Al Gray became commandant of the US Marine Corps in 1987 facing a culture damaged by the Vietnam War. Rather than blaming the culture, he sought to praise and reinforce elements of the old culture to evolve it into what was needed. The article argues that organizational cultures change slowly so leaders should use the existing culture to help change behaviors and evolve the culture, rather than ignoring or attacking the culture which risks undermining it. Cultures influence behaviors and company performance so they should not be overlooked during change efforts.
This article discusses how leaders should work with and leverage an organization's existing culture instead of blaming it or trying to change it outright. The key points are:
1) Organizational cultures are deeply embedded and change slowly, so trying to force wholesale cultural change is disruptive and rarely succeeds.
2) Instead of blaming culture for problems, leaders should identify beneficial existing behaviors and beliefs that reinforce the new behaviors needed for success.
3) Myths that leaders commonly believe about culture, such as that it is the root of all problems or can be changed by top leaders alone, often lead to failed change efforts.
4) Working with and within the existing culture by tapping into its existing strengths
This document contains presentation slides summarizing key concepts about organizational culture from Chapter 15 of Organizational Behavior. The slides cover how cultures are formed and changed, four types of organizational cultures, how culture influences ethics and diversity, and the process of socialization. Specific topics include the components, layers, and emergence of organizational culture as well as guidelines for managing culture.
Booz co: investing in talent for sustained growthJuris Cernavskis
This document discusses developing the right talent for sustained growth through a capabilities-driven approach to people strategy. It outlines a four-step process: 1) Define the company's core capabilities that differentiate it from competitors. 2) Prioritize the capabilities that are most important to the company's strategy. 3) Identify the employee segments critical to developing those high-priority capabilities. 4) Invest in developing the skills and careers of employees in priority segments through tailored programs. Taking this capabilities-driven approach can help companies maximize the impact of their people strategies and talent investments.
This document discusses corporate culture and its importance. It defines corporate culture as the shared beliefs, values and behaviors of a group. Understanding an organization's culture is important for executives to ensure success, for potential employees to assess fit, and to enable significant changes when needed. Corporate culture can be identified by examining artifacts like the physical workspace, communication styles, and reward systems. While difficult, corporate culture can be changed through consistent leadership driving a compelling vision for transformation.
This document discusses the differences between transactional leadership and transformational leadership. Transactional leadership focuses on exchanges between the leader and followers, setting goals and evaluating performance. Transformational leadership creates a shift in how people think and see their environment by inspiring a shared vision of the future and engaging people to feel part of something bigger. Transformational leaders challenge people, recognize untapped potential, and respond adaptively to situations.
How to understand and inprove your's lab working culture to archieve your goalsLAB IDEA
This document discusses changing the working culture in a medical laboratory. It begins by defining culture as "the way things get done around here" and explains that laboratories often contain multiple cultures. It then analyzes culture using models like the Star Model and Tribal Leadership theories. The document provides examples of how culture may differ between a small hospital laboratory and a large reference laboratory. Finally, it discusses common problems in changing laboratory culture and provides potential solutions, emphasizing the need to start simple and be consistent.
This article discusses how leaders should work with and leverage an organization's existing culture instead of blaming it or trying to change it outright. The key points are:
1) Organizational cultures are deeply embedded and change slowly, so trying to force wholesale cultural change is disruptive and rarely succeeds.
2) Instead of blaming culture for problems, leaders should identify beneficial existing behaviors and beliefs that reinforce the new behaviors needed for success.
3) Myths that leaders commonly believe about culture, such as that it is the root of all problems or can be changed by top leaders alone, often lead to failed change efforts.
4) Working with and within the existing culture by tapping into its existing strengths
This document contains presentation slides summarizing key concepts about organizational culture from Chapter 15 of Organizational Behavior. The slides cover how cultures are formed and changed, four types of organizational cultures, how culture influences ethics and diversity, and the process of socialization. Specific topics include the components, layers, and emergence of organizational culture as well as guidelines for managing culture.
Booz co: investing in talent for sustained growthJuris Cernavskis
This document discusses developing the right talent for sustained growth through a capabilities-driven approach to people strategy. It outlines a four-step process: 1) Define the company's core capabilities that differentiate it from competitors. 2) Prioritize the capabilities that are most important to the company's strategy. 3) Identify the employee segments critical to developing those high-priority capabilities. 4) Invest in developing the skills and careers of employees in priority segments through tailored programs. Taking this capabilities-driven approach can help companies maximize the impact of their people strategies and talent investments.
This document discusses corporate culture and its importance. It defines corporate culture as the shared beliefs, values and behaviors of a group. Understanding an organization's culture is important for executives to ensure success, for potential employees to assess fit, and to enable significant changes when needed. Corporate culture can be identified by examining artifacts like the physical workspace, communication styles, and reward systems. While difficult, corporate culture can be changed through consistent leadership driving a compelling vision for transformation.
This document discusses the differences between transactional leadership and transformational leadership. Transactional leadership focuses on exchanges between the leader and followers, setting goals and evaluating performance. Transformational leadership creates a shift in how people think and see their environment by inspiring a shared vision of the future and engaging people to feel part of something bigger. Transformational leaders challenge people, recognize untapped potential, and respond adaptively to situations.
How to understand and inprove your's lab working culture to archieve your goalsLAB IDEA
This document discusses changing the working culture in a medical laboratory. It begins by defining culture as "the way things get done around here" and explains that laboratories often contain multiple cultures. It then analyzes culture using models like the Star Model and Tribal Leadership theories. The document provides examples of how culture may differ between a small hospital laboratory and a large reference laboratory. Finally, it discusses common problems in changing laboratory culture and provides potential solutions, emphasizing the need to start simple and be consistent.
Harrison typologies of organizational cultureclase5pt09
Harrison identified four types of organizational cultures:
1. Power culture - centralized control through key loyal individuals, dependent on central leadership.
2. Role culture - bureaucracy based on rationality, specialization and defined roles/procedures.
3. Task culture - flexible project teams focused on results with distributed power/resources.
4. Person culture - organization exists only to serve individuals who band together around shared interests.
How the leaders of the US Navy and the rock band U2 connected with people so everyone wanted to gave their best efforts and align their behavior with group goals.
The document discusses developing leadership legacy through interpersonal communication and attitudes. It covers understanding workplace cultures, forms of leadership, and understanding employees. The author has a degree in media and public communication and has worked in medical research. The objectives are to develop a framework for basic leadership concepts, explore the importance of context, and enhance understanding of how to motivate employees. It provides an overview of the topics to be discussed.
This document discusses cultural approaches to understanding organizations. It begins by defining culture and providing examples of Malaysian culture. It then outlines prescriptive views of culture from Deal and Kennedy on strong cultures and Peters and Waterman on excellent cultures. Deal and Kennedy identify four components of strong cultures while Peters and Waterman describe eight themes of excellent cultures. Finally, the document discusses descriptive and explanatory approaches, noting that cultures are complicated, emergent, not unitary, and often ambiguous.
The document discusses organizational culture and the human mind. It defines culture as the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes one group from another. It describes the human mind as having three basic functions - thinking, feeling, and wanting. Thinking makes sense of the world through judging, analyzing, etc. Feeling tells us how we are doing through emotions. Wanting drives us to act through goals, desires, and motivations. Culture is a set of shared values, understandings, and assumptions passed down through generations that influence how people think and behave. Organizational culture is one type of culture that influences company operations and gives employees a sense of identity and pride.
