requirement of change (Rashid & et. al., 2004). The change procedure in modern organisations is exclusive from every perspective owing to the differences prevailing in terms of the culture, i.e. the type of trade, the working environment, the values and principles, the administration and leadership style and the behaviours as well as approach of current employees. Additionally, there is risk of failure as people are generally observed to behave as resistant to the change being implemented or even those which are occurring spontaneously. For some people change can give pleasure, bliss and benefits, while for others, change can bring discomfort, pressure and difficulties (Rashid & et. al., 2004). Among all other factors, the most influential aspect which can create a vast impact on change is the organisational culture (Rashid & et. al., 2004). With due consideration to these prospects, the paper assesses how organisational culture creates an impact on the manner organisational change is embraced or resisted by the employees. Defining Organisational Culture The conception of organisational culture is extensively used in modern day organisations in order to define the environment and working practices which have been developed in order to manage the employees and at large preserve the smooth commencement of business operations. IT is in this context that organisational culture encourages morale amid employees and statement of principles of a particular company. It is the duty of leaders being the prime executers in an organisation, to develop an effective culture according to the working procedure. It is also their sole responsibility to extinguish a particular culture when it becomes obsolete (Donnell & Boyle, 2008). Culture in any organisation provides the feeling of distinctiveness and defines the organisational traditions, customs, principles, meanings, values, standards and the way determined objectives are achieved in organisations. The culture summarises the positive performances and traditions which was worked in the past. These performances are accepted by long-serving employees in an organisation. Furthermore, the foremost concern a new employee acquires about an organisation is the culture. Culture remains in organisation and becomes a part of its conventional manner of conducting works. Over the years, organisations also develop standards, i.e. predicted behaviour forms in the organisation (Donnell & Boyle, 2008). The most fascinating characteristic of culture is that it signifies the phenomena of operational competency and has strong impact on the behaviour of employees. Hence, it can be stated that culture acts as a force which can result in certain kind of behaviour. However, it is significant to understand that there is no sole organisational culture. To be precise, in an organisation there can be more than one organisational culture. According to the “Competing Value Framework” there can be four kinds of culture i.e. flexibility, control, internal and external concentration which are group culture, development culture, hierarchical culture and rational culture (Donnell & Boyle, 2008). Figure 1: Competing Value Framework Source: (Donnell & Boyle, 2008) Organisations which concentrate more on internal culture focus religiously on the aspects of management and communication; whereas organisations which concentrate on external culture, put more emphasis on development, resource attainment and collaboration with external environment. On the other hand, organisations with concentration on control render a considerable emphasis on constancy and solidity, while organisations with concentration on flexibility provide consideration on adaptableness and impulsiveness of changing business environment (Donnell & Boyle, 2008). The hierarchical organisational culture contains information management and communication which are utilised for achieving constancy and control. This kind of culture includes the execution of instructions, conformism and consideration to technical characteristics. The developmental organisation culture encompasses high level of elasticity and external emphasis. It is also related with innovative leaders who have vision about organisational future where leaders also need to maintain the aspects of external business environment. The group culture involves elasticity along with internal emphasis and is linked with faith and contribution of employees by teamwork. In this type of organisational culture, employees are operated in order to accomplish unity and higher degree of self-confidence. Ultimately, the rational culture concentrates on results of organisational performances and the successful accomplishment of organisational objectives. These types of organisations are highly production-oriented where managers organise employees for satisfying the chosen objectives. Subsequently, the recompenses are often provided aligning with the outcomes of the performance of employees (Donnell & Boyle, 2008). From a realistic point of view, it can be stated that culture in an organisation does not exist in pure form as it is possible for an organisation to demonstrate various culture forms. In order to cope up with the challenges witnessed in the business environment, realignment of culture in periodic intervals as per the situational demand is required for supporting new working functions and new values. The culture is important in the sense that it correlates itself with change. Contextually, the link between organisational culture and change