The "psychology" of organizational culture

According to Lawson, E., & Price, C. (2003), CEOs are starting to apply traditional psychology to affect organizational culture change.  Specifically, four things: A purpose to believe in; Reinforcement systems; The skills required for change; and Consistent role models.

A Purpose to believe in - This is based on the theory of cognitive dissonance, the distressing mental state that arises when people find that their beliefs are inconsistent with their actions.  Festinger (1957) observed in the subjects of his experimentation a deep-seated need to eliminate cognitive dissonance by changing either their actions or their beliefs.  The implication at the organizational level is that people would be inclined to change their behavior IF they believe in overall purpose.  It is not enough to simply TELL employees they must follow a new process or behavior.

Reinforement Systems - This is based on Skinner's theories of conditioning and positive reinforcement.  The implication at the organizational level is reporting, operational, and measurement processes must be consistent with behavior the organization is asking its people to embrace.  An organizational policy for executives to mentor employees should have a reward embeded in the executive's performance to encourage them to actually do it.

The skills required for change - Change of behavior requires the necessary skills, support, and training to be successful.  A recovering alchoholic attends meetings and has a support group of people who emphathize with the recovering behavior.  The IT organization moving to more "mature" processes like ITIL/ITSM or CMMI asks employees to exhibit a "service culture."  But what is that?  I have developed an Organizational Culture Domain in my Doctoral Disseration that attempts to answer that.  More on that in a later post.

Consistent role models - This is based on Dr. Benjamin Spock and the decisive impact role models have in the development of children. An organization that encourages innovation and entrepreneurship should NOT be micro-managing its employees and should be able to tolerate risk taking.  If employees fear the organizational consequences of failure, they will not be motivated to innovate.....or even give constructive feedback.

FG

Lawson, E., & Price, C. (2003). The psychology of change management. Mckinsey Quarterly, (2), 30-41.