Organisation Culture & Intervention: Process, structure and re-structuring.,Questions,How are characteristics of organisational culture variously described? Merits and limitations of descriptions? Themes and tensions in debates about organisation culture. Hard structure & technical systems vs. soft humanistic concerns,Questions,What is “organisational development“ (OD?) What models can be defined and how do these shape understanding of organisational change? What issues face a “change agent“ - someone acting as an OD consultant/player? What “pearls of wisdom“ would you offer someone initiating an OD programme - taking their first steps?,Soft systems Values Interactions Commitments Motivations Loyalties Perceptions Leadership & teams Communication,Hard systems Policies Procedures Systems Performances Technologies Efficiencies,Change, improve, perform better, re-orientate, lead, trim your sails, be different, differentiate products/services and costs,Interventions to change soft culture,R.H. Kilmann 1985, in Harvey and Brown, 1992 The organisation itself has an invisible quality - a certain style, a character, a way of doing things - that may be more powerful than the dictates of any one person or any formal system. To understand the soul of the organisation requires that we travel below the charts, rule books, machines, and buildings into the underground world of the corporate culture,What is a corporate culture?,a system of shared values and beliefs which interact with an organisations people, structure and systems to produce behavioural norms - “the way we do things around here”. e.g Sackmann, 1989: Walck, 1989,Whose norms? Shared or based on dominant power source and/or ideology?,Other points on “culture”,Profit vs. not-for-profit organisations (NPOs) sub-cultures in the organisation which differ or conflict Is management style & corporate culture a key “success“ factor influencing survival? modes of membership and commitment? communication and leadership behaviour? problem-analysis and decision-making,for the entire system?,The influence of “corporate culture”,legitimisation of purpose and control gives members a sense of what to do, how to behave and what priorities to focus on helps members bridge the gap between formal directives and how the work actually gets done enables “supervision and control” thru. mind-set Compare with precision “engineering“ model of organisation structures, work-technology, methods and controls,Mintzberg: Five Glues,Mutual adjustment Direct supervision Standardisation of Systems and procedures Skills Results,Acceptance of legitimate authority (power) is assumed. Neo-Weberian bureaucracy.,Observations,No one culture works best for all organisations Management styles and norms, values and beliefs of organisation members combine to form the corporate culture. Deal and Kennedy (1983 ) A shared history between members builds a distinct corporate identity or character.,What is the problem with this statement?,Culture enclave - organisational power plays,Organisational development signifies change, and for change to occur in an organisation, power must be exercised. Burke, 1982 Power .the ability to get ones way in a social situation. intentional influence the capacity to effect (or affect) organisational outcomes French and Bell 1995 corporate, managerial hegemony? Fact or fantasy?,Mintzberg, in French and Bell, 1995,“organisational behaviour is a power game in which various players seek to control the organisations decisions and actions.” Pre-requisite sources or bases of power expenditure of energy political skill Control of 1. a resource 2. technical skill (1-3 must be critical to the organisation) 3. a body of knowledge 4. Legal prerogatives - exclusive rights/privileges to impose choices 5. Access to those who have power based on 1-4.,Bases of social power,French and Bell 1959 Reward Power Coercive Power Legitimate Power Referent Power & Charismatic Power Expert Power,http:/sol.brunel.ac.uk/jarvis/bola/power/power.html,Morgan 1997 - Images of Orgn Resource-based Bureaucracy-based Decision Control Know-How The Contingent Hero Managing Boundaries Technological Dependence Alliances and Networks “Countervailers” Symbolism Gender Groupthink,Organisational politics,Sub-set of power? Informal power? Illegitimate in nature? Conflicts of interests Conflict or competition for scarce resources Pay-off matrix - how goods & services are to be distributed between different parties Stakeholder (claimants, lobbyists) analysis - grievances, power, ability to resist change, winners-losers,OD - dominant paradigm of OD,Normative Learning, adaptation, empiricist, rationalist not Power-coercive (de-personalise power & politics) Weak accommodation and avoidance? OD - used as a pawn or “Transcends the negatives of power & politics“ ? French & Bell. “OD programs are unlikely to be successful in organisations with high negative faces of politics & power“.,How can OD interventioni