1. The document discusses organizational culture and describes it as a shared belief system among members that guides behaviors and decision making.
2. It states that organizational culture is implicit rather than explicit, exists on multiple levels, and is complex, prescribing the right way to do things.
3. Creating a value-based culture requires interventions by HR to disrupt the status quo and change the organization through planned actions that build things like trust and transparency.
There are challenges while trying to integrate two corporate cultures during a merger. DRIVING MERGERS – How to lead a company through merger integrations focuses on those challenges. The article discusses the key leadership actions for successful merger integrations.
This document discusses organisational culture and provides details on its key characteristics and how it is created and sustained within an organisation. It describes organisational culture as the shared meanings and beliefs held by organisational members. Seven key characteristics of organisational culture are identified: innovation and risk taking, attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness, and stability. The document also examines how organisational culture is created by founders and kept alive through selection processes, leadership, and socializing new employees.
This document discusses the leadership style of servant leadership. Some key points:
1) Servant leadership focuses on serving the needs of team members rather than exercising authority. The leader prioritizes helping team members succeed over asserting their own power.
2) For project managers, servant leadership can help secure team buy-in and engagement. It encourages team members to take on leadership roles through delegation, training, and positive reinforcement.
3) While servant leadership emphasizes listening to followers, project managers must balance various stakeholder needs, including the project sponsor's objectives. Limiting scope changes and not allowing a single person's request to redefine the project are important.
4) Some find the term "servant
The document discusses organizational culture and how it forms and is maintained. It provides definitions of organizational culture and notes that culture is shared meanings held by members that distinguishes one organization from others. It also summarizes that culture is created and reinforced through various mechanisms like stories, rituals, language, and material symbols used by the organization. The document outlines key aspects of organizational culture like innovation, attention to detail, and team orientation. It also contrasts characteristics of two hypothetical organizations with different cultures.
The document discusses leadership perspectives from local entrepreneurs in Ghana. It presents a qualitative study examining how Ghanaians define and view good leadership based on their cultural and social contexts. Interview participants emphasized that good leaders in Ghana are compassionate advisors who have gained wisdom through life experiences overcoming hardship. Rather than focusing on traits or using people as means to business ends, Ghanaian leaders are expected to care for people's well-being and build friendly relationships based on shared knowledge and respect for family and community.
Organizational culture consists of shared assumptions, values, and behaviors within an organization. It operates on three levels - visible artifacts, espoused values, and deep basic assumptions. Culture provides identity, sense-making, control, and shapes employee behavior. It is communicated through socialization, role models, training, and rewards/punishments. Assessing and changing culture requires examining core values, hiring/socializing new members, cultural communication, and modifying behaviors through interventions.
Sustainability Edinburgh Personas introduction & workshopNeil Allison
The document discusses using personas to help focus website development on users' needs. It introduces the Sustainable Edinburgh website personas, including "Jack", a married father who works as a technician at the University. Jack prioritizes his family and hobbies over work and is skeptical that individual actions can address climate change. The personas are meant to represent real user groups and encourage empathy, consensus, and efficiencies in website design.
The document provides diagrams and descriptions of various models for analyzing organizations:
1) The 7S model describes the interrelated elements that define an organization including strategy, structure, systems, style, staff, skills, and shared values.
2) The 3Cs triangle model shows the relationships between an organization's customers, competitors, and suppliers.
3) The Buss portfolio model analyzes competitive position and product/market attractiveness to determine business strategy.
The document discusses congregational coaching, which involves training coaches to work with individual churches. Coaches help churches identify their strengths and gifts to better achieve their mission and goals. The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina developed a coaching program that trains people over several months to become certified congregational coaches. Coaches then work directly with churches to facilitate change and growth. Reports indicate congregational coaching has helped churches make improvements by utilizing members' talents and shifting roles and responsibilities.
Here are some suggestions for changing the culture of a public sector bank that has been taken over by a private sector bank:
1. Communicate the strategic rationale for the change clearly and consistently to all employees. Explain how the new culture and values will help the bank better serve customers.
2. Make customer-centricity and performance the top priorities. Reward and recognize employees who demonstrate these new values through their actions.
3. Bring in private sector talent to model the desired behaviors and mindset. Promote cultural ambassadors within the organization.
4. Provide training and development opportunities to help employees unlearn old ways and adapt to the new culture. Focus on building skills like initiative, accountability and teamwork.
This document summarizes key points about organizational culture from Chapter 9 of the textbook "Organizational Behaviour". It defines organizational culture as shared values, beliefs, and assumptions that guide appropriate behavior within an organization. A strong culture helps provide social cohesion but can also hinder change efforts. For a culture to be effectively changed, top management must model new behaviors, change stories and symbols, and select employees who embrace new values.
HOW TO HELP CREATE THE COMPANY CULTURE YOU WANTXPLANE
The document discusses how organizational culture can be influenced and changed through creating a culture map. It explains that a culture map visualizes the behaviors and values an organization wants at its core. Developing a culture map provides clarity around expectations, provides guidance, creates a common language, and inspires employees. While a map alone does not change culture, it must be referred to regularly, employees must help build it and be involved, and leadership must model the behaviors to make lasting cultural changes. The document also notes that culture change takes time and the map may need to evolve as the organization changes over time.
HOW TO HELP CREATE THE COMPANY CULTURE YOU WANTXPLANE
Organizational culture is commonly defined as
the human behaviors within an organization and the
underlying values that keep those behaviors in place. The
first step in influencing your organization’s culture is to
visualize the behaviors and values you want at the center of
the organization. We refer to this artifact as a culture map
Harrison typologies of organizational cultureclase5pt09
Harrison identified four types of organizational cultures:
1. Power culture - centralized control through key loyal individuals, dependent on central leadership.
2. Role culture - bureaucracy based on rationality, specialization and defined roles/procedures.
3. Task culture - flexible project teams focused on results with distributed power/resources.
4. Person culture - organization exists only to serve individuals who band together around shared interests.
How the leaders of the US Navy and the rock band U2 connected with people so everyone wanted to gave their best efforts and align their behavior with group goals.
The document discusses developing leadership legacy through interpersonal communication and attitudes. It covers understanding workplace cultures, forms of leadership, and understanding employees. The author has a degree in media and public communication and has worked in medical research. The objectives are to develop a framework for basic leadership concepts, explore the importance of context, and enhance understanding of how to motivate employees. It provides an overview of the topics to be discussed.
This document discusses cultural approaches to understanding organizations. It begins by defining culture and providing examples of Malaysian culture. It then outlines prescriptive views of culture from Deal and Kennedy on strong cultures and Peters and Waterman on excellent cultures. Deal and Kennedy identify four components of strong cultures while Peters and Waterman describe eight themes of excellent cultures. Finally, the document discusses descriptive and explanatory approaches, noting that cultures are complicated, emergent, not unitary, and often ambiguous.
The document discusses organizational culture and the human mind. It defines culture as the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes one group from another. It describes the human mind as having three basic functions - thinking, feeling, and wanting. Thinking makes sense of the world through judging, analyzing, etc. Feeling tells us how we are doing through emotions. Wanting drives us to act through goals, desires, and motivations. Culture is a set of shared values, understandings, and assumptions passed down through generations that influence how people think and behave. Organizational culture is one type of culture that influences company operations and gives employees a sense of identity and pride.
1. The document discusses organizational culture and describes it as a shared belief system among members that guides behaviors and decision making.
