Understanding and Managing
Organisational Culture
Orla O’Donnell
Richard Boyle
CPMR Discussion Paper
40
Understanding and Managing
Organisational Culture
First published in 2008
by the
Institute of Public Administration
57-61 Lansdowne Road
Dublin 4
Ireland
in association with
The Committee for Public Management Research
www.ipa.ie
© 2008 with the Institute of Public Administration
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording
or any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.
ISBN: 978-1-904541-75-2
ISSN: 1393-6190
Cover design by Creative Inputs, Dublin
Typeset by the Institute of Public Administration
Printed by ColourBooks Ltd, Dublin
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Executive Summary viii
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Policy context 1
1.3 Terms of reference and study approach 2
1.4 Report structure 3
Chapter 2: Organisational culture: lessons from the
literature 4
2.1 Introduction 4
2.2 What is organisational culture? 4
2.3 Types of organisational culture 6
2.4 Why is culture important? 9
2.5 Issues in managing culture 13
2.6 Conclusion 14
Chapter 3: International public and private sector
examples of culture management 16
3.1 Introduction 16
3.2 Australia: Culture change in the Queensland
public sector 16
3.3 Canada 20
3.4 United Kingdom 21
3.5 USA 23
3.6 Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation 24
3.7 3M 31
3.8 Conclusions 35
Chapter 4: Irish public service experience with culture
management 37
4.1 Introduction 37
4.2 Three central government organisations 38
v
4.3 Two public sector agencies 45
4.4 Three local authorities 51
4.5 Key chapter findings 59
Chapter 5: Conclusions and recommendations 64
5.1 Introduction 64
5.2 What is culture? The concept of culture revisited 64
5.3 Why is culture an important issue for public service
managers? 65
5.4 What can managers do to influence/shape culture? 67
5.5 Conclusion 72
Appendix 1 74
Appendix 2 82
References 88
vi
This study on Understanding and Managing Organisational
Culture could not have been completed successfully without
the active support and co-operation of officials in a number
of public service organisations. Special thanks are due to
Brigid McManus, (Secretary General, Department of
Education and Science); Catherine Treacy (Chief Executive,
Property Registration Authority); Dr. Ciaran Kissane,
(Director of Corporate Services, Broadcasting Commission
of Ireland); Joe Crockett, (formerly County Manager, Carlow
County Council and at present County Manager of Kilkenny
County Council); Phil Furlong, (former Secretary General,
Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism); Michael McLoone
(County Manager, Donegal County Council) and Sean
Sheridan (Director of Corporate Services, Donegal County
Council); Frank Daly (formerly Chairman, The Office of the
Revenue Commissioners and at present Chairperson of the
Commission on Taxation) and Joe Horan (County Manager,
South Dublin County Council) who provided wholehearted
support to the in-depth case-study analysis of their
respective organisations. In addition, the information
provided by members of the Committee for Public
Management Research and Dr. Paul Mc Grath and Mr.
Charles Geaney, UCD Michael Smurfit School of Business,
proved very helpful.
Responsibility for the content of the paper, however, rests
with the authors.
Orla O’Donnell
Richard Boyle
June 2008
vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Introduction
Organisational culture is a widely used term but one that
seems to give rise to a degree of ambiguity in terms of
assessing its effectiveness on change variables in an
organisation. For the past number of decades, most
academics and practitioners studying organisations suggest
the concept of culture is the climate and practices that
organisations develop around their handling of people
(Schein, 2004). Watson (2006) emphasises that an important
trend in managerial thinking in recent decades has been one
of encouraging managers to try to create strong
organisational cultures. Schein (2004) suggests that culture
and leadership are conceptually intertwined. This is
supported by O’Farrell (2006) in his analysis of the
Australian public service, where he concludes that
‘statements of values, codes of conduct, principles of public
service management and so on set out in rules and
regulation are simply rhetoric − or what we now call
aspirational statements. Without leadership that is what they
will ever be rhetoric. It is our job as administrators, managers
and leaders to turn them into reality’ (O’Farrell, 2006. p.8).
This study reviews evidence that shows why managing
culture is important to effectively enhancing both
organisation performance and, in macro terms, the public
service modernisation programme. Based on the national
and international literature reviewed and interviews
conducted, guidance is provided in relation to more
effectively managing culture, and issues to be addressed in
terms of its effective engagement and use in the public
service are outlined.
Why is culture an important issue for public service
managers?
Why should public service managers concern themselves
with culture? Will it make any difference at the end of the
day to know what type of culture or subcultures exist in an
organisation, what cultural traits may be desired, and so
on? For managers with busy schedules, is culture
something they should be concerned with?
viii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The evidence presented here, from the literature,
international studies and the Irish experience, suggests
that culture is indeed something that public service
managers should pay attention to. First and foremost, this
is because culture affects the performance of organisations.
In the private sector organisations studied − The Hong Kong
and Shanghai Banking Corporation and 3M − there is a
clear and explicit link between culture change and
performance. But this can also be the case in the public
sector, despite the absence of a ‘bottom line’. Ban’s (1995)
study of the good performance of the US Environmental
Protection Agency compared to other federal agencies, cited
in Chapter 2, shows how culture can affect performance.
The Irish cases studied, such as the Broadcasting
Commission of Ireland (BCI) and the Property Registration
Authority (PRA) would also suggest that attention paid to
culture influences performance in a positive manner.
