Dr Shamika Almeida

CULTURAL CHANGE IN ORGANIZATIONS

CHAPTER 10

External Forces for Change

Globalization

Workforce
Diversity

Changing
Technology

Ethical
Behaviour

Source: Waddell et al (2011)

Internal Forces for Change

Declining
Effectiveness

Changing
Work Climate

Source: Waddell et al (2011)

Company
Crisis

Changing
Employee
Expectations

The process of change

Two differing concepts of change, shift versus
transformation
In doing cultures people and groups are mostly defined
in terms of what they do, what they achieve
organisational change seen more in linear fashion,
putting the past state of affairs behind and pushing on
with the new
In being cultures people and groups are defined more in
terms of affiliation, relationships with others
the past state of affairs gradually transforms to become
a new state of affairs.

The process of change (Continued)

Managing change involves ensuring the continuing
running of the organisation, re-assigning tasks,
maintaining overall stability, but this is not enough.
Inspirational guidance also needed: a leader who
engages peoples minds through vision.
Minds cannot be managed, but they can be
transformed through inspiring leaders who spread
new visions that advocate new meanings and lines
of thinking.

The process of change (Continued)

According to Deal and Kennedy (2000), many company
managers may go about dealing with tangible factors
involved in change without paying attention to the cultural
issues involved:

To become, for example, more marketing-oriented involves

subjecting the company to a fundamental cultural change which
involves everyone in the organisation.
The change is not just changing routines but also identifying
with role-models who embody a new purpose or goal.
Such fundamental change is often a gradual and sometimes
painful transformation.

The mechanisms of change

according to Schein (2004)
Primary mechanisms for changing culture
What a leader considers important and pays attention to,
what must be measured and controlled.
The way a leader react to difficult situations and crises:
shows others how to react in similar situations.
The priorities set by a leader when allocating resources.
The examples set by a leader: these deliberately teach and
reinforce the desired values and behaviours.
The criteria which a leader uses to allocate rewards and
status as well as to reinforce desired behaviours.
The criteria used for recruitment, promotion and dismissal.

The mechanisms of change

according to Schein (2004) (Continued)
Secondary mechanisms for shaping the culture
(only effective if consistent with primary mechanisms)

The design and structure of the organisation

The systems and procedures used
The rites and rituals used
The design and layout of the organisations physical
space
Stories of important events and people
Formal statements of the organisations philosophy.

The mechanisms of change

Natural evolution

A culture of what works best as organisation grows (without

too much stress)

Self-guided evolution (therapy)

Unfreeze organisational culture allows changes where

needed

Managed evolution (hybrids)

Changes made by insiders in key positions, thus meeting

less resistance

Planned change and organisational

development

Reduce conflict between sub-cultures resulting from

expansion

Technological seduction

Technology changes force cultural changes (different

behaviour patterns)

Change through scandal, explosion of

myths

Discrepancies between values and actual practices, culture

must be revised

Incrementalism

Change realised gradually (e.g. recruitment and selection

policies changed)

Coercive persuasion

Change agents put forward new assumptions, reward

managers who take them on board

Turnaround

Turnaround individual or team knows where org. must go:

uses some or all of above mechanisms

Re-organisation and rebirth

Group bearing the old culture is replaced

Table 10.2 Mechanisms of cultural change

Source: Schein (1989) p. 66, Figure 4-3, adapted

Change strategies

11

Weak cultures versus Strong cultures

Is cultural change easier to implement in an
organisation with a weak culture rather than a strong
culture?
Laurent (1989) considers that both are in a way
doomed to extinction:
The organisation with a weak culture may eventually
crash since it is poorly coordinated, lacks direction
and consistency
The organisation with a strong culture may be throttled
by rigid norms and behaviour and the resulting lack of
innovation.

Tension between organisational

and national cultures
Do organisational values push aside or dilute the
national culture of an organisations environment?
Laurents conclusions drawn from his research:
Cultural differences among managers working within
a multinational company were significantly greater than
those cultural differences among managers working for
companies in their own (native) country.
Nationally bounded collective perceptions of
organisations did not appear to be diminished in any
way through international business.
On the contrary, these perceptions appear to be
reinforced through the international exposure.

Tension between organisational and

national cultures (Continued)
The different national companies of multinationals
probably prefer different ways of bringing about
the changes which HQ wishes to implement.
The transformation of an organisation from A to B
may involve following a different path in one part
of the multinational than in another, even if the
end-result (B) is the same.
The outset of the transformation to B will depend
on how the national organisation interprets its own
present situation (A).

Mapping corporate culture change

Figure 10.1 The competing

values framework
Source: Cameron and
Quinn, 1999: 32.

Cameron and Quinn (1997) have devised what they call a

Competing Values (CV) framework.
This is used to categorise organisational effectiveness
perspectives and associated types of organisation.

The CV framework

Table 10.3

The characteristics of the CV framework quadrants

Chapter 11
Culture and international
marketing management

Modern concept of marketing

Market-driven management should:

Focus on the consumer:
Anticipate and respond to consumer needs
Define and deliver customer value.

Integrate marketing functions in all parts of a

company.
Develop relationship marketing: link the company
to the market:
Create networks
Connect with customers.

International marketing
Definition:
Marketing activities in line with the focus of a
companys operations that cross national borders

Application:
Companies have different orientations, such as:
Sales orientation
Social marketing orientation

Change of orientation may be necessary

because of:
legal, cultural, economic reasons.

Intercultural marketing

Is about adapting products and marketing

strategies to consumer preferences.
Cultural identification with a product
(Usunier and Lee, 2005):

Notion of identity
Notion of exoticism

Consumers share cultural characteristics:

Geographical cultural affinity zones
Cultural affinity classes.

10

Cross-cultural consumer behaviour

Increasing uniformity in consumer taste and behaviour:

However:
behavioural intentions of consumers need to be
established
different weightings between attitudes and norms.

Therefore:
Take into consideration:
the characteristics of the consumers culture;
their underlying models.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCG7ScRP1ws

Cross-border market research

Problems for marketers and market researchers:

Language barriers
Sensitivity of questioning
Research techniques
Cultural differences
Suspicion
Statistical comparisons
Fragmentation.

11

Marketing communication
across cultures

Marketing is also a process in which communication

plays an important role.
Promoting brands internationally
What is a brand?
Identifies a range of products and services.
Registered brand becomes a trademark

Multinationals need to use a uniform brand

Language may be a problem:
Pronunciation
Different alphabet.

Brand and national images

Important is:
Relationship between the nationality of a product
and the image it evokes
Elements that contribute to the consumers
perception of product nationality
Such elements can be related to one country, several
countries, or a geographical area.
Role of stereotypes

Country of origin
Same product under the same brand worldwide
Country-of-brand versus country of origin.

12

Impact of culture on advertising

Companies websites: online advertising and sales

promotion worldwide
Simplest definition: information intended to create
a link between the producer and consumer
Cultural approach in advertising:
Language and behavioural differences
Meanings of the consumers

Advertising adapted to the local market:

Products/services presented in a symbolic way
Image of product associated with product concept.

Effective communication

Figure 11.3

Effective communication

13

Conclusion

One crucial factor in any change process is the

extent to which a company is aware of its culture
and of the operational environment.
Any transformation carried out will need to reflect
the national culture and ensure that the
subsidiaries involved remain integral parts of the
whole multinational
In international marketing management and
research focus is more on the consumer than on
marketing methods
Communication: balance between product, message
and perception that people may have about a
product.

Have a great break and see you in 2 weeks

Cultural diversity in organisations

Chapter 12
It was great to have you all here!

14