2. It states that organizational culture is implicit rather than explicit, exists on multiple levels, and is complex, prescribing the right way to do things.
3. Creating a value-based culture requires interventions by HR to disrupt the status quo and change the organization through planned actions that build things like trust and transparency.
There are challenges while trying to integrate two corporate cultures during a merger. DRIVING MERGERS – How to lead a company through merger integrations focuses on those challenges. The article discusses the key leadership actions for successful merger integrations.
This document discusses organisational culture and provides details on its key characteristics and how it is created and sustained within an organisation. It describes organisational culture as the shared meanings and beliefs held by organisational members. Seven key characteristics of organisational culture are identified: innovation and risk taking, attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness, and stability. The document also examines how organisational culture is created by founders and kept alive through selection processes, leadership, and socializing new employees.
This document discusses the leadership style of servant leadership. Some key points:
1) Servant leadership focuses on serving the needs of team members rather than exercising authority. The leader prioritizes helping team members succeed over asserting their own power.
2) For project managers, servant leadership can help secure team buy-in and engagement. It encourages team members to take on leadership roles through delegation, training, and positive reinforcement.
3) While servant leadership emphasizes listening to followers, project managers must balance various stakeholder needs, including the project sponsor's objectives. Limiting scope changes and not allowing a single person's request to redefine the project are important.
4) Some find the term "servant
The document discusses organizational culture and how it forms and is maintained. It provides definitions of organizational culture and notes that culture is shared meanings held by members that distinguishes one organization from others. It also summarizes that culture is created and reinforced through various mechanisms like stories, rituals, language, and material symbols used by the organization. The document outlines key aspects of organizational culture like innovation, attention to detail, and team orientation. It also contrasts characteristics of two hypothetical organizations with different cultures.
The document discusses leadership perspectives from local entrepreneurs in Ghana. It presents a qualitative study examining how Ghanaians define and view good leadership based on their cultural and social contexts. Interview participants emphasized that good leaders in Ghana are compassionate advisors who have gained wisdom through life experiences overcoming hardship. Rather than focusing on traits or using people as means to business ends, Ghanaian leaders are expected to care for people's well-being and build friendly relationships based on shared knowledge and respect for family and community.
Organizational culture consists of shared assumptions, values, and behaviors within an organization. It operates on three levels - visible artifacts, espoused values, and deep basic assumptions. Culture provides identity, sense-making, control, and shapes employee behavior. It is communicated through socialization, role models, training, and rewards/punishments. Assessing and changing culture requires examining core values, hiring/socializing new members, cultural communication, and modifying behaviors through interventions.
Sustainability Edinburgh Personas introduction & workshopNeil Allison
The document discusses using personas to help focus website development on users' needs. It introduces the Sustainable Edinburgh website personas, including "Jack", a married father who works as a technician at the University. Jack prioritizes his family and hobbies over work and is skeptical that individual actions can address climate change. The personas are meant to represent real user groups and encourage empathy, consensus, and efficiencies in website design.
The document provides diagrams and descriptions of various models for analyzing organizations:
1) The 7S model describes the interrelated elements that define an organization including strategy, structure, systems, style, staff, skills, and shared values.
2) The 3Cs triangle model shows the relationships between an organization's customers, competitors, and suppliers.
3) The Buss portfolio model analyzes competitive position and product/market attractiveness to determine business strategy.
The document discusses congregational coaching, which involves training coaches to work with individual churches. Coaches help churches identify their strengths and gifts to better achieve their mission and goals. The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina developed a coaching program that trains people over several months to become certified congregational coaches. Coaches then work directly with churches to facilitate change and growth. Reports indicate congregational coaching has helped churches make improvements by utilizing members' talents and shifting roles and responsibilities.
Here are some suggestions for changing the culture of a public sector bank that has been taken over by a private sector bank:
1. Communicate the strategic rationale for the change clearly and consistently to all employees. Explain how the new culture and values will help the bank better serve customers.
2. Make customer-centricity and performance the top priorities. Reward and recognize employees who demonstrate these new values through their actions.
3. Bring in private sector talent to model the desired behaviors and mindset. Promote cultural ambassadors within the organization.
4. Provide training and development opportunities to help employees unlearn old ways and adapt to the new culture. Focus on building skills like initiative, accountability and teamwork.
This document summarizes key points about organizational culture from Chapter 9 of the textbook "Organizational Behaviour". It defines organizational culture as shared values, beliefs, and assumptions that guide appropriate behavior within an organization. A strong culture helps provide social cohesion but can also hinder change efforts. For a culture to be effectively changed, top management must model new behaviors, change stories and symbols, and select employees who embrace new values.
HOW TO HELP CREATE THE COMPANY CULTURE YOU WANTXPLANE
The document discusses how organizational culture can be influenced and changed through creating a culture map. It explains that a culture map visualizes the behaviors and values an organization wants at its core. Developing a culture map provides clarity around expectations, provides guidance, creates a common language, and inspires employees. While a map alone does not change culture, it must be referred to regularly, employees must help build it and be involved, and leadership must model the behaviors to make lasting cultural changes. The document also notes that culture change takes time and the map may need to evolve as the organization changes over time.
HOW TO HELP CREATE THE COMPANY CULTURE YOU WANTXPLANE
Organizational culture is commonly defined as
the human behaviors within an organization and the
underlying values that keep those behaviors in place. The
first step in influencing your organization’s culture is to
visualize the behaviors and values you want at the center of
the organization. We refer to this artifact as a culture map
Organizational culture refers to the shared values, beliefs, and assumptions that develop within an organization. It exists at both visible and invisible levels. Key elements of organizational culture include assumptions, values, beliefs, and artifacts. Subcultures can form within organizations based on differences in member backgrounds. Merging organizational cultures requires strategies like assimilation, deculturation, integration, or separation. Leaders can change culture by introducing or removing artifacts that reinforce new values. The socialization process helps new members learn and adjust to an organization's culture.
There are four main types of organizational culture:
1. Role culture emphasizes clearly defined roles and hierarchical structures.
2. Achievement culture focuses on tasks and encourages innovation and collaboration.
3. Power culture values dominance, control, and obedience within strict hierarchies.
4. Support culture stresses relationships, communication, employee growth and looking after people's well-being.
1) Organizational culture refers to the shared assumptions, values, and beliefs that influence behavior within an organization. It is an important but often invisible aspect of an organization.
2) There are three levels of organizational culture - surface level artifacts, deeper values, and unconscious basic assumptions. Understanding an organization's culture involves analyzing all three levels.
3) A commonly used framework identifies seven dimensions that characterize organizational culture, including innovative, aggressive, outcome-oriented, and stable cultures. Understanding these dimensions can help analyze and manage an organization's culture.
Culture eats everything for breakfast! by Vladimir KelavaBosnia Agile
Bez obzira koliko su dobre vaše strategije za vođenje organizacije/tima, one vam neće pomoći ako je organizacijska/timska kultura loša. Procesi i prakse su važni, ali jednako važni su i vrednosti i principi. Bez njih, temelj je slab i disfunkcionalan.
Organizacije koje ovo razumiju gaje kulturu koja se temelji na jasno definiranim vrednostima koje su vodići principi kako bi se ljudi trebali ponašati i komunicirati, kako bi se trebale donositi odluke i kako bi se trebale provoditi svakodnevne aktivnosti. U takvim organizacijama vrednosti nisu samo “random” reči na plakatima koji vise u kompanijskim hodnicima…i nisu opisane u opštim i hladnim tektovima na kompanijskim portalima.
