Chapter Six: Quality Culture: Changing Hearts, Minds and Attitudes

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Chapter SixQuality CultureChanging Hearts,
Minds and Attitudes
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• Text Quality Management 5th edition
• Authors David Goetsch Stanley Davis

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Culture
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Quality Culture Changing Hearts, Minds and
Attitudes

• A quality culture is an organizational value
  system that results in an environment that is
  conducive to the establishment and continual
  improvement of quality. It consists of values,
  traditions, procedures, and expectations that
  promote quality.
• Implementing total quality necessitates cultural
  change in an organization, for the following
  reasons
• Change cannot occur in a hostile environment.
• Moving to total quality takes time.
• It can be difficult to overcome the past.

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Change cannot occur in a hostile environment

• The total quality approach to doing business may
  be radically different than what management and
  employees are used to.
• Managers who are used to sitting in their lonely
  towers at the top of the pecking order and
  issuing edicts from on high are likely to reject
  the concept of employee involvement and
  empowerment.
• Employees who are used to competing against their
  own fellow workers for promotion and wage
  increases may not be open to mutually supportive
  internal partnerships and teamwork.
• Situations such as this can create an environment
  that is hostile toward change, no matter how
  desirable that change is.
• Change can be difficult, even when people want to
  change. It can be impossible in a hostile
  environment.

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Moving to total quality takes time.

• The nature of total quality is such that the
  organization may have to go down somewhat before
  it can turn things around and start to come up.
• In a conversion to total quality, positive
  results are rarely achieved in the short run.
• This characteristic gives non-believers and
  people who just don't want to change (and such
  people are often the majority at first) the
  opportunity to promote the "I told you it
  wouldn't work" syndrome.

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It can be difficult to overcome the past.

• Employees who have worked in an organization for
  any period of time have probably seen a variety
  of management fads come and go.
• Promoting the latest management gimmick and then
  letting it die for lack of interest may be part
  of the existing organizational culture. If this
  is the case, it will be difficult to overcome the
  past.
• The past is not just an important part of an
  organization's culture it can be the most
  difficult part to overcome

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Organizational Change

• The laws of organizational change are as follows
• Understand the history behind the current
  culture.
• Dont tamper with systemsimprove them.
• Be prepared to listen and observe.
• Involve everyone affected by change in making it.

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Understand the history behind the current culture.

• Organizational cultures don't just happen.
  Somebody wrote the policy that now inhibits
  competitiveness.
• Somebody started the tradition that is now such a
  barrier. Times and circumstances change.
• Don't be too quick to criticize. Policies,
  traditions, and other aspects of the existing
  culture that now seem questionable may have been
  put in place for good reason in another time and
  under different circumstances.
• Learn the history behind the existing culture
  before trying to change it.

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Be prepared to listen and observe.

• People are the primary inhibitors of change in
  any organization. Consequently, it is easy to
  become frustrated and adopt an attitude of "we
  could get a lot done if it weren't for the people
  in this organization."
• It is important to pay attention to both people
  and systems. Try to hear what is being said and
  observe what is not being said.
• Employees who are listened to are more likely to
  participate in changes than those who are not.

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Involve everyone affected by change in making it.

• The most effective way to ensure that employees
  will go along with changes is to involve them in
  planning and implementing the changes.
• Give them opportunities to express their concerns
  and rears.
• Getting problems into the open from the outset
  will allow them to be dealt with forthrightly and
  overcome. Showing them aside or ignoring them
  will guarantee that even little problems become
  big ones.

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Dont tamper with systemsimprove them.

• Tampering with existing systems is not the same
  as improving them.
• Tampering occurs when changes are made without
  understanding why a given system works the way it
  does and without fully understanding why a given
  system works the way it does and without fully
  understanding what needs to be changed and why.
• In order to improve something, you must first
  understand what is wrong with it, why, and how to
  go about changing it for the better.