The evidence from this study would also suggest that it
is particularly important for managers to pay attention to
culture when reacting to or planning major organisational
change. Culture is particularly important when an
organisation is undergoing significant transformation or
when introducing major reforms which require different or
new cultural or value traits from those exhibited in the past.
What can managers do to influence/shape culture?
Knowing that culture is important in shaping
organisational practice and performance in public sector
organisations is one thing. But a subsequent issue is the
extent to which managers can actually shape or influence
culture. The literature on culture change explored in
Chapter 2 is somewhat ambivalent on this point. On the
one hand, examples can be identified where interventions
can influence culture. But on the other hand, some
academics warn of the danger of attempting to influence the
more superficial aspects of culture such as symbols and
ceremonies, while ignoring the more pervasive and deep
seated aspects of culture such as values and beliefs. These
more deep seated aspects of culture are much more difficult
to influence.
ix
Six key issues
Based on the academic literature in this study and the
findings from the interviews, Chapter 5 sets out a
framework that identifies six key issues that managers need
to address in order to contribute to creating a more
developmental and performance oriented culture in their
organisation. These issues are as follows:
1. Creating a climate for change
In terms of creating a climate for change, culture is only
effective if it is applied to the relevant area needing change
or is tied to some organisational issue. Several of the
organisations studied here used internal or external drivers
in order to facilitate the culture shift they wanted to see
achieved. For example, the UK civil service at the
‘unfreezing’ stage of their change programme created a
climate where civil service change to a more managerial
culture was seen as required in order to address long
standing problems. The Department of Education and
Science uses the social partnership agreements as a
framework within which to promote change. BCI has used
its organisational development policy as the driver for
developing the organisation’s culture in the desired
direction.
2. Leaders as champions
Leadership is clearly important in determining the
effectiveness of culture change. The leaders of organisations
are ‘champions’ of understanding and managing culture in
the organisation and of rewarding or punishing subcultures
depending on whether they align or not with the corporate
culture espoused by the leaders. The influence of leaders in
terms of rewarding the sub-culture groups that espouse the
dominant beliefs, values and underlying assumptions of the
organisation cannot be underestimated. This is
demonstrated, for example, in Queensland Health, 3M and
the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism where
significant emphasis has been put on leadership
development programmes and initiatives. The local
authority examples illustrate that clear strategic leadership
is necessary to ensure the consistency of organisation
culture.
x
3. Employee engagement and empowerment
Employee engagement and empowerment is crucial to
ensure that the culture is effectively managed and aligned
with the cultural assumptions of the organisation as a
whole. Demonstration projects in the UK civil service, which
promoted the desired managerial thinking and at the same
time engaged staff in the change process, were an important
element in cultural change. Local partnership committees
and projects in BCI and the PRA have been used to engage
and empower staff, though each recognises that
partnership arrangements need careful management if they
are to be successful.
4. Team orientation
Team working was a common feature in most organisations
studied, in terms of crossing existing barriers and as a
useful means of promoting and disseminating new cultural
traits. In terms of individual and organisational
development, teams are seen as a way of investing in talent
development. HSBC, for example, put particular emphasis
on team projects rooted in the promotion of the desired core
values for the organisation. The Carlow County Council
case highlights a further dimension of team orientation −
the benefits of developing joint team working with
individuals and businesses outside the organisation to help
shift the focus to the promotion of a developmental culture.
Similarly, Carlow County Council, Donegal County Council
and South Dublin County Council emphasise a culture of
cross-agency and cross-functional collaboration and
teamwork with public bodies and agencies in developing
more effective provision of services at a local level.
5. Tracking cultural change
Tracking cultural change is important in terms of assessing
whether the culture has become misaligned in terms of subgroup
cultures’ practices, or whether there are issues or
challenges to be addressed which could undermine the
cultural ethos and underlying assumptions of the
organisation. In the US, the Organisational Culture
Assessment Instrument (OCAI) has been used to good effect
in some federal agencies. BCI undertook an organisational
culture mapping exercise. Schein (2004) suggests that the
xi
ten-step Culture Awareness Programme (see Appendix 1 for
details) is a helpful instrument in most situations in which
leaders need to manage some element of their culture.
6. Training, rewards and recognition
Training in terms of culture awareness is viewed differently
in various organisations. Culture is an aspect of general
management training in some organisations. In other
organisations, it is deemed appropriate to learn from
leaders and managers about the prevalent cultural norms
and assumptions. 3M has placed as much emphasis on
non-monetary rewards such as honours and recognition
programmes as it has on monetary rewards. Carlow County
Council, similarly, has placed significant emphasis on
recognition and reward and particularly encouraging
entering national recognition and reward schemes as a way
of promoting a winning culture.
Concluding remarks
This study seeks to enhance understanding in relation to
effectively managing culture in public sector organisations
and also to provide lessons from initiatives implemented to
date in both the public and private sectors. The importance
of managing and manipulating culture in public sector
organisations cannot be underestimated in terms of its
impact on the modernisation agenda. Developing
appropriate measures to address culture issues in
organisations in terms of increasing organisational
capability and performance are addressed in earlier
chapters of this study. While the implications of such
approaches are wide-ranging, fundamentally the key to
effective culture management is leadership. Leadership
must be committed to managing culture in terms of
developing and sustaining organisational performance,
while managers throughout the organisation are
responsible for its effective development.
