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Unit 12: Behavioural Implementation

and operating practices. Over time, these values and practices become shared by company Notes
employees and managers. Culture is thus perpetuated as:
1. New leaders act to reinforce them

2. New employees are encouraged to adopt and follow them
3. Stories of people and events told and retold
4. Organisation members are honoured and rewarded for displaying cultural norms.

12.3.1 Influence of Culture on Behaviour

An organisation’s culture can exert a powerful influence on the behaviour of all employees. It
can, therefore, strongly affect a company’s ability to adopt new strategies. A problem for a
strong culture is that a change in mission, objectives, strategies or policies is not likely to be
successful if it is in opposition to the culture of the company. Corporate culture has a strong
tendency to resist change because its very existence often rests on preserving stable relationships
and patterns of behaviour.

Example: The male-dominated Japanese centered corporate culture of the giant
Mitsubishi Corporation created problems for the company when it implemented its growth
strategy in North America. The alleged sexual harassment of its female employees by male
supervisors resulted in lawsuits and a boycott of the company’s automobiles by women activists.
There is no one best corporate culture. An optimal culture is one that best supports the mission
and strategy of the company. This means that, like structure and leadership, corporate culture
should support the strategy. Unless strategy is in complete agreement with the culture, any
significant change in strategy should be followed by a change in the organisation’s culture.
Although corporate cultures can be changed, it may often take long time and requires much
effort. A key job of management therefore involves “managing corporate culture”. In doing so,
management must evaluate what a particular change in strategy means to the corporate culture,
assess if a change in culture is needed and decide if an attempt to change culture is worth the
likely costs.

12.3.2 Creating Strategy Supportive Culture

Once a strategy is established, it is difficult to change. It is the strategy-maker’s responsibility to
select a strategy compatible with the organisation’s prevailing corporate culture. If it is not
possible, once a strategy is chosen, it is the strategy implementer’s responsibility to change the
corporate culture that hinders effective execution of a chosen strategy.

Changing a Problem Culture

Changing a company’s culture to align it with strategy is one of the toughest management tasks.
This is because the deeply held values and habits are heavily anchored, and people cling
emotionally to the old and familiar. It takes concerted management action over a period of time
to root out certain unwanted behaviours and instill behaviours that are more strategy-supportive.
Changing culture requires competent leadership at the top. Great power is needed to force
major cultural change, to overcome the spring back resistance of entrenched cultures, and great
power normally resides only at the top.
Changing a problem culture involves the following four steps:
Step 1: Identify facts of present culture that are strategy – supportive and those that are not.

Step 2: Clearly define desired new behaviours and specify key features of “new” culture.

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