Unit-V

Organisational Culture
Organizational design:

To start with a technical definition: Organizational design is the administration and execution of
an organization’s strategic plan. This means that the organization’s strategy determines the
optimal organizational design.

As we discuss in our Organizational Development Certificate Program, organizational design is

about creating the best fit between the strategic choices of the organization and the
organizational setting.

This is represented in the figure below. Organizational design is determined by the strategic
direction of the company, a.k.a. the vision, mission, and goals of the company. These lead to
strategies that the company competes on, which are enabled through the organizational design.

For example, Company A operates in an established market and is looking to maintain its
position. This company will have a low-cost leadership strategy focused on efficiency. In terms
of organizational design, this company will have a strong, centralized authority, tight control,
and many standard operating procedures.

Company B is an innovative and fast-growing organization that emphasizes learning. This

company will have a more fluid and flexible design, a much more decentralized structure, and
loose control. Employees work directly with customers and are rewarded for creativity and risk-
taking.

In company A, risk-taking and failing are punished, while in company B, it is much more likely
to be rewarded, evaluated, and learnings from the failed project will be used as a stepping stone
for a new project.

Differences in organizational design between Company A and Company B.

Five organizational design principles

1. Specialization principle. This principle states that boundaries should exist to encourage
the development of specialist skills. The test here is if any specialist cultures, which are
entities that have to be different from the rest of the organization, have sufficient
protection from the influence of the dominant culture.
2. Co-ordination principle. This principle states that activities that are done should be
coordinated in a single unit. This unit can be a business unit, business function,
(horizontally coordinating) overlay unit, sub-business, core resource unit, shared service
unit, project unit, or parent unit. The test here is if there needs to be coordination between
departments which is hard to do. These ‘difficult links’ are links where normal networking
will not provide coordination benefits. In that case, coordination should be made easier, or
responsibility should be put in within a single unit. There are many different units that can
be used in organizational design, as we will show below.
3. Knowledge and competence principle. This principle states that responsibilities should
be allocated to the person or team best fit to do them. This means that tasks are retained by
higher levels based on their knowledge and competitive advantage. If this is not the case,
they should be positioned lower in the organization.
This means that the CEO should not be involved in every decision – especially not
decisions that involve specialists with much more subject-matter knowledge. The CEO is
there for the big picture and to balance complex decisions that impact the organization and
strategy.
4. Control and commitment principle. This principle is about having effective control on
the one hand while maintaining engagement and commitment on the other hand. This is
always a balance. The test here is to have a control process that is aligned with the unit’s
responsibility, cost-efficient to implement, and motivating for the people in the unit.
This means that the CEO is not giving the ‘go’ on the purchase decision for a $30
keyboard – this would be highly demotivating, and control on such small expenditures
should be put lower in the organization to be adaptive anyway.
5. Innovation and adaptation principle. This principle states that organizational structures
should be sufficiently flexible to adapt to an ever-changing world. The test here is that the
organizational design will help the development of new strategies and adaptation to future
changes. Later in this article, we will give a case study of an organization that was unable
to adapt to a rapidly changing environment, hurting its internal processes and bottom line.
In this organizational design, the central parent unit provides value to the connected business
units (e.g., branding, culture and standards, coordination), connected to different business unit
(e.g., production, R&D, sales), shared service units (e.g., HR and IT), project units, and
collaborative overlay units aimed at serving specific customer groups.

These five principles are affected by different factors in the internal and external environment of
the organization. Earlier, we spoke about strategy. The previously mentioned Company A aimed
at maintaining its market share and optimizing its profit margin. This company will benefit from
(1) higher specialization to reduce inefficiencies, (2) lower coordination, (3 & 4) responsibility
and control lies higher in the organization, and (5) the organizational structure will be more rigid.

These five principles enable an organizational designer to (re)design and align the organization
with the key factors that affect the organizational design.

Five factors affecting organizational design

There are five factors that greatly impact organizational design. These factors are:

1. Strategy. Strategy dictates the strategic priorities of an organization. This is the most
important influencing factor of organizational structure and design.
2. Environment. The environment a company operates in influences its strategy but also
dictates how it positions itself. In a rapidly-changing environment, the organization has to
design for more flexibility, or adaptability, while in a stable environment, the organization
can optimize for efficiency.
3. Technology. Information technology is a key enabler for decision-making. The state of IT
impacts organizational design as well. When systems are in place, and decision-making is
based on data, the organizational structure and design – including the potential for
hierarchical control – will be different from an organization where most of the data is
stored in unorganized Excel sheets.
 4. Size & life cycle. The organizational size and life cycle also impact the organizational
structure and design. A 20-person company has very different challenges when it comes to
design compared to a 200,000-person company.
5. Culture. Organizational culture is another key element that impacts organizational
structure and design – and, vice versa, design also impacts culture.

Five factors influencing organizational design principles

Let’s have a look at the five factors and see how they impact organizational design.

