Organisation cultures Change management

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Organisation culturesChange management

• MST326 lecture 10

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Fons TrompenaarsRiding the waves of culture -
understanding cultural diversity in business

• International managers have it tough.They must
  operate on a number of different premises at any
  one time.
• These premises arise from
• their culture of origin
• the culture in which they are working, and
• the culture of the organisation which employs
  them

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The meaning of culture

• A fish only discovers its need for water when it
  is no longer in it
• Our own culture is like water to a fish
• it sustains us
• we live and breathe through it
• What one culture may regard as essential,may not
  be so vital to other cultures
• e.g. material wealth

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Culture is the contextin which things happen

• If you are going to do businesswith the French,
  you will first have to learn how to lunch
  extensively FT.
• Gross generalisation?
• Southern (catholic) Europe
• people first, business second
• Northern (protestant) Europe
• business first, people second

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Basic cultural differences

• relationships with people
• attitudes to time
• a direct line to the future
• a respect for past, present and future
• attitudes to the environment
• nature as a thing to be feared or emulated

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Relationships with people

• Universalism vs particularism
• greater good or unique circumstances
• Individualism vs collectivism
• the individual vs the group
• Neutral vs emotional
• expression of feelings
• Specific vs diffuse
• direct approach or deep understanding
• Achievement vs ascription
• how status is accorded

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Layers of culture

• The outer layer
• artefacts and products (explicit)
• language, food, buildings, markets, fashion
• The middle layer
• norms - right or wrong behaviour
• values - good or bad aspirations/desires
• The inner layer
• basic assumptions (implicit)
• survival within the culture

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Culture as a normal distribution

• Not all people in a culture have identical sets
  of artefacts, norms, values and assumptions
• .... but there is usually a patternspread around
  some average value
• BEWARE of stereotyping
• individual personality mediates the culture

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Hard work?

• hard work is essentialto a prosperous society
• OR
• do not work harder than other members of the
  group because then we wouldall be expected to do
  more andwould end up worse off.

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Cultural phenomena

• Authority
• Bureaucracy
• Creativity
• Good fellowship
• Verification
• Accountability
• all experienced in different ways!

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Performance

• Pay for individual performance
• NL, UK, USA
• Recognition of benefits to colleagues
• France, Germany, Asia

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Globalisation

• When in Rome ... ?
• Some products seem to transcend cultures
• consider dining at McDonalds
• fast food for a fast buck in New York
• a show of status in Moscow or Beijing

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Verbal communication

• Anglo-Saxon
• when A stops, B starts
• Latin
• interruptions imply interest
• Oriental
• space to reflect on what the other said

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Verbal communication

• Anglo-Saxon
• some rising and falling of tone
• Latin
• exaggerated changes in tone
• Oriental
• self-controlled monotone
• lower flatter voice implies higher position

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Non-verbal communication

• eye contact
• body language
• personal space
• touching

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Corporate cultures

• Family person/hierarchy
• power-oriented culture
• Eiffel tower task/hierarchy
• role-oriented culture
• Guided missile task/egalitarian
• project-oriented
• Incubator person/egalitarian
• fulfilment-oriented

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Sustainable Leadership Grid comparing Rhineland
and Anglo/US models

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Change management
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Hierarchy of change intensity
Reactive
Anticipatory
Discontinuous
Incremental
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Attention from senior management
Intensity hierarchy
Organisational complexity
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Kotters eight stages

• establish a sense of urgency
• create a guiding coalition
• develop a vision and strategy
• communicate the change vision
• empower employees
• generate short term wins
• consolidate gains for more change
• anchor new approaches

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Kotters eight errors

• too much complacency
• under-powered coalition
• under-estimating power of vision
• seriously under-communicating vision
• permitting obstacles to block change
• failing to generate short term wins
• declaring victory too soon
• not anchoring changes in the culture

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Kotters five consequences arising from the
eight errors

• new strategies not implemented well
• gains do not achieve expected synergies
• long time-scales and high costs
• down-sizing does not control costs
• anticipated results not realised

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How do you manage change? http//cmckc.meridianks
i.com/kc/cmc_portal/manage2.asp

• In the words of Fred Nickols, "The honest answer
  is that you manage it pretty much the same way
  you'd manage anything elseof a turbulent, messy,
  chaotic nature"
• The first thing you do is jump in. You can't
  do anything about it from the outside.
• A clear sense of mission or purpose is
  essential.
• Build a team. "Lone wolves" have their uses,
  but managing change isn't one of them. On the
  other hand, the right kind of lone wolf makes
  an excellent temporary team leader.
• Maintain a flat organizational team structure
  and rely on minimal and informal reporting
  requirements.
• Pick people with relevant skills and high
  energy levels. You'll need both.
• Toss out the rule book. Change, by definition,
  calls for a configured response, not adherence
  to prefigured routines.
• Shift to an action-feedback model. Plan and act
  in short intervals. Do your analysis on the
  fly. No lengthy up-front studies. Remember
  the hare and the tortoise.
• Set flexible priorities. You must have the
  ability to drop what you're doing and tend to
  something more important.

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http//www.change-management.net/
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Some URLs for Change Management

• http//www.janus.org/
• http//home.att.net/nickols/change.htm
• http//www.change-management.net/
• http//www.change-management.org/
• http//home.snafu.de/h.nauheimer/index.htm
• http//www.managementfirst.com/articles/articles_p
  rint/communications_print.htm
• http//www.managementfirst.com/articles/resistance
  .htm
• http//www.outsights.com/systems/columbo/columbo.h
  tm