Change Management and Organizational Culture
Contents
Concept of Culture 2
What is Organizational Culture 3
The Internet and Organizational Culture 3
Cultural Change 5
The Classical Approach to Cultural Description 5
New Ways of Describing Culture 6
Culture as Emergence 7
Steps in Organizational Culture Change 8
Managing Organization Cultural Change 8
Bibliography 12
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Concept of Culture
The concept of culture is complex and definitions of culture vary. The anthropologist Edward Tylor defined culture in the late 1800s as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and other capabilities acquired by a man as a member of a society” (Hill, 2005). More recently, Hofstede has defined culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group or category of people from another” (Hofstede, 1984). Furthermore, De Long & Fahey (2000) describe culture more generally as a system of values, norms, and practices that are shared among a group of people and that, when taken together, constitute a design for living. Values are ideas about what a group believes to be good, right and desirable. This is the deepest level of culture since values are often embedded in tacit preferences as well as they are difficult to articulate and change. Norms are derived from values and can be described as social rules and guidelines that prescribe appropriate behavior in particular situations. Therefore, they are more observable as well as easier to identify and change. Practices are the most visible symbols and manifestations of culture. They are a way of understanding any widely understood set of repetitive behaviors and they also include repeated types of interaction that have identifiable roles and social roles. In other words, values, norms and practices are fundamentally interrelated, since values are manifested in norms which in turn shape specific practices. (De Long & Fahey, 2000)
Concept of Culture 2
What is Organizational Culture 3
The Internet and Organizational Culture 3
Cultural Change 5
The Classical Approach to Cultural Description 5
New Ways of Describing Culture 6
Culture as Emergence 7
Steps in Organizational Culture Change 8
Managing Organization Cultural Change 8
Bibliography 12
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Concept of Culture
The concept of culture is complex and definitions of culture vary. The anthropologist Edward Tylor defined culture in the late 1800s as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and other capabilities acquired by a man as a member of a society” (Hill, 2005). More recently, Hofstede has defined culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group or category of people from another” (Hofstede, 1984). Furthermore, De Long & Fahey (2000) describe culture more generally as a system of values, norms, and practices that are shared among a group of people and that, when taken together, constitute a design for living. Values are ideas about what a group believes to be good, right and desirable. This is the deepest level of culture since values are often embedded in tacit preferences as well as they are difficult to articulate and change. Norms are derived from values and can be described as social rules and guidelines that prescribe appropriate behavior in particular situations. Therefore, they are more observable as well as easier to identify and change. Practices are the most visible symbols and manifestations of culture. They are a way of understanding any widely understood set of repetitive behaviors and they also include repeated types of interaction that have identifiable roles and social roles. In other words, values, norms and practices are fundamentally interrelated, since values are manifested in norms which in turn shape specific practices. (De Long & Fahey, 2000)
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