1. Strategy

The organizational strategy is the most important starting point for organizational structure and
design. It goes beyond the scope of this article to explain how a strategy is created – we have a
great article on HR strategy in case you want to check this out.

Michael E. Porter proposed that organizations can compete through lower cost or through the
ability to offer distinctive products and services which command a premium price. The second
step is to determine whether the organization has a narrow or broad scope. This means that the
organization either competes in many or in select customer segments.

This resulted in Porter’s Competitive Strategies framework, in which four competitive strategies
are identified: cost leadership, cost focus, differentiation, and focused differentiation.
Different strategies justify a different organizational design. For example, take a beverage
company that sells premium whiskey liquor. The focus here is a specific market segment (well-
off customers who drink whiskey) with differentiation strategies involving strong branding.

In this organization, production may be a specialized business unit focused on one thing:
producing a specialist technological product for DJs. There is some specialization in the
production department but the real innovation happens within specialized product teams in
which R&D and marketing are in constant touch with customers to develop new features and
products the market needs.

Similarly, sales and marketing are business units. They have different, cooperative, horizontally
coordinating overlay units under them – e.g. branding and sponsorships, digital marketing,
public relations, video/multimedia. These units are highly collaborative with each other and are
constantly in touch with the market, leading to high coordination.

Specialists have high responsibility, and although there is a formal sign-off procedure for
marketing campaigns, many of the campaigns happen in decentralized project teams that consist
of people from multiple overlay units that communicate with each other frequently as the market
is a niche market in which marketing needs to be well-coordinated.

Compare this to a low-cost, broad target cost leadership strategy. We take a soap production
company as an example. They produce hundreds of soaps – and although they do some
marketing and sales to retail stores for a few of their lines, most of the soaps are produced for
external brands. The organizational setup is highly siloed and not expected to change.

When we apply this to the five organizational design principles, there is: (1) high specialization
between production and sales, (2) low coordination is required, (3 & 4) knowledge and control
lie relatively high in the organization, and there is (5) little collaboration required between
departments. Indeed, when a new soap line is introduced, the specifics are communicated to the
production department, and after a few test runs, the company is set to produce that soap for
years to come.
2. Environment

The environment also impacts organizational structure and design. The industry, raw materials,
(labor) market, (international) governmental, and sociocultural influences all shape the required
design to different degrees.

The most important factor is environmental stability. There are two dimensions that influence
environmental stability:

 Simple-complex dimension. This refers to the degree to which external factors influence
the organization and competition. These are multiple for large companies such as AT&T
and British Telecom, where all previously mentioned factors act on. In comparison, a
family-owned hardware store in a suburb faces low environmental complexity.
 Stable-unstable dimension. This refers to the elements in the environment that are
dynamic. Big consumer brands like McDonald’s are influenced by online media. They are
highly visible on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, and a single tweet or blog
post can greatly damage a brand. On the other hand, public utility companies have been
stable for a long time. Take public libraries in the US between the 1970s and 2000s. These
were funded by the local city, county, state, and federal governments.

A highly stable and similar environment justifies standardized and non-dynamic organizational
processes. Examples include soap producers or container manufacturers. On the other hand, a
highly unstable and complex environment requires the organization to adapt constantly.
Examples include chip makers and aerospace firms.

Below are organizational design and structure examples. Each of them would suit a different
environment.

3. Technology

Technology greatly influences organizational design. We saw this through the COVID crisis,
where many companies effortlessly went digital, and some even closed their offices.

WordPress, a popular blogging platform, has a 100% remote workforce. This is possible through
the extensive use of technology and technology-driven collaboration.
Information Technology also enables organizations to become more decentralized, improve
horizontal coordination through intranets, and external collaboration becomes possible through
extranets. In fact, Slack, one of the most-used collaboration tools, allows internal and external
collaborators to join the same team through different internal and external channels, enabling fast
communication.

4. Size & life cycle

Size is another factor that impacts organizational design. Small organizations are usually
responsive, flexible, flat, organic, and entrepreneurial. Large organizations create value through
efficiencies, have a global reach and brand, a more stable market, and put more emphasis on
managers. This leads to different organizational design choices.

As organizations grow, they go through different stages of development. Knowing which stage
of organizational life cycle a company is in helps to spot misalignment between the
organizational goals and strategy and the organizational structure. In addition, it helps to identify
which crisis the organization is likely to face.

5. Culture

Every organization has its own unique culture based on their values, assumptions, beliefs,
attitudes, feelings, stories, heroes, symbols, language, and habits. These cultures are best
summarized in the competing values framework.

This culture framework proposes that there are a number of competing values in an organization:
flexibility vs. stability, and an internal vs. external focus. The values compete, meaning that it is
not possible to be both stable and flexible, or both internally and externally focused.
Different cultures lead to different organizational structures. An internally focused organization
will have more collaboration, while an externally focused organization will have more customer-
facing project groups and business units.

Similarly, a highly stable organization has clearly defined business units while a flexible
organization has much more market-focused horizontal overlay units that use different specialists
to create customer value.

