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Reversing Cultural Norms that Currently Favor Low Performance
Generally, when people have worked in an organization for very long, they have absorbed a set of norms and expectations about what is expected, what is rewarded and what is least approved. They have "learned" the way to behave that will, at the very least, keep them out of trouble. This set of widely shared beliefs about what is "right" and "wrong", "true" or "false", "good" or "bad", is the organization's culture. Understanding why change is frequently difficult for people can help us build in methods for easing the process and increasing the likelihood that it will succeed. Cultures are so spontaneous, illusive and hidden that can not be accurately diagnosed or intentionally changed. Several sub cultures exist within a single organizational culture, making changes difficult. Members are likely to resist changes because they are in fear of discontinuity and instability.
An organization's culture is multi-layered, consisting of assumptions, values, beliefs, norms and behaviors that have developed gradually and may have become relatively unconscious. It can explain much about how an organization functions, both internally and in relation to its external environment. When there is a need to change the way an organization works, it may become necessary to make this implicit set of beliefs explicit as they may no longer be consistent with the actions and behaviors that are now required.
Whether or not it is possible to fully "manage change", we believe that being very clear about what changes are required and being very intentional about building a culture that supports the new mission, goals, strategies and practices increases the probability of success exponentially. This necessarily involves a large cross section of the organization in assessing the current system of norms and beliefs, determining what changes are needed, and designing an implementation plan.
A classic example involves a regulated utility for which de-regulation meant a change in how they do business. Assumptions about customer expectations in a regulated environment led utilities in general to attend more to being a "good neighbor" than to providing low cost service. Those assumptions often meant that "good neighbor" behavior, i.e., courtesy to customers, was rewarded more than efficiency and this value was reinforced by training programs, performance reviews, and the company newspaper along with more subtle forms of communication.
These beliefs and resulting behaviors needed to be elevated to a conscious level so that the company could choose how it needed to modify its practices. New assumptions and values were articulated and systematically communicated through every vehicle and reinforced at every opportunity. (One would hope that the utility would not throw out the original intent to be a good neighbor, but only reassign priorities.)
As people at every level of the organization participated in meetings and activities to identify new goals and practices, they also created inventories of all the old ways of thinking and doing that would have to change. They actually developed a humorous system for "catching" each other in the old ways and rewarding the new. In this way, what might have become the source of serious resistance became a source of camaraderie and commitment to the new way of doing business.
Schein contends that many of the problems confronting leaders can be traced to their inability to analyze and evaluate organizational cultures. Many leaders, when trying to implement new strategies or a strategic plan leading to a new vision, will discover that their strategies will fail if they are inconsistent with the organization's culture. A CEO, SES, political appointee, or flag officer who comes into an organization prepared to "shake the place up" and institute sweeping changes, often experiences resistance to changes and failure.
Strategic leaders have an additional set of challenges. They have to create the means and the opportunities to infuse their employees with new ways of looking at themselves and their capabilities. Leaders' new ideologies and values need to be communicated effectively, internalized by employees, and then translated into productive methods of thinking and working. The useful techniques for overcoming these challenges fall within the domains of evaluating and transforming organizational cultures.
Cultural change then relies on leaders' communication techniques that cross sub cultural boundaries and carry messages about ideologies, values and norms that can be internalized by all employees. Memos and vision statements cannot achieve all of these objectives. Leaders, however, have a variety of sophisticated cultural communication techniques at their disposal to link subcultures to overarching cultural objectives of their organizations.
Productive cultural change will occur if leaders correctly analyze the organization's existing culture, and evaluate it against the cultural attributes needed to achieve strategic objectives. Consequently, leaders must first possess a clear understanding of the strategic objectives for their organization and identify the actions needed to reach those objectives. These two tasks by themselves are difficult, particularly for the federal agencies that are experiencing volatile rates of change and reorientation. Nevertheless, without these specifications, any cultural transformation is a blind exercise.