Organizacije koje ozbiljno pristupaju ovoj temi ne opisuju svoju kulturu putem linkedin, fejsbuk i instagram objava na kojima ljudi igraju stolni tensi, stolni fudbal i ispijaju pivo…uz komentar - “Pogledajte našu sjajnu kulturu”. Nemam ništa protiv zabave 😉 ali….
Pridružite nam se na radionici ako želite da diskutujete:
Šta je uopšte organizaciona/timska kultura?
Uticaj kulture na organizaciju/timove
Kako gajiti organizacionu/timsku kulturu?
Kako jasno definirane vrednosti mogu koristiti vašoj organizaciji/timu?
Espoused vs Enacted vrednosti
Šta je to Management 3.0 big Value List?
This document provides an overview of organizational culture and how leaders can shape culture. It discusses how culture serves important functions of internal integration and external adaptation. Strong, responsive cultures where priorities are customers, people and change have a positive impact on performance. Leaders influence culture through ceremonies, stories, symbols, language, selection processes, and daily actions. There are four main types of organizational culture - adaptability, achievement, involvement, and consistency - that emphasize different values. Ethical values and values-based leadership are also discussed.
In every organization there is a talk about organizational culture, that mysterious word that characterizes the qualities of a work environment. One of the key questions and assessments, when employers interview a prospective employee, explores whether the candidate is a good cultural fit. Culture is difficult to define, but you generally know when you have found an employee who appears to fit your culture. He just feels right.
This document discusses organizational culture and how it develops and is sustained within organizations. It defines organizational culture as shared meanings represented through patterns of beliefs, symbols, rituals and practices. A dominant culture expresses core values shared by most members, while subcultures can form around common experiences. A strong culture is characterized by intensely held and widely shared core values that align with strategy, environment and technology to increase effectiveness. Culture acts as a substitute for formal controls by influencing employee behavior. Founders and top management impact culture through actions and decisions, while socialization and learning through stories, rituals, symbols and language transmit culture to new employees over time.
Transforming your Workplace Culture from Toxic to HumanizedJostleKelly
This document discusses transforming workplace culture from toxic to humanized. It argues that culture is defined by the words, actions, thoughts and values that a company promotes. Most company cultures are disappointing because they are run like machines rather than prioritizing human aspects. The document provides tips for shifting culture, including starting with a values roadmap, connecting people, leadership setting an example, and actively celebrating successes. Case studies from companies like WestJet, Jostle and Vernon are presented that highlight specific recognition techniques and creating a sense of folklore around cultural values.
Agile Culture by Jasmina Nikolic and Suzanne DaigleAgile Humans
The document discusses how organizational culture can hinder the adoption of agile practices if the culture is not aligned with agile values. It provides several facts supporting this, such as that culture is more powerful than any other factor in an organization, and that implementing agile requires understanding and nurturing an agile mindset. It suggests approaches for changing culture, including using techniques like the World Cafe method to help teams discuss what agile culture means to them and what they can do to further an agile culture.
This document discusses organizational culture and leadership culture within credit unions. It begins by explaining that determining the type of culture a credit union aims to foster can be challenging for CEOs and board leaders. The document then explores what organizational culture means, how leaders can shape or change a culture, and 10 key elements that can build an effective boardroom culture, such as commitment to engagement, fostering teamwork, and building curiosity.
Rosalie cuy final assessment presentationRosalieCuy
Change management techniques can be used to change workplace culture. Assessing the current culture is important to identify areas for improvement. John Kotter's 8 step model is effective for cultural change and includes creating urgency, building a team, developing a vision, communicating the vision, empowering others, producing short-term wins, sustaining change, and making the change stick. Affecting cultural shift takes time and sustained commitment from management.
The document discusses corporate culture and how it affects business decisions. It defines corporate culture as the norms, values and communication styles within an organization. Cultural differences between stakeholders can influence decision-making. Successful companies like HP and Southwest Airlines are conscious of their unique cultures and work to maintain them. Changing an organization's culture requires consistent goals, role clarity, shared rewards and other factors. Cultural awareness is important for business management across borders.
A comperative study of organizational culture of sbi, icici, hdfc bankshweta mukherjee
This document is a mentoring report on the organizational culture of State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank. It includes an introduction to organizational culture, objectives of the study which are to study the current culture of the three banks and compare them to determine the best culture. The report will analyze data collected on the banks' cultures to draw inferences. It aims to generate information on the current work cultures and employees' perspectives within the banks.
This document discusses organizational culture and provides a model for measuring it. It defines organizational culture as the shared values, beliefs, and assumptions that guide behavior in an organization. The document then presents the Denison Organizational Culture Model, which measures culture using four traits: involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission. It describes how each trait is divided into further subdimensions and how an organization's scores in these areas can be plotted on a circular chart. The document concludes by providing an example culture profile for a Chinese company using this model.
EACH OF US HAS A UNIOUE PERSONATIW thAt iNf IUCNCESact and i.docxsagarlesley
EACH OF US HAS A UNIOUE PERSONATIW thAt iNf IUCNCES
act and inieract. An oi'ganizatian has a personaiity too-we call
the way we
it CULTUBE
Iture !l"lcre 's what Y0U need'to know about organizational cu
E l-t Ortine what organizational culture
m
is and explain why it's important.
@ Crnrre is perceived. lt's not some-
thing that can be physically touched or
seen, but employees perceive it on the
basis of what they experience within the
organization.
s
_q
s
oq
@
@ Crnrre is descriptive. lts concerned
with how members perceive or describe
the culture, not with whether they like it
@ crnrre is Even though indi-
viduals may have different backgrounds
or work at different organizational levels,
they tend to describe the organization's
culture in similar terms.
,r.! li lI il i.it, i :l.r:aI f.i !: :i I .:; ;i j!; i 1,.: ;.; l
Tle siareil,r:irel, prirlples, raiiiilrr. eril l,rays ll Jciril
lhh!,ls lirat irilLrriIJ. lhe rfa,l !f!3rilaiiur.i nteniref$ a.t
E
What ls
0 rga n )zati ona I Gu ltu re?
Google has created a
creative and innovative
culture at their headquarters
in Cahfornia with an android
googleplex, bikes, and
bringing your dog to work.
E
!
o
i
E
soo
F
o
45 '"
Dimensions of Organizational Cu lture
Exhibit 2-4
ffi ffi
i that binds them into a community and reminds
i tfrem of "who we are."
I
i describe equipment, key personnel, customers,
_ ] suppliers, processes, products.
ffi
H
I
E
#
ffi M
@
m
@
How Can Culture Be Described?
The seven dimensions (shown in Exhibit 2-41:33
. Bange from /ow(not typical of the culture) to high (especially typical of the culture).
o Provide a composite picture of the organization's culture.
An organization's culture may be shaped by one particular cultural dimension more than the others, thus influencing the
organization s personality and the way organizational members work. For example:
-Applebfocus
is product innovation (innovation and risktaking). The company "lives and breathes" new
product development and employees' work behaviors support that goal.
-Southwest
AL7lrnes has made its employees a central part of its culture (people orientation) and shows this
through the way it treats them.
; Usually reflects the vlsion or mission of founders. i gqlr-a]lnal,stories:
narrative tales of significant
I events or people.
Founders project an image of whatthe organization Gorporate rituals: repetitive sequences of activities
should be and what its values are. I that express and reinforce important organizational
I values and goals.