can be viewed in recognition or resistance of employees (Donnell & Boyle, 2008). The Philosophy of Change Management Organisational change is a complicated idea which can be observed by utilising differing reasons and viewpoints. In any organisation, change can be observed on three different perspectives which are planned change, technological change and punctuated balance. The planned change viewpoints believe that managers are the key reason for organisational change and they are capable of devising the process of change when required. This opinion is disparaged in the ground that change is observed as an object which can be managed distinctly. The technological viewpoint believes that Information Technology (IT) is the key and independent driver of change. This opinion is often disparaged as it overlooks the human activity. On the other hand, punctuated balance viewpoint believes that change is rapid, intermittent and fundamental in nature. It is in this context that organisational change is a continuing improvisation passed by organisational members trying to make sense and perform logically in the world. Organisational members constantly create and regulate the working activities, as a result of which change requires to be viewed as intrinsic in regular activities of organisation (Iivari, n.d.). Organisations go through two types of change, i.e. incremental and radical. In radical change, organisations retain certain critical aspects which can be obsolete and irreverent, thereby need to change with pertinent and meaningful features. On the other hand, incremental change intends towards setting any problem, adapting new practise and making alteration with transformative modifications to adjust fundamental arrangement, system and approaches in an organisation. The philosophy of change discloses that impact of technology in the beginning of 20th century resulted in technically and operationally concentrated change. The improvement in technology followed by human relation tactic, concentrating on transforming the social system through human resource development initiatives (such as motivation training programs and training of administrators) has encouraged the introduction of changes in organisations. Therefore, it can be stated that change deals in both social requirement as well as technical competences in organisations (Sharma, 2006). Along with the type of change, it is significant to understand the degree of change in an organisation, as it can result in resistance or acceptance. The varying degrees of change are described in the following figure: Figure 2: Different Degrees of Change in an Organisation Source: (Austin & Claassen, 2008) The variation defines alteration or adjustment in organisation and re-orientation denote to central changes in organisation with respect to products or services. The extent of change can also be described as routine and non-routine. Routine change recommends only insignificant changes while non-routine are those alterations which can occur in the internal or external background of organization. The other two dimensions of change can be regarded as instrumental and ultimate. The instrumental change comprises those aspects which enable change in an organisation and ultimate change denotes the change process itself. The peripheral changes are elastic in nature and include less official transformation; on the other hand, core changes are those which transform the minimum elastic facets in an organisation such as objectives, right and resource attainment among others. Finally, change can also be defined as low risk and high risk. Low risk change denotes those transformations which have reasonably minimum expenses. Alternatively, high risk change comprise those transformations which cannot be dismissed or upturned, and should be applied completely with due regards to the central morals of the organisation (Austin & Claassen, 2008). The critical aspect of change in organisation concentrates on the employees and members within it. Thus, it is vital for organisations to make sure that there is a good communication processes executed between managers who are responsible for change and among all employees. As large scale change in organisation can have an impact on the working procedure of numerous employees, it becomes imperative for organisations to understand the job role of employees carefully. More importantly, it is significant for organisations not only to discuss the job role, but also to spread the information concerning the common vision and mutual objectives of the organisation as well as employees. In certain organisations, change can occur independently in the feelings that employees simply react with the new organisational necessities. In such conditions, employees demonstrate a positive approach towards change. They might not be aware of change occurring in organisation and continue to act as normal, share the information, and attempt to give best effort to satisfy customers. However, this kind of flexibility can differ from organisation to organisation depending on their culture. Hence, the natural way to change is to plan it before head. The following figure will show the smoothest way of managing change in organisation: Figure 3: Process of Managing Change Source: (Jansson, 2009) Discussion It is noteworthy that employees are often observed to perceive resting behaviours towards their acceptance of change. In spite of necessity for change, employees often feel depressed by change initiatives. Therefore, administrators