Role of Organizational Culture in Change management - Essay Example

 Role of Organizational Culture in Change Management Introduction Nowadays more and more companies are trying to formulate strategies that provide comprehensive solution to the customers rather than mere delivery of products and services. A number of such companies are having an organizational culture, which is driving them from years to deliver innovative and differentiated products. Although, the move towards a business which is “solution oriented” is difficult, but the strategic initiative is the first step, which often belies cultural transition should occur concurrently in order to ensure better customer offering. The same theory is time and again applied when organizations deal with the issue of managing change. Some of the organizational change theorist, often judges culture as one of the strongest elements in the organizational change equation. However, some theorist also take more holistic approach where they believe both culture and organization are integrated and must change collectively (Haveman, Russo and Meyer, 2001). This study seeks to shed light on the role of organizational culture in change management process of an organization. In order to address this topic, the study will comprehensively evaluate the literature pertaining to the area of study. On the basis of the findings, a conclusion to the study will be drawn and recommendations will be made. Executive Summary Organizational change is a subject of high interest for both business researchers and academic researchers. Recent researches have mostly focused on the forces that lead to continuous changes within the organizations (Harigopal, 2006). According to Gibson and Barsade (2003), the forces of change cause organizations to rethink the deeply rooted cultural beliefs and values. In addition, the beliefs and values are also modified for the principal purpose of surviving in the shifting business landscape and coping up with intense competition. The dramatic amplification of markets, products, robust competition as well as enhanced technology has led business world to witness and experience a dynamic environment. Companies that have been able to flourish and maintain a strong market position are those which have learned how to effectively manage organizational change and respond to the environmental turbulence. Most of the organizations are aware of the need for change, but the challenge lies in the implementation process and effectively managing the internal resistance being offered by some group of employees (Mallinger, Goodwin and O’Hara, 2009). This study investigated on the role of organizational culture in change management and found that organizational culture to be a playing an important and positive role in managing the implementation of change. Methodology The methodology adopted for a study is extremely important as it gives direction to a study. In this study, only secondary data sources will be used to collect data. The secondary sources will be using journal articles, books, and authentic electronic sources. The conclusion to this study will be drawn by deducing the theories presented by the scholars about the area of concern. Hence a deductive approach will be taken to address the topic of study. Review of Literature Organizational culture is defined as a system of assumptions, values, norms, and attitudes, manifested through symbols which the members of an organization have developed and adopted through mutual experience and which help them determine the meaning of the world around them and how to behave in it (Janićijević, 2011, p.26). The author also believes that one of the vital components of management, which gets highly impacted by the organizational culture, is the organizational change management. The cultural assumption as well as the values shared by the members of the organization establishes the course in which managers and employees of the organization comprehend the organization itself. As a result of this, the adequate way of the change management can be easily uncovered. Irrespective of the type of changes in the organization such as radical or incremental, directed from the bottom up or directed from the top down, partial or comprehensive, concentrated on the change of the ‘soft’ or the ‘hard’ components of the organization taking place, the implementation or management will remain dependent on the way employees and leaders perceives the change as suitable, functioning and useful to a great extent. This is the principal reason why the process of organizational change varies according to the organizational culture put into practise. This statement can be explained by a simple example, if the nature of organizational change is subjugated by flexibility, it reflects that the organizational members will perceive change as something important and good for the organizations as well as for themselves. Furthermore, in such organizations, the change is likely to be a continual process and will be incremental in nature. As a result of that there are no requirement radical changes and the resistance to the change is also likely to be less (Jones, 2004). Organizational culture is defined as the outline of shared belief which is created as a group starts to learn how to resolve problems and subsequently passes these developed values and beliefs to the next lot or the newcomers. In this context, Conner (2011) states that culture are the way things are around here is highly beneficial to the relative stability of the organizations. Moreover, culture reinforces itself and operates in a way that ensures continuity. As a result of that organizations are able to maintain the similar culture for a long period of time, which is often considered as a significant stuff for organizations. Hence, when organizations are planning to introduce a change within the organization or have already implemented the change an intrusion or some kind of disruption are bound to take place, in such scenarios culture works hard to surpass it and help companies to maintain the status quo. Bigger change means more disruption and even more intrusion, and the culture will work even harder to defeat it (Conner, 2011). According to Ragsdell (2000), organizational change may be perceived differently by each member of the organizations. As a result of that, some of the employees may feel organizational change as a necessary and encouraging activity that swells the chances of achieving sustainability. On the contrary, another set of employees believe that organizational change as a prospect for new challenges in the organization and some even considers that a particular change can even ruin or endanger their professional career. Apart from that there are other set of people who believes that change leads to reduction in responsibility, or a loss of status. Therefore, whatever is the impact of change, it represents a company entering a new phase in the business and “playing the game by new rules”. This phenomenon will surely lead to shift in paradigm, irrespective of whether it is resisted or greeted; hence the paradigm shift needs to be managed efficiently (Mallinger, Goodwin and O’Hara, 2009) The intention of any organizational change is simply to move or transform an organization from its current state to a more improved and desirable state (Suran, 2002). In the late 1980s, the western world have experienced unprecedented change rate within the organizational context. These changes have been mainly brought about by a combination of internal and external forces. The external forces are the political, cultural, technological, economical, social and educational and the internal forces are the result of cultural, technological, economical, and social. Taylor and Cooper (2007) put emphasis on the fact that to be successful with the implementation of a change, efficient management is highly desirable. According to Katkov (1993), the first stance of organizations towards embracing growth is the embracement of creativity. Some of the scholars, even judge this as an organizational change. According to Gibson and Barsade (2003) a number of factors impact the organizational change process and one of the factors is the culture. According to Schein (2010), culture plays a crucial role in managing change in organizations. A study carried out by Mallinger, Goodwin and O’Hara (2009) regarding the impact of organizational culture on organizational change found that the culture of an organization has the ability to influence the decision, and promotes egalitarianism. This clearly suggests that culture has a positive influence on change implementation. Moreover, culture also guides companies to properly implement the change strategy. Several studies show that businesses often fail for the purpose of failing to align and engage employees and managers with the strategy. The analysis of change resistance and change management in the context of Hofstede’s 5D model of cultural differences can act as a road map of the conclusion. Similarly, if the organization’s culture is being evaluated, the similar results can be uncovered. The study carried out by Netta (2005) related to the role of organizational culture in organizational change found that organizational culture influences the efforts of the organizational change in either positive or negative ways. The nature of influence is however dependent upon the intended change. For example, a technological change in organizations such as Apple or Microsoft will be always positively influenced by the organizational culture. This is principally because of the reason that, Apple carries a culture that supports technological innovation. On the contrary, if the management of Apple seeks to change the organizational setting or decides to develop products, which do not involve innovation, the intended strategic change will be negatively influenced by the culture of the organization. Therefore, the only inference drawn from this is that organizational culture has a strong influence on the change management process of the organization. Figure 1 – Guiding Organizational Change (Source: Worksystemscanada, 2009) According to a study carried out by Iivari (2005) of University of OuluFollow pertaining to “The Role of Organizational Culture in Organizational Change - Identifying a Realistic Position for Prospective IS Research” found that organizational change is a complex concept and is highly driven by the culture of the organization. He further mentions that culture has a strong influence on the organization change, as it acts as the influencing element. Moreover, it is the culture of organizations that determines whether an organization should continually change or should limit the frequency of bringing change in the organization. However, O'Neill (2010) highly contradicts it, by arguing that more than the culture of the organization; it is the external business scenario that creates the need for change. Nevertheless, to some extent the internal situation of the company also created the need to change. There is one single point in which both set of authors have strong resemblance in their viewpoints. It is about the fact that culture of the organization plays a crucial role in managing the resistance being offered and successfully implementing the intended strategy in the organization. Some of the vital roles played by organizational culture in change management process are as follows: - It increases the chances of greater employee retention It ensures customer satisfaction Reduction in operating costs and other costs can also be cut down. Renowned scholars involved in the research of organizational change management namely W. Stead and J. Stead (1994) found that organizational change is a necessary activity and culture acts as a catalyst of implementing and driving the change. He further mentioned that, in order to survive in the market place for a longer period of time, organizations should continually change. However, to contradict the statement made by Conner (2011), the author put emphasis on the fact that organizational culture should also continually evolve. He also mentioned that organization culture can inhibit or facilitate change in an organization. Discussion Every organization tries to be more and more effective and gain better results in the business. Moreover, they also try to remain extremely careful in selecting