There is much that remains to be done to address the
evident gap between the impact of cultural issues and the
approaches adopted by managers, approaches which are
quite rudimentary in many public sector organisations. The
organisations cited for this study provide useful examples of
how organisations can effectively manage organisation
culture as an integral part of both corporate strategies and
xii
organisational change measures to enhance performance
and innovation. This study contributes to the awareness
and understanding of culture management in public sector
organisations. But, the challenge is to translate this
understanding into practical measures in public sector
organisations to further bolster modernisation and deliver
the ‘performance culture where indicators inform policy
choices, budgetary allocations and the day to day
management of operations’ (Cowen, 2008).
xiii
1.1 Background
This study examines the interaction between organisational
culture and the agenda for change in the public sector.
Understanding and manipulating organisational/corporate
culture to engender greater organisational flexibility and
productivity is of particular interest in the light of the
modernisation programme within the public sector. A review
of comparative international practices in both the public and
private sectors is undertaken and recommendations in
relation to how organisations can enhance leadership and
flexibility are outlined. A complementary CPMR study by
MacCarthaigh (2008) examines the development of public
service values, a key component of organisational culture.
1.2 Policy context
At the inaugural Institute of Public Administration (IPA)
National Conference in June 2006, the then Taoiseach, Bertie
Ahern TD, reiterated the important role played by the public
service in shaping our economy and society. He acknowledged
the importance of the public service responding adequately to
future challenges aided by three important levers:
partnership, benchmarking and a whole of public service
approach. He also emphasised that, ‘we need to develop and
support those who are in key areas of responsibility and
leadership, bringing together the best of the traditions and
development opportunities of all parts of the public service.
One of the benefits of this approach would be to encourage
greater co-operation and mobility across the different
branches of the public service’ (Ahern, 2006). Similarly,
Towards 2016 advocates that ‘the public service must
continue to modernise and at a faster rate than heretofore if it
is to continue to meet the expectations and requirements of
our increasingly sophisticated, complex and diverse society.
1
1
Introduction
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
The parties reaffirm their full commitment to the further
development and accelerated implementation of
modernisation frameworks in each sector of the public service
in order to secure the flexibility required to achieve the highest
international standards’ (Towards 2016, p.114). At the IPA
National Conference in May 2008, the Taoiseach, Brian
Cowen, TD, acknowledged that to achieve an ‘integrated’
Public Service, as advocated by the recent OECD Review of the
Irish Public Service, requires the changed behaviour of
individual public servants and public service organisations.
‘We need to tackle any legal, cultural, ownership, human
resource, industrial relations, risk management and ICT
barriers that are preventing the demonstration of the
positive attitudes and behaviours we need if we are to
tackle the complex problems that the public service
faces.’ (Cowen, 2008). The Taoiseach describes the ‘need
to develop a performance culture where indicators inform
policy choices, budgetary allocations and the day to day
management of operations. It is in this wider context of
performance management that performance indicators
can serve to heighten accountability and facilitate the
sort of delegation we desire.’ (Cowen, 2008).
1.3 Terms of reference and study approach
The terms of reference for this study were agreed as follows:
1. A review of the concepts of organisational/corporate
culture and the implications for the modernisation
agenda in the public sector.
2. An examination of models and practices currently in
operation in the public and private sectors both
nationally and internationally. This is followed by a
discussion of pertinent elements, which focus on
organisation/corporate culture dynamics, innovation,
governance issues, and culture/performance linkage.
Examples will be derived from international practice.
3. Identifying appropriate responses that need to be
developed within the public sector in order to create an
awareness of organisation/corporate culture to further
2
INTRODUCTION 3
shape the modernisation agenda in the public sector.
The main sources of information for this study are the
national and international literature on organisational/
corporate culture and the issue of managing culture, and a
small number of semi-structured interviews with key
informants in a cross-section of public organisations. Good
practice examples of managing organisation/corporate
culture in terms of implementing change and flexibility are
examined in a number of case studies chosen from
departments, agencies and local government.
1.4 Report structure
Following this introductory chapter, the structure of the
report is as follows:
Chapter Two focuses on the literature on organisational
culture. It seeks to develop a comprehensive understanding
of organisational culture and its benefits, in particular the
importance of developing culture to augment change in an
organisation.
Chapter Three focuses on how organisational culture is
managed and on models and practices currently in
operation in the public and private sectors internationally.
It reviews issues in relation to implementation of a culture
framework and explains dynamics that can be used to
manipulate culture to accentuate change. This is followed
by a discussion of pertinent elements, which focus on
organisation/corporate culture dynamics, innovation,
governance issues, and culture/performance linkage.
Chapter Four provides findings from case study
organisations and key informants in the Irish public service
on the impact of organisational culture on change
programmes in their organisations.
Finally, Chapter Five develops conclusions and recommendations,
in particular identifying appropriate responses that
need to be developed within the public sector in order to
create an awareness of organisation/corporate culture to
further shape the modernisation agenda in the public sector.
2.1 Introduction
The purpose of this chapter, based on an extensive review
of the literature, is to explain what is meant by
organisational culture and why it matters. This is followed
by consideration of some of the benefits and challenges with
respect to its orchestration in organisations. Finally,
considerations in relation to the creation and maintenance
of an apposite culture in a public sector context are raised.
2.2 What is organisational culture?
Organisational culture is a widely used term but one that
seems to give rise to a degree of ambiguity. Watson (2006)
emphasises that the concept of culture originally derived
from a metaphor of the organisation as ‘something
cultivated’. For the past number of decades, most
academics and practitioners studying organisations suggest
the concept of culture is the climate and practices that
organisations develop around their handling of people, or to
the promoted values and statement of beliefs of an
organisation (Schein, 2004). Schein (2004) highlights that
‘the only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create
and manage culture; that the unique talent of leaders is
their ability to understand and work with culture; and that
it is an ultimate act of leadership to destroy culture when it
is viewed as dysfunctional’ (p.11).