Founders can "impose" their vision on employees
because of new organization's small size.
f-
lrMaterial symbols or artifacts. layout of facilities,
i how employees dress, size of offices, materlal perks
i provided to executives, furnishings, and so forth.
: special urr*yn.rr, *iqr. termslo
Where Does Culture Come From? How Do Employees Leam the Culture?
How Does 0rganizational Culture Affect Managers?
Ambrosia Humphrey, vice preside ...
This document outlines the table of contents for a paper on organizational culture and leadership. The document covers topics such as the influence of leaders on culture, how culture is created, characteristics of organizational culture, how culture affects leadership, and the importance of trust and leadership in culture. It also compares traditional American and Indian leadership styles and discusses how culture shapes leadership and vice versa.
1. strategy+business
FORTHCOMING IN ISSUE 62 SPRING 2011
BY JON KATZENBACH AND ASHLEY HARSHAK
Stop Blaming Your Culture
Start using it instead — to reinforce and build
the new behaviors that will give you the
high-performance company you want.
PREPRINT
REPRINT 00000
3. STOP
BLAMING
YOUR
CULTURE
features organizations & people
organizations & people
by Jon Katzenbach and Ashley Harshak
Start using it instead —
to reinforce and build the
new behaviors that will
give you the high-performance
company you want.
2
When Alfred M. (Al) Gray Jr. became commandant in battle fatigues in his formal portrait in the Pentagon.
(the highest-ranking officer) of the U.S. Marine Corps He is one of the most respected leaders in the Marines’
in 1987, most knowledgeable observers believed that the 250-year history.
Corps’s fabled “warrior spirit” culture was already dam- Leaders like Gray understand the value of an or-
aged beyond repair. During the Korean and Vietnam ganization’s culture. This can be defined as the set of
Wars, the Corps had grown from its historic level of deeply embedded, self-reinforcing behaviors, beliefs,
75,000 regulars to more than 200,000, and its values and mind-sets that determine “how we do things
and discipline had eroded. It would have been easy for around here.” People within an organizational culture
Gray to blame the damaged organizational culture for share a tacit understanding of the way the world works,
Illustration by Michael Klein
the problems he inherited, and to launch a formal, full- their place in it, the informal and formal dimensions of
scale change initiative. But instead, he began to praise their workplace, and the value of their actions. Though
and seek out elements of the old Corps culture, such it seems intangible, the culture has a substantial influ-
as its ethic of mutual respect. For example, he regularly ence on everyday actions and on performance.
slipped into the mess halls without insignia, so he would Organizational cultures don’t change very quickly.
be served the same meals as the privates. To this day, Al Therefore, if you are seeking change in your company
Gray is the only Marine Corps commandant portrayed or institution, you are most likely to succeed using your
4. Jon Katzenbach Ashley Harshak
jon.katzenbach@booz.com ashley.harshak@booz.com
is a senior partner with Booz is a London-based partner
& Company. Based in New with Booz & Company. He is
York, he leads the Katzenbach part of the firm’s organization,
Center, which focuses on in- change, and leadership prac-
novative ideas in leadership, tice, with a focus on the public
organization, culture, and hu- sector and financial services.
man capital. He is the author
or coauthor of nine books,
including Leading Outside the
Lines: How to Mobilize the (In)
Formal Organization, Energize
Your Team, and Get Better
Results (with Zia Khan; Jossey-
Bass, 2010).
existing culture to help you change the behaviors that intended performance goals.
matter most. Bit by bit, as these new behaviors prove Alternatively, leaders may try to ignore their culture
their value through business results, the culture you and act as if it isn’t important. But when overlooked,
features organizations
features management & people
have can evolve into the culture you need. the hidden power of a company’s culture can thwart
any leader’s strategic aspirations. No matter how many
Blame and Its Alternatives top-down directives you issue, they will rarely be exe-
When a new leader’s strategy puts the culture of a com- cuted, at least not with the emotional commitment and
pany at risk, the culture will trump the strategy, almost consistency needed to make them successful.
every time. There are good reasons for this. Every com- This is not to say that your existing culture is sac-
pany’s identity — the body of capabilities and practices rosanct. Indeed, many companies need some kind of
that distinguish it and make it effective — is grounded culture change. There are passive-aggressive cultures
in the way people think and behave. Deeply embedded where people routinely fail to follow through on their
cultural influences tend to persist; they change far more agreements, creative but undisciplined cultures where
slowly than marketplace factors, and cause significant talented people pull in different directions, and highly
morale problems when not addressed effectively. When politicized bureaucratic cultures that must bear the ex-
your strategy and culture clash visibly, more likely than pense of their heavy-handed management style.
not, the culture is trying to tell you something about But when you fight your culture head-on or ignore
36
3
your own leadership philosophy. it altogether during a change initiative, you lose the
But many leaders overlook this message. They chance of reviving some of the attitudes and behaviors
blame the company’s culture for the resistance they that once made your company powerful — and might
encounter. In the most extreme cases, they assume an do so again. Several studies (including one conducted
explicit mandate for wholesale cultural change. This by Booz & Company and the Bertelsmann Foundation
leads them to remove key leaders and old practices, in 2004) suggest a correlation between financial results
restructure operations, set in place new rewards and and a strong, inspiring organizational culture. The cor-
promotions, and announce other across-the-board pro- relation is hardly surprising; after all, cultures influence
grammatic changes. This approach is costly, disrup- and energize the behaviors that matter most. Procter &
tive, and risky. Moreover, it takes years to accomplish. Gamble, Southwest Airlines, Apple, Tata, Starbucks,
Working in a culture that is under attack reduces em- and FedEx are among the household-name companies
ployees’ energy and de-motivates them. It may require noted for unique cultures that contribute significantly
strategy+business issue 62
a major marketplace or economic disruption to get to their competitive advantage.
people to buy in. Clearly, this is not a game for the faint Fortunately, there is an effective, accessible way to
of heart. Worst of all, it is rarely successful; few deal with cultural challenges. Don’t blame your cul-
major corporate transformations, especially those in- ture; use it purposefully. View it as an asset: a source
volving a wholesale change in the culture, achieve their of energy, pride, and motivation. Learn to work with it
5. and within it. Discern the elements of the culture that the realities of organizational culture. As we’ll see, be-
are congruent with your strategy. Figure out which of havior can influence beliefs at least as much as the other
the old constructive behaviors embedded in your cul- way around.
ture can be applied to accelerate the changes that you • “We don’t really know how to change our culture, so
want. Find ways to counterbalance and diminish other let’s escape it.” There’s a long tradition, going back to
elements of the culture that hinder you. In this way, Lockheed Aircraft’s Skunk Works in the 1940s, of cre-
you can initiate, accelerate, and sustain truly beneficial ating pockets of entrepreneurial activity for high-perfor-
change — with far less effort, time, and expense, and mance results. These are explicitly intended to operate
with better results, than many executives expect. outside the prevailing culture. They may thrive for a
Edgar H. Schein, author of The Corporate Culture few years, but they are typically treated as outliers by
Survival Guide (rev. ed., Jossey-Bass, 2009) and a lead- the rest of the company. Eventually, they are either spun
ing authority on organizational culture, tells a story that off or absorbed back into the mainstream, succumbing
illustrates the unexpected leverage this approach offers. to the company’s cultural malaise. “Our culture kills
(See “A Corporate Climate of Mutual Help,” by Art even our most innovative efforts” thus becomes a self-
Kleiner and Rutger von Post, s+b, Spring 2011.) Three fulfilling prophecy. One of the most famous of these
senior executives of a large manufacturing company — efforts was General Motors’ ill-fated Saturn brand,
the CEO, chief operating officer (COO), and head of or- modeled after the culture of Japanese automakers and
ganizational development — visited him, seeking advice set up to run separately and independently — but even-
features title of the article people
features organizations &
on building a more dynamic culture. “Just yesterday,” tually overtaken by GM’s culture.
