Culture Change and HR’s Role
has never been more relevant. The environmental context in which organisations operate is continually changing, and therefore a culture which enables and organisation to be flexible, adaptable and changable is essential.
Fundamentally culture relates to the way we do things around it. In regards to organisation development, the organisations culture probably has one of the biggest impacts on organisational effectiveness and the opportunity for sustainable performance than any other element of the organisations system.
The problem for organisations is that changing a culture which is damaging the organisations effectiveness is not easy. If it was, then more change programmes would be successful. But delving into the shared beliefs and values, the way people think and interact, and more importantly the why they believe and think and act the way they do takes time, effort and resource. More importantly, there has to be a willingness to explore dark corners, to question everything and to show willingness to examine, without judgement, the shared patterns of behaviour within the organisation.
Culture change cannot be a one off development programme, or a box which is ticked as being done. Culture is dynamic, and informs the way employees work and perform as well as informing the approach taken in decisions made by . Organisational structures, systems, rules, policies and the behaviour of people interacting with the organisation are all dictated by the organisational culture.
The job of HR and the OD practitioner is to increase awareness of the cultural phenomena within the organisation. To metaphorically hold a mirror up and play back some of the behaviours that are present and question why these behaviours manifest and the consequences of such behaviour on organisational effectiveness.
By exploring various dimensions on the way the organisation does things, it is possible to understand liminalities within the system that prevent the organisation from being as effective as it could be.
Challenges the the balance of the culture, especially in regards to power, politics and purpose can help rebalance the organisation to ensure that the right influences are impacting decision making and behaviour and are aligned to what it is the organisation is trying to achieve. In effect, navigating the cultural landscape to to ensure that the organisations ‘way of doing things’ doesn’t impinge on the possibility of success.
Several key HR processes impact an organisations culture including;
- Recruitment and Selection
- Leadership Development
- Talent Management and Succession Planning
- Learning and Development
- Reward, Remuneration and Promotion criteria
- Organisation Design and Structure
- Organisational Policy including mission statements and values
It is very easy of HR to assume that because the systems exist that there is no requirement to examine HR practices. But exploring HR practices from the point of view of cultural investigation helps HR to understand whether their practices reinforce unhelp cultural norms that are preventing the organisation from being flexible, adaptable and changable.
Many failures in organisation effectiveness have their root cause in the people processes and practices within the organisation. What is said is not necessarily what happens, and as a result failure becomes inbuilt into the cultural paradigm.
HR has a powerful position in transforming the cultural climate of an organisation. But that means that HR managers, and especially OD practitioners pay attention to the ‘way they do things’ in order to ensure that they move the culture of the organisation forward.