The Most Effective Methodologies of Organizational Culture Change – Part 1
By Imran Azim
If you are planning to introduce cultural change in your organization and have yet to identify the most suitable and effective methodology, this blog can help you a lot. Without further analysis, you can jump into the execution level and concentrate on other important issues because I have already done all the analysis you might need before adopting a process.
A few months back, when I joined the Human Resources department of one of the leading engineering companies in our country, I was really proud to be a part of such a winning team. The company has more than a thousand employees who work really hard. This is one of the top-ranked companies as far as revenue generation is concerned. Everything was going well for me as I was getting involved in my duties and planning to give my best possible effort for the organization. But it didn't take too long for me to get surprised. While going through the statistics, I found that this company is maintaining a stable position rather than experiencing any upward growth. The company has made approximately the same amount of money in the last few years. Yet, it has managed to hold the leading position in the market without giving much effort due to the reputation it has made so far.
As days progressed, I realized a few negative things about my new organization. Despite having a very attractive compensation and benefits package, employees are not happy. They don't have any motivation. They only work because their supervisors tell them to do so. They hardly know what they are working for. The top management keeps the managers under extreme pressure to get things done on time. The managers apply the same strategy to their subordinates. All these negative things result in frustration among employees and a high attrition rate. The management is aware of these things but doesn't seem much bothered as they are still making money. When I addressed these issues to my CEO for the first time, he replied with a little smile on his face, “This is how we have been managing for the last three decades, and now we are among the top three engineering companies in our country.” I tried my best to make him understand that if we can bring some changes to our existing organizational culture, we can still reach our goals with the spontaneous contribution of our employees.
Perhaps my points were not strong enough to convince the top management in favor of organizational change. Instead of giving up, I decided to gather more up-to-date knowledge and some real-life examples on change management. So, I started searching the internet, asking questions in various HR forums, and discussing with the seniors. Finally, I could equip myself with the information I needed.
I would especially mention three of the most popular organizational culture change methodologies of recent times:
- a. Kotter's Eight Stage Process <link updated to site home>
- b. Directive Communication Psychology by Arthur Carmazzi
- c. Gung Ho! Process by Blanchard and Bowles
I'll try to describe these methods in brief in my following post.
(Continued in Part 2)
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