Changing the Organizational culture - Some school of thoughts -- Part # 2

How Can I Change Organizational Values? You Can’t!

Organizational values are the shared attitudes people have about what is right and wrong to do in an organization. Our personal values are shaped by our parents, our teachers, our friends, our religious and spiritual guides and by the society in which we are raised. When our personal values are compatible with our employer’s values we feel comfortable working in that environment. Values, like culture, can’t be measured, touched or seen. We can observe how people act and infer values but organizational values took a long time to create and a new “values document” won’t overturn those very easily. In such case, why don’t we just change the attitudes?

How Can I Change People’s Attitudes? You Can’t!

Well, maybe with the proverbial “2x4 attitude adjuster”. Attitudes develop as a result of personal experiences with people and situations. A person will develop a set of personal biases, prejudices and opinions based on their view of how the world operates. I know this is getting old, but you can’t measure, touch or see attitudes either. Like the situations above, you can merely observe and interpret what people do and say and how they behave. There is no direct measurement. At the least I hope we can change the people’s behaviors. Shall we give it a try?

How Can I Change People’s Behaviors? Be Careful!

Don’t jump to a conclusion too quickly. Yes, there is an entire body of research involving behavior modification. Through the appropriate use of “rewards and punishments” you can alter behavior of people or animals. But are we sure of what kind of behaviors we want people to exhibit?

Keep in mind, that in a business setting, people’s behaviors might be a result of the “role” they are expected to play and do not reflect the true personal behavior patterns of that individual or group of people. A generous, mild mannered person might exhibit the behavior of a tight fisted tyrant if their role in the organization is that of “cost cutter”. Oops!! Isn’t it getting complicated? Why don’t we just explore the possibility of changing the people’s roles in the organization?

To be continued…..