Further Information (return to Resources page)
How can culture be changed?
As explained above, understanding the culture is only the first step to changing it. The survey itself may hint at the direction the organisation wishes to take and a good publicity machine to support the survey can orientate people toward the aim of the changes envisaged. However, changing the culture is not just (some may argue not at all!) about changing employee attitudes and behaviours but removing some of the barriers and constraints which are often built into the management systems, organisation structure and the prevailing management style. A web site isn’t big enough to cover such a massive subject, but some questions you might like to ask yourself are:
- How many layers of managers do you have between CEO and shop floor? More than 2 should be questioned by any large Company and more than 1 by any SME.
- How much are employees involved in decision making?
- How are staff organised? Team based or assembly-line style? What opportunities do they have during a shift to improve the job as well as do the job.
- What systems do you have to ensure communication takes place, not just downward, but upwards and between functions and teams?
- What use is made of cross-functional task forces or project teams to tackle significant organisational concerns?
- Does the reward system recognise exceptional contributions and is it based on quantity or quality?
- Do managers understand the value of recognition in motivating people? How many people did the organisation recognise last week? If the answer is none start your culture change here - it won't cost you a bean!
- Do managers manage change rather than managing blame? (the only form of recognition many staff get).
- How much do you spend on developing the potential of your staff? By spend we mean time as well as (or maybe rather than) money.
Winning the attitude game.
Many senior managers I talk to cite the attitude of employees as one of the major challenges to successful acceptance of change. Paradoxically, research studies consistently show lack of top management commitment and resistance from middle management as two of the main causes of failure in major change programmes.
What many people fail to recognise is the causal links which end up as being attitudes. Attitudes can be seen as a result of several factors as shown in the diagram. Taken together these can be summarised as a combination of human and systems factors.
The systems factors which impact on employees include the systems for recruitment and induction, communication, training needs identification, performance
management, discipline and reward & recognition.
Taking each of the four areas in the diagram in turn, the key issues for management are suggested below.
Inherent Viewpoint
Sometimes described as people’s ‘world view’, the inherent viewpoint represents people’s natural tendencies to react to change in their work environment in particular ways. This inherent view is partly the result of genetic and psychological make-up and partly the result of past experience including the influence of local, national and social cultures. Although the types of inherent attitude can be diverse, four main "world views" essentially inform people’s reactions to management-inspired change.
- The fair exchange viewpoint
- The pessimistic viewpoint
- The optimistic viewpoint
- The fatalist viewpoint
The fair exchange view typically can be sceptical but willing to be persuaded, provided they can see some personal payback from their acceptance of change (which does not necessarily have to be financial). The pessimistic view will always see the downside before the upside and will resist change because they can see all sorts of demons lurking behind it. Fear and insecurity are their hallmarks. The optimistic viewpoint can be regarded as the opposite of this and are usually the people to whom managers look for support on the grounds of the common good or the good of the Company. The fatalist viewpoint merely accepts change as inevitable and regards it as something they can do little about. They will never support it but, importantly, nor will they resist. They will not be a barrier to change, more of a speed-bump!
The key issue for managers is to recognise these world views at the recruitment stage through psychometric tests and recruit according to the job. Remember though that a suitable mix of all these views is probably healthier than all being of one view. It is easy to dismiss the pessimistic world view but they might just be right - as a colleague used to have on a sign over his desk - "just because I’m paranoid, it doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me!"
Management Style
Much has been written about this so we won’t cover it in detail - suffice to say that a culture of high performance and continuous improvement will not be sustained without a shift from a command and control style to one involving coaching and helping. This means that training of middle managers and supervisors will be a critical ingredient of any change process.
Work organisation and environment
Organisation of work which leads to a feeling of alienation and lack of control will not support a culture of continuous improvement. Look for and eliminate where possible the following workplace evils:
- piecework systems
- assembly lines
- barriers to personal contact
- clocking in/out systems
- intrusive security systems which convey a lack of trust to everyone
- unnecessary status symbols
- standards of hygiene, quality and aesthetics in canteens, toilets, locker rooms, rest areas and other staff amenities which you would not at least be prepared to tolerate in your own home
- "little tin god" Supervisors
Organisational Systems
This is a subject in itself but a few pointers on the key ones:
Recruitment: Make it open and informal but thorough. Use a combination of interviews, personality, teamwork and operational tests together with observational techniques to make sure you get it right first time. It is a lot more expensive to make the wrong choice than it is to spend 3 or 4 days in the selection process.
Induction: Take your time - don't try to cram everything in one day. Again though make it thorough and cover the whole business and its values as well as the usual safety, fire, rules and a quick tour. If possible put new people in other departments they will have to work with for a while. At one client, all sales staff spend their first three months on the shop floor helping to make the product they are going to sell.
Communication: Vary it and make it fun. Go for informal approaches rather than the stilted monthly briefings. Have a regular series of special events and exchanges of views with staff.
Reward: Design the reward system to give everyone a share in overall success with additional reward for high achievers. Don’t introduce performance related pay for everyone unless you can clearly link it to objective factors which will not be disputed - there are not many of these when it comes to money however!
Recognition: Memos from the big chief, pats on the back, ceremonies, trips out, meals, vouchers, badges, pins, T-shirts - go for it! Be imaginative and vary the recognition constantly - never let it become expected otherwise it ceases to be recognition at all. You will never please all the people all the time but you should aim to please them all some of the time.