Organisation Culture & Interventions

1. Organisation Culture & Interventions Read Rollinson - Chapter 19 B & H, Chapter 18

2. Interests • What is organisation culture? • How do we describe the features of such culture? • How can the culture of an organisation be changed? • What are we seeking to change and why? • The merits and limitations of descriptions? • Themes and tensions in debates about organisation culture? • Comparing hard & technical 'culture' components with soft humanistic concerns

3. What then is a corporate culture? • The organisation itself has an underlying quality - style - character - soul, a way of doing things - possibly more powerful than one person's dictates or a formal system. To comprehend this "soul" requires that we go beyond below the trappings of charts, policies and jobs into a living and breathing world of cultural interaction. • The corporate culture gives the whole organisation a sense of how to behave, what to do, & where to place priorities in getting the job done. It helps members fill in the blanks between formal directives and how work actually gets done. Compare these statements to an "engineering" model of structures, work-technologies, methods & controls

4. What then is a corporate culture? • the way we do things around here • a dominant & coherent set of beliefs, deep-set, prevailing values and assumptions manifested in organisational activity • learned and accepted prescriptions for how people should think, feel, work & behave as members. • values & commitments - shared & understood through • ritual/ceremonial & routinised processes • symbolic communication with imperative statements, slogans, internal and external "marketing • anecdotes, myths, legends • rewards and chastisement.

5. Culture as a paradigm and metaphor

6. Rise of corporate culture concepts • Pre-50s classical and rational perspective • 50s human relations school - influence through human relations and leadership • 60s, 70s neo-human relations - control through groups and organisational development (Schein et al) • 80s admiration of Japanese • Quality, Kaizen and Excellence • Theory Z • 90s • Lean and core • Learning organisation • Network organisation

7. Hard and Soft in a Wet-Cold Climate Soft systems Values Interactions Commitments Motivations Loyalties Perceptions Leadership & teams Communications Hard systems Policies Procedures Systems Performances Technologies Efficiencies

8. Mintzberg: Five Glues • Mutual adjustment • Direct supervision • Standardisation of • Systems and procedures • Skills • Results

9. Exercise What are the manifestations of corporate culture at • this university? • in the Body Shop organisation? • in the Metropolitan Police? • For each organisation, list examples of • Values, beliefs norms • Representative rituals & ceremonials What external intervention has been evident?

10. Culture Characteristics • Common, uniform, pervasive, homogenous? • Unitary, Integration • Differentiation, pluralist, diversity, groups with own subcultures • Fragmentation, so ad hoc with anomalies, inconsistencies that no 'culture' • strong culture ==> performance (Luthans 1995) • Shared-ness • Intensity • Propositionstrong culture leads to success if the organisation's structure is suited to environmental conditions. This is a good predictor of short term performance.How will you demonstrate the veracity of such a proposition?

11. Cultural Evolution and Socialisation Bye applicants • Organisational growth, founders as role models • Early business Quaker philanthropists • Generic problems (Schein 1983) • Adaptation and survival in face of externalities • Ensuring internal integration • Replication Boundary filtering outsider Organisation culture Socialisation Peers Role models Rewards Training Rites, rituals imitation The 'right stuff' I'm in with the in-crowd Full insider membership

12. Packaging and transmission • Packaging cultural elements • Mission • Core values • Management style • Competencies • Ethical and environmental policy • Transmitting culture elements • Formal, informal • Events & activities in the culture transmission system • Hewlett Packard Way, • Ben and Jerry, • Body Shop • Disney

13. Corporate culture & competitive strategy society industry organisation • political ideologies • social values • concentration • social function of product • stage in lifecycle • competitive strategy • competitive nichein product market • organisation structure • HR systems • institutional relations: business, labour, govt Corporate culture Fombrun, Tichy & Devanne, 1984, Strategic HRM, Wiley

14. Cultural decline, performance decline • Peters and Waterman's 'excellent' companies - many cases are no longer "excellent" • Catch phrases: 'down sizing' (Roach), stick to the knitting (Peters) etc • Inertia - Marks and Spencer, IBM • Immoderation & excess - Marconi, Enron • Inattention - institutional 'groupthink' - Metropolitan Police, Conservative Party • No 'one-best-culture' • Staff turnover, business downturn & redundancies dilutes cultural strength

15. Smircich 1983 • Key variable (application) • Organisation needs the right properties for dynamic equilibrium with environment • Culture is something an organisation 'has' • Culture is an essential ingredient of organisational success • Member commitment to goals • Culture club industry • Root metaphor • Culture is something that an organisation 'is' • Focus on how cultures are experienced by members & how this affects their actions • Phenomenological study > business usefulness

16. Corporate Viagra - Ouchi Theory Z !!!! Japanese firm outperform US firms. The secret is Theory Z !!!! therefore take the Z-pill to enhance performance !!!! • commitment to employees • evaluation of employees • career structure • employee control • decision making • responsibility • concern for people • long term employment • slow + qualitative criteria • broad • implicit, informal methods • groups & high consensus • individual • whole person - work & non-work Theory Z

17. The Call for Excellence • a bias for action: getting on with it • get close to and learn from customer • autonomy and innovation - nurturing 'champions' • productivity through people; staff as a source of quality • hands-on management, value-driven • stick to the knitting: stay with the business you know • simple form and lean • loose-tight properties; local autonomy + centralized values • move from pyramid to horizontal, fast, cross-functional, coop Peters & Waterman, In Search of Excellence, Harper & Row, 1982 Peters & Austin, A Passion for Excellence, Collins, 1985 Peters, Thriving on Chaos, Macmillan, 1987 Peters, Liberation Management, Macmillan, 1994

