Organisational Change and Development
1. Define and discuss the importance of organization culture when planning organisational change program?
To define very simply, organisational change programs specifically aim to improve the way in which organisations operate in order to be able to withstand inevitable environmental impacts such as technological upheavals, recessions, global competitiveness and unpredictable social trends (Brown 2011). Before considering the delicate relationship between organisational change and organisational culture, it must first be defined. Organisational culture is:
A pattern of shared basic assumptions invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that have worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems (Schein 1992, p. 9).
By taking into consideration the above definitions, the many factors in which why culture is important to identify when planning organisational change programs can be explored. Organisational culture affects:
• How individuals interact with each other within the organisation through the guidance of what they consider to be appropriate work conducts
• What individuals in the organisation perceive to be the “right decision”
• How efficiently teams, individuals and the organisation deals with everyday work tasks and problems
• The attitudes of the organisation’s stakeholders
However overall, these factors potentially affect the means in which an external or internal source can implement change programs, as it can be assumed that organisational culture is an implied constraint to change, even if it were to be beneficial to the company.
An organisation’s ‘personality’ must be taken into account before planning change programs, as this will indicate how the organisation may react and potentially resist to such foreign concepts. An
To define very simply, organisational change programs specifically aim to improve the way in which organisations operate in order to be able to withstand inevitable environmental impacts such as technological upheavals, recessions, global competitiveness and unpredictable social trends (Brown 2011). Before considering the delicate relationship between organisational change and organisational culture, it must first be defined. Organisational culture is:
A pattern of shared basic assumptions invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that have worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems (Schein 1992, p. 9).
By taking into consideration the above definitions, the many factors in which why culture is important to identify when planning organisational change programs can be explored. Organisational culture affects:
• How individuals interact with each other within the organisation through the guidance of what they consider to be appropriate work conducts
• What individuals in the organisation perceive to be the “right decision”
• How efficiently teams, individuals and the organisation deals with everyday work tasks and problems
• The attitudes of the organisation’s stakeholders
However overall, these factors potentially affect the means in which an external or internal source can implement change programs, as it can be assumed that organisational culture is an implied constraint to change, even if it were to be beneficial to the company.
An organisation’s ‘personality’ must be taken into account before planning change programs, as this will indicate how the organisation may react and potentially resist to such foreign concepts. An