Organizational effectiveness

Once you have created an organizational design appropriate for the five factors we mentioned
earlier, the result is an effective organization. This means an organization that is able to reach its
mission and goals.

Organizational effectiveness is hard to measure. However, when we understand it well, the

signals in the organization can provide us with input on improvements for the organization. Let’s
conclude this article with three approaches to measuring organizational effectiveness.

The approaches correspond with different phases of the production process. This is an input –
process – output (IPO) model. At each step, organizational effectiveness can be measured.

 The first indicator of organizational effectiveness is the resource-based approach. This

approach looks at the input and assesses effectiveness by evaluating whether the
organization effectively obtains resources necessary for high performance.
  The Internal process approach looks at the production process and assesses effectiveness
using internal health and economic efficiency. Examples include a strong culture, trustful
communication, swift decision making, undistorted communication, and interaction
between the organization and its parts.
 The third indicator is the goal approach. This approach assesses effectiveness by looking
at how well the organization reaches it goals. Key here is to focus on operational goals, as
these are easier to specify and measure.

What is organizational climate:

Organizational climate refers to an employee’s long-lasting perception of the working

environment and culture of the business they work for. You can think of climate as similar to
personality: every person has a unique personality, and every organization has a unique climate.
This is reflected as a set of characteristics and features perceived by employees. These influence
employees’ behavior at work across various dimensions such as relationships, autonomy, and
organizational structure.

A positive organizational climate increases organizational commitment – the bond employees

have with their organization.

Climate is not created overnight; rather, it is built up and shaped over a long period through a
collation of experiences and interactions. For example:

 whether an employee feels trusted to perform their role without micromanagement,

 how managers and peers treat them,
 whether they feel like they’re growing and developing within the organization,
 how effectively conflict is managed,
 how incentivized they are to perform,
 and much more.

Businesses can use organizational climate to gauge how employees feel about their policies,
practices, and culture and ensure these align with their overall vision, long-term goals, and
strategy. This is key to creating a workplace environment that your employees love and thrive in.
The happier they are, the more productive they will be, and the stronger their results.

Organizational culture vs. organizational climate

Although organizational culture and organizational climate are both concerned with the
characteristics of an organization, there are some key differences.

Organizational culture centers on the values and behaviors of employees within a company,
whereas organizational climate focuses on the atmosphere created in the company based on the
culture.

Culture reflects the authentic image of an organization, while climate reflects individuals’
perceptions regarding the quality and characteristics of the organization.

Culture focuses on the macro vision of a company, while climate focuses on the micro image.

In other words, organizational culture is considered a relatively broad and loose term entailing
organizational behaviors of employees and leaders, as well as norms, while organizational
climate is a more narrow concept of how employees perceive these behaviors and norms.

What are the dimensions of organizational climate?

Different dimensions comprise organizational climate.

There are a variety of approaches to defining the dimensions of organizational climate in

research. According to Hassanpour et al (2019), these include:

 Structural dimensions – Referring to organizational structure

 Interactive dimensions – How members of an organization interact with each other
 Perceptual dimensions – How individuals perceive the climate within an organization

Let’s have a look in more detail at some examples of organizational climate dimensions as
defined by Litwin and Stringer (1968).
Organizational structure

Structure forms the basis of interpersonal relations between those leading and those being led.
Who works under whom, and who is responsible for whom? Centralization of authority has been
proven to reduce participation from subordinates in decision-making. On the other hand,
decentralization encourages it.

Conflict

The organizational climate depends on how effectively all types of conflict are managed.
Effectively managed conflict will create an atmosphere of cooperation and facilitate mature
conversations. Conversely, mismanaged conflict will create an atmosphere of distrust and non-
cooperation where gossip and slander are common.

Risk-taking

If an employee has the freedom to explore new ideas without fear of failure or consequences,
they won’t hesitate to act quickly or take calculated risks, leading to an atmosphere of creativity
and innovation. Whereas in a risk-averse organization, a cautious approach stunts employee
growth and minimizes innovation.

Individual responsibility

Responsibility refers to the amount of autonomy, freedom, authority, and power employees have
in the workplace. When given enough autonomy, employees will get to define their work and
activities, which also reduces the workload of managers. In a climate of low responsibility and
autonomy, employees are passive and forced to work to a specific pre-approved structure and set
of tasks. This often leads to frustration.

Rewards

If rewards are distributed fairly and purely based on performance and productivity, employees
will engage in healthy competition and want to work hard. Any bias in the distribution of words
will damage employee morale.

Warmth and support

This dimension refers to the level at which employees help each other in their work and also feel
that they will get support from their colleagues and managers in challenging times. A strong
level of fellowship between employees leads to confidence in sharing ideas and opinions without
fear of ridicule or reprimand.