18. The Call for Excellence - Precepts for managers • quality revolution • strive to achieve uniqueness • listen to customers, end users, suppliers, retailers • make manufacturing the prime marketing tool • become • customer-obsessed, responsive service addicts • true internationalists, small and large firms • `over-invest' in frontline people & activities • develop an innovation strategy • symbolize innovativeness • multi-function teams for development activities • pilots and prototypes not proposals • ignore `Not Invented Here' & adapt thru. `creative swiping' • applaud heroes & champions • no blame culture - promote learning & right next time Pinchot - Intrapreneurs

19. Paradigms of corporate culture Integrationist - Differentiationist - Fragmentalist • Is culture a source of harmony, an effect of irreducible conflicts of interest or a reflection of inescapable ambiguities of modern organisational life? • Must culture be internally consistent, integrative and shared or can it be inconsistent and expressive of different? Can it incorporate confusion, ignorance, paradox and fragmentation? • What are the boundaries around cultures in organisations - are they essential? • How do cultures change? Martin 1992 Significance for managing diversity policies?

20. Integrationist Harvey and Brown, 1992 • Profit oriented & NfP organisations may have differing or conflicting sub-cultures • Mgt style & corporate culture are central "success" factors that influence • communication • problem-solving • decision-making • leadership patterns • for the entire system • Unitary • Organisation-wide consensus • Consistency • Clarity & denial of ambiguity • Leader's role in culture

21. Differentiationist • Pluralistic - emphasises • power, conflicts, differences • lack of consensus, inconsistencies and non-leader initiated aspects of culture • acknowledge dominant culture & similarities, consistencies, unities but • choose to focus on • inconsistencies and sub-culture differences - no consensus • action inconsistency • symbolic inconsistency • ideological inconsistency • Fox 'On Contract' - acceptance "for now"

22. Fragmentalist emphasises • loosely structured, incompletely shared system. emerges dynamically as members experience each other, events & contexts • ambiguity > consistency • reject company wide integrated values instead a shared awareness of ambiguity action ambiguity • actions differ from espoused values symbolic & ideological ambiguity • obscure, inconsistent relationships between cultural themes & symbols e.g. employee well-being and forms - jokes, stories, physical arrangements

23. Goffe and Jones 1998 - Contingency framework • No "one best culture" - the formula that best fits the contingent situation in terms of • sociability • solidarity • communal culture • mercenary culture • fragmented culture • Sub-cultures will exist • No culture lasts for ever & none is inherently good/bad • National cultures impact on organisation culture

24. Dynamic national cultures & organisation accommodation Hofstede 1984 cultural mapping of MNCs, 11600 staff across 40 countries Dimensions • power distance • uncertainty avoidance • individualism-collectivism • masculinity-femininity How are these changing or have changed?

25. Culture as a power game? Power - “the ability to get one’s way in a social situation.” “…..organisational behaviour is a power game in which various players seek to control the organisation’s decisions and actions.” French and Bell 1959 • Reward Power • Coercive Power • Legitimate Power • Referent Power/Charismatic Power • Expert Power

26. Resource-based Bureaucracy-based Decision Control Know-How Contingent Hero Managing Boundaries Technological Dependence Alliances and Networks Countervailers Symbolism Gender Groupthink Power and Images of Organisation adapted from Morgan G, Images of Organisations, Sage, 1997 see http://sol.brunel.ac.uk/~jarvis/bola/power/power.html

27. Mintzberg - Sources of power Control of • a resource • a technical skill • a body of knowledge(1-3 must be critical to the organisation) • Legal prerogatives - exclusive rights or privileges to impose choices • Access to those who have power based on the first four bases

28. Organisational politics • Sub-set of power? Informal power? Illegitimate in nature? • Conflicts of interests • Conflict or competition for scarce resources • Pay-off matrix - how goods & services are to be distributed between different parties • Stakeholder analysis - grievances, power, ability to resist change, winners, losers,

29. Organisational development assumptions • Normative + learning, adaptation, empirical, rationalist notPower-coercive (Power & politics de-emphasised) • OD weak on - accommodation and avoidance? • OD programmes • managerial driving devices or • "OD transcends the negatives of power & politics" ?? • French & Bell…. "OD programs are unlikely to be successful in organisations with high negative faces of politics & power".

30. Mintzberg: ‘The structuring of organisations’ Ideology Evangelise Strategic apex Centralise Middle line Balkanise Support staff Techno structure Collaborate Standardise Operating core Professionalise Mintzberg, 1979

31. How can OD interventionists gain and wield power? OD change agents (internal and external) need to know about bargaining, negotiation, power shifts & politics, strategies of influences & the characteristics of power holders Hard, technical expert Intuitive, soft, influential behavioural expert. • Competence • Political access & sensitivity • Sponsorship • Stature & credibility • Resource management • Group support Beer (1980)

32. Organisational Analysis Techniques of: • Hard & soft systems analysis • Key processes (e.g. BPR) • Planning processes (power plays) • Evolutionary models (Chandler & strategy) • Pro-active structuring (Mintzberg) • Virtualisation • Changing units of currency (knowledge) • Meta-system analysis • Network analysis

33. Questions • Evaluate the tensions revealed by the term "organisational development" and processes of organisational change. • Why do organisation development interventions so frequently fail or not live up to expectations? • Evaluate the merits and difficulties associated with cultural intervention strategies. • How do various models of OD influence your understanding of organisational change? • What issues confront a "change" practitioner beginning a career as an OD adviser or consultant? • What "pearls of wisdom" would you give an organisational client who wants to learn more about OD?