Challenges of changing culture

Implementing cultural change in organisations - ranging from superficial slogans and cheerleading to deeper level changes, where companies try to win over the hearts and minds of employees through values and vision to change behaviour that will support strategic objectives - presents challenges and takes time.

A CEO of a large company, for instance, requested the communications department to assist with communicating a new vision and values for the organisation. Small business-sized cards emblazoned the new values and A5-sized pamphlets were used to describe the new vision and mission. This paraphernalia was distributed but with little attempt to change the way people actually behave in the organisation.

This example shows that organisations often get involved with symbolic or dramaturgical (theatrical road shows or displays to create an illusion of change in vision and values) approaches to culture change but don't get down to the process of engaging with employees to shape a new culture for the organisation.

Current versus desired culture

In organisations, culture change can involve holding forums with employees to discuss employees' perceptions of the existing culture at perhaps different levels such as the CEO level, senior management, middle management, lower management and shop floor employee level.

Then employees could be asked to rate their company culture as it stands and select cultural dimensions for a desired corporate culture such as innovation, achievement and support for employees. In this way, the CEO would get a good grasp of what new culture is required to support the company in the future.

Change strategies

There are three main strategies to bring about change in a company. One is the empirical or rational (cognitive) strategy that gives employees information to show them that the changes are in their own best interest. Another change strategy is called normative and this involves creating a symbolic environment that people can relate to through shared meanings and symbolism. The third change strategy is known as a power or coercive strategy. This involves the use of the power to force through the changes that the organisation requires.

Power strategies may work where the CEO seeks support from the senior management level. Empirical and normative strategies are participative which conflicts with coercive non-participative strategies. A combination of strategies can be used within the cultural change programme.

A formal way of changing culture in organisations is through organisational development (OD) methods that can range from interpersonal and group techniques, system wide process changes and grid OD.

Interpersonal and group-based OD techniques commonly concentrate on interaction in face-to-face groups. Teambuilding can also be used to help teams or workgroups focus on achieving organisational goals. System-wide changes would involve a survey of the whole organisation, covering communication, employee satisfaction and leadership style. Lastly, grid OD is a comprehensive (and complex) long-term approach directed at changing the entire organisation.

Learning to "walk the talk"

There are many ways to change culture but it depends a lot on the circumstances of the company and the pace of change required. Although it takes long to change culture, it might be worthwhile to start with the most urgent elements first.

A culture change programme often begins with a comprehensive plan of the specific cultural changes needed in particular areas over a period of time. The plan will need to include the company's vision and the changes needed to achieve this. For change in behaviour to take place at the individual level, workshops may be needed where employees can debate and discuss the new required behaviours.

The new cultural values and expectations also need to be modeled by the top, middle and lower management levels to ensure that leaders in the organisation "walk the talk".

Communicating change

Communicating cultural change is an important part of the cultural change programme. It includes who needs what information, the language that will be used to motivate employees, symbols and symbolism associated with the new vision and which media to use.

The CEO will need to communicate company-wide to all staff and stakeholders. Employees need to be fully informed about what is changing, the reasons for the change and what is now expected from them. The communications department together with human resources would help him or her communicate the new culture and the vision for the new company. (Communicating cultural change will be discussed in a future column.)

Resistance to change

Change can often meet with resistance from some employees and prevent change in behaviour in the organisation. This is why it's important to inform and educate employees why change is necessary and to reinforce the changes in the organisation.

As anyone who has been involved in culture change knows, it is important to know which employee grouping to target initially to increase the chance of change taking place. It is useful to look at the rate of adoption model that includes innovators (about 3%), early adopters (about 9%), early majority (38%), the late majority (38%) and the laggards (about 12%). A cultural change programme stands a better chance of success if it is aimed at the early majority and late majority who form the bulk of employees.
Resistance to change can come from many quarters in an organisation and therefore it is important that management and the communications team identify and respond to sources of resistance.

Authors Dennis Tourish and Naheed Vatcha, in a paper entitled "Charismatic Leadership and Corporate Cultism at Enron: The Elimination of Dissent, the Promotion of Conformity and Organizational Collapse", point out that "debate and dissent are indispensable for effective decision-making". Opportunity for feedback will help ensure that the cultural change programme is effective. Employees need forums where they can communicate their concerns.

Making change permanent

Embedding or institutionalising culture change means making the change permanent. Apart from the fact that executives must support the change through words and actions, the company may also need to change its structures and systems in line with the requirements of the organisation's strategic business objectives. Cultural change is usually a work in progress and there therefore needs to be continual learning and adaptation.

Implementing change in an organisation to better align the corporate culture with the business objectives is increasingly important in companies today as they face a multitude of challenges from increased competition and globalisation to new technologies. Cultural change is a serious undertaking in an organisation and it requires the commitment of the CEO, senior management and the communications and human resources team to see that the changes are effectively implemented to ensure that the company continues to prosper.