How does organizational culture impact change What skills le

How does organizational culture impact change? What skills leaders or managers need to exercise during periods of organizational change? Explain how transformational leaders can support employees during periods of change

Solution

Answer:

An organization with the best strategy in the world, but a culture that won’t allow it to make that strategy happen is doomed from the outset.

Culture is the sum of the beliefs and values that shape norms of behavior and dictate the ways things get done. There are several continuums that help define an organization’s culture.

Some think that it’s too hard to change culture… that we can’t change it even if we know what gaps we have between our current state and our desired culture. Not true. There are real, tactical activities and leadership actions that can shape a new culture.  

For example, if the organization lacks the needed focus on customers, then insist that every manager and above spend at least one day a quarter out in the field with customers. Or if your organization makes decisions on the fly in the absence of adequate data (not a good thing for, say, a pharmaceutical company), then insist that all projects use Six Sigma or similar tools. Or if your organization is too cautious and can’t move quickly enough to respond to new demands (not a good thing for, say, a software company), verbally encourage teams to make decisions faster and try new things… and then throw a big party the first time one fails as visible demonstration that we appreciate and value risk-taking and new ideas.   

If we are serious about change in an organization, we can’t ignore the organization’s culture. If that culture is not consistent with the change that needs to come about, then the culture needs to be addressed head on. If we as leaders decide that we don’t want to do our part to change the culture, then we will live with the consequences of failure.

For making a change to happen and to be successful the managers have to be like true laeders making the path of transformation clear and formidable. The real leadership style could be in which transparecy is made through out this transformation. The stakeholders of the change process as well as those who are affetcted by it get information ver frequently to get involve in change and get maximum benefit from this.