Revitalize Your Corporate Culture

Franklin C. Ashby, Ph.D.

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780884152798
• eBook ISBN: 9781136012570
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Adapt or die—this is the simple choice that business has always faced. Here's a valuable guide to the how's, what's, when's, and why's of that choice. 'Revitalize Your Corporate Culture' will help you to: *Diagnose your company's culture *Understand the features of a positive corporate culture *Design a strategy for an effective culture change *Gain the full support of staff to implement a new, positive culture *Maintain the momentum after the new corporate culture plan is in place *Shared values and unwritten rules (your company's culture) can profoundly enhance—or destroy—economic success. This book supplies all the steps necessary to increase productivity, make your organization more cost effective, and help you change your organization into a more dynamic, innovative, and collaborative organization. Whether you are a senior executive or a middle-level manager, this book gives you techniques that will motivate, encourage, and prepare your staff to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

C H A P T E R 1

The Nature of
Organizational
Cultures

There’s no doubt that the world is changing at a rate never before experienced or even imagined. Whole industries are born and extinguished—seemingly overnight. Those who lead, anticipate, and benefit from these rapid changes have in many cases become tremendously successful. Those who were unprepared, surprised, or overwhelmed, however, found themselves falling behind their competitors. Many of these organizations have sustained major losses or have completely gone out of business.

One reason companies fail to meet this challenge is complacency with the long-established systems and procedures in which they have always worked. They’ve become slaves to the culture—the organizational way of life—in which they are comfortable. To survive, managers must look at the thought processes that their organizations follow with a sense of constructive discontent. They must determine whether the practices they are using are bringing the desired results. If they’re not, they must be prepared to make whatever changes are needed to guide the organization to improvement and success.

In addition, because many organizations are restructuring, down-sizing, and outsourcing, employee morale has often fallen to new depths. The unconditional loyalty and dedication of employees who looked upon their jobs as careers and their employment as relatively secure has been replaced in many companies with uncertainty and skepticism. A new organizational culture must be developed to over come this and renew in the staff an attitude of commitment and cooperation.

As technology advances, practices and methods that have been successful in the past may no longer serve current needs. However, change is not driven solely by technology. Over the past several years, new concepts of people management have come into being that have increased productivity, enriched the workplace, and stimulated creativity and innovation. It is much easier to recognize and accept technical change than it is for managers to change the way they deal with people.

QUOTES AND QUIPS

“There is nothing permanent except change.”

Heraclitus, ca. 500 B.C.

Greek philosopher

MANAGEMENT STYLE

Twenty years ago, it was rare to see a computer on an executive’s desk. Computer use was limited to specialists who provided printouts to managers for their use. Today the computer is an essential tool on the desks of almost every executive. Instead of depending on reports from specialists, real-time information is at his or her fingertips. Computerized design and drafting, computer-aided manufacturing, robotics, and continually changing technologies have become part of most progressive organizations. These changes have compelled organizations to reexamine and restructure those aspects of their cultures that involve technology.

On the other hand, the management styles practiced in many organizations have not changed at all. They are still patterned on customs and procedures that were dominant in the 1970s and before. This concept was reinforced in my mind when the CEO of a well-known housewares distributing company retained my firm to analyze the company’s training needs. He complained: “I have invested a fortune in computers and automation in my warehouses, but the productivity of my people has not increased proportionately. How can we improve their performance?”

From our analysis we learned that the staff was well trained in the technical aspects of using the new equipment, but was not sold on its benefits to them. Some workers looked upon it as a threat to their security. They were concerned that the computers might replace them. Others felt that it dehumanized them—that judgments usually made by them would now be made by the computer. Still others felt that computers stifled their creativity. They complained that the work became so routine that it was no longer a challenge.

The CEO could not understand this. He believed that the new equipment should help the staff. Much of the routine drudgery would now be done by the equipment. The employees could use their time to do creative things. He failed to realize that elimination of drudgery alone is not enough to foster creativity.

Too often, the perceptions of the CEO and higher levels of management are much different from that of the men and women who do the day-to-day work of the organization. In this case, a complete rethinking had to be made of the interrelationships from the top layers to the bottom levels of the company.

QUOTES AND QUIPS

“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.”

H. G. Wells, 1866–1946
English author

CULTURAL CHANGE TRANSCENDS
ORGANIZATIONAL LEVELS

Everybody in an organization must be involved in recognizing the need for culture change and be committed to taking the necessary action to make changes. Although the full commitment of the CEO and others in top management is essential, they must enlist the full cooperation of all employees to achieve real success. A climate must be created in which managers and workers alike are encouraged to challenge current practices without fear of reprisal. This should be enhanced by establishing an environment in which people are stimulated to think about, develop, and implement new ideas.

Complacency should no longer be tolerated. Employees at all levels must have the desire to improve their performance. The traditional industrial cultures have stifled creativity in people. Deviations from the norms, variations from standard operating procedures, and disagreements with the powers-that-be often have been punished in traditional cultures and have led to uncritical acceptance of the status quo.