Meanwhile, Schneider and Barlett suggested broader dimensions or factors affecting

organizational climate:

1. Management support
2. Management structure
3. Concern for new employees
4. Inter-agency conflict
 5. Agent dependence
6. General Satisfaction

In general, there are many factors that affect organizational climate, including:

 Working with a competent manager

 Working with cooperative, agreeable employees
 Perception of risk
 Levels of conflict and how it is dealt with
 Having confidence in the appropriate records
 Employee responsibility
 Operating procedures
 The degree of centralization
 Employee safety
 Physical space
 Organizational values
 Leadership and decision making styles
 The goals and mission of the organization

Impact of organizational climate

 It can operate as a constraint system – Organizational climate provides employees with

information on what kind of behavior will be rewarded or punished. Therefore, it can
influence the behavior of those who value the rewards on offer.
 It helps employees form a perception of the organization – In turn, this perception
influences an employee’s behavior.
 It affects leader efficacy – Higher leader efficacy equates to improved employee
retention, customer happiness, and higher revenue.
 It influences employee happiness and productivity – A positive organizational climate
can lead to happier, more motivated employees, improved job satisfaction, and ultimately
greater efficiency and productivity.
 It helps a business achieve its long-term goals – The organizational climate has the
power to impact your employee’s performance, your business performance, and your
ability to achieve goals.

Types of organizational climate

Organizations tend to have a mix of several types of organizational climate rather than just one,
but there will often be one dominant type.

Here are the common types of organizational climate:

People-oriented An organizational culture that has a core set of values that focus
climate predominantly on caring for its employees and their results.

An organizational culture providing a set of rules and structure and places

Rule-oriented
high importance on following these rules and attention to detail from
climate
everyone.

An organizational culture that consistently develops and introduces new

Innovation-
ways of working and processes (and encourages employees to do the
oriented climate
same) to achieve innovative results.

Goal-oriented An organizational culture that places preference on values and refining

climate details of processes to achieve the desired result.

What Is Organizational Change

Organizational changes are those that have a significant impact on the organization as a whole.
Major shifts to personnel, company goals, service offerings, and operations are all considered
different forms of organizational change. It’s a broad category.

Before you can design your change management strategy, it is important to determine the type of
organizational change. This helps execute the right change management plan for the best
possible results. Knowing the type of organizational change will also help you choose the
right change management tools.

Types of Organizational Change

Different types of organizational change require different strategies. Everything from
implementation to communication must be tailored to the type of change to be made.

Here are the six most common types of organizational change, along with change management
examples for each:
1. Strategic change
Organizations implement strategic changes to their business to achieve goals, boost competitive
advantage in the market, or respond to market opportunities or threats. A strategic change
includes making changes to the business’s policies, structure, or processes. The upper
management and the Chief Executive Officer often bear the responsibility for strategic change.

Here are three examples of strategic change in an organization:

 Updating your mission as you grow

When companies first launch, the initial focus is often on lead generation and client acquisition.
However, once the company has an established customer base, the focus could shift to upselling.
When the main mission changes, the company’s mission also needs to evolve.

 Innovation

Strategic change through digital innovation refers to using skills and resources to develop new
ideas or improve existing offerings in order to meet customers’ new and changing demands.
Focusing on innovation often requires investing heavily in research and development activities
and the latest technology.

 Restructuring

Restructuring leads organizations to reorganizing aspects of their company to survive a massive

blow or to maximize their already profitable business. Restructuring can result in downsizing or
upsizing the workforce. For example, during COVID-19, the tourism and hospitality sectors
were the two of the worst-hit industries in terms of employee lay-offs and losses.
2. People-centric organizational change
While all changes affect people, people-centric types of organizational change include instituting
new parental leave policies or bringing in new hires. When implementing a people-centric
change, the leadership must bear in mind that employees will naturally resist change.

A people‐centric change requires transparency, communication, effective leadership, and an

empathetic approach.

Note:Many change management models, such as the Kübler-Ross Change Curve and Satir
Change Model, focus specifically on managing emotional reactions to change.

Here are three examples of strategic change in an organization:

 New hire onboarding

Bringing on new team members requires effective onboarding and training, which affect both the
new hires and the established employees. You need to start with communicating the reason for
hiring new people to the team.

Are they going to lighten the workload? Will they fill in the skills gaps? How will they integrate
with the current team?

Be ready to answer the above questions and have a solid plan to avoid negative reactions. Get
ahead of concerns like the extra time it will take to train the new employees on existing tools.

 Changes to roles and responsibilities

Job descriptions can evolve over time. Changes to an employee’s responsibilities may require
additional training or upskilling and restructuring of teams. Of course, shaking up routines is a
delicate process. It’s essential to have a strategy for change implementation and communication.
People like purposeful change. Communicating the value of the change is essential. If you are
adding a responsibility to someone’s role, the employee will be more likely to receive the news
well if they understand the reason behind it.

Consider the following options for announcing the new responsibility:

Option A: “Starting next month, the marketing team will be required to use Oracle to create
monthly reports on email marketing efforts.”