Next conduct an analysis of the organizations existing ideologies, values and norms. Two critical questions that leaders should ask are: (1) Are existing explanations of cause and effect relationships, and acceptable beliefs and behaviors applicable to the organization's achievement of strategic objectives? (2) Are organizational members facing ambiguities about the external environment and internal work processes that can only be clarified by organizational leadership?
Strategic leadership needs to be transformational if it is to serve the organization. Transformational leaders must operate from a foundation of high morality and ethical practices. Deep within the culture of every organization is a collection of fundamental norms and values that shape members behavior and helps them understand the surrounding organization. Cultural norms emphasize the importance of discovering new technologies, and developing them into new products. These norms are expressed and passed from one person to another through surface elements of the culture which help employees interprets everyday organization events.
1. Rite - Relatively elaborate, dramatic, planned sets of activities that consolidates various forms of cultural expressions into one event, which is carried out through social interactions, usually for the benefit of an audience. These help communicate specific ideas especially for new comers to learn about the culture of the firm.
2. Ceremonial - A system of several rites connected with a single occasion or event. They exemplify and reinforce important cultural norms and values.
3. Ritual -A standardized, detailed set of techniques and behaviors that manage anxieties, but seldom produce intended, technical consequences of practical importance.
4. Myth - A dramatic narrative of imagined events usually used to explain origins of transformations of something. Also, an unquestioned belief about the practical benefits of certain techniques and behaviors that is not supported by demonstrated facts.
5. Saga - An historical narrative describing the unique accomplishments of a group and its leaders-usually in heroic terms. Heroes provide concrete examples that make the guiding norms of a company readily apparent.
6. Legend -A handed-down narrative of some wonderful event that is based in history but has been embellished with fictional details.
7. Story - A narrative based on true events-often a combination of truth and fiction. Stories serve as reminders of cultural values.
8. Folktale - A completely fictional narrative.
9. Symbol - Any object, act, event, quality, or relation that serves as a vehicle for conveying meaning, usually by representing another thing. This enables convey a complex message in an efficient economical manner.
10. Language - A particular form or manner in which members of a group use vocal sounds and written signs to convey meanings to each other. Language reflects organizations particular culture (HP way for instance)
11. Gesture - Movements of parts of the body used to express meanings.
12. Physical - Those things than surround people physically setting and provide them with immediate sensory stimuli as they carry out culturally expressive activities.
13. Artifact - Material objects manufactured by people to facilitate culturally expressive activities.
Culture is deep seated and difficult to change, but leaders can influence or manage an organization's culture. It isn't easy, and it cannot be done rapidly, but leaders can have an effect on culture. Schein outlines some specific steps leaders can employ:
What leaders pay attention to, measure and control. Something as simple as what is emphasized or measured, over time, can have an effect on an organization's culture. One example of this is an emphasis on form over substance. If leaders pay more attention to form, an organizational culture can develop where people start to believe that the substance of a recommendation is less important than the way it is presented. One can recall when more attention was paid to the format of viewgraphs used in a briefing than what was said; what we characterize as "eyewash."
Where do you think people will focus their effort once it becomes accepted that a slick presentation is what the leaders are looking for? How could you go about changing that aspect of the organization's culture? Consider cultural assumptions and beliefs underlying a "zero defects" organizational mentality. "You must always be perfect; mistakes aren't allowed." If this assumption reflects a dysfunctional aspect of an organization's culture, how would you go about changing that perception?
Leader reactions to critical incidents and organizational crises. The way leaders react to crises says a lot about the organization's values, norms and culture. Crises, by their nature, bring out the organization's underlying core values. Often, this is where rhetoric becomes apparent. Reactions to crises are normally highly visible, because everyone's attention is focused on the incident or situation. Disconnects between actions and words will usually be apparent, and actions always speak louder than words. Additionally, a crisis not only brings a great deal of attention, it also generates a great deal of emotional involvement on the part of those associated with the organization, particularly if the crisis threatens the organization's survival. This increases the potential for either reinforcing the existing culture, or leading to a change in the culture. Such a crisis can provide an opportunity for a leader to influence the organization's culture in either a positive or a negative way.