Giving people who work on a job the opportunity to unleash their creative energies will generate new ideas, more efficient methods, closer cooperation, and interaction among staff members and between departments. This will lead to a new dynamic, exciting, productive culture that will enable organizations to survive and thrive.

It is not easy for most managers to look at their organization’s culture objectively because it has been an integral part of their lives for many years. It is natural to resist change. Although some organizations can make this commitment to change and put it into effect on their own, it is sometimes desirable to bring in an outside consultant to help analyze the organizational culture and suggest and implement appropriate changes. Whether a company uses its own resources or outside experts, everybody concerned must be aware of and committed to the process.

TACTICAL TIPS

Success in changing an organizational culture requires not only the full commitment of top management, but the cooperation of all the people at all levels of the organization. A climate must be created that stimulates people to challenge current practices and to develop and implement new ideas.

WHAT IS A CORPORATE OR
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE?

The American Heritage Dictionary defines “culture” as behavior patterns, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work characteristic of a community or population. I simplify this definition by calling it the way of life of a group—in this case, the group being the company or organization.

Management Decisions, the British management journal, comments that an organizational culture is made up of a blend of the following four components:

1. Innovation

2. Action

3. Control

4. Harmony

Most organizations reflect a combination of some or all of these components. The best cultures have a well-balanced combination. If any one of the components is overly dominant, the culture becomes distorted and this creates problems.

The overly creative and innovative organization may expend its energies in research and exploration of new concepts to the neglect of action. The action-oriented company, in its desire to see immediate results, may forego investment in developing its people. The control-dominated corporation is so involved in bureaucratic compliance with rules and regulations that it fears to change even when change is necessary. Harmony-oriented organizations are more concerned with keeping people happy than achieving results. What makes a culture truly great is combining the best of these traits into a coordinated, synergistic philosophy of management.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN
ORGANIZATION’S CULTURE

How does an organizational culture develop? In many cases, the organizational culture evolves from a set of goals and principles pro mulgated by the founders or managers and encompassed in a mission statement. Employees are trained to use these principles as the touch-stone upon which all of their actions will be based. The mission statement may be a simple statement such as the one used by Nordstrom, the Seattle-based department store chain:

Our number one goal is to provide outstanding
customer satisfaction.

Nordstrom Rules:

1. Use your good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.

Or it may consist of a detailed manual of instruction as to behavior expected of employees under a variety of circumstances. These instructions may vary from the presentation of ethical concepts to specific behavior such as dress codes and telephone etiquette.

Formal mission statements in many organizations are idealistic and are given lip service by both management and employees, but not really followed. The actual organizational culture may be quite different from the formal statement.

The Unofficial Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is not limited to what is written in a formal statement. Much of what becomes culture develops slowly and imperceptibly over time and becomes ingrained in the behavior of everybody in the organization. Company executives may have idealistic concepts about the culture of their organizations, but what actually exists may be quite different.

The actual culture often stems from the informal organization—the acts, thoughts, and perceptions of the rank and file workers that have evolved from a variety of sources. Let’s look at some of them:

Customs

Industry, company, and even community customs contribute to the culture of an organization. In some industries, certain practices have developed over the years that may have outlived their original purposes but are still in use. For example, tipping as a form of compensation in restaurants and other service-type industries was originally intended to provide an incentive for better service. Today, in most cases, it has become an expected additional fee no matter how good or bad the service may have been. Indeed, some restaurants automatically add a 15-percent “gratuity” charge to the bill.

KEY POINT

The organizational culture is the way of life followed consciously or subconsciously in the day-to-day activities of the organization.

Often companies evolve their own customs. For example, until a few years ago, the Bluebird Beverage Company paid its employees in cash. On payday, the employees lined up at the cashier’s window and were handed their envelopes by the paymaster, who was protected by an armed guard. To allow for the time it took to obtain the pay envelopes, lunch break was extended for fifteen minutes. When the company shifted to payment by check, the paymaster went to each department and distributed the checks. Although there was no longer the need to line up at the window, the workers expected to continue to get a longer lunch break on payday. They considered it an entitlement and it has remained a custom of that company.

Another example of companies creating their own customs is the Franklin Finance Co. A company rule re...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Preface
• Chapter 1 The Nature of Organizational Cultures
• Chapter 2 Diagnosing the As-Is Condition
• Chapter 3 The Exponential Effect
• Chapter 4 The Look and Feel of a Great Organizational Culture
• Chapter 5 Getting Started
• Chapter 6 Designing the Strategy for a Culture Change
• Chapter 7 Building Competence
• Chapter 8 Training Well
• Chapter 9 The First Thirty Days
• Chapter 10 Gaining Speed and Momentum
• Chapter 11 Special Circumstances
• Chapter 12 Leading the Organizational Changes
• Chapter 13 Cementing the Changes
• Index