Option B: “Oracle’s built-in analytics simplify the process of monitoring email marketing efforts
and running reports. Harnessing those analytics will allow us to create detailed reports for clients
and offer them more value. Starting next month, the marketing team will be in charge of creating
and delivering reports to clients. ”

 Layoffs

If your company undergoes mass hiring or layoffs, forcing you to change your internal
operations and processes, the situation has to be dealt with by keeping in mind its impact on both
the laid-off and the remaining employees’ morale.

Give your laid-off employees enough time to rehabilitate and move out of the company without
any financial or emotional turbulence.

On the other hand, the threat of layoffs might evoke fear and anxiety among your remaining staff
members, thereby affecting their morale and productivity. Therefore, the leadership needs to be
transparent with these employees, communicate the reasons behind such drastic changes, and
answer any questions the employees might have regarding the change.

3. Structural change
Structural changes are changes made to the organization’s structure that might stem from internal
or external factors and typically affect how the company is run. Structural changes include major
shifts in the management hierarchy, team organization, the responsibilities attributed to different
departments, the chain of command, job structure, and administrative procedures.

Circumstances that lead to structural change include mergers and acquisitions, job duplication,
changes in the market, and process or policy changes. These changes often overlap with people-
centric changes as they directly affect most, if not all, employees.

Here are three examples of strategic change in an organization:

 Mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions are the most common cause of structural change. For example, let’s say
a company X decided to merge with a company Y. As a part of that merger, duplicate
departments are eliminated, employees from both companies are reassigned to new positions,
some employees are terminated, new policies and procedures are created, and job functions are
realigned to fit the new company structure.
Eliminating role redundancies, redefining goals, clearly defining new roles and responsibilities,
and training on technology are all important parts of managing change during mergers and
acquisitions.

Lewin’s Change Management Model works well for mergers and acquisitions because it focuses
on creating a new status quo. It has three steps: unfreeze, change, and refreeze.

After you unfreeze the current processes, you move on to change. This step should be gradual.
This is when the strategy is so crucial. Difficult changes, such as eliminating redundancies,
require continuous and open communication. Encourage feedback and listen as much as you talk.
Once the changes are in place, you “refreeze” or solidify the change as the new status quo.

 The creation of new teams or departments:

Structural change can also apply to smaller adjustments, such as creating a new team. If you
notice that a group of employees have a knack for analytics, you might decide to create a
separate team dedicated to reporting.

However, the necessary shifting of personnel and duties could create some tension. To
streamline the process, justify the change with clear reasoning, explain the benefits, and
highlight the positives. It’s not about taking away responsibilities – it’s about playing to each
individual’s strengths.

 Changes to the company organizational chart:

Promotions and new roles call for updates to the organizational chart. When moving people
around, be sure to celebrate wins, like promotions, and explain adjustments such as merged
departments.

Structural changes influence how your company functions as a whole. It’s never an easy
transition, but solidifying the change as soon as possible can help you avoid major issues down
the line.

4. Technological change
The increasing market competition and constantly evolving technology lead to technological
change within organizations. Technology change often involves introducing new software or
systems to improve business processes through SaaS change management. However, technology
project goals are often improperly defined and poorly communicated, which scares and frustrates
your employees and ultimately leads to resistance.

Technology change management is all about identifying new technology and implementing
a digital strategy for improved productivity and profitability.

Here are two examples of technological change:

 Digital transformation

Digital transformation is defined as the integration of digital technology across all business
domains, resulting in fundamental changes to how a business operates and delivers value to its
customers. While technology is the cornerstone of digital transformation, there is a human
component of change management that evolves along with your technology. This is why change
management must be the center of your digital transformation vision.

Manage change with empathy and help your employees understand how it can improve their
work life. Also, it is important to allow your employees appropriate timelines to adapt to not
only the new technologies but also the new agile, customer-centric, design-thinking mindset.

Furthermore, organizations must invest in digital technologies to manage change initiatives.

Leverage digital adoption platforms like Whatfix to deliver effective employee upskilling
and reskilling programs for your employees.

A DAP helps you provide in-app guidance on different enterprise applications through a variety
of formats, such as step-by-step walk-throughs, balloon tips, videos, and written guides. It also
tracks the progress of your change initiative and gather feedback from your team.

 Introduction of a new technology

Technology is designed to make our lives easier, but learning curves can make technology-
related changes tricky to implement. People generally prefer to stick with what they know.

When introducing new technology, you must have a solid transition plan. People want to know
why the technology is necessary, what makes it better than previous solutions, and how you will
support them during the transition.

For example, if you plan to switch from an outdated CRM to Salesforce, start by justifying the
change. Explain that Salesforce will allow the team to manage leads while also engaging with
current customers. Be sure to point out key benefits, like keeping marketing, customer relations,
and detailed analytics all in one place.

You can build confidence in the change by explaining that the transition will be supported by
various change management tools that offer capabilities such as in-app training, weekly check-
ins, and an internal chat for handling questions.

5. Unplanned change
Unplanned change is defined as a necessary action following unexpected events. An unplanned
change cannot be predicted but can be dealt with by effective change management.