the business strategy for the purpose of ensuring that it fits with the external business environment and also supports the internal environment of the organization. The rapidity of change within organizations and intense competition has also led them to bring and implement changes. This is principally because of the fact that “a change is the only way by which organizations can cope up with the external business scenario”. However, in doing so or implementing the changes companies around the world are faced with numerous challenges. One of the most obvious issues is the resistance to change by the employees of the organization. However, it does not mean that every individual employee will resist this change; some of them will also acknowledge the change to be a positive and forward-thinking stance of the company. The principal reason behind some employees resisting the implementation is that they feel their current position or state in the company will get disrupted. The resistance is more when it comes to an implementation of new technology, where employees feel that they lack the expertise required to operate the new technology and thus can make them superseded. Nevertheless, the literature review pointed out that this issue can be easily tackled if the company has an organizational culture that supports exploration and innovation. The organizational culture often acts as the shield to resistance and curbs or minimizes the impact of such confrontations. Hence, from the discussion it is evident that developing a supportive organizational culture is necessary for successful strategy implementation. Conclusion This study tried to assess the influence and role of organizational culture in change management. In order to do this, the study mainly relied on the secondary sources of data that included books and scholarly journal articles. The study has clearly revealed that organizational culture has a strong influence on the organizational change management. To support this claim, the viewpoints about the role of organization culture in change management of a number of authors have been presented and interestingly majority of them judges organizational culture to be a factor, positively influencing the change management. Therefore from an overall point of view and considering the thoughts of the scholars, it can be concluded that an influential and positive role is being played by organization culture in implementing and managing change. Recommendations The recommendations are to the organizations regarding how they can successfully implement an intended change and can avoid the possible resistances. Here are the following suggestions: - Promoting Open Communication: -One of the key factors of successfully implementing an intended change in organizations is communication. Hence, organizations are recommended to embed open communication in their culture. If a company success to communicate the benefits of implementing that change and can assure that it will not acts as a potential threat, a major threat to change implementation can be avoided. Furthermore, such culture will greatly assist the company in implementing any kind of changes in the future. Employee Involvement and Management Support: - Companies are recommended to involve employees during the planning process of change implementation. If the employees are involved in the change implementation process, the resistance from their side is likely to be less. In addition, support from the management is also necessary to implement the change. Therefore, the company should develop a culture of friendliness throughout the organization and where all the employees have equal importance. Appendix References Conner, D., 2011. What Role Does Culture Play During Change? [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 June 2013]. Gibson, D. E. and Barsade, S. G., 2003. Managing Organizational Culture Change: The Case of Long-Term Care. Journal of Social Work in Long-Term Care, 2 (1/2), pp. 11-34. Harigopal, K., 2006. Management of Organizational Change: Leveraging Transformation. 2nd ed. California: SAGE. Haveman, H. A., Russo, M. V. and Meyer, A. D. 2001. Organizational environments in flux: the impact for regulatory punctuations on organizational domains, CEO succession, and performance. Organization Science, 12, 253-273. Iivari, N., 2005. The Role of Organizational Culture in Organizational Change - Identifying a Realistic Position for Prospective IS Research. ECIS 2005 Proceedings. Paper 46. Janićijević, N., 2012. The influence of organizational culture on organizational preferences towards the choice of organizational change strategy. Economic Annals, LVII (193), pp. 25-51. Jones, G. R., 2004. Organization Theory, Design, and Change. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. Katkov, A. L., 1993. Organizational Change Management in Russia. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 6 (2), pp. 51-52. Mallinger, M., Goodwin, D. and O’Hara, T., 2009. Recognizing Organizational Culture in Managing Change. Graziadio Business Review 12 (1). O'Neill, M. J., 2010. Measuring Workplace Performance. 2nd ed. Florida: CRC Press. Ragsdell, G., 2000. Engineering a paradigm shift? An holistic approach to organisational change management. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 13 (2), pp. 104-120. Schein, E. H., 2010. Organizational Culture and Leadership. 4th ed. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Stead, W. E. and Stead, J. G., 1994. Can Humankind Change the Economic Myth? Paradigm Shifts Necessary for Ecologically Sustainable Business. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 4 (4), pp. 15-31. Suran, S., 2002. How to Implement Change Effectively. Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance, 14 (2), pp. 31-37. Taylor, H. and Cooper, C. L., 2007. Organisational Change —Threat or Challenge? The Role of Individual Differences in the Management of Stress. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 1 (1), pp. 68-80. Worksystemscanada, 2009. Service and Products to Support Organizational Change. [online] Available at: < http://worksystemscanada.com/services/orgchangeintro.html> [Accessed 17 June 2013]. Read More