Chapter 10 Organizational Culture and Change

Question 1

What is culture?

Answer 1

Culture is the soul of the organization, the beliefs and values, and how they are manifested. The structure is skeleton, flesh and blood. Culture is the soul that holds things together and gives it life force.

Question 2

What is Organizational Culture?

Answer 2

A system of shared meaning (beliefs and values) held by members of a company that distinguishes one organization from another

Question 3

Organizational culture’s 7 characteristics (The degree to which…)

Answer 3

1. Innovation and risk-taking: employees are encouraged to be innovative and take risks
2. Attention to detail: Employees work with precision, analysis and attention to detail
3. Outcome orientation: Management focuses on results, rather than on the techniques and processes
4. People orientation: Management decision takes into consideration the effect of outcomes on people within the organization
5. Team orientation: Work activities are organized around teams rather than individuals
6. Aggressiveness: People are aggressive and competitive rather than easygoing and supportive
7. Stability: Organizational activities emphasize maintaining the status quo in contrast to growth

Question 4

2 levels of organizational culture

Answer 4

1. Visible: Artifacts, rituals, materials symbols, stories told to others, special language used
2. Invisible: Beliefs, values and assumptions

Question 5

What are “Artifacts”?

Answer 5

aspects of an organization’s culture that an individual can see, hear and feel e.g. dress policies, office displays

Question 6

What are “Beliefs”?

Answer 6

The understanding of how objects and ideas relate to each other

Question 7

What are “Values”?

Answer 7

The stable, long-lasting belief about what is important

Question 8

What are “Assumptions”?

Answer 8

The taken-for-granted notions of how something should be

Question 9

Functions of Culture

Answer 9

1. Distinguishes one organization from others
2. Conveys a sense of identity to organization members
3. Helps create commitment to something larger than an individual’s self-interest
4. Enhances stability; holds the organization together by providing standards for what employees should say and do
5. Serves as a control mechanism that guides and shapes the attitudes and behaviour of employees and helps them make sense of the organization

Question 10

Teams may show greater allegiance to their team and its values than to the values of the organization as a whole. T / F

Answer 10

T

Question 11

What is Organizational Climate?

Answer 11

The shared perceptions organizational members have about their organization and work environment

Question 12

What is “Dominant Culture”?

Answer 12

Expresses the core values that are shared by a majority of the organization’s members

Question 13

What is “Sub-cultures”?

Answer 13

Mini-cultures within a company defined by department or geographical location

Question 14

What are “Core Values”?

Answer 14

The primary, or dominant values that are accepted throughout the organization

Question 15

What is the ultimate source of an organization’s culture?

Answer 15

Founders

Question 16

How does culture begin?

Answer 16

1. Founders hire and keep only employees who think and feel the way they do
2. They indoctrinate and socialize these employees to their way of thinking and feeling
3. Founders’ own behaviour encourages employees to identify with the founders and internalize those beliefs, values and assumptions

Question 17

What are the 3 ways to keep a culture alive?

Answer 17

1. Selection: Hiring people who share the same values and will support the norms in the organization
2. Top management: The senior management lead by example and establish norms in line with the culture
3. Socialization: adapts new employees to an organization’s culture, such as orientation and onboarding

Question 18

What are the 3 liabilities of an Organizational Culture?

Answer 18

1. Barrier to change
2. Barrier to diversity
3. Barrier to mergers and acquistions

Question 19

What are the 3 strategies for merging cultures?

Answer 19

1. Assimilation: The entirely new organization takes on the culture of one of the merging organizations; works best when one of the organizations has a relatively weak culture
2. Separation: Organizations remain separate and keep their individual cultures; works best when the organizations have little overlap in the industries they operate
3. Integration: A new culture is formed by merging parts of each of the organization; works best when aspects of each organization needs to be improved

Question 20

What are “Change Agents”?

Answer 20

People who lead the change process in an organization, can be managers or nonmanagers, employees or outside consultants

Question 21

Why is change important for an organization?

Answer 21

Competition, Rapidly evolving technology, New regulations, Increased customer expectations

Question 22

Explain Lewin’s Three-step Model

Answer 22

1. Unfreezing the status quo: Change efforts to overcome the pressure of individual resistance and group conformity (Hold back the restraining force while putting in place the driving force)
2. Moving to a new state: Efforts to get employees to be involved in the change process
3. Refreezing: Stabilizing a change intervention by balancing driving and restraining forces

Question 23

What are driving forces and restraining forces?

