The forces that bring about change in the organisation and the drawbacks of some the management theories, such as, the classical theory, Human relations approach, Contingency theory Approach, and also the rebirth of Japanese's economy, have sparked off the craze for culture. With organisational culture seen as having a link with organisational effectiveness, the importance of organisational culture has grown over the years.
What is Organisation Culture
Organisation culture has become an essential element in our understanding of organisations, there is a relationship with this and other concept like leadership, organisational structure, motivation, power and strategy Stephen et al (2009). There are many different definitions of culture (table 1.1 some relevant definition of organisation culture) .One similarity between these definition is that it relates to the way things are done or understood.
….is the 'customary and traditional way of thinking and doing things, which is shared to a greater or lesser degree by all the member, and which the new members must learn and at least partially accept, in order to be accepted into the services of the firm.' Jacques (1952)
…is a 'system of publicly and collective accepted meaning operating for a given group at a given time. This system of term, forms, categories, and images interprets a people's own situation to themselves.' Pettigrew (1979)
…is the pattern of basic assumption that a given group has invented, discover, or developed in learning to cope with its problem of external adaptation and internal integration , and that have worked well enough to be considered valid, and, therefore, to be taught to new members the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to these problem.' Schein (1985)
…are the phenomena that embody people response to the uncertainties and chaos that are inevitable in human experience. These responses fall into two major categories. The first is the substance of a culture - shared, emotionally charged belief systems that we cal ideologies. The second is culture forms - observable entities, including action, through which members of a culture express, affirm, and communicate the substance of their culture to one another.' Trice and Beyer (1993
Organisational Culture(s)
Table 1.1 definitions of organisation culture culled from John and Martin (2010)
Developments in organisational management theory
Miller (1980), cited in Mullins (2005) makes the point that the more that is known about organisation and their methods of operation, the better the chances of dealing effectively with them. According to Miller, theory provides a sound basis for action, if action is to be effective; the theory must be adequate and appropriate to the task and to improved organisation performance. As can be seen in figure 1.1 they are three main approaches to organisation management theory, the Classical approach, Human Relation approach, and the Contingency approach.
CLASSICAL
HUMAN RELATIONS
CONTINGENCY
Emphasis on purpose, rule of law, organisation is a science, hierarchy of management, one best way.
Key writer: Frederick Taylor, Henri Fayol, and Max Weber.
Attention to social factor at work, group, leadership, the informal organisation and the behaviour of people
Key writers: Elton Mayo, Abraham Maslow, Douglas McGregor
Organisation as open system one best way, form of structure, management and 'effectiveness' depend upon range of situation variables.
Key writers: Tom Burns, Joan Woodward, Aston Group
Figure 1.1 Major Developments in Organisation Management Theory
Each theory claimed to be the best approach to organisation effectiveness. But as Harvey-Jones (1993) points out ''…. There can never be any single correct solution to any management problem, or any all-embracing system which will carry one through a particular situation or problem.'' And as such this approaches had there own concerns and drawbacks.
For the Classical some of the general criticisms were; the assumption people are solely motivated by financial reward, this can not be categorical truth looking at the impact of non financial reward like Job enlargement, Job enrichment, team working on work place motivation. Secondly the laid emphasis on one best way for all organisations to be structured and operate, but again with changes in the business environment, organisations may have to adopt different principle. Finally the argued that human fallibility and emotion at all level should be eliminated as they threaten the consistent application of goals and rule of law, Burn (2004) argues that in any case, it is impossible to remove the element of human variability from the running of organisation and attempts to do so are counter-productive.
For the Human Relation approach, it attempted to address some of the drawback of the Classical approach. It criticism were that it saw the human variable as been critical to organisation effectiveness and ignored other variables. And also the key studies on which its theory were found was flawed and open to different interpretation and lacked a collective evidence. Finally it also shares the same criticism with the classical approach as 'one best way'
For the contingency approach, it stresses the absence of one best way to manage organisation, in favour of the view that structure, operation and effectiveness of organisation should based on situation variables organisation comes across. Some of its criticism is relating structure alone to organisational performance, Bernard (2004) argues that they are a range of other factor not least of which is luck. And the lack of an agreed definition for environment, technology, size, made it conflicting to establish a link with them and structure. Finally it was consider to mechanistic, and ignored the complexity of organisational life.
With the above mentioned drawback and concerns, by the late 1970s these three approaches failed to provide a convincing approach to organisation effectiveness.
The Rise of the Japan and the Emergence of Culture
While western organisations were struggling with the right approach to organisational effectiveness, they witnessed the high level of effectiveness of Japanese's Companies. These led to many studies trying to identify the recipe for their success. According to Pascale and Athos (1982) he found out that the Japanese competitiveness was achieved by the ability to combine hard, quantitative business practices related with strategy, structure and system, with soft, people-orientated ones related to management style and shared values. These realisations lead to Culture-Excellence approach, which was a culture-based approach to running organisation.
Developments in Change Management Theory
Over the years Change Management have evolved from modification in organisational structure, goals, technology and work task, to include changes in attitude and cultural values Stephen et al (2009). Major approaches to change are Planned and Emergent Change.
Planned Approach to Change
PLANNED CHANGE
Field Theory
Involves understanding group behaviour, mapping out complexity of field where behaviour occurs
Group Dynamics
Involve focusing on group behaviour rather than individual as main focus for change
Action Research
Involves a reflective progress of problem solving
Three-Step model Unfreezing: Ready for change Moving: Implementing change Refreezing: Stabilise change
Planned change refers to a deliberate, approach to change intended to alter organisational operation for a more positive outcome (Figure 1.2 show Planned change and its elements). Planned change was developed by Kurt Lewin, he was of the view that planned change approach could be used to resolve societal and inter-group conflict or for improving organisational effectiveness by bring about change at group or individual level. After the death of Lewin the latter was brought under the umbrella of Organisation Development with a view to enhances organisational performance and individual development. One major criticism of planned approach was that it supposed that one approach to change is appropriate for all organisations, irrespective the situation, it was only suitable for a relatively stable environment (figure 1.3)
Figure 1.2
Figure 1.2 Planned Change and its Element
Stable ENVIROMENT Turbulent
Planned Emergent
Figure 1.3 Approaches to Change culled from MDP (2008)
Emergent Approach to Change
Emergent change is a non-stop, dynamic and contested process that emerges in an unpredictable and unplanned fashion Bernard (2004). Emergent Change was viewed as more appropriate for the ever changing environment of today (figure 1.3) when been compared with Planned Change. Emergent Change emphasis on the need to develop an appropriate organisational culture for successful change, this view is not supported by Peters (1993) cited in Bernard (2004) who advocates changes in organisational structure as opposed to behavioural change.
Conclusion
Despite the complexity involved in organisation culture, its importance have stood out over the year. The late 1970s and 80s saw studies of culture which was aimed at achieving Organisational effectiveness. Culture has a firm basis in a range of underlying therioe arcoss disciples and remains one of the most important concept we have in management Stephen et al (2009)
