Presented by: Owais Qazi

4 Cultures for
change
Organizational
Change
4 Cultures for change

Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter, we will be able to:

recognize the importance of the informal
organization and its role in relation to organizations
and change;
explain the meaning of culture in the context of a
range of perspectives offered by researchers in the
field;
compare and contrast different cultural models and
typologies;
4 Cultures for change

Learning objectives
diagnose organizational culture as the first step in
the process of culture change;
identify the sources, including those of the wider
society, from which an organization derives its culture
in order to understand how culture pervades all
aspects of organizational life;
examine different cultures in terms of their capacity
to help or hinder organizational change;
investigate degrees of strategyculture compatibility
and their implications for large-scale strategic change
The informal organization
Covert structure:
Systematic structure including goals, strategy,
structure etc.
Overt structure :
Informal structure including values, attitudes, beliefs,
etc.
Extent and impact of overt is manifold as compared to
covert elements
The meaning of culture
More than 100 definitions for culture:

Culture consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling
and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by
symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of
human groups, including their embodiment in
artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of
traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas
and especially their attached values
The meaning of culture
Organizational culture:

A set of understandings or meanings shared by a
group of people. The meanings are largely tacit
among members, are clearly relevant to the particular
group, and are distinctive to the group. Meanings are
passed on to new group members. (Louis)

Organization or corporate culture is the pattern of
values, norms, beliefs, attitudes and assumptions that
may not have been articulated but shape the ways in
which people behave and get things done.
(Armstrong)


Case Example