said the COO, “I had my regular meeting with subor- • “Leave culture to the people professionals.” Ex-
dinates. We have a big circular room, and everybody ecutives with an engineering, finance, or technology
sits in the same place each time. But get this — only background often feel ill-equipped to deal with cultural
four people were present this time, and they still sat at issues. They delegate them to their human resources,
the far ends of this great big table. Do you see what I’m organizational development, or communications teams.
up against?” “It’s all about the ‘soft’ side,” say the executives. “We
“What did you do about it?” asked Schein. have to improve our employee engagement scores.” But
The executives responded at first with blank stares. the quality of the culture is as much a product of the
Then they realized they were part of the system they “hard” side of the organization (strategies, structures,
were blaming. The COO could have made a small but processes, and programs) as it is of the soft side (beliefs,
significant change simply by asking the four of them to opinions, feelings, networks, and communities of com-
move their chairs. Better yet, he could ask the full team mon interest). Although your internal professionals can
to vary their seating at the next meeting. The executives measure and monitor behavior as well as advise line
4
spent the next several hours figuring out other minor management on culture issues, they cannot motivate,
actions of that sort, which they put in place the follow- execute, or implement strategic or performance impera-
ing week, with great success. tives. Ensuring behavior change that drives competitive
advantage is the role of line leaders at multiple levels.
Myths of Culture Change • “Culture is the job of the top leaders.” It is very
Why don’t corporate leaders naturally respond to cul- powerful when the CEO and other top executives
ture in this productive way? Because of several myths take explicit personal accountability for the company’s
about culture change that have become prevalent in culture. But senior leaders cannot change cultures by
the business world. Each of these assumptions leads to themselves. They operate at such a large scale, and with
treacherous pitfalls. such broad visibility, that they cannot directly motivate
• “Our culture is the root of all our problems.” This people to implement the specific practices and behaviors
becomes an all-purpose, convenient excuse for perfor- that are required. To succeed with a culture interven-
mance shortfalls. “Our process-oriented culture inhibits tion, top leaders need the support of many leaders down
collaboration,” managers say. Or “our long-standing be- the line — particularly those who have daily contact
liefs about nurturing people make us coddle weak per- with the people whose behavior change is most critical.
formers.” Underlying this myth is a view that attitudes Sometimes, this myth manifests itself at the board
and beliefs shape people’s behavior. This view ignores level. Directors assume that the only way to improve
6. Senior leaders cannot change
cultures by themselves.
They need the support of many
leaders down the line.
performance is to replace the current CEO with an- cal farmers improve their productivity. Would you start
other top leader who can bring forth a new and bet- by trying to overhaul their culture to be more like your
ter culture. Because they are looking for someone who country’s culture? Or would you set out to learn more
features organizations
features management & people
promises major change, the company inevitably gets a about the way they thought, looking for connections to
full-scale culture overhaul — with all the expense, risk, your ideas, giving them reasons to feel confident about
disruption, and likely failure involved. trying something new? The former approach might
make you feel more important at first, but it would
Working with and within Your Culture likely fail — or at best, take years to accomplish. In
Each of these myths plays out differently. But under- contrast, offering a few new methods might generate
lying all of them is a big dose of defeatism. Culture is an approving early response, and those practices would
thought to be too big to ignore, too tough to conquer, spread as they produced results. The same is true in
and too soft to understand (at least by typical managers). your company.
Thinking this way, especially when there have been pre- As Schein puts it, “Always think first of the culture
vious culture change disappointments, is enough to sap as your source of strength.” Tapping into the emotion-
your energy and enthusiasm for change. It can squelch ally gripping aspects of your existing culture can accel-
any realistic effort toward high performance before you erate performance. For example, a deep commitment
gain the momentum necessary for sustainable success. to customer service may exist, even in companies that
5
By contrast, working with and within a culture is are losing customers. This can be drawn upon in efforts
sensible, practical, and effective. Thus, it is inherently to improve customer retention rates. The ability to di-
energizing. When leaders learn to operate this way, their agnose the beneficial attributes of a culture, and then
employees tend to become more productive and their use them to motivate strategically important behavior,
own efforts become more rewarding. is one of the key factors that differentiate peak-perform-
The first thing to change is the view that, as a lead- ing organizations from the also-rans in their field.
er, you can fix your culture by working on it directly. A corporate culture takes some of its attributes from
Rarely is that the case. Just as you typically can’t argue the professional and educational background of partici-
someone out of a deeply held belief, you can’t force peo- pants. An electronics engineering–driven company like
ple to change the way they think and feel about their Hewlett-Packard has a very different cultural ambi-
work. Instead, you need to focus on specific behaviors ance from a pharmaceutical firm like Pfizer, a bank like
that solve real problems and deliver real results. This, in JPMorgan Chase, or a “metal-bending” manufacturer
strategy+business issue 62
turn, enables people to experience the results of think- like GM. Culture is also influenced by the attitudes of
ing differently. Experience becomes a better teacher the founders, the location of the headquarters, the types
than logical argument. of customers that the company serves, and the experi-
Imagine that you were an advisor from an industri- ences people have together. That’s why different com-
alized nation, sent to a remote island village to help lo- panies in the same broad industry, such as HP, Apple,
7. — along with Aetna’s then president, Ronald Williams,
who became CEO upon Rowe’s retirement and is now
the company’s chairman — led one of the most success-
ful turnarounds in U.S. corporate history. In five years,
Aetna went from losing $1 million per day to earning $5
million per day.
The Rowe/Williams effort was the fourth attempt
to transform Aetna’s strategic performance in 15 years.
The previous three efforts were derailed by the culture,
Microsoft, Intel, Acer, IBM, and Dell, can succeed with which was known within the company as “Mother Aet-
such different cultures. Within an overarching corpo- na.” This mind-set pitted the 40,000 employees of Aet-
rate culture, there are generally several subcultures, na against everyone else the company had to deal with,
features title of the article people
features organizations &
each with its own unique elements. Schein writes that for example, doctors, patients, medical providers (such
these can include an operational culture, spurred by line as hospitals), and the employers who bought insurance.
managers eager to get the most out of their people; a This “us-against-them” attitude had given Aetna a repu-
senior executive culture, grounded in financial insight tation as the most suspicious, recalcitrant, and bureau-
and training; and an engineering culture, in which at- cratic health insurance company in the United States.
tention is focused on the technology. All three previous top-down change interventions tried
To understand your culture, you need to pay close to increase the staff’s empathy for customer organiza-
attention to its quiet, sometimes hidden, manifesta- tions, sensitivity to doctors, and responsiveness to pa-
tions, such as the side conversations in the hallways, tients. Two efforts basically ignored the culture, and the
the informal consultations behind closed doors, and the third tried to smash it apart. All failed.
incisive guidance that people get when they ask one an- Rowe often describes himself as the least likely per-
other for advice. It is also evident in the formal lines of son for the Aetna board of directors to pick as CEO.
