Change the Culture of an Organisation Essay

The culture of an organization can be defined by the carriage they do things, this means the way they drop decisions, operate and how they choose and achieve their objectives. As culture is a set of values and practices, changing it whitethorn be difficult and a long process, especially if the castrate is organized by a refreshed chief executive.Changing the culture of an organization may not be easy especially if the unfermented chief executive does not richly understand the previous culture and therefore does not embrace it in the switch. This lack of knowledge may result in an inappropriate culture being chosen that could limit the come withs performance as productiveness reduces. An example of a badly imposed culture can been seen with the Chrysler and Damier-Benz merge in 1998. Damier-Benz imposed their traditional and structured German culture on the free-spirited American car company Chrysler. The extremely different cultures created tension that later affected their efficiency as decision-making took longer and the workforce were not happy.The inappropriate culture resulted in a loss of $1.5 billon by 2006. In 2011, the new chief executive of Tesco, Phillip Clarke, as well made a cultural change which proved unsuccessful. He proposed a strategy to change Tescos brand image to be known for highly valued brands as opposed to their cheaper Value products. The decrease in habitual promotion deals such(prenominal) as vouchers and meal deals reduced their sales revenue and share value which fell by 15% by the end of 2011. This suggests that Clarke failed to come out Tescos main source of competitively. Therefore, both examples show that cultural changes may be difficult as the new chief executives lack knowledge and nonplus in the company.Culture change also takes a long time, especially as traditions and values are set. A prime example of this is with Sony. Sony is a Japan-based company who prides themselves in adopting a traditional Japanese bu siness culture. Examples of their culture can be seen with their clear line of authority and their strong belief in respect. However, Sonys reducing performance and the fast changing world alarmed the new chief executive, Howard Stringer, to change the culture to one that embraces change.Although proposals to change the culture were made in 2007, Sonys culture has still not fully transformed which is reflected in their still low competitively. Therefore, it may still take some time for Sony to fully embrace an innovative culture as their Japanese culture has bounteously influenced the organization. It also took a long time for Marks & Spencer to introduce higher levels of technology, such as a stock control system, as they are said to have a backward culture. This is because they dont embrace change and are led by system and procedures. These examples provide evidence that change in a businesss culture may not be done diligently as the organization is ac wonted to the previous cul ture.However, changing a companys culture can be easy if the new chief executive conducts the change in an appropriate manner. As culture change will have a direct impact on stakeholders, it is in-chief(postnominal) for the new chief executive to inform all stakeholders of the changes and to also encourage feedback. The loss of the innovative leader of Apple, Steve Jobbs created much anxiety about the new chief operating officer Tim Cook. Stakeholders feared Cook would change the company and reject all Jobbs practices especially as the two leaders have different personalities. The media worse the situation with continuous ostracise press coverage which resulted in a decrease in consumer confidence as well as Apples share price. Although Jobbs had planned to make some strategic changes to the companys practices, he reassured stakeholders by stating that Apple will not change. He also identified these new strategies and their benefits in a press release which justified his decision s and satisfied stakeholders. The newfound trust of stakeholders will enable Apples cultural change to be easier and happen more quickly.In view of the above, I believe that it is not easy to change the culture of a business, as the current practices are custom to the organization this also suggests that the change will be quite a process and therefore wont be done quickly. This situation is worsened as the chief executive is new and wont have the necessary knowledge and understanding of the business to enable a smooth and quick transition.However, the ability for the new chief executive to change the businesss culture quickly and easily is highly dependant upon the reaction of the stakeholders. For example, BPs customers may react positively as the new culture will increase the companys responsiveness to customers. Shareholders may also react positively as the increase of innovation should increase BPs competitive advantage which could increase the companys value and share price. H owever, the increase in innovation may pose a threat the employees as management will expect higher quality and the need for more qualified personnel may be necessary.Therefore, support from stakeholders will encourage an easier and quickly transformation whereas negativity will not. The skills of the workforce is also important as if they are innovative the cultural change will happen faster. However, Sony is in a creative industry and their strategy to increase innovation still took a long time. This suggests that attitudes and beliefs of the workforce are also important. An easy change is also depend upon the new executives approach, is it forceful or flexible? Damier-Benzs forceful approach result in a large amount of tension that slowed the change and resulted in a financial loss.