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- 1. Managing Change, Creativity & innovation 息 Patrick Dawson, Constantine Andriopoulos
- 2. Culture: Enabling and Constraining Creative Processes at Work Chapter 15
- 3. Lecture objectives 1. Define organizational culture. 2. Explain why culture is an important shaper of organizational creativity, innovation, and change. 3. Identify norms that mobilize creativity and innovation at work. 4. Present key principles for promoting cultures conducive to change and creative processes. 5. Discuss whether strong, cohesive culture hinders change, constrains creativity, and stifles innovation or supports the development of new ideas.
- 4. Culture Roots in anthropology and sociology In organizations, Jacques (1951: 251) refers to culture of the factory as: its customary and traditional way of thinking and doing things, which is shared to a greater or lesser degree by all its members, and which new members must learn, and at least partially accept, in order to be accepted into service in the firm
- 5. What is organizational culture? Concept complex and multifaceted, hundreds of definitions, increasing emphasis on culture change i) The way things are done around here; ii) the social glue that holds things together; iii) the rules of the game Kotter and Heskett (1992: 4) argue that: ... at the deeper and less visible level, culture refers to values that are shared by the people in a group at the more visible level, culture represents the behaviour patterns or style of an organization that new employees are automatically encouraged to follow by their fellow employees.
- 6. Edgar Schein Schein (1984: 3) views culture as something an organization is and defines culture as: the pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration and that have worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems
- 7. Four dominant characteristics 1. Culture is a shared phenomenon. 2. Culture exists at two levels, namely: the surface (visible) level and deeper (less visible) level; espoused values and values- in-use. 3. Culture is learned. 4. Culture generally stable but not static as changes slowly over time.
- 8. Disagreements on culture Culture as a variablesomething an organization possessesorganizations can be molded/managed Culture as a root metaphorsomething that an organization isi.e. not manageable Different views: Integration, differentiation and fragmentation (Martin, 1992; Frost et al., 2004)
- 9. Three perspectives Integrationshared values among employees (Peters and Waterman, 1982) Differentiationsubcultures and inevitability of organizational conflict mosaics of inconsistencies (Martin and Meyerson, 1988) Fragmentationambiguity is the hallmark of corporate life and consensus can only be issue specific (Weick, 1991)
- 10. Why an important determinant of creativity and innovation? The components of organizational culture (shared values, beliefs, and behavioral norms) are key in promoting the generation and implementation of novel and useful ideas. Through formal and informal socialization processes, employees gradually learn which behaviors are acceptable. Innovative companies, therefore, tend to have cultures, which emphasize and reward values and norms that support the generation and implementation of new ideas.
- 11. Norms that promote creativity and innovation (Tushman and OReilly, 2002) A focus on idea generation. Supporting a continuous learning culture. Risk taking. Tolerance of mistakes. Supporting change. Conflict handling.
- 12. Norms that promote implementation (Tushman and OReilly, 2002) Team work and effective group functioning. Speed and urgency. Flexibility and adaptability. A sense of autonomy.
- 13. Five pitfalls to avoid (Pfeffer, 2002; Pfeffer and Sutton, 2002) 1. Overemphasizing individual accountability. 2. Overemphasizing quantitative goals and budgets. 3. Punishing mistakes. 4. Promoting internal competition. 5. Striving to be the same.
- 14. Principles of creativity and innovation (Zien and Buckler, 2004) 1. Sustain faith and treasure identity as an innovative company. 2. Be truly experimental in all functions especially at the front end. 3. Structure real relationships between marketing and technical people. 4. Generate customer intimacy. 5. Engage the whole organization. 6. Never forget the individual. 7. Tell and embody powerful and purposeful stories.
- 15. Can strong cultures hinder innovation? At first glance, strong cultures that demand employees to conform to and continuously follow established norms would seem to be an anathema to creative employees. Many innovative companies are known for their strong, cohesive cultures (3M, Apple, etc.) Strong cultures may therefore promote conformity but not uniformity (Nemeth and Staw, 1989). It depends on the nature of the behavioral norms that prevail within the organization. Social cohesion is necessary in order to implement creative ideas and to translate creativity into innovation (Caldwell and OReilly, 1995).
- 16. Strong cultures are not necessarily conducive to generating and implementing ideas in organizations per se; rather, what are required are strong cultures that foster innovation-enhancing norms and at the same time promote the social cohesion necessary for turning ideas into product innovations. In Short..
- 17. Summary points Culture is considered as a form of social control that is characterized as: a shared phenomenon, which exists in both visible artifacts and mission statements as well as in less visible and deeper subconscious levels. learned by organizational members through a process of socialization. enduring and relatively stable but changes. Culture plays an important role in shaping the creative process.
- 18. Recommended Reading Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2016). Changing Organizational Culture : Cultural Change Work in Progress (2nd ed.). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Bloor, G. and Dawson, P. (1994) Understanding professional culture in organizational context, Organization Studies, 15 (2): 27595. McLean, L. (2005) Organizational cultures influence on creativity and innovation: a review of the literature and implications for human resource development, Advances in Developing Human Resources, 7 (2): 22646. Schein, E.H. (2010) Organizational Culture and Leadership, 4th edn. San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass.