Nov 02 2012
Changing Organizational Culture
Organizational culture (which I will refer to as OC), as learned in class, is the value and behaviors that contribute to the environment of an organization. The more positive the OC of a business, the happier the employees. This can lead to less absenteeism and less employee turnover, not to mention more motivation of employees to do their job to the best of their ability. But what happens when a company has a negative OC? Do they have to just accept the consequences and possibility of lesser quality work? Thankfully the answer is no. Although not always the easiest task, altering a failing OC for the better can be very beneficial to businesses in the long run. An article on www.Forbes.com lays down the groundwork for a successful shift in OC. It suggests beginning the change with use of leadership tools and then securing those changes with management tools. Power tools are also mentioned if all else fails as a last resort. Of course, this recommendation is not fool proof, as proven by the following common mistakes with culture change:
- Overuse of the power tools of coercion and underuse of leadership tools.
- Beginning with a vision or story, but failing to put in place the management tools that will cement the behavioral changes in place.
- Beginning with power tools even before a clear vision or story of the future is in place.
All in all, companies want to have a positive OC and if they aren’t quite there yet, there is still hope if the right steps are taken.