Here are two examples of unplanned change:

 Shift to remote work

Situations such as the unexpected mass shift of employees to remote work due to the outbreak of
virus requires efficient organizational change management skills. Draft a well-defined change
management strategy that specifies the aim, goal, purpose, and direction you want the change to
follow. The strategy defines the features and characteristics of the change, the timeframe, risks,
limitations, and potential employee resistance.

Some essential strategies that companies can use to manage remote employees during change
include:
 
o Communicating more frequently and thoroughly to avoid misunderstandings and
assumptions.
o Having the tools and processes in place to boost virtual employee engagement.
o Prioritizing learning and development to continuously upskill employees on the
latest technology via employee training software.
o Using change managers to help individual employees adapt to the remote culture.
o Providing flexible working schedules for remote employees to maintain a healthy
work-life balance.
 Loss of critical personnel

An unplanned change can also take place if another company or a competitor wooes away one of
your most valued team members with an exciting promotion, or higher salary. In the event
of employee turnover in critical roles, succession planning is the most effective way to minimize
the affect of such change.

A succession plan identifies critical positions, future staffing needs, documenting and
transferring key knowledge, and the people that could fill these future roles within an
organization – and helps develop action plans accordingly.

6. Remedial change
Remedial changes are reactionary. This type of change occurs when a problem is identified, and
a solution needs to be implemented. As these changes are designed to address an issue; they call
for immediate action.

Reactionary change may not be ideal, but it’s inevitable. The benefit of the remedial change is
that judging its success is quick and simple with just one question – was the problem solved or
not?

Here are two examples of remedial change:

 Addressing customer communication issues

There is a huge difference between simply handling communication with customers and having
an effective communication strategy. If what you’re doing isn’t working, you need to adapt
quickly.

Gaming company Activision realized that each time they released a game, customers had a lot of
questions and feedback. Agents were prepared for a surge of incoming calls, but Activision
realized that their customers preferred to go straight to social media. They had to change their
process.

Activision used Salesforce to implement Marketing Cloud’s Social Studio. Marketing Cloud
automatically tracks relevant tweets and social media conversations and uploads them to Service
Cloud. Now, customers can either be directed to self-service solutions or connected to a live
agent.

“It’s an incredible change,” Tim Rondeau, Activision’s Senior Director of Customer Care, told
Salesforce. “We’re reducing costs and increasing satisfaction at the same time.”
  Providing more training for new hires

Highly inefficient processes often lead to remedial changes. You might notice that new
employees are struggling to learn internal tools and software. As a result, they are running to
established employees with questions. Time is wasted, and everyone ends up frustrated.

In this case, the remedial change could include a combination of a user onboarding program for
application training, a company wiki or knowledge base for basic company knowledge, and an
onboarding handbook with knowledge resources that promote self-guided learning.

Remedial changes begin with an issue and end with a solution.

It seems simple, but since these changes are reactionary, they can often involve some trial and
error. Quick action means you won’t have as much time to plan or transition. The strategy comes
into play through monitoring the change. The remedial change is only successful if the identified
problem has been solved.

What is organizational culture?

Organizational culture is the set of values, beliefs, attitudes, systems, and rules that outline and
influence employee behavior within an organization. The culture reflects how employees,
customers, vendors, and stakeholders experience the organization and its brand.
Don’t confuse culture with organizational goals or a mission statement, although both can help
define it. Culture is created through consistent and authentic behaviors, not press releases or
policy documents. You can watch company culture in action when you see how a CEO responds
to a crisis, how a team adapts to new customer demands, or how a manager corrects an employee
who makes a mistake.
The importance of culture to your company:

 Improve recruitment efforts – 77% of workers consider a company’s culture before

applying
 Improve employee retention – culture is one of the main reasons that 65% of employees
stay in their job
 Improve brand identity – 38% of employees report wanting to change their job due to
poor company culture
 Improve engagement – companies with a positive culture have up to 72% higher
employee engagement rate
Organizational culture affects all aspects of your business, from punctuality and tone to contract
terms and employee benefits. When workplace culture aligns with your employees, they’re more
likely to feel more comfortable, supported, and valued. Companies that prioritize culture can
also weather difficult times and changes in the business environment and come out stronger.
Culture is a key advantage when it comes to attracting talent and outperforming the
competition. 77 percent of workers consider a company’s culture before applying, and almost
half of employees would leave their current job for a lower-paying opportunity at an
organization with a better culture. The culture of an organization is also one of the top indicators
of employee satisfaction and one of the main reasons that almost two-thirds (65%) of employees
stay in their job.