Deliberate role modeling, teaching, and coaching. Nothing can take the place of leaders "walking their talk." The personal example of a strategic leader can send a powerful message to the members of an organization, particularly if it is ethical and consistent. Reinforcing that example with teaching and coaching will help others to internalize the desired values.
Criteria for allocation of rewards and status. The consequences of behavior-what behavior is rewarded and what is punished-can significantly influence culture. If the organization reacts to new ideas by ridiculing the ideas and those who propose them, it won't take long before people believe that new ideas are not welcomed or desired. One belief of perceived organizational culture is reflected in the statement: "Don't raise questions or suggest improvements, because nothing will come of it and you will just get in trouble." If you were in an organization's strategic leader, what steps could you take to alter the reward system to change this aspect of the culture?
Criteria for recruitment, selection, promotion, retirement and excommunication. One of the powerful ways of changing an organization's culture is through the type of people brought into, retained, and advanced in the organization. You should be able to establish a desired culture base in an organization by bringing in and advancing individuals with the values you want, and eliminating those with undesired value bases.
That is what organizations are attempting when they propose tightening up admissions standards to screen out undesirables. This strategy is consistent with the belief that the problems experienced by the organization result from a few "bad apples" and do not reflect systemic problems. However, if a strong culture bias exists, it may be too strong to be changed by selection alone.
Schein has five guidelines.
1. Don't oversimplify culture or confuse it with climate, values, or corporate philosophy. Culture underlies and largely determines these other variables. Trying to change values or climate without getting at the underlying culture will be a futile effort.
2. Don't label culture as solely a human resources (read "touchy-feely") aspect of an organization, affecting only its human side. The impact of culture goes far beyond the human side of the organization to affect and influence its basic mission and goals.
3. Don't assume that the leader can manipulate culture as he or she can control many other aspects of the organization. Culture, because it is largely determined and controlled by the members of the organization, not the leaders, is different. Culture may end up controlling the leader rather than being controlled by him or her.
4. Don't assume that there is a "correct" culture, or that a strong culture is better than a weak one. It should be apparent that different cultures may fit different organizations and their environments, and that the desirability of a strong culture depends on how well it supports the organization's strategic goals and objectives.
5. Don't assume that all the aspects of an organization's culture are important, or will have a major impact on the functioning of the organization. Some elements of an organization's culture may have little impact on its functioning, and the leader must distinguish which elements are important, and focus on those.
Wagner and Hollenbeck suggest tow approaches in reversing an organizational culture; symbolic management and OD intervention. Managers attempt to influence deep cultural norms by shaping the surface elements that people use to express and transmit cultural understandings. On the other hand, Organizational Development (OD) interventions can contribute to cultural management by helping the members progress through the following steps;
1, identify current norms and values. 2, plotting new directions 3. Identifying new norms and values 4. Identifying culture gaps 5. Closing culture gaps.
An understanding of culture, and how to transform it, is a crucial skill for leaders trying to achieve strategic outcomes. Strategic leaders have the best perspective, because of their position in the organization, to see the dynamics of the culture, what should remain, and what needs transformation. This is the essence of strategic success.
Reference
Wagner, john A (2005) Organizational Behavior: Securing Competitive Advantage, 5th edition, Prentice Hall.
The author is Dr. Chandana Jayalath. He is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor with nearly 18 years experience in both pre and post contract quantity surveying and contracts administration with teaching and research functions including cost advice, claims and contractual review, negotiations, interpretations and dispute settlement related to civil infrastructure projects. Writing articles on management is his hobby that aims to reflect his own experience working in multi cultural organizations.
