Exam Study - Ch. 15 Organisational Culture & Change Flashcards
2 categories of change
- Punctuated change –
2. Continuous change
What is the inter-organisational context?
Human resources and culture
How do you achieve change?
- Assess current state
- Define desired future state
- Determine how to get there
What are the forces for change?
- Nature of workforce
- Technology
- Economic shocks
- Competition
- Social trends
- World politics
What are the sources of behaviour?
- Individual characteristics
2. Organisational context
What does organisational change seek to do?
Create long-term sustainable alterations in employee behaviour
What are tactics to overcome resistance to organisational change?
- Education and communication
- Participation
- Building support and commitment
- Implementing change fairly
- Manipulation and cooptation
- Selecting people who accept change
- Coercion
What are some “change styles”?
- Education & delegation
- Collaboration
- Participation
- Direction
- Coercion
Explain Lewin’s Change Model
Stage 1: unfreezing
Stage 2: moving
Stage 3: refreezing
The process of change must be in harmony with…
organisational culture
Define organisational culture
- Underlying assumptions about how work ought to be done (Atkinson)
- How things are done around here
Why is changing a company’s ethos (character/moral) and culture not easy?
Culture is deeply-rooted and enforced through rites and rituals, patterns of communication, the informal organisation, psychological contract and expectations about behaviour
What are the three levels of culture according to Schein?
- Artefacts and creations (most visible)
- Values
- Basic assumptions
What four types of organisational cultures are there according to Handy?
- Power culture
- Role culture
- Task culture
- Person culture
Explain “Power Culture” (Handy)
A power culture has a central figure of power who influences the organisation. It needs trust, empathy and personal communication to be effective.
Explain “Role Culture” (Handy)
A role culture depends on a position as its main source of power. This culture is often bureaucratic in nature and rests on the strength of strong, organisational pillars (people with a specialist position).
Explain “Task Culture” (Handy)
A task culture is job or project oriented. Power is derived from the group and based on expert power, rather than personal power.
Explain “Person Culture” (Handy)
A person culture has the individual as its main focus and any structure exists to serve individuals in the organisation. Management hierarchies are by mutual consent and power rests on personal characteristics.
What are the four generic types of organisational culture according to Deal & Kennedy?
- Tough-guy, macho culture
- Work hard/play hard culture
- Bet-your-company culture
- Process culture
What influences the development of organisational culture?
- History
- Primary function & technology
- Strategy
- Size
- Location
- Management and leadership
- The environment
What are the attributes of the cultural web?
- Routine behaviours
- Rituals
- Stories
- Symbols (logos, titles, language)
- Power structures
- Control systems (measurement & reward)
- Organisational structure
- The paradigm
Can culture be seen as organisational control?
Yes.
Cartwright – culture is a system of management authority.
Egan – culture is the largest organisational control system. There is an overt and covert culture that influences behaviour.
Watson – cultural design can be linked to direct and indirect controls.
What happens in every stage of Lewin’s change model?
- Unfreeze – dissatisfaction with the status quo is created, internal barriers to performance are diagnosed
- Moving – organisational roles are redesigned, responsibilities and relationships are redesigned, training is given for new skills, supporters of change are promoted and resisters are removed.
- Refreezing – create new structure, reward systems and measurement/control systems
What is the self-sealing value loop?
When a manager thinks all employees dislike work and imposes tight controls and punishment. Which then, employees lose trust and autonomy and actually dislike their work and do not innovate. The manager then concludes that his assumption was right.
How can job enrichment be used to increase employee commitment?
By offering:
- skill variety
- task variety (completing a whole job with a tangible outcome)
- task significance (is the outcome of the job significant?)
- autonomy
- feedback
What are some managerial values that inhibit employee participation?
- control (wanting to keep it)
- competency (doesn’t believe in employee’s abilities)
- knowledge (doesn’t know if employees know enough to make decisions)
What is meant by “force field analysis”?
There are driving forces and restraining forces when attempting to change the status quo. Force field analysis is figuring out what/who those forces are in the organisation.
In order to refreeze behaviour, you always need a …
change agent.
What is the Coping Cycle?
Explain and name the stages.
The stages people go through when adopting new behaviours.
- Denial
- Defence
- Discarding
- Adaptation
- Internalisation
What stages of the Coping Cycle correspond to Lewin’s Change model?
Denial, defence and discarding = unfreeze
Adaptation = move
Internalisation = refreeze
What are the stages of the Transition Curve?
- shock
- denial
- awareness
- acceptance
- testing
- search for meaning
- integration
Why do change initiatives fail?
- allowing too much complacency
- failing to create a powerful guiding coalition
- under-communicating the vision
- permitting obstacles to block the new vision
- failing to create short-term wins
- declaring a victory too soon
- neglecting to anchor changes firmly in the corporate culture
What is Kotter’s 8-step plan to implement change?
- Establish a sense of urgency
- Form coalitions
- Create a new vision
- Communicate the vision
- Empower others by removing barriers
- Create and reward short-term wins
- Consolidate, reassess and adjust
- Reinforce the changes
Explain the “Demands-Resource Model of Stress”
If demands outweighs the resource, stress is created.
Demands = responsibilities, pressure, obligations, uncertainties
Resources = individual controls that can be used to resolve demands
What are three consequences of stress?
- Physiological (bloodpressure, heartache, stroke)
- Psychological (dissatisfaction, tension, anxiety, irritability)
- Behavioural (changes in job behaviour, smoking/drinking, eating habits, rapid speech)
What are two approaches to manage stress, name examples?
- Individual approach – time management, physical exercise, relaxation)
- Organisational approach – Improved selection & placement, training, realistic goal-setting, redesigning jobs, improved communication.
What are global implications for organisational change?
- Culture affects people’s beliefs in the possibility of change
- Time orientation will affect the implementation of change
- Reliance on tradition can create resistance to change
- Power distance can modify implementation methods