Consider Microsoft and Salesforce. Both technology-based companies are world-class

performers and admired brands, and both owe this in part to prioritizing culture. Microsoft,
known for its cut-throat competitiveness under Steve Balmer, has been positively transformed by
Satya Nadella, who took over as CEO of the company in 2014. He embarked on a program to
refine the company culture, a process that upended competitiveness in favor of continuous
learning. Instead of proving themselves, employees were encouraged to improve themselves.
Today Microsoft’s market cap flirts with $1 trillion and it is again competing with Apple and
Amazon as one of the most valuable companies in the world.
Salesforce puts corporate culture front and center and has experienced incredible
growth throughout its history. Marc Benioff, Salesforce’s founder and CEO, established
philanthropic cultural norms that have guided the company over the past two decades. All new
Salesforce employees spend part of their first day volunteering and receive 56 hours of paid time
to volunteer a year. This focus on meaning and mission has made Salesforce one of the best
places to work in America according to Fortune, and it hasn’t compromised profits either:
Salesforce’s stock price has surged year after year at an average of over 26% annually to date.

Organizational culture

Key ways to improve organizational culture include:

1. Connect employee work to a purpose

2. Create positive employee experiences
3. Be transparent and authentic
4. Schedule regular and meaningful 1:1s
5. Encourage frequent employee recognition

Qualities of a great organizational culture

Every organization’s culture is different, and it’s important to retain what makes your company
unique. However, the cultures of high-performing organizations consistently reflect certain
qualities that you should seek to cultivate:
 • Alignment comes when the company’s objectives and its employees’ motivations are all
pulling in the same direction. Exceptional organizations work to build continuous alignment to
their vision, purpose, and goals.
• Appreciation can take many forms: a public kudos, a note of thanks, or a promotion.
A culture of appreciation is one in which all team members frequently provide recognition and
thanks for the contributions of others.
• Trust is vital to an organization. With a culture of trust, team members can express themselves
and rely on others to have their back when they try something new.

• Performance is key, as great companies create a culture that means business. In these
companies, talented employees motivate each other to excel, and, as shown above, greater
profitability and productivity are the results.
• Resilience is a key quality in highly dynamic environments where change is continuous.
A resilient culture will teach leaders to watch for and respond to change with ease.
• Teamwork encompasses collaboration, communication, and respect between team members.
When everyone on the team supports each other, employees will get more done and feel happier
while doing it.
• Integrity, like trust, is vital to all teams when they rely on each other to make decisions,
interpret results, and form partnerships. Honesty and transparency are critical components of this
aspect of culture.
• Innovation leads organizations to get the most out of available technologies, resources, and
markets. A culture of innovation means that you apply creative thinking to all aspects of your
business, even your own cultural initiatives.
• Psychological safety provides the support employees need to take risks and provide honest
feedback. Remember that psychological safety starts at the team level, not the individual level,
so managers need to take the lead in creating a safe environment where everyone feels
comfortable contributing. Now that you know what a great culture looks like, let’s tackle how to
build one in your organization.

Organizational Conflict
Strong conflict-resolution skills are essential to be an effective leader in the workplace. They can
help you resolve tense situations and assist your colleagues in getting along with one another. By
implementing ways to manage workplace conflict, you can be a part of fostering a more positive
company culture.
What is organizational conflict?
 Organizational conflict is an internal misunderstanding or disagreement that can occur between
colleagues or leaders. These kinds of disagreements can lead to a lack of cohesion and
collaboration in the workplace. When employees don't get along with each other or disagree, it
can make it challenging to get everyone aligned with the company's goals.

Organizational conflict causes

Some of the situations that commonly cause organizational conflict include:

Lack of communication
Oftentimes, conflicts occur when there's a disruption in the flow of communication at work.
When someone lacks the information necessary to do their job, they may come to faulty
conclusions. Likewise, if an employee misinterprets something their colleague or manager says to
them, this can also lead to internal conflict in the workplace. This is why it's important to be
mindful of how people might interpret what you say or do at work.

Different personality types

While having a mix of personality types can help a company gain new perspectives and ideas, it
can also lead to organizational conflict. When people with majorly different personalities have to
work together, there may be incompatible values, priorities and work styles. However,
encouraging people to understand each other and their work processes may help prevent
disagreements.

Ambiguous expectations
When managers make their expectations for employees unclear, this can lead to conflict in the
workplace. Employees may grow frustrated or confused about what they are supposed to be doing
to succeed. This is especially apparent if they think they are doing something correctly and their
manager sends it back with unhelpful feedback.

Unclear responsibilities
In order for a workplace to thrive, it's important for departments to have a level of accountability.
Conflict can occur when an issue happens and no one takes responsibility for it. Likewise,
employees can get into disagreements over who's responsible for which tasks. This is why it's
important for everyone to have clearly defined roles in the workplace.

Unfair distribution of resources

When there aren't enough resources at work for everyone, this can lead to competition and
conflict. For instance, if the sales department is getting a significant portion of the budget, other
departments might feel like their employer favors the sales department. A sense of favoritism can
lead to lowered employee morale since people might feel like they aren't getting the recognition
and resources they deserve. Aiming to balance resources can help prevent concerns about
favoritism.
1. Be mindful of your actions
When interacting with your team, be mindful of how people might perceive what you do and
say. What might be a funny joke to someone could be potentially offensive to someone else. It's
important that you understand what kind of behaviors are appropriate in the workplace. Make an
effort to go through your employee handbook with your team to ensure you all have a mutual
understanding of how to act at work.