Culture therefore gives organisations a sense of identity
and determines, through the organisation’s legends, rituals,
beliefs, meanings, values, norms and language, the way in
which ‘things are done around here’. An organisations’
culture encapsulates what it has been good at and what has
worked in the past. These practices can often be accepted
without question by long-serving members of an
4
2
Organisational culture: lessons from
the literature
ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE: LESSONS FROM THE LITERATURE 5
organisation. One of the first things a new employee learns
is some of the organisation’s legends. Legends can stay with
an organisation and become part of the established way of
doing things. Over time the organisation will develop
‘norms’ i.e. established (normal) expected behaviour
patterns within the organisation. A norm is defined as an
established behaviour pattern that is part of a culture.
Schein (2004) emphasises that ‘perhaps the most
intriguing aspect of culture as a concept is that it points us
to phenomena that are below the surface, that are powerful
in their impact but invisible and to a considerable degree
unconscious’ (p.8). Schein uses an analogy that culture is
to a group what personality or character is to an individual.
‘We can see the behaviour that results, but often we cannot
see the forces underneath that cause certain kinds of
behaviour. Yet, just as our personality and character guide
and constrain our behaviour, so does culture guide and
constrain the behaviour of members of a group through the
shared norms that are held in that group’ (p.8).
Schein (1990) emphasises that there are visible and
invisible levels of corporate culture (the ‘culture iceberg’
analogy − the visible levels (surface manifestations) of the
‘culture iceberg’ incorporate observable symbols,
ceremonies, stories, slogans, behaviours, dress and
physical settings. The invisible levels of the ‘culture iceberg’
include underlying values, assumptions, beliefs, attitudes
and feelings. Often, change strategies focus on the visible
levels.
Deal and Kennedy (1982) emphasise the more visible
levels of culture (heroes, rites, rituals, legends and
ceremonies) because it is these attributes they believe
shape behaviour. But it is the invisible levels that may be of
more interest to public sector organisations in terms of their
influence in progressing or impeding organisational change.
Rousseau (1990) in his critique of researchers who
concentrate on one or a few attributes, proposes a multilayered
model which he structured as a ring (see Figure
2.1). Rousseau’s rings are ‘organised from readily accessible
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
(outer layers) to difficult to access (inner layers)’.
Rousseau’s model appears to capture all the key elements
of culture: ‘a continuum from unconscious to conscious,
from interpretative to behaviour, from inaccessible to
accessible’ (Rousseau 1990, p.158).
Figure 2.1 Layers of Culture
Source: Rousseau (1990) Cited in Cooper (1994),
Organisational culture, then, is made up of more
‘superficial’ aspects such as patterns of behaviour and
observable symbols and ceremonies, and more deep seated
and underlying values, assumptions and beliefs. Some
proponents argue that organisational culture can be
changed by focusing on the more visible aspects such as
rites and rituals, as these help shape behaviour. However,
others argue that this is a misunderstanding of culture and
that the ‘deeper’ aspects of culture such as beliefs and
feelings must be taken into account when considering
organisational culture and potential changes to culture.
2.3 Types of organisational culture
It is important to note that there is not just one
organisational culture. It is widely recognised by the
academic literature that different organisations have
6
Artefacts
Outer rings are
the visible signs
of culture
Inner rings are
the hidden
feelings of
culture
Fundamental
assumptions (or beliefs)
Patterns of behaviour
Behaviour norms
Values
ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE: LESSONS FROM THE LITERATURE 7
distinctive cultures. Also, there may be more than one
culture within organisations. One classification of culture
types is proposed in Bradley and Parker’s (2006) Competing
Values Framework (CVF), based on work by Quinn and
Rohrbaugh (1983) (see Figure 2.2).
The CVF has been used in a number of studies to
investigate organisational culture (e.g. Harris and
Figure 2.2 The Competing Values Framework of
Organisational Culture
Human Resources model
(Group culture)
Personal
Warm and caring
Loyalty and tradition
Cohesion and morale
Equity
Open systems model
(Development culture)
Dynamic and entrepreneurial
Risk taker
Innovation and development
Growth and resource
acquisition
Rewards individual intiaitve
Internal
Internal Process model
(Hierarchical cutlure)
Formalised and structured
Rule enforcement
Rules and policies
Stability
Rewards based on rank
External
Rational goal model
(Rational culture)
Production oriented
Pursuit of goals and objectives
Tasks and goal
accomplishment
Competition and achievement
Rewards based on achievement
Flexibility
Control
Source: cited in Bradley and Parker(2001) and adapted from
Zammuto and Krakower (1991)
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
Mossholder, 1996). The CVF examines the competing
demands within organisations between their internal and
external environments on the one hand and between
control and flexibility on the other (Bradley and Parker,
2001). These conflicting demands constitute the two axes
of the competing values model. Organisations with an
internal focus emphasise integration, information
management and communication, whereas organisations
with an external focus emphasise growth, resource
acquisition and interaction with the external environment.
