Culture and Changes
Tylor (1879), defined culture as a term for the social behaviors and norms found in a group including knowledge, individual habits, beliefs, arts, laws, and customs of the group itself. The organizational culture is an accumulation of values, expectations, and practices that are used by the team members to act, think, and make decisions (Wong, 2020). In addition to that, organizational culture is important for the company to make sure the values and habits of the employees align with the company’s culture so that it will lead to better employees’ performance.
Today’s fast-paced world may change the state of a company in terms of strategies, policies, procedures, the technology used, or even the company’s values and vision mission to adjust with the market condition (Lumen Learning, n.d.). However, some employees might resist change for various reasons. Some of them might work against change to keep their power. As Martin (2013) stated in his paper, culture helps the organization to maintain the social cohesion of group members of the organization. Therefore, culture might help the organization accommodate organizational changes despite the resistance of some employees.
How can culture facilitate change?
As we know from the previous paragraph that some employees might resist change due to the fear of uncertainty and the possibility that they might lose power if the company change. Nevertheless, according to Martin (2013), company culture provides the employees the certainty and consistency that are desired by them. Good company culture is a culture that can support the company in continual change in today’s marketplace (Walk Me, 2021). Hence, a company culture that supports innovation, agility, openness to change, speed, digital literacy, and lifelong learning is the one that can ensure the company survives and succeed despite the significant changes that might happen to them (Walk me, 2021). Furthermore, Khatri (2016) added that the human resource department can act as an agent of transformation that might help influence and reorganize the culture company culture so that the employees can accept and support the change.
Martin (2013) aforementioned, by linking the values and culture, the employees are less resistant and accept the change easier. In addition, the changes should be linked to the positive future of the organization. In this way, the employees will welcome the change with an open hand.
Conclusion
In this fast-paced modern world, it is impossible for companies to remain constant. Companies need to change to adjust to today’s market. Yet, some employees might be resistant to change because they fear uncertainty and losing their power. On the other hand, company culture can help facilitate changes by providing certainty and consistency to the employees.
References
Martin, J. (2013, April 10). Organizational Culture and Organizational Change: How Shared Values, Rituals, and Sagas can Facilitate Change in an Academic Library. American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/2013/papers/Martin_Org%20Culture.pdf
Khatri, S. (2016, January 29). How to Use Culture for Successful Change Management. Oracle. https://blogs.oracle.com/oraclehcm/post/how-to-use-culture-for-successful-change-management
Lumen Learning. (n.d.). Organizational change | Principles of management. Lumen Learning — Simple Book Production. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/principlesmanagement/chapter/7-4-organizational-change/
Tylor, E. B. (1871). Primitive Culture. Vol 1. New York: J.P. Putnam’s Son
Walk Me. (2021, March 24). How does organizational culture affect change? Change! Change Management News & Tips. https://change.walkme.com/how-does-organizational-culture-affect-change/
Wong, K. (2020, May 7). Organizational culture: Definition, importance, and development. Achievers. https://www.achievers.com/blog/organizational-culture-definition/
Note:
This article is written based on University of The People Organizational Behavior (BUS 5113) written assignment by Fristy Tania in October 2021