2. Accept differences
When people learn to get along, diverse workplaces can see all kinds of benefits. Try to be open
to your colleague's ideas or opinions, and, if you disagree with what they say, have a dialogue
with them to understand their thought process. You may find that when people get a chance to
explain themselves, you actually have a lot in common. People of different backgrounds can learn
quite a bit from one another as long as they learn to treat each other with respect.
Read more: The Benefits of Diverse Teams in the Workplace
3. Implement team-building activities
Helping your team members get to know each other better can lead to more collaboration and
understanding in the workplace. Team-building activities can help colleagues learn about each
other's personalities and work styles much better.
Here are a few activities you can use to help your team connect:
Truth and lies
Have your team members come up with two facts about themselves and one lie. Go around
guessing which facts are true and which are false. This can be a fun, low-stakes way of learning
about each other's backgrounds.
Never have I ever
Everyone puts up all their fingers as people go around the group saying things they have not
done. If you personally have done the activity, you put your finger down. The person with the
most fingers up "wins." This is a fun way to learn more about each other's experiences and could
be a great way to get some conversations going with your team.\
Would you rather?
In this game, coworkers go around asking each other what they would rather do between two sets
of possibilities. For instance, you could ask, "Would you rather live in Antarctica or the Sahara
desert?" This can be a fun way to start a meeting and get everyone laughing with one another.
Ice-breaker questions
At the start of each meeting, ask your team a lighthearted question. As everyone goes around
answering it, you can learn about each other's preferences. For instance, "What is your favorite
movie?" or "Where do you hope to travel one day?" are great ice-breaker questions.
 4. Put expectations in writing
Make your team's expectations clear by writing them in job descriptions. Having thorough job
descriptions for each person can help everyone understand their responsibilities and standing in
the office. Managers can also meet with their team members one-on-one to help them set goals
and understand their expectations moving forward. Make sure to take notes during this meeting so
that you can confirm an employee knows what they're responsible for completing.
5. Facilitate open communication
As a lack of communication and misunderstandings often lead to workplace conflict, finding a
way to improve your communication processes can be quite helpful. Consider making some
guidelines on how employees can communicate about certain topics with one another. For
instance, you could encourage employees to discuss project details using email or direct message
so that they can look back on what they said.
6. Act as a neutral party
When conflict happens, act as an intermediary to the situation, and try to help your team
members understand each other's perspectives and emotions. Rather than making your own
conclusion, let people explain themselves and their intentions. When working through an issue,
try to come up with solutions that will suit both parties. While people might not get exactly what
they want, a compromise can help diffuse any tension at work.

7. Hold people accountable

Holding everyone accountable for their actions sets a good precedent in the workplace. Having
accountability ensures that everyone's being mindful of what they do at work. This kind of work
structure can help people figure out what problems they are in charge of solving. Likewise, it's a
good way for people to grow from their mistakes and do better in the future.
Organisational Change:
Organisational change is important for the growth or transformation of a business. Change can
be an exciting time for companies to reevaluate their processes, improve corporate culture and
maintain long-term viability. Understanding why companies implement change strategies can help
you navigate fluctuating circumstances in an organisation. In this article, we answer, 'What is
organisational change?', share some benefits of change for both organisations and individuals,
outline some common types of changes you can expect in an organisation and explore some
common reasons changes occur in a company.
The answer to 'What is organisational change?' can help you understand the concept better.
Organisational change is the process through which a company undergoes any transformation
internally or externally. The change may occur after extensive internal planning, or rather
suddenly, because of unanticipated external factors. It can cause major shifts in the structure,
culture, goals, operational processes, service offerings and technology policies of a business.
The implications of organisational change may depend on the type of change implemented, the
extent of the transformation and whether the change was slow or sudden. Depending on the nature
of the change, employees may display active or passive resistance to it. Some changes may not
affect the employees at all. How the management executes the change may greatly impact how the
employees receive it. Whether the changes are sudden or take place over a longer period of time,
they can require the management to adopt new policies and adjust to new differences within the
organisation.
What are the benefits of organisational change?
Implementing periodic changes within an organisation is an effective way to ensure that the
organisation can adapt to the changing world and keep up with its competitors. As an employee,
adapting to changes in the workplace may feel uncomfortable at the moment. But once you can
overcome that challenge with a positive attitude, you are likely to experience personal
development and become a valuable asset to the company. Here are some benefits of
organisational change for employees:
 more opportunity for skill growth
 diversification of demographics and tasks
 improved communication
 increased opportunity for employee input and participation
 more scope for innovation
 opportunities for new roles and promotions
 Here are some benefits of organisational change for a company:
 new business opportunities
 improved employee efficiency
 better management styles
 enhanced market relevance
 better staff morale
 more cohesive vision and values
 higher functioning teams
 improved processes