the organization chart and the ways in which directives “I never ran a business,” he says. “I had never been to
are worded. Cultures can be diagnosed best by the work business school, or had any commercial management
6
behaviors they promote. Do people collaborate easily? experience. The only thing I’d ever done was take care
Do they make decisions individually or in groups? Are of patients and try to make hospitals do better.” That
they open with their information? Do they reflect on willingness to admit he didn’t know everything served
successes and failures and learn from them? him well. He started by identifying about 100 people
As you move from diagnosing to improving behav- throughout Aetna as “nonhierarchical influencers.” He
iors, focus first on the few critical changes that matter sought them out informally, asking them to help him
most and support getting the work done, thereby accel- understand how employees felt — about customers and
erating the results you want. Make use of both formal patients, about their own work, and about the goals of
and informal mechanisms. the company. These people acted as what anthropolo-
gists call key informants: cultural guides who could
Turning Around Mother Aetna help him get to know the company more intimately
One executive leader who worked expertly with his ex- than he ever would through purely formal channels. He
isting culture was John W. (Jack) Rowe, CEO of Aetna stayed in touch with them continually, through e-mail,
Inc. from 2000 through 2006, chairman from 2001 one-on-one visits, and group discussions. They gradu-
through 2006, and currently on the faculty of Colum- ally became the core of a group of people who shaped
bia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. A and supported Aetna’s new strategic direction.
former gerontologist at Harvard Medical School, Rowe Second, he set out to reconsider the company’s
8. compassionate way, with a clear rationale for those cho-
sen to leave, and with pay increases and stock options
(along with an increased work week) for those who re-
mained. Rather than worrying that their jobs might be
next, the remaining staff at Aetna now had a culture
that they had helped define, in which they felt more a
part of the growth direction.
Rowe and Williams also commissioned a cross-
organizational effort to build motivational capability
shared values. Aetna had been in business since 1819 among the most respected frontline supervisors in the
(in its current form, since 1853), and its company state- company. These “master motivators” were respected by
ments about such values as honesty, caring, truthful- their peers; they connected widely and virally in ways
features organizations
features management & people
ness, and teamwork were long established. But they that energized many of the changes.
weren’t congruent; he uncovered at least a dozen dif-
ferent formal values statements that various leaders had The Power of Behavior Change
put forth over the past decades. So Rowe set up dia- The notion that behavior change leads to attitude
logues in Aetna offices around the U.S., on the subject change can be traced back to the 1950s, to psychologist
“Why aren’t our shared values practiced in interactions Leon Festinger and his theory of cognitive dissonance.
with our customers?” People discussed this question in Festinger argued that when people are induced to act in
groups of about 30, defining specific ways in which they new ways, even if those new behaviors feel unfamiliar or
(and others) might act differently. wrong at first, their need for consistency will gradually
After 20 or more such events, Rowe worked with affect the way they think and feel. They will seek out
several of his colleagues to write up a new statement reasons to justify their new actions — both rationally
of values and behaviors. He also set up what came to and emotionally.
be called purpose-driven councils — cross-functional Behavior change affects attitudes most powerfully
groups designed to find ways to make critical changes when it is supported by empirical evidence and real-life
40
7
happen. Rowe and his team designed these councils observation of better results. Direct experience trumps
with three distinctive characteristics. First, they as- the old beliefs of an established culture. If that experi-
signed each an explicit purpose, such as organizational ence is reinforced by a group of people, then it is far
effectiveness (developing a plan for restructuring the easier to change a culture than most people believe. But
company) or strategic direction (developing a plan for you must focus on changing the behavior rather than
prioritizing customer opportunities). Second, they en- engaging with the culture directly.
listed members who were well respected by their col- In emphasizing behavior, you are looking for those
leagues and who had many informal connections. few actions, conducted again and again, that will lead
Third, they gave the councils decision authority over to better values (and thus to better results). Make clear
the areas they were investigating. The strategy council’s the distinctions among the values you want to develop,
efforts eventually led Aetna to spin off its financial-ser- the one-time actions you are changing, and the recur-
vices businesses and discontinue some unprofitable of- ring behaviors you hope to instill. A commitment to
strategy+business issue 62
ferings, such as health insurance in certain countries. service, for example, is a value. When a retail salesper-
The new formal practices were congruent with the son expresses that value by helping a customer exchange
values in the culture. For example, the executives laid a purchase, that’s an action. When the salesperson does
off about 15,000 people, or almost one-third of the this routinely, knowing that over time it will help so-
workforce. But they did it in a relatively transparent, lidify customer loyalty to the store, it’s a behavior.
9. Repeated behaviors have
cultural impact because they are contagious.
People unconsciously imitate
what they see others do.
Similarly, frugality in government is a value. When a In moving people to change behaviors, you will
prime minister flies on a commercial airline once (as need to rely on both rational arguments and emotional
U.K. leader David Cameron did to the U.S. in July appeal. On the rational side, you need to make a case
features title of the article people
features organizations &
2010, shortly after his election), that’s an action. When for change: Here’s why this particular behavior is need-
the prime minister does this consistently, as Singapore ed. Help people recognize, for example, how the new
leader Lee Hsien Loong does, that’s a behavior — and it behaviors will support the firm’s business strategy, will
is likely to have much more cultural impact. improve customer retention rates, or will be received by
Thus, if you are seeking more accountability, iden- Wall Street analysts.
tify the types of ongoing behavior that embody that But emotional factors will undoubtedly matter
value. You might have to be specific: “I expect you to even more. Compassion, fairness, and environmental
read, record, and respond to every customer complaint responsibility are very convincing motivators. So are
— and I will reward or penalize you accordingly.” relief from anxiety and the opportunity to work more
These new behaviors can be startlingly simple. Years congenially with other people. Many employees will
ago, Shell Oil Company (a subsidiary of Royal Dutch/ likely be concerned about how the changes will affect
Shell PLC) had a reliability problem in the global refin- their peers, their own ability to take pride in their work,
ery system. It was traced back to the safety and quality their work–life balance, and their family’s and commu-
control processes, which were designed at the central nity’s reactions, as well as the firm’s reputation. These
8
office but not followed consistently at the refineries. issues must be addressed at a gut level, to ensure that ac-
Instead of launching a broad accountability initiative, ceptance of the change will be genuine, enthusiastic,
a peer group of managers convinced the executive lead- and widespread.
ers to institute one new behavior. Before initiating any Understanding without acceptance and commit-
new process, central office managers had to ask local ment will not suffice. Nor will acceptance and com-
people how they could best introduce it. That simple mitment suffice without discipline, alignment, and the
behavior change, conducted by just a handful of cor- right capabilities. The rational and emotional elements
porate executives, ensured consistent implementation of need to align to yield sustainable change.
the new process.
