The Symbolic Frame

1
The Symbolic Frame
2
Organizational Culture Defined
The systems of shared beliefs and values that
develops within an organization. In simple
terms, organizational culture is the personality
of the organization.
3
Components of Organizational Culture

• Organizational Artifacts
• Cultural routines that form the substance of
  public functions and events staged by the
  organization.
• Symbolism of Rites, Rituals, and Ceremonies
• Rites are relatively dramatic, planned sets of
  recurring activities used at special times to
  influence the behavior and understanding of
  organizational members.

4
Components of Organizational Culture

• Organizational Artifacts (cont.).
• Language systems and metaphors.
• The way that organizational members typically
  express themselves and communicate with each
  other.
• Stories, sagas, myths.
• Stories are accounts based on true events they
  often contain both truth and fiction.
• Myths are beliefs that are accepted uncritically
  and used to justify current actions.

5
The Impact of Culture on Organizations

• Strong cultures.
• Shared values and beliefs create a setting in
  which people are committed to one another and
  share an overriding sense of mission.
• A strong culture can cause a resistance to
  change, however, by reinforcing a singular view
  of the organization and the environment.

6
Information Technology The Impact on Culture and
Change

• Information technology removes barriers of time,
  distance, communications and in some cases,
  organizational level
• The removal of these barriers has caused
  employees to be less tolerant of ivory-tower
  management
• This trend has facilitated employee empowerment
  and flatter organizational structures

7
Shlain, The Alphabet Versus the Goddess

• Major neuronal pathways such as the instinctual
  instructions that automatically inform all other
  mammals how to survive at birth disappeared. To
  compensate, the missing pieces of the hominid
  neonatal brain were added after . . . Much later
  we would name these culture.

8
Culture Tells Us

• What we need to know to survive in an
  organization
• How it is communicated in the Organization

9
Organizational Culture

• What we need to Know.
• Basic Underlying Assumptions
• Espoused Values

• How It is Communicated.
• Artifacts
• Physical Layout
• Decorations
• Slogans
• Stories
• Rites Ceremonies

10
Organizational Culture

• Individual Behaviors
• Influences Perceptions, Defines Reality, Defines
  Situation
• Guidelines for Behavior
• Common Identity

• Organizational Effectiveness
• Kotter Heskett
• Strong Culture Effective if Matches Environment
• Strong Cultures Must Value Change
• Must Value EEs, Customers Stockholders

11
Changing an Organizations Culture

• Top managers can set the tone for a culture and
  for culture change
• Managers who strive for quality understand they
  must involve employees , build on what
  organizational members share, and teach new
  members how to behave

12
The Challenge to Understanding Organizational
Change

• Change is essential to an organizations survival
• Is it important that organizations recognize the
  need for change and learn to manage the process
  effectively

13
Organizational Change

• Organizational change is any alteration of
  activities in an organization
• Examples of areas in which organizational change
  can occur
• Structure of the organization
• Transfer of work tasks
• Introduction of a new product, service or
  technology

14
Targets for Change

• Individual Targets
• Involves human resource changes.
• Changes in this area are triggered by new
  staffing strategies or by an effort to enhance
  workforce diversity.
• Group Targets
• Involves changes in the nature of the
  relationship between managers and subordinates or
  the relationships within work groups.

15
Targets for Change

• Organizational Targets
• Involves changes in any of the following areas
• Basic goals and strategies of the organization
• Products, quality, or services offered
• Organizational structure
• Organizational processes such as reward,
  communication, or information processing system
• Culture

16
Targets for Change

• Environmental Targets
• Involves changing sectors of an organizations
  environment.
• For example, changes in products or services
  offered may require new technology or a new
  distribution system.

17
A Framework for Change

• Force Field Analysis
• Proposed by Kurt Lewin
• Describes change as a three-step process
• Unfreezing
• Changing
• Refreezing

18
Unfreezing

• Step 1 Unfreezing
• Developing an initial awareness of the need for
  change and the forces supporting and resisting
  change.

Unfreezing
Driving forces
Restraining forces
Overcoming resistance to change
19
Unfreezing

• Strategies for Unfreezing
• Change processes must overcome resistance to
  change.
• Strategies for dealing with resistance to change
• Communication and education
• Participation and involvement
• Facilitation and support
• Negotiation and agreement

20
Unfreezing

• Strategies for Unfreezing
• Strategies for dealing with resistance to change
  (cont.)
• Manipulation and co-optation
• Explicit and implicit coercion

21
Changing

• Step 2 Changing
• The second step in the change process focuses on
  learning new required behaviors

Changing
Organizational development activities - Survey
feedback - Team building - Process consultation -
Quality-of-work-life programs
22
Changing

• Tactics for planned change
• Organizational Development (OD)
• A process of planned change that uses behavioral
  science knowledge, theory, and technology to help
  an organization improve its capacity for
  effective change.

23
Changing

• Tactics for planned change (cont.)
• Techniques for people-focused organizational
  change
• Survey feedback - improve relationships among the
  members of groups or between departments through
  the discussion of common problems.
• Team building - a process by which members of a
  work group diagnose how they work together and
  plan changes to improve their effectiveness.

24
Changing

• Tactics for planned change
• Techniques for people-focused organizational
  change (cont.)
• Process consultation - involves structured
  activities directed toward key processes
  through which members of a group work with one
  another.

25
Changing

• Tactics for planned change
• Techniques for people-focused organizational
  change (cont.)
• Quality-of-work-life Programs - Undertaken by an
  organization for the purpose of (1) improving the
  quality of employees work life, or (2) improving
  group or organizational productivity.

26
Refreezing the Change

• Step 3 Refreezing
• The third step in the change process, centers on
  reinforcing new behaviors, usually by positive
  results, feelings of accomplishment, or rewards
  from others.

Refreezing
Gain top management support Reinforce new
behaviors Evaluate results
27
Refreezing the Change

• Approaches used to accomplish refreezing
• Gain top management support
• Reinforce new behaviors
• Evaluate the change

28
Ethical Issues in Organizational Change
Do employees feel manipulated?
Does the CEO have a vested interest in the change?
To what extent should the firm disclose all
aspects of the change in advance?
To what extent do employees have the right to
participate in changes that affect them?
29
Activities Associated with Effective Change

• Solicit input from those who will be affected by
  organizational change. Involvement is essential
  to accept the need for change
• Carefully formulate your message regarding the
  need for and nature of organizational change.
  The success of the change process will depend on
  effective communication

30
Activities Associated with Effective Change

• Assess your organizational environment and be
  sure that the tone and the tempo of the change
  fit the organization. Timing is everything
• Serve as a role model for the behaviors sought by
  the organizational change. Actions speak louder
  than words

31
Structure as Theater

• The symbolic view approaches structure as stage
  design an arrangement of space, lighting,
  props, and costumes that make the drama vivid and
  credible to its audience.
• One role is to reflect and convey prevailing
  social values and myths.

32
Leading Principles

• How someone becomes a group member is important
• Diversity provides a teams competitive advantage
• Example, not command, holds a team together
• A specialized language fosters cohesion and
  commitment

33
Leading Principles

• Stories carry history and values and reinforce
  group identity.
• Humor and play reduce tension and encourage
  creativity
• Ritual and ceremony lift spirits and reinforce
  values
• Informal cultural players make contributions
  disproportionate to their formal roles

34
Leading Principles

• Soul is the secret of success.