Answer 23

Driving forces: Forces that direct behavious away from the status quo e.g. Pay increases, moving expenses

Restraining forces: Forces that hinder movement away from the status quo e.g. Fears of moving

Question 24

16. Key feature of Lewin’s model is that change is an episodic activity (does NOT happen over time).
    T/F

Answer 24

T

Question 25

Kotter’s 8-Step Plan to change

Answer 25

1. Establish a sense of urgency by creating a compelling reason for why change is needed
2. Form a team with enough power to lead the change
3. Create a new vision to direct the change and strategies for achieving them
4. Communicate the vision within the organization
5. Empower others to act on the vision by removing barriers to change and encouraging risk-taking and creative problem-solving
6. Plan for, create and reward ‘Short-term wins’
7. Consolidate improvements, reassess changes, and makes necessary adjustments in the new programs
8. Reinforce the changes by demonstrating the relationship between new behaviors and organizational success

Question 26

What is Action Research?

Answer 26

A change process based on the systematic collection of data and then selection of a change action based on what the analyzed data indicate

Question 27

What are the 5 steps of Action Research (What do the change agents do)?

Answer 27

1. Diagnosis: The change agents gathers information about problems, concerns from members of organization
2. Analysis: Agent organizes the information gathered into primary concerns, problem areas and possible actions
3. Feedback: Agent shares with employees what has been found. They develop action plans to bring about the changes needed.
4. Action: They carry out the specific actions.
5. Evaluation: The agent evaluates the action plan’s effectiveness, using the data gathered initially as a benchmark.

Question 28

What are the 2 benefits of the Action Research?

Answer 28

1. It is problem-focused.

2. Since it thoroughly involves employees in the process, it reduces resistance to change.

Question 29

What is the Appreciative Inquiry approach?

Answer 29

A change approach that seeks to identify the unique qualities and special strengths of an organization, which can then be built on to improve performance.

Question 30

Four D’s of Appreciative Inquiry

Answer 30

1. Discovery: Identify what employees think are the strengths of the organization
2. Dreaming: Employees speculate on possible futures of the organization
3. Design: Participants focus on finding a common vision of how the organization will look
4. Destiny: Participants discuss how the organization is going to fulfill the dream, write action plans and develop strategies

Question 31

4 reasons why individuals resist change

Answer 31

1. Self-interest: Worry they may lose something of value
2. Misunderstanding and lack of trust: Don’t understand the nature of change and do not trust those initiating the change
3. Different assessments: Employees may not see the same way as managers
4. Low tolerance for change: Worry they do not have the skills for the new situation

Question 32

What also affects how individuals response to change?

Answer 32

1. Individuals worry that being asked to change may indicate what they have been doing in the past was somehow wrong
2. Peer pressure
3. Manager’s attitude to change and his or her relationship with the employees

Question 33

4 major elements that contribute to cynicism

Answer 33

1. Feeling uninformed about what is happening
2. Lack of communication and respect from one’s manager
3. Lack of communication and respect from one’s union representative
4. Lack of opportunity for meaningful participation in decision making

Question 34

6 sources of organizational resistance to change

Answer 34

1. Structural inertia: Organizations have built-in mechanism e.g. selection process and formal regulations for stability
2. Limited focus of change: Organizations are made up of a number of interdependent subsystems.
3. Group inertia: Group norms may act as a constraint
4. Threat to expertise: May threaten the expertise of specialised groups
5. Threat to established power relationships: Redistribution of decision-making authority?
6. Threat to established resource allocation

Question 35

How should we response to change?

Answer 35

1. Look for ways to help minimize negative reactions
2. Explore & understand the causes of or reasons behind the change
3. Find ways to be useful in implementing change
4. Look at change as an opportunity

Question 36

8 tactics used to deal with resistance to change

Answer 36

1. Education and communication
2. Participation and involvement
3. Building support and commitment: Employee counselling and new-skills training
4. Develop positive relationships: With the managers
5. Implementing changes fairly
6. Manipulation and co-optation (Manipulation + participation): Buy off the leaders of a resistance group by giving them a key role
7. Select people who accept change
8. Explicit and implicit coercion: Application of direct threats or force upon resisters