Changing the culture of an organisation is a very challenging endeavour. It is important to understand that organisational culture is not only about the value-belief system shared by the people in the organisation. It also includes the different processes, communications, assumptions, attitudes, roles, and practices. Leaders should use all the tools available to them to help effect a change culture that is beneficial to both the people and the organisation.
Responses to a Change in Organisational Culture
The ultimate change in an organisation’s culture can come in the form of mergers and acquisitions. Business experts and organisational management gurus recognise mergers as more acceptable to the people of both organisations. Acquisitions, on the other hand, can foster resentment and other negative attitudes towards the acquiring organisation and its people. The main role of leaders is to recognise and acknowledge people’s responses to such changes.
- Organisational Identity
People in mergers can develop and foster a different kind of organisational identity. The whole point about mergers is the pooling of the resources of two distinct organisations to create a new one that is better and more efficient. The people of both organisations retain their value and may derive renewed enthusiasm in the new organisation.
This is not the case in acquisitions. One organisation loses its identity in an acquisition, since it is already ‘bought’ by another company.
- Social Identity
In 1979, Henri Tajfel developed the Social Identity Theory. He said that social identity is the result of a person’s identification with a group. It gives people positive self-esteem and a sense of pride.
Mergers promote a sense of pride in people. The prospect of belonging to an organisation that is better and more efficient than either of the two merging organisations fuels this sense of pride.
Acquisitions can also promote self-esteem in the people of the acquiring company. However, the same cannot be said of the people of the acquired company. They no longer belong to a social organisation; hence, they also lose their social identity.
- Acculturation
Berry described acculturation as the result of the dynamic between one culture and another culture. He proposed four possible responses to a cultural change. These include assimilation, integration, separation, and marginalisation. Elsass and Veiga used Lewin’s Force Field Model to describe the process of acculturation in acquired organisations. The authors believe that the success of the acculturation process hinges on the ability of the acquiring organisation to remove restraining forces.
Nahavandi and Malekzadeh adopted Berry’s model and modified it to make it more relevant in business organisations. The authors replaced marginalisation with deculturation. They described the responses as follows:
- Integration
The acquired organisation gets to keep certain parts of its core beliefs and practices, while assimilating the culture of the acquiring organisation. It entails assimilating the structure of the acquiring organisation without changing the behaviour and culture of the acquired organisation.
- Assimilation
People in unsuccessful organisations tend to favour assimilation over integration. They voluntarily relinquish their organisational and social identities, believing that the acquiring organisation is better.
- Separation
The people from both acquiring and acquired organisations get to keep their respective structures and culture.
- Deculturation
It is possible for the people in the acquired organisation to resent both their present organisation and the acquiring organisation. They feel they cannot derive value from either organisation.
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Acculturation Preferences
The success of the acculturation process often depends on how the people views their organisation.
- Acquired Organisations
The people of acquired organisations can choose to integrate the acquiring organisation’s culture if they believe that doing so will further improve their social identity.
However, if the people do not believe that their organisation is good enough, they may choose to assimilate the culture of the acquiring organisation.
Likewise, people who resent both their organisation and the change can observe deculturation.
- Acquiring Organisations
Organisations that have a multicultural structure are more successful in the acculturation process. They do not try to impose their organisational culture into that of the acquired organisation’s culture.
On the other hand, organisations that do not value multiculturalism tend to impose their management style into the culture of the acquired organisation.
In either type of organisations, it is often the acquiring organisation’s culture that takes precedence over that of the acquired organisation.
Implementing Change Culture
Mergers and acquisitions involve a very complex process of change. Leaders and managers of the acquiring organisation should observe a few strategies that will help in the successful implementation of change culture.
- Culture Profiling
This involves the assessment of one’s organisational culture. The main objective is to find similarities with and differences from another organisation. It presupposes that organisations must identify those factors that can limit or restrain the organisational cultural change.
- Managing Cultural Differences
Charles Handy developed the Model of Organisational Culture to help managers and leaders implement change culture in a more successful manner. Handy describes four types of organisational cultures.
- Power Cultures
Control only comes from a few people. Some would consider this type of organisational culture to be a form of dictatorship.
- Role Cultures
The organisation has very strong specialised or functional areas. The management coordinates the activities of the different areas.
- Task/Achievement Cultures
Organisations that focus on project-based of matrix structural designs often adhere to a task-centred culture. Their main objective is to improve efficiency.
- Person/Support Cultures
Not many organisations have this type of culture. The focus is on individuals, with the organisation existing only in a supporting role.
Culture Profiling in the Change Process
Creating a definitive understanding of an organisation’s culture is essential to the development of a more comprehensive and more appropriate plan for change.
One can start by evaluating the on-boarding process of the organisation. This provides an idea about the things that the organisation values most.
Make an objective evaluation of the degree of openness of the organisation’s leadership. The leadership should not be resistant and stiff to change.
Evaluate everyone’s attitudes about culture and change by analysing their answers to questions. This is the safest way one can gauge an organisation’s readiness for culture change.
Change culture is a very complex process that involves a deep understanding of the unique culture of an organisation. While culture profiling can help improve the organisation’s chances of implementing change, the ultimate responsibility for navigating the organisation through the process of change falls squarely on the leaders of the organisation.