in organisations find it problematic to initiate employees out of the comfort zones. In any organisation, the impact of culture on organisation is reflective. Culture is what employees study over time as it resolves the issue of survival in an organisation. In case of initialisation of change, two aspects are significant. The first aspect is cognisant effort to articulate how new methods, behaviours and communication can create impact on the change to be embraced or resisted. Secondly, in order to ensure improvements, it is significant to certify that sequence of new management structure is personalised with the innovative approach of work (Dehinbo & Alexander, 2011). Organisational Culture and Organisational Change Change is unavoidable in organisations in order to cope up with the persistent business context. However, the organisational culture can considerably impact on the unavoidable change. The organisational culture mostly develops from the rudimentary principles and practices which are developed by the leaders. Over time, these principles are both strengthened and challenged. On the basis of the experiences gained through business, organisations form certain philosophies, and expectations, practice to become entrenched in its culture. With this notion, it is believed that organisational culture acts as aassurance for employee concerns and prospects. Therefore, with concern to organisational change, the organisational culture resists certain cultural behaviours. The culture provides a support in times of doubt and obscurity. It also delivers a feeling of community in times of alarming situations (Beerel, 2009). In an organisation, change is expected and stimulated and sometimes required by employees themselves and business entities. The culture in organisation commands the extent of change, developing highly competitive and forceful working environment. Every organisation does not use radical approach to change; rather, some organisations wish to slow the arrival of change in order to reduce the cultural impact. It is observed in this regards that certain cultures clearly resist change. Every kind of culture evidently has an effect on the team dynamics. If the business runs as usual, the organisational culture functions toward harmonising pressures and covering anxieties of employees. However, the covering task of organisational culture can be challenged drastically, therefore swelling the anxiety of employees even further (Beerel, 2009). Organisational culture is often regarded as one of the important aspects which is responsible for the accomplishment or the failure of change process. It is the central symbol for intellectualising the organisational change. Culture in any organisation satisfies certain necessities of employees. As the aspects is seemed to have certain influence on employees’ approaches towards organisational change. In majority of organisations, modernisation of operational structure is the device of change and the tenure of positive cultural features offer organisations with requisite elements to innovate. Hence, culture can boost or hinder the propensity to change. Thus, it can be stated that organisational culture addresses the ever varying issues of adjustment to the external business environment and the internal incorporation of organisational funds. Thus, it is expected that there are certain cultures which simplify the change procedure while certain other cultures can resist it. One of the significant issues organisations are confronting now-a-days is to decide the kind of organisational culture which can support organisational change. It is a difficult task for managers, as they are the one who need to select the process of change in the company (Rashid & et. al., 2004). The organisational culture can be defined with the level of friendliness and unity. Friendliness in organisations denotes the relationship between employees; whereas, unity is the capability of employees to chase mutual objectives successfully and professionally. On the basis of the friendliness and unity, there are three kinds of attitude of employees towards change which are emotional, intellectual and social attitude. Following those attitudes, the key hindrances to change is the anxiety of unknown and unacquainted conditions that may arise after change. Once an employee has gained appropriate information and understanding about possible changes which is to be implemented, the feelings can turn in favour or against of such change. It is worth mentioning that managing the attitude of employees toward change is however an unnerving job unless not communicated effectively (Rashid & et. al., 2004). Organisational Culture on Employee Attitude and Change Organisational culture affects employees’ attitudes in the procedure of organisational change through delivering a pool of organisational sense on which the practises and performances are interpreted and investigations regarding the progress of change. Organisational culture assists in adjusting work with the varying business environment. It is the pattern of basic assumptions which is conceived, discovered and established in learning in order to cope with the difficulties of external adjustment and internal incorporation.In an organisation, agood culture can result in employee satisfaction with respect to collegiality and teamwork. Organisational culture not only encourage employee satisfaction, but also the stimulate obligation towards them. The culture in an organisation can be relationship