Organisational culture is an important factor for the company’s success. It can determine employees’ individual and collective behaviour, as well as their adherence to regulations (Browaeys & Price, 2011). It is necessary to stress the importance of cultural changes within companies because they are determinants for firms’ success and high levels of performance. Rick (2014) presents the findings of a survey, stating that more than 95% of employees report the need for culture change within their organisation.
The first argument for the importance of change is that organisational culture is a significant driver of its decisions and selected strategies. For example, Zhu (2015) reports that corporate culture can lead to the company’s ability to adopt innovations, as well as affect employees’ ideologies, expectations and beliefs. It is evident that a lack of changes and transformation may result in outdated policies and inappropriate strategies, which may hinder the firm’s development. It means that a company should implement changes continuously to remain competitive. The second argument is that changes in an organisational culture correlate with global tendencies and customers’ interests. For example, a manufacturing company reportedly contributes to a high level of air pollution, which decreases clients’ trust and leads to lower sales level. In this case, it is vital for the organisation to shift towards a sustainable production process and implement environmentally-friendly policies. As a result, the corporate culture should undergo changes too as it is vital for the firm’s employees to share its vision and values.
Another argument for the importance of change is that continuous development is particularly crucial for some types of companies. For instance, Willis et al. (2016) report that in the field of health care, an appropriate organisational culture may be associated with the efficiency of services, high quality of care and positive patient outcomes. Corporate culture is a key determinant of employees’ determination, engagement in the work process and adherence to existing policies. The final argument is that the implementation of some changes may require little effort but result in significant benefits, which means that transformation is feasible at least on surface levels. It is evident that radical alterations of organisational culture are associated with unpredictability and may be difficult to manage. At the same time, gradual changes that affect employees’ behaviours or address daily challenges should be made. Thus, it is possible to conclude that although transformation is vital for successful development, the organisational culture should not be changed entirely. Mierke and Williamson (2017) support this argument and report that past achievements and successful strategies can become a basis for a new culture.
A change within an organisational culture is vital because it promotes development and adherence to customer’s interests and global tendencies, as well as positively affects employees’ dedication and behaviours. There is no need to implement radical change as it may lead to negative outcomes and are difficult to manage. A gradual transformation may be key to the company’s success, a high level of performance and public trust and increased competitiveness.
References
Browaeys, M. J., & Price, R. (2011). Understanding cross-cultural management (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Mierke, J., & Williamson, V. (2017).A framework for achieving organizational culture change. Web.
Rick, T. (2014). Is organizational culture change needed. Web.
Willis, C. D., Saul, J., Bevan, H., Scheirer, M. A., Best, A., Greenhalgh, T.,… Bitz, J. (2016). Sustaining organizational culture change in health systems. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 30(1), 2-30.
Zhu, C. (2015). Organisational culture and technology-enhanced innovation in higher education. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 24(1), 65-79.