On the second dimension of conflicting demands,
organisations with a focus on control emphasise stability
and cohesion while organisations with a focus on flexibility
emphasise adaptability and spontaneity. Combined, these
two dimensions of competing values map out four major
‘types’ of organisational culture revealed in theoretical
analyses of organisations (Zammuto, Gifford and
Goodman, 1999):
• The internal process model involves a control/internal
focus in which information management and
communication are utilised in order to achieve stability
and control. This model has also been referred to as a
‘hierarchical culture’ because it involves the enforcement
of rules, conformity, and attention to technical matters
(Denison and Spreitzer, 1991). The internal process model
most clearly reflects the traditional theoretical model of
bureaucracy and public administration that relies on
formal rules and procedures as control mechanisms
(Weber, 1948; Zammuto, Gifford and Goodman, 1999)
Bradley and Parker, 2001, 2006).
• The open systems model involves a flexibility/external
focus in which readiness and adaptability are utilised in
order to achieve growth, resource acquisition and external
support. This model has also been referred to as a
‘developmental culture’ because it is associated with
innovative leaders with vision who also maintain a focus
on the external environment (Denison and Spreitzer,
1991). These organisations are dynamic and entrepre-
8
ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE: LESSONS FROM THE LITERATURE 9
neurial, their leaders are risk-takers, and organisational
rewards are linked to individual initiative (Bradley and
Parker, 2001, 2006).
• The human relations model involves a
flexibility/internal focus in which training and the
broader development of human resources are utilised to
achieve cohesion and employee morale. This model of
organisational culture has also been referred to as
‘group culture’ because it is associated with trust and
participation through teamwork. Managers in
organisations of this type seek to encourage and mentor
employees (Bradley and Parker, 2001, 2006).
• The rational goal model involves a control/external
focus in which planning and goal setting are utilised to
achieve productivity and efficiency. This model of
organisational culture is referred to as a rational culture
because of its emphasis on outcomes and goal
fulfilment (Denison and Spreitzer, 1991). Organisations
of this type are production oriented, and managers
organise employees in the pursuit of designated goals
and objectives, and rewards are linked to outcomes
(Bradley and Parker, 2001, 2006).
The importance of this academic understanding of types of
culture is not that the types exist in any pure form in
organisations. It is possible for organisations to display
several cultural types. Rather, it is that such typologies
help in our understanding of predominant cultures and
thinking as to what re-balancing is needed if culture is to be
shifted to support new practices and values.
2.4 Why is culture important?
Some researchers’ findings show that certain kinds of
cultures correlate with economic performance (Denison,
1990; Kotter and Heskett, 1992; Sorensen, 2002). Boyne
(2003) suggests a link between organisational culture
change and public service improvement. Similarly, Ban
(1995) in a study of the US Environmental Protection
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
Agency, found that the agency was more adept than other
federal agencies in mitigating the effects of centralised
federal human resource policy constraints. This was linked
to the agency’s status as an adhocracy with an open
culture, focusing on change and flexibility, and
characterised by creative problem solving and risk taking.
Understanding of organisational culture and cultural
types also helps our understanding of why managerial
reforms may impact differently within and between
organisations. An organisation with a predominantly
internal process culture, for example, may be more
resistant to reforms aimed at promoting innovation. Pollitt
and Bouckaert (2004, p.55) note: ‘We would also expect
staff in high uncertainty avoidance cultures to be more
concerned with rule-following and more reluctant to risk
changing jobs − both factors of some importance for those
reformers who want to deregulate bureaucracies and
encourage more rapid job change in the public service’.
Practitioners in both the private and public sectors have
come to realise that organisational change often requires
changing the organisation’s culture and learning. For
example, in terms of improving career progression
arrangements in the civil service, O’Riordan and
Humphreys (2002) suggest a need for a change in
organisational culture in many areas of a department
(p.83). In particular, O’Riordan (2004) says that ‘developing
a culture in which career progression and development of
staff is prioritised represents an important retention and
motivation tool’ (p.77).
Zalami (2005) notes that culture can either facilitate or
inhibit institutional transformation depending on whether
or not the existing culture is aligned with the goals of the
proposed change. This is also noted by O’Donnell (2006) in
terms of culture facilitating innovative initiatives in the
public sector and providing a supportive environment for
developing ‘enterprising leaders’ (p.98). The issue of culture
emerged as a recurring theme throughout the CPMR study
on Innovation in the Irish Public Sector and suggests that
10
ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE: LESSONS FROM THE LITERATURE 11
‘management attitudes to risk management and tolerance
towards failure merit further research in terms of their
impact on developing an entrepreneurial culture in the
public sector’ (p.96).
The academic literature suggests that traditional
organisational cultures in the public sector are likely to
impede public service modernisation unless they
themselves are changed to become aligned with the modern
role of government as an engine of economic growth (private
sector development, ownership of state enterprises). Zalami
(2005), as summarised in Table 2.1, notes that change
proponents have identified attributes of public sector
culture focused on its authorities and controls, rulesdriven,
bureaucratic nature, inefficient use of resources,
unaccountable for results, and suggests a new paradigm
more responsive to citizen needs.
Table 2.1 Paradigms
Source: Zalami, 2005
Du Gay (2000) argues that undermining the bureaucratic
ethos is an avowed intention of contemporary reformers,
but their understanding of ‘bureaucracy’ and their
conception of ‘efficiency’ he feels leaves a lot to be desired
(Osborne and Gaebler, 1992; Peters, 1987). He suggests
that rather than referring to a form of organisation
exhibiting many if not most of the characteristics of Max
Old Paradigm New Paradigm
Government is the source of
authority and control
Government provides services and
solutions to common problems
Government is rules-driven
and resistant to changes
Government is results-oriented and
changes to meet new needs
Public servants are focused on
themselves and their situations
Public servants are focused on
meeting the needs of the citizens
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
Weber’s(1978,II,pp.978ff) classic ‘bureau’, contemporary
reformers use ‘bureaucracy’ as a composite term for the
defects (waste, inertia, excessive red tape) of large
organisations. They advocate its replacement by more
efficient, business-like methods.
Overall, DuGay (2000) feels that it is both misguided
and remarkably premature to announce the death of the
cultural ethos of bureaucratic office. ‘Many of its key
features as they came into existence a century or so ago
remain as or more essential to the provision of good
government today as they did then − as a number of recent
well-publicised cases of improper conduct in government,
at both national and supranational level, indicate all to
clearly. These features include the possession of enough
skill, status and independence to offer frank and fearless
advice about the formulation and implementation of
distinctive public purposes and to try to achieve purposes
impartially, responsibly and with energy if not enthusiasm.
Representative democracy still needs the bureaucratic
ethos’ (p.146).
But Litton (2006) notes that the simple structure form
favoured by bureaucracies can lead to cultural traits that
limit performance. He finds that the modus operandi of
government departments ‘bears a striking resemblance to
the organisational structure identified by Mintzberg (1979)
as the ‘simple’ or ‘entrepreneurial’ form’ (p.195) and these
structures depend on direct supervision as a device to coordinate
its division of labour. Litton (2006) explains that it
is the ‘boss’ who deals with the environment and assigns
tasks according to the products identified by him or her
that will satisfy the customer, and who with the support of
one or two trusted middle managers or supervisors,
oversees their execution. He explains further that the
culture that sustains this form is similar to that which Basil
Chubb (1970) used to describe Irish political culture:
authoritarian, anti-intellectual and personalist. ‘The
culture is authoritarian because the boss alone has the
command of the big picture that combines both internal
12
ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE: LESSONS FROM THE LITERATURE 13
and external environments. The boss’s role is to handle the
uncertainties that attend any organising endeavour.
Questioning by staff is one source of uncertainty that can
be ruled out by fiat and so it is. The culture is antiintellectual
because to admit the relevance of new
understandings is to greatly increase that complexity the
boss must handle. The danger of cognitive overload and the
suspicion that the increase in acknowledged complexity
would not bring commensurate rewards is enough to
discourage open ended analysis’ (pp.195-196, Litton,2006).
He also describes the culture as personalist ‘because
numbers are small, and in the absence of detailed job
descriptions workers interact as individuals, not roles’
(p.196, Litton, 2006).
Culture is, therefore, a key battleground in the context
of management reform in the public service. Simplistic
approaches suggest that the old bureaucratic culture of the
public service must be dismantled and replaced by a more
private sector like entrepreneurial culture. But the reality
is, as suggested here, that such simplistic approaches will
not work. A fuller understanding of culture and the reasons
for particular organisational cultures in the public service is
central to successful management reform.
2.5 Issues in managing culture
If culture is important, is it possible to manage culture
change? Culture change involves moving an organisation
on from one form of culture to another, often through a
culture change programme. Managing this cultural change
programme requires that attention be paid to a range of
issues. Pettigrew et al., (2003, 2000, 1992, 1983) suggest a
number of key factors:
• creating a receptive climate for change
• top leadership drive − coherent and cohesive
• requiring an articulate and precise vision from the top
• discrepant action to increase tension
• use of deviants and heretics
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
• new avenues for articulating problems
• reinforcing structural change and rewards
• use of role models
• deep socialisation, training and development
• new communication mechanisms to transmit new
values and beliefs
• integrated selection criteria and removal of deviants
• luck, persistence and patience.
Hatch (1997), however, suggests that it is important to
manage with cultural awareness rather than to directly
manage the culture. Legge (1995) has used a metaphor of
‘riding a wave’ to explain managing culture (cited in Morgan,
1988). ‘The best the surf-rider can do is to understand the
pattern of currents and winds that shape and direct the
waves. He/She may then use them to stay afloat and steer
in the desired path. But this is not the same as changing the
basic rhythms of the ocean’ (Legge, 1995, p.207).
There are, therefore, competing views in the literature
as to the degree to which it is possible to manage culture.
Some argue that culture can be directed and controlled,
particularly by influential leaders. Others argue that
directive, top down change is unlikely to be successful in
the long run, and that managing culture is either not
possible, or only possible if the complexity of reality is
understood and change is progressed in a consensual and
longer-term manner.
2.6 Conclusion
Organisational culture is an important concept and a
pervasive one in terms of its impact on organisational
change programmes. The literature suggests an ambiguity
in terms of the link with organisational performance as
strong cultures have been shown to hinder performance
(unadaptive) and there is also a problem of isolating the
impact of corporate culture on performance. The problems
associated with the culture/performance linkage include
14
ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE: LESSONS FROM THE LITERATURE 15
validation concerns in terms of measurement, as the effect
of a particular cultural variable may not affect all
performance-related organisational processes in the same
way. Researchers also view it as a socially constructed norm
and not just a managerial control strategy −’caught not
taught’. Hatch (1997) suggests that organisations should
aim to manage with cultural awareness and not merely
manage the culture.
