The concept of culture is a key issue within management and organization studies. Understanding Organizational Culture provides a useful and comprehensive guide to understanding organizational culture, from a range of angles, contexts and sectors. The book answers questions of definition, explores alternative perspectives, and expands on substantive issues (such as leadership and change), before discussing key issues of research and providing a new framework for this topic. Mats Alvesson synthesizes for students the advances in the field of organizational culture, drawing upon the range of relevant literature within Organization Studies. The author also uses examples to develop and illustrate ideas on how cultural
øIt would be unusual for a framework as powerful and predictive as the Competing Values Framework to remain unchallenged and absent of criticism. In addition to updating the examples and references, this second edition provides a new chapter motivated
Going far beyond previous empirical work, John Kotter and James Heskett provide the first comprehensive critical analysis of how the "culture" of a corporation powerfully influences its economic performance, for better or for worse. Through painstaking research at such firms as Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, ICI, Nissan, and First Chicago, as well as a quantitative study of the relationship between culture and performance in more than 200 companies, the authors describe how shared values and unwritten rules can profoundly enhance economic success or, conversely, lead to failure to adapt to changing markets and environments. With penetrating insight, Kotter and Heskett trace the roots of both healthy and unhealthy cultures, demonstrating how easily the latter emerge, especially in firms which have experienced much past success. Challenging the widely held belief that "strong" corporate cultures create excellent business performance, Kotter and Heskett show that while many shared values and institutionalized practices can promote good performances in some instances, those cultures can also be characterized by arrogance, inward focus, and bureaucracy -- features that undermine an organization's ability to adapt to change. They also show that even "contextually or strategically appropriate" cultures -- ones that fit a firm's strategy and business context -- will not promote excellent performance over long periods of time unless they facilitate the adoption of strategies and practices that continuously respond to changing markets and new competitive environments. Fundamental to the process of reversing unhealthy cultures and making them more adaptive, the authors assert, is effective leadership. At the heart of this groundbreaking book, Kotter and Heskett describe how executives in ten corporations established new visions, aligned and motivated their managers to provide leadership to serve their customers, employees, and stockholders, and thus created more externally focused and responsive cultures.
Culture, leadership and the ability to change determine organizational performance... But 75% of organizational change programs fail - being too conceptual, organization-wide and command-and-control like. That's why change consultant Marcella Bremer developed this pragmatic approach to organizational culture, change and leadership. The starting point is the validated Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument based on the Competing Values Framework by professors Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn. Next, Bremer shows how to engage people in OCAI-workshops or Change Circles. In peer groups of 10 coworkers they develop a change plan for their teams that is also personal and focused on specific behaviors. These Change Circles of 10 use the mechanism of "Copy, Coach and Correct" within groups to help organization members to implement the change and develop those behaviors that will make a difference. This book is a pragmatic user's guide to organizational culture change. Learn the best practices from a change consultant and unleash your organization, too!
Regarded as one of the most influential management books of all time, this fourth edition of Leadership and Organizational Culture transforms the abstract concept of culture into a tool that can be used to better shape the dynamics of organization and change. This updated edition focuses on today's business realities. Edgar Schein draws on a wide range of contemporary research to redefine culture and demonstrate the crucial role leaders play in successfully applying the principles of culture to achieve their organizational goals.
Organizational Culture and Identity discusses the literature concerned with culture in organizations and explains why the term has been invoked with such enthusiasm. Martin Parker presents further ways of thinking about organizations and culture which suggest that organizational cultures should be seen as `fragmented unities' in which members identify themselves as collective at some times and divided at others.
In today’s digital environment the workplace is characterised by individuals creating information perhaps independently of formal systems, or establishing new systems without knowledge of information management requirements. This book explains and explores the concept of organisational culture, specifically within the domain of information management. It draws on the author's wide-ranging practical experience in different workplaces and uses research findings from cross-cultural studies of information management. Uses research findings from cross-cultural studies of information management Provides tools to develop practical and realistic solutions to real-world problems Draws on the author’s wide-ranging practical experience in different workplaces.
There is significant evidence that an effective organizational culture provides a major competitive edge—higher levels of employee and customer engagement and loyalty translate into higher growth and profits. Many business leaders know this, yet few are doing much to improve their organizations’ cultures. They are discouraged by misguided beliefs that an executive’s tenure and an organization’s attention span are too short for meaningful transformation. James Heskett provides a roadmap for achievable and fast-paced culture change. He demonstrates that an effective culture supplies the trust that makes managing change of all kinds easier. It provides a foundation on which changes in strategy can be based, and it’s a competitive edge that can’t easily be hacked or copied. Examining leading companies around the world, Heskett details how organizational culture makes employees more loyal, more productive, and more creative. He discusses how to quantify its effects in order to sell the notion of culture change to the organization and considers how to preserve an organization’s culture in the face of the trend toward remote work hastened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Showing how leadership can bring about significant changes in a surprisingly short time span, Win from Within offers a playbook for developing and deploying culture that enables outsized results. It is a groundbreaking demonstration of organizational culture’s role as a foundation for strategic success—and its measurable impact on the bottom line.
SHORTLISTED: Business Book Awards 2022 - People, Culture & Management category Company culture is the foundation of business success. Strong culture drives an average of four times more revenue growth, 12% more productivity and half the employee turnover rate. Driven by global health, economic and environmental emergencies and rising social justice and employee activism, organizations are urgently seeking a new cultural model which will enable them to thrive. Transformational Culture provides a blueprint for a fair, just, inclusive, sustainable, and high performing organization. With a foreword from Dave Ulrich and expert analysis of the benefits of a people-focused and values lead organization, it provides 8 transformational enablers to deliver individual, team and business success. Guidance is also included on how to tackle toxic cultures and behaviours, how to shift the dial from retributive to restorative justice, and how to develop humane and human HR and management systems. The book offers practical guidance for HR professionals and business leaders on how to redefine their culture and to embed a unique, practical framework to assist with the resolution of concerns, complaints, and conflicts at work. Tried and tested toolkits and templates plus case studies from organizations who have successfully implemented this approach including London Ambulance Service, Aviva, The FT and British Retail Consortium are contained within Transformational Culture making this an invaluable guide for anyone wishing to put their people and their values first.
The strategy team have technology ideas and frameworks that represent the best body of knowledge for creating real business value from technology, but only other teams not the strategy team can create the value, by broadly completing the strategy team s ideas. The delivery teams often ignore the ideas. Sometimes real conflict emerges. It feels like the other teams think differently in a deeply rooted way. Could differences in organisational culture be to blame? This dissertation examines the organisational culture perceived within BP's energy trading technology team known as Integrated Supply and Trading Digital Business (ISTDB). The focus is on the Strategy and Architecture team (S&A) who are responsible for assuring the long-term viability of technology delivered to the business by setting and enforcing technology standards with the technology delivery teams (Regional Businesses or RBs). S&A relies on influence and persuasion to build compliance with the standards as it does not have line management responsibility for the other teams. This research concludes the perception of organisational culture is different between S&A and the RBs, and that it is a cause of conflict. The research also identifies that perceived organisational culture in ISTDB technology team as a whole is non-cohesive and not well aligned with the BP business strategy.This is a suboptimal arrangement for value creation. The author recommends both short-term and long-term shifts in working practices to correct this imbalance. The changes include a new emphasis on communications, new personnel hiring procedures and cross-cultural awareness training.