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Change can be difficult

• Resisting change is natural human behavior.
• In any organization there will be advocates of
  change and resisters. Sometimes advocates focus
  so intently on the expected benefits of change
  that they fail to realize how the change will be
  perceived by potential resisters.

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Why is change so difficult for people?

• Any organization has two separate cultures
  relating to change the advocates and the
  resisters.
• Advocates focus on the anticipated benefits of
  the change.
• Resisters, on the other hand, focus on perceived
  threats to their status, beliefs, habits, and
  security.
• Often, both advocates and resisters are wrong in
  how they initially approach change.
• Advocates are often guilty of focusing so
  intently on benefits that they fail to take into
  account the perceptions of employees who may feel
  threatened by the change.
• Resisters are often guilty of focusing so
  intently on threats to the status quo that they
  refuse to acknowledge the benefits.
• These approaches typically divide an organization
  into warring camps that waste energy and time
  instead of focusing resources on the facilitation
  of change.

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People resist change for the following reasons

• Uncertainty
• More work

• Fear
• Loss of Control

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People resist change for the following reasons

• Fear
• Change brings with it the unwanted specter of
  the unknown, and people fear the unknown.
  Worst-case scenarios are assumed and compounded
  by rumors. In this way, fear tends to feed on
  itself, growing with time.
• Loss of Control
• People value having a sense of control over
  their lives. There is security in control.
  Change can threaten this sense of security and
  cause people to feel as if they are losing
  control of their lives1 jobs, areas of
  responsibility1 and so on.
• Uncertainty
• Uncertainty is difficult to deal with. For
  better or worse, people like to know where they
  stand. Will I be able to handle this? What will
  happen to me if I can't? These are the types of
  questions people have when confronted with
  change.
• More Work
• Change sometimes means more work3 at least at
  first. This concern includes work in the form of
  learning. In order to make the change, people
  may have to learn more information or develop new
  skills. For an undefined period, they may have
  to work longer hours.

Change brings with it the unwanted specter of the
unknown, and people fear the unknown. Worst-case
scenarios are assumed and compounded by rumors.
In this way, fear tends to feed on itself,
growing with time.
People value having a sense of control over their
lives. There is security in control. Change can
threaten this sense of security and cause people
to feel as if they are losing control of their
lives1 jobs, areas of responsibility1 and so on.
Uncertainty is difficult to deal with. For
better or worse, people like to know where they
stand. Will I be able to handle this? What will
happen to me if I can't? These are the types of
questions people have when confronted with change.
Change sometimes means more work3 at least at
first. This concern includes work in the form of
learning. In order to make the change, people
may have to learn more information or develop new
skills. For an undefined period, they may have
to work longer hours.
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Overcome Resistance to Change

• To overcome resistance to change, advocates can
  apply the following strategies
• Involve potential resisters.
• Avoid surprises.
• Move slowly at first.
• Start small and be flexible.
• Create a positive environment.
• Incorporate the change.
• Provide a quid pro quo.
• Respond quickly and positively.
• Work with established leaders.
• Treat people with dignity and respect.
• Be constructive.

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Strategies

• Strategies for establishing a quality culture
  include the following
• Identify the changes needed.
• Put the planned changes in writing.
• Develop a plan for making the changes.
• Understand the emotional transition process.
• Identify key people and make them advocates.
• Take a hearts and minds approach.
• Apply courtship strategies.
• Support.

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SUPPORT, SUPPORT, SUPPORT

• This final strategy is critical.
• It means that the material, moral, and emotional
  support needed by people undergoing change should
  be provided.
• Undergoing change is a lot like walking a
  tightrope for the first time. It will work out a
  lot better if you have someone to help you get
  started, someone waiting at the other end to
  encourage progress, and a safety net underneath
  in case you tall.
• Planning is important. Communication is
  critical, but support is essential.

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• At times it might be necessary to change an
  organizations leadership team to ensure needed
  cultural changes. This situation arises when the
  organizations senior executives have a great
  deal invested in the status quo and therefore are
  staunch defenders of orthodoxy.