Repeated behaviors have cultural impact because Pragmatic Practices
they are contagious. People unconsciously imitate what Numerous principles for changing culture through be-
they see others do. This is particularly true among re- havior have become evident through ongoing practice.
spected colleagues; mutual respect is a powerful source • Start pragmatically. Don’t try to change every-
of influence. Even small changes in behavior, if they thing at once. Focus on a few critical behaviors that
are picked up by more than one individual, can ripple resonate with your current culture, but that will raise
through an organization as others see their value and your organization’s performance. Explicitly identify
begin to act accordingly. the target group — the employees whose behavior needs
10. to change — and bring the necessary changes to life by orative work across functional silos, Reliant identified
demonstrating them. the people who had to act differently in order for the
• Reinforce the new behaviors through formal and new behavior to take hold. Then, through a combina-
informal means. Provide formal metrics, incentives, and tion of training, incentives, and peer-to-peer reinforce-
process guidance that lead people to practice these new ment, Reliant induced these individuals to change first.
behaviors again and again, until they experience their This effort enabled the company to capture $600 mil-
value. For example, set up appraisals, salary reviews, lion of value during the first nine months.
and training to reinforce and reward the new behaviors Any leader can do something similar, but take care
you seek. At the same time, develop informal connec- that the effort is simple, clearly focused, collectively re-
tions that foster the responsiveness and emotional com- inforcing, and not threatening to those who aren’t in-
mitment needed to deal with the unexpected. When cluded. Suppose that you’re the head of strategy, frus-
there’s a challenging situation, like Shell’s reliability trated at the way such new directives are executed. Have
features organizations
features management & people
issue, cultivate support networks of people who can as- the top leadership identify 10 people who are linchpins
sess it and put in place actions not prescribed by process of strategy execution — whose participation is critical
and procedure. to any serious strategic effort. Bring them together to
• Seek out role models for the new behavior. Start talk about the barriers they face when trying to execute
with the most effective practitioners, the people who new ideas, and the ways that they might overcome those
distinguish themselves by the way they act. We often boundaries. Look for places where resources can be or-
call these individuals pride builders because their exam- ganized differently, and develop an agenda accordingly.
ple helps instill pride about the behavior change. They • Use the culture you already have. Take pains to stay
can also help you find ways to get others to adopt the within the most essential tenets of the existing culture.
same behavior. This work is sometimes known as look- Make sure you understand clearly the reasons that cur-
ing for positive deviance. rent practices exist before you try to change them. In
Several years ago, Bell Canada — a 35,000-em- the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010,
ployee telecommunications company owned by BCE many oil companies are being forced to change their
Inc. — started with a dozen such pride builders. They safety and environmental practices. It can be surprising-
42
9
rapidly became exemplars for others, and they helped ly difficult to do so, because the existing performance
explain to the executives why people did not always contracts include strict requirements about timing
adhere to the critical behaviors. The CEO then asked and deadlines. The only way around this is to explic-
the group to help develop at least 1,000 more exem- itly rethink those restrictions, taking on the difficult
plars by the end of the year. Each member of the first challenge of designing new behaviors that can improve
group identified 10 or more other pride builders, and safety while maintaining an acceptable pace. What is
the group took off exponentially. With several more it- required here is an integration of process discipline and
erations, this effort directly touched more than 15,000 individual initiative and the courage to step up when
employees — more than a third of the entire workforce the unexpected occurs.
— by the end of the year. • Model what matters most. Be a visible and con-
• Enlist your current “cultural carriers.” These are sistent role model of the behavior change you want to
the people who are well positioned to transmit behaviors see in others. When he was interim CEO of General
strategy+business issue 62
to others, and who can be developed to spread the posi- Motors leading the company’s remarkable transforma-
tive elements of the existing culture. In the early 2000s, tion after the U.S. government bailout in 2009, Fritz
Reliant Energy recognized the value of cultural carriers Henderson repeatedly admonished his staff to be “in-
during an operational performance improvement pro- dividually and collectively accountable,” which meant
gram. After defining a small set of behaviors for collab- focusing only on activities directly linked to business
11. results. Henderson’s remarks didn’t have much impact tored into where you decide to compete, how you intend
until he provided examples. He posted e-mails with ty- to win, and what operating model you work within.
pos, showing that quick decisions were more important As you continue to work with and within your cul-
than painstaking attention to appearances. There were ture, you will find it continually changes, keeping pace
also more dramatic examples, like making nearly every with the changes in the marketplace. Your operating
major decision on the spot himself rather than waiting model and the execution of your strategy will change
for consensus. accordingly. To be sure, deeply embedded cultures
Perhaps the most telling moment came when Hen- change slowly — far more slowly than the business en-
derson was handed a 300-page binder of backup infor- vironment. But some cultural elements can adapt more
mation as part of his preparation for testifying before rapidly, particularly if you encourage your pride build-
the U.S. Congress. The next day, he asked his chief ers, culture carriers, and leading-edge thinkers to ex-
of staff to tell the research team to stop. “It must have periment with new ideas, such as digital media or new
taken 20 people a month to produce this report. And forms of customer service, and spread their experience
I’ll never use it. I’d rather have incomplete information through the networks that you have fostered.
[than this unnecessary work].” Whatever happens in the outside world, however,
• Clarify the specific implications of the new behavior. keep your internal focus on the few critical behaviors
The new CEO of a large financial-services institution that matter most — those that determine your strategic
announced one of his highest priorities: a new approach and operating performance. Find ways to measure both
features title of the article people
features organizations &
to managing the trade-offs on uncertain deals, which he the behavior change itself, and the results it produces.
called taking measured risks. Although he talked about Resist the temptation to attempt changes in the
it constantly, and employees understood its importance, behaviors, attitudes, and values of the system all at once.
many people still needed more guidance. “I work in le- Remember, it is much easier to act your way into new
gal,” someone might say, “and I’m not sure what this thinking than to think your way into new actions. +
means to me. Am I supposed to be taking more risks, Reprint No. 11108
or am I supposed to help others by pulling on the reins
when they go too far?” The answer might well have
been “a bit of both,” but it needed to be spelled out.
Similarly, in the midst of any cost reduction exer-
cise, people need guidance about new behaviors. How Resources
will they monitor expenses from now on? How should Joel Cooper, Cognitive Dissonance: Fifty Years of a Classic Theory (Sage,
they call attention to wasteful activities that they do 2007): Solid introduction to Leon Festinger’s grand idea and its rel-
not control? If a utility shifts from being a government- evance to today’s conflicts.
10
owned enterprise to a privately held company, the cul- Jon Katzenbach and Zia Khan, Leading Outside the Lines: How to Mo-
ture may need to become more focused on customer bilize the (In)Formal Organization, Energize Your Team, and Get Better
Results (Jossey-Bass, 2010): Integrating formal and informal measures
service. What kinds of things could people do different- (with more on the Aetna story).
ly? What kinds of regular reminders can be put in place Jon Katzenbach and Zia Khan, “Leading Outside the Lines,” s+b, Sum-
to reinforce key behaviors? Which aspects of subscriber mer 2010, www.strategy-business.com/article/10204: How StockPot, a
outreach matter most? division of Campbell’s Soup, used metrics to shift cultural behavior.
Richard Pascale, Jerry Sternin, and Monique Sternin, The Power of Posi-
tive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World’s Toughest Prob-
Culture Consciousness in Times of Change
lems (Harvard Business Press, 2010): Changing behavior by championing
Every corporate culture has behaviors that will help you people who get better results.
enable the change you want and others that will hinder Edgar H. Schein, The Corporate Culture Survival Guide (rev. ed., Jossey-
it. As you become skilled at picking the enablers out and Bass, 2009): Realistic, masterful handbook for diagnosing your culture
developing them, this kind of adaptability will become and raising its tacit assumptions to the surface.
part of your own distinctive corporate identity. This is The Katzenbach Center website, www.booz.com/global/home/what_
we_think/katzenbach_center: Ongoing source of research and insight on
critical to the lasting success of peak-performing en- culture change theories and methods.
terprises. Your culture can thus become a major factor
For more thought leadership on this topic, visit s+b’s website at:
supporting your strategy. Its overall strengths are one of www.strategy-business.com/organizations_and_people.
your company’s intangible assets, and it should be fac-