3.1 Introduction
The terms of reference for this study suggest that a useful
means of reviewing the successful management of culture
in organisations would be an examination of models and
practices currently in operation in the public and private
sectors both nationally and internationally. The choice of
comparators in the private sector required careful
consideration. The organisations chosen have successfully
adapted their organisational cultures to meet the needs of
their dynamic environments. The two organisations chosen
were HSBC and 3M. Both are large complex organisations
that are actively engaged in ongoing culture change
programmes. The second aim of this chapter is to review
experiences in relation to organisational culture in public
service organisations internationally. Developments in
Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom are outlined.
3.2 Australia: culture change in the Queensland public
sector
In the context of the implementation of new public
management prescriptions in the Australian public sector,
Bradley and Parker (2006) examined the likelihood that
public sector managers would prefer an organisational
culture that would reflect the culture of private sector
organisations, with an external rather than internal
orientation. The research involved managers in the public
sector in the Australian state of Queensland. The public
sector in Australia has undergone a major process of
restructuring over the last twenty years due to a number of
factors, including the overall broad process of public sector
reform in Australia, and a major change of government in
Queensland in 1989, from thirty-two years of conservative
16
3
International public and private sector
examples of culture management
INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR EXAMPLES OF
CULTURE MANAGEMENT
17
party rule to the election of the Australian Labour Party
(ALP). The ALP advocated reforming the public sector so
that it was more responsive to political direction and more
in tune with contemporary thinking regarding public sector
management. ‘In the 1990s, the Queensland government
sought to introduce changes that had already been
achieved at the federal level. This included program
budgeting, an enhanced focus on outputs rather than
inputs, increased authority for line managers and the
introduction of commercial principles in service delivery
(Hede, 1993). Managers were encouraged to seek to drive
organisational change towards the model of excellence
(Queensland Treasury, 1994, 1997) similar to that of
successful private sector organisations’ (Bradley and
Parker, 2006).
A focus of Bradley and Parker’s research included
examining both the extent to which managers’ views on
culture reflect the principles of the new public management
and the desires of lower level employees, and how they fit
within the new public sector management context. Their
research investigated the idea that managers’ perceptions of
ideal organisational culture would be different to the
bureaucratic model of culture (internally oriented), which
has traditionally been associated with public sector
organisations. Responses to a competing values culture
inventory were received from 925 public sector employees.
Results indicated that the bureaucratic model is still
pervasive; however, managers prefer a culture that is more
external, and less control focussed, as expected. Lower level
employees expressed a desire for a culture that emphasised
human relations values. (Bradley and Parker, 2006) This
study reiterated findings arrived at by Bradley and Parker
in 2001, which found that Queensland public sector
agencies have a predominant culture that reflects a focus
on rules and regulations, with little flexibility.
O’Farrell (2006) notes that Bradley and Parker (2001)
placed a considerable emphasis on: the role of leaders in
influencing culture in terms of how they react to crises;
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
what the leaders pay attention to; how resources are
allocated; and also that the criteria by which people are
selected, promoted and assessed may have a significant
influence on culture. O’Farrell (2006) reiterates that the
change recommended by the researchers to move toward
practices which are more flexible and less rule bound is a
‘huge challenge of building and indeed shifting a culture in
a large bureaucratic structure like the Queensland public
service. We’re talking close to 165,000 full time employees
in the QPS and in Queensland Health alone, around 44,000
people. Nor should we underestimate the challenge of being
a leader in the Queensland public service, or any other
public service for that matter’ (O’Farrell, 2006, p.7).
O’Farrell (2006) recommends that leaders in the public
sector should contemplate two questions. What are the
words your staff would use to describe the culture in the
organisation or team you are responsible for? Do you think
the description is consistent with your own diagnosis?
He concludes that ‘statements of values, codes of
conduct, principles of public service management and so on
set out in rules and regulation are simply rhetoric − or what
we now call aspirational statements. Without leadership
that is what they will ever be rhetoric. It is our job as
administrators, managers and leaders to turn them into
reality’ (O’Farrell, 2006. p.8).
O’Farrell (2006) describes a review conducted by Forster
of the health system in Queensland as a good example of an
organisational culture change programme and its wider
implications for the whole of the Queensland public service.
A commitment had been given by Queensland public
servants that ‘Queensland Health staff generally are a
dedicated, professional and committed workforce, with a
strong ethos to do the best for patients and consumers’. In
his review, Forster highlighted a number of negative
features of the organisation’s culture, which he claimed
would ‘severely impede its ability to deliver the best possible
standard of service to patients and consumers’. These
negative aspects included dysfunctional behaviours such as
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19
bullying, intimidation and a reluctance to share
information, and professional ‘silos’ which reflect traditional
occupational groupings. Budgetary and workload pressures
have worsened these ‘tribal’ behaviours and contributed to
a less than satisfactory workplace environment’. Forster
advocated a vision for a culture in the Queensland Health
service where: ‘patient centric services and community
engagement are pre-eminent values; individuals are well
informed about the scope and access to services and
options to enhance their own care; leaders are empowered
and demonstrate positive behaviours which support and
value the contribution of staff; staff are confident in their
leaders and their employer and have pride in the services
they deliver and all people in the organisations treat each
other with respect’. Forster worked to develop this culture
by charging ‘a new and reformed leadership’ with the
responsibility to deliver these changes with ‘a significant
focus on teamwork and reform activity, a shift from
centralised decision-making to clinician led decisionmaking
and more money to relieve work pressure and allow
training and team development’. O’Farrell (2006)
summarises the progress achieved in terms of developing
this organisational culture: Queensland Health earmarked
$56.4 billion in extra funding through the health action
plan over five years; the department is operating under a
new streamlined structure; a new code of conduct is
operational; $3 million is being invested over two years to
improve workplace culture and eliminate bullying through
a new workplace and leadership centre; a new leadership
development programme commenced in May 2006 for the
top 300 senior staff to develop and improve their
management skills to help repair the department’s damaged
culture; a new regular staff survey will monitor feedback on
workplace issues and a new independent health quality and
complaints commission is to be established (O’Farrell,
2006).
