CHAPTER 15: Organizational Change, Development, And Innovation

Question 1

Levels of Culture

Answer 1

1. Artifacts: Aspects of culture that you see, hear, and feel
2. Beliefs: The understanding of how objects and ideas relate to each other
3. Values: The stable, long-lasting beliefs about what is important
4. Assumptions: Taken-for-granted notions of how something should be in an organization

Question 2

2 Primary functions of culture

Answer 2

Integration
* Culture helps members solve problems
* Culture is taught to newcomers
* Culture strongly influences behavior

External adaptation
* Helps guide employees to meet goals

Question 3

Where Does Culture Come From?

Answer 3

Founder or CEO

Management
* What management pays attention to gets repeated and reinforced
* Managers serve as role models – their behaviour gets imitated

Emergent leaders

Question 4

Socialization

Answer 4

• Helps employees understand the attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors that are necessary to function in the organization.
• Collective versus individual
• Formal versus informal
• Sequential versus random

Question 5

Things organizations can change:

Answer 5

• Goals and strategies
• Technology
• Job design
• Structure
• Processes
• Culture
• People

Question 6

Why Organizations Must Change - External Sources

Answer 6

Global competition, deregulation, and technological advancements

Question 7

How do companies become leaner?

Answer 7

by reducing middle management layers.

Example: Mergers, acquisitions, and new relationships with unions/suppliers.

Question 8

Why Organizations Must Change - Internal Sources

Answer 8

Low productivity, strikes, high absenteeism, and turnover
Employee feedback

Perceived threats can either motivate change or cause organizational paralysis.

Organizations can fail at change due to lack of investment, poor planning, or rigid behavior

Question 9

How to Change Culture

Answer 9

• Have top management become positive role models, and set tone through their behavior
• Create new stories, symbols, and rituals to replace those currently being used
• Select, promote, and support employees who espouse the new values
• Redesign socialization processes to align with new values
• Change the reward system to encourage acceptance of new values
• Replace unwritten norms with formal rules and regulations that are tightly enforced
• Shake up current subcultures through transfers, job rotation, termination
• Work to get peer group consensus through utilization of employee participation and creation of a climate with high trust

Question 10

Kurt Lewin’s Three-Stage Model of Change

Answer 10

1. Unfreezing
2. Change
3. Refreezing

Question 11

Unfreezing

Answer 11

Recognizing that the current situation is unsatisfactory.
o Crises (e.g., lawsuits, declining sales) can force organizations to change.
o Leaders use symbolic actions to highlight change necessity (e.g., Samsung’s CEO burning 150,000 phones to emphasize quality).
o A clear vision is essential to guide change.

Question 12

Change

Answer 12

Implementing a plan or program to improve the organization.
o People must have the capability, opportunity, and motivation to change.
o Example: To foster innovation, companies might introduce creativity training, idea fairs, and reward systems.

Question 13

Refreezing

Answer 13

Making new behaviors and processes permanent.
o New routines and policies must support the change.
o Some industries require constant adaptation rather than static refreezing (e.g., technology, automotive, and consumer electronics).

Question 14

The Learning Organization

Answer 14

• An organization that has systems and processes for creating, acquiring, retaining, and transferring knowledge to modify and change its activities to reflect new knowledge and insights.

Question 15

Two Methods of Organizational Learning

Answer 15

1. Knowledge Acquisition – Learning from external sources (e.g., competitors, market trends).
2. Knowledge Development – Generating new knowledge internally (e.g., R&D, feedback loops).

Question 16

Steps in the Change Process

Answer 16

1. Diagnosis
2. Resistance to Change
3. Dealing with Resistance

Question 17

Diagnosis

Answer 17

Systematic information collection to determine what changes are needed.
o Using customer surveys, employee feedback, and external benchmarking.
o Change agents (internal or external consultants) diagnose issues and implement solutions

Question 18

Dealing with Resistance

Answer 18

• Co-opting influential individuals to support the change.
• Clear communication to increase transparency and trust.

Question 19

Overcoming Resistance

Answer 19

• Address politics and self-interest
• Educate employees and managers
• Involve people in the change process
• Employ a transformational leadership style