based or task based. Organisations which follow the task based culture concentrates more on dominance of organisational objectives over the individual objectives of employees. On the other hand relationship based culture is made on the basis of pleasantinteractiverelationship. These aspects significantly impact on the behaviour of employees in an organisation (Alas &Vadi, n.d.). With respect to organisational change, strong task based culture can inspire the approaches of employees by founding clear objectives and improving the principles which can assist in accomplishing those objectives. Employee behaviour is considered as significant for the future success of change management in an organisation. With respect to organisational change, employee behaviour towards change, the advantages of change and capability of managers applying those change become tremendously significant (Alas &Vadi, n.d.). Organisational change necessitates learning new skills, activities and approaches. It signifies that employees should give additional effort in order to adjust with the change. Thus, they should be inspired to maintain their status and association in a specific organisation. The alignment of organisational culture foresees behaviour of the employees in different groups in dissimilar manners. The behaviour of employees towards organisation, the work procedure, advantages of change, leadership style and information relies on the organisational culture. It can be observed that organisations with task based culture can influence the attitude of employees more effectively towards change then the relationship based culture (Alas &Vadi, n.d.). Culture, Change and Resistance to Change The road blockade to successful implementation of structural change is cultural influences. To be precise, there are certain change programs which go beyond developing new work behaviours, new roles and new tasks within organisations. To the level change initiatives are concerned with value, they can clash with the cultural forms of standards and cultural inferences of methodical change initiatives. Cultural impacts can strongly hinder organisations’ ability to apply successful, robust and organised change. The following graph will show framework for culture and change: Figure 4: Different Views of Culture and Change Source: (Iivari, n.d.) The optimist situation is widely related with organisational culture and change. The optimist opinion assumes that organisational change is a positive achievement which results in better productivity, better organisational competency and better work life. According to this view, organisational change is unbiased and a political in nature. It is assumed that change efforts can be successfully executed as long as they are well-matched with the prevailing culture. The optimistic view is criticised on the ground that it depends heavily on the mechanical norms regarding organisation and the members (Iivari, n.d.). In contrast, the pessimist opinion assumes change efforts as partial. According to this opinion, the change is observed as negative until it proves to be effective for any organisation. The change is viewed only as administrative tools for disempowering the employees. Pessimistic opinion believes that organisational culture act as an instrument of instruction, discipline and control over employees in an organisation. The pessimist view is criticised due to absence of application to practice which is significant for successful organisational change. Finally, the relativist opinion assumes that change can be personalised and adapted by people. According to this view, people are able to choose whether to admit the change and also depicts that they can understand and adjust the change to suit their objectives. Thus, the outcomes of change efforts can be negative as well as positive depending on the manner change is utilised and amended in organisations (Iivari, n.d.). The resistance of change due to organisational culture happens when organisational change disturbs the standards and customs prevailing in the international business environment. Culture commands the degree of resistance to an initiative. Resistance is purposeful; but the consequence of resistance towards change is not essentially the planned outcome (Smith, 2005). However, resistance to change is one of the significant characteristics of change. Resistance among employees happen when they find it problematic to distinguish or assess the condition of their organisation. In addition, resistance also occur when organisational change intimidates the current working situations and increase the concern regarding unreal consequences of such processes. Generally, the self-centeredness of employees such as lack of vision about organisational future, absence of talent and nervousness of repositioning work system also boosts their resistance to change. According to Fried (2003), there are four kinds of cultural obstacles which can generate resistance to change. Figure 5: Cultural Obstacles for Change Source: (Fried, 2003) Often the cultural obstructions can be religious or irreligious in nature. The ‘principles and opinions’ of people in an organisation are associated with work beliefs, competition and pride perceived by the internal stakeholders of the organisation. ‘Principles and opinions’ of people can differ from individual to individual, therefore it is challenging to categorise the cultural standard within a particular group in an organisation. Similarly, ‘cultural ethnocentrism’ is associated