MT7 - Organisational culture and change

Question 1

Schein (1984)

Answer 1

Organisational culture: pattern of basic assumptions a group has invented to cope with external adaptation and internal integration
Taught to new members as a way to perceive, think, feel
At first: culture holds the firm together
As it ages, culture can be managed and changed
Mature cultures are hard to change and might hold an organisation back
Culture is determined by its relationship to the environment, nature of reality, truth, human nature, activities, relationships
Strength is given by the homogeneity and stability of the group, length and intensity of shared experiences
Learning situations: problem-solving, anxiety-avoidance
e.g. common language, boundaries, power and status, intimacy, ideology, rewards and punishment
e.g. Enron: strong culture with no new members

Question 2

Meek (1988)

Answer 2

Culture is not something an organisation ‘has’, but what it ‘is’
It cannot be modified, only influenced by some people (e.g. top management - logos and symbols)
Culture emerges from social interaction
Culture: beliefs, myths, ideologies, folklores, symbols: shared codes of meanings (words, stories, icons, logos)

Question 3

Meyer (1982)

Answer 3

Responses to a sudden environmental shock (jolt) by different organisational cultures:
Memorial Hospital: conservative culture, conservative, established routines - does nothing
Community Hospital: innovative, loose, reactive culture - anticipation, quick adaptation
General Hospital: established culture, but with analytic views and innovative, diverse practices - changed operations, rearranged
Financial reserves matter when choosing an adaptation technique
Ideology determines whether the jolt is perceived as a dilemma, opportunity, or aberration
Jolts reinforce ideologies

Question 4

Kotter (1995)

Answer 4

Why organisational culture transformation efforts fail:
1. Not establishing a great enough sense of urgency
2. Not creating a powerful enough guiding coalition
3. Lacking a vision
4. Under-communicating the vision
5. Not removing obstacles to the new vision
6. Not systematically planning for, and creating short-term wins
7. Declaring victory too soon
8. Not anchoring changes in the corporation’s culture

Question 5

Legg (1994)

Answer 5

strong culture:
binds together a differentiated organisation
coordinated and rapid decision-making
inward-looking, conformist, rigid - inappropriate answer to the unfamiliar
weak culture:
might not have enough commitment to action when needed
could generate rapid response to the unfamiliar - people have different perceptions
e.g. culture of IBM and altering the value proposition
e.g. Nokia: rigid culture, so competitors took over

Question 6

Barney (1986)

Answer 6

if a culture has superior financial performance, then it must be valuable, rare, and imperfectly imitable
If culture is changeable, it cannot be a source of competitive advantage
firms that are simultaneously loosely and tightly coupled have a strong set of core values and a culture of openness and innovation
it is not easy to modify or create culture