with race, gender, religion, administration and socio-economic position of employees. The resistance of change can also occur in the manner of ‘saving face’. The ‘saving face’ in this sense denotes hiding poor skills of employees, discomfiture regarding new job performance, and other form of personal causes with the change. The ultimate cultural obstacle, i.e. ‘unsuitability of cultural trait’ is the most significant factor which can cause resistance to change. This cultural factor is tough task for organisations to resolve. This obstacle comprises making a change which drives directly against traditional cultural standards of a particular group. Therefore, it becomes demanding for the employees to accept the changes occurring within the organisation (Fried, 2003). Social Differentiation Theory of Culture and Change The social differentiation theory provides the justification for cultural obstructions of change. This theory claims that responses of people are determined partially by the cultural or sub-cultural associations. Such cultural associations polarise the faith of employees along with their approaches and objectives within the organisation. For instance, hierarchical culture in organisation (i.e. directors, administrators, managers and employees) shapes the group culture and lead to psychological restrictions which possesses an inevitable impact on the manner through which change is observed by different minor groups. As a consequence, the cultural obstructions to change can appear, such as sense of shared harmony against change and separation of social rules. Above all, cultural barriers arrive to the forefront when there is incongruence among organisations’ existent standards and morals and the standards on which the organisations will be established in the future (Metselaar, 1997). Organisational Culture in Embracing the Change Although certain culture leads to resistance to change, culture can also help to embrace the change in an organisation. For instance, an organisation with learning culture can help to embrace the change rather than resist it. Every organisation develops its own unique culture by its accumulated learning with respect to thinking, feeling and perceiving an environment. Learning is regular activity in an organisation which enables the acceptance and flexibility towards the quickly fluctuating business environment. Learning culture is significant for an organisation in order to survive, bring elasticity and adaptableness. It is crucial for bringing successful change. The central aspect of learning culture is to recognise of organisations’ capability to learn and convert that knowledge into action. Nevertheless, learning culture and standards must be supported by the environment of honesty to involvement. Hence, organisations with learning culture are discovered by constant learning procedure, freedom to attempt innovative ideas, acceptance of errors and incessant innovation. Culture ethics are important for learning which effectively contributes in driving organisation toward the action of constant knowledge attainment for forming innovation and development (Sudharatna & Laubie, 2003). Conclusion In the above discussion it was recognised that culture plays a significant part in embracing and in particular circumstances in resisting changes occurring in an organisation. There are certain types of organisational cultures, such as high relationship oriented culture and group culture can simply resist the change. However, organisations with strong learning culture and task oriented culture can embrace the change as a development process. From a generalised point of view, it can be affirmed that managing change in organisation is certainly a challenging task, as the success of change rest in the cultural aspects. Culture in an organisation rests on the perception that it is based on historical standards and social structures which strengthens organisational approach and activities. In order to develop an environment where people do not apprehend the change rather than embrace it enthusiastically, there is need for developing a learning culture. Learning culture in organisation can result in willingness to change among employees. It is in this context that successful change necessitates adaptation of organisation where its capability to learn further enables its change aptitude. Learning culture denotes the different groups or overall enterprise, thinking and performing in dissimilar manner as a consequence of change process. Moreover, the change management which is often regarded as an organisational initiative helps to accomplish significant growth in workplace through changing relations between employees, organisational structures and information communications which generally prompts with strategic change. References Alas, R. & Vadi, M., No Date. Employees’ Attitudes in the Process of Organisational Change. The Impact of Organisational Culture on Attitudes towards Change. [Online] Available at: http://infutik.mtk.ut.ee/www/kodu/RePEc/mtk/febpdf/febook16-03.pdf [Accessed May 17, 2012]. Austin, M. J. & Claassen, J., 2008. Impact of Organizational Change on Organizational Culture: Implications for Introducing Evidence-Based Practice. Journal of Evidence Based Social Work, pp. 321-359. Beerel, A., 2009. Leadership and Change Management. SAGE Publications Ltd. Donnell, O. O. & Boyle, R., 2008. Understanding and Managing Organisational Culture. Institute of Public Administration. 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