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
3.3 Canada
Some commentators have argued that the Canadian model
of public administration is quite distinctive compared with
countries such as Australia, Britain, New Zealand and the
United States. There is greater emphasis placed on values
and behaviours following the need to build public trust and
confidence after a number of corruption scandals. A
number of reports and initiatives were implemented to
reinforce the importance of values and ethics in public
administration, including, A Strong Foundation. Report of
the task force on Public Service Values and Ethics (2001),
Case study Report 1(2000) and 2 (2001), A Critical Moment:
Capturing and Conveying the Evolution of the Canadian
Public Service (2006), A Canadian model of Public
Administration (2004), and Results for Canadians: A
Management Framework for the Government of Canada
(2002). Similarly, the research report by Crookall and
Schachter (2004) entitled Changing Management Culture
Report (2004) set out guidance for organisations in
managing culture in the public service and outlined the
common requirements for achieving a change in culture,
including, strong leadership, a vision, and a change team or
guiding coalition charged with implementation,
perseverance and commitment to follow through,
understanding of the current culture, where resistance will
come from and the courage to tackle resistance head-on
(Crookall and Schachter ,2004).
Along with the need to defend institutional integrity to
external audiences, Selznick (1957) observed that leaders
must promote dynamic adaptation, foster new
organisational competence, and cultivate an evolving sense
of mission through ‘critical decisions’ that alter institutional
character in the longer term. Otherwise, insititutions move
out of synch with their external and internal
environments.(CSPS, 2006). Selznick’s observations were
incorporated in the ‘model’ of the Canadian public service.
The Canadian model identifies critical functions of a wellperforming
public service institution. In this context, the
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21
term ‘well-performing’ refers ‘to an institution’s ability to
anticipate and respond to challenges, modify key functions,
deal with key constituencies, recruit and deploy talent,
coordinate and align effort, and learn from experience
inside and outside the institution as a basis for reforming
itself. Every public service institution has different
traditions, approaches, and capabilities in each function,
and different balances and trade-offs among those
functions. This model moves beyond articulating desirable
values to discerning which functions, processes and
conditions can achieve them’ (CSPS, 2006).
Lindquist (CSPS, 2006) notes that ‘leading a national
public service encompasses a diverse complex of
organizations, each possessing unique goals, tasks,
experiences, competencies, and challenges. But public
service institutions still must develop common norms if
they are to become more than the sum of their parts,
collectively interacting to serve governments and citizens in
a broader, complex, and political environment’. He suggests
that ‘the complexity of the public service’s mission
increases the demands on institutional leaders seeking to
foster a common identity, coordination, corporate
initiatives, and higher values’. Selznick(1957) stresses that
‘all institutions inevitably encounter difficult, often
character-defining, moments. Adroit leadership will take
advantage of such moments to assess risks, reconcile and
perhaps instil new values, and move the institution in new
strategic directions’. Lindquist emphasises that such
leadership should be pivotal in developing the
organisation’s norms, cultivating a sense of mission,
representing the institution to internal and external
audiences, and defending its integrity to key stakeholders.
(CSPS, 2006)
3.4 United Kingdom
The example of culture change in the UK comes from some
time back, from the changes in civil service culture that
took place in the 1980s. The election of the Thatcher
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
government in the UK led to a radical attempt to shift what
was perceived as an inward looking and inefficient
administrative culture in the civil service to a managerial
culture with an increased emphasis on efficiency. Richards
(1988) describes this culture change initiative by adapting
Lewin’s classic unfreeze-change-freeze organisational
change model (Lewin, 1951). She outlined a four stage
process:
Stage 1. Unfreeze/destroy the old culture/undermine
the paradigm
There was a significant degree of hostility in the new
government to the civil service. It is characterised by the
statement of one ministerial adviser when asked about
morale in the civil service who replied that there was a
problem with morale, it wasn’t low enough yet. Deliberate
attempts were made to make it clear that the traditional
way of doing things was no longer acceptable. Initiatives
were taken to de-privilege the civil service, and staffing cuts
introduced.
Stage 2. Introduce new ideas about how things ought
to be done
Public choice theory was influential at the early stages in
introducing a new theoretical justification for changes in
how the civil service should be organised and run (Boyle,
1997). A more market-oriented and managerial approach
was promoted. At the same time, the Rayner scrutinies were
introduced in government departments. Lord Rayner was
appointed from the private sector to introduce efficiency
changes. But he chose to work with the grain of the civil
service rather than take an antagonistic line. Small
demonstration projects were used to illustrate the need for
change. Ownership was vested in departments rather than
the centre. A small group of high flyers was identified to
undertake the projects and to become the top managers of
the next generation, with a new approach and mind set. It
became widely recognised that the system had been under-
22
INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR EXAMPLES OF
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23
managed and that management improvements could be
made.
Stage 3. Systematically apply the new ideas/establish
the new paradigm
This stage covers the implementation of the new model,
forming the basis of the new culture. As Richards (1988)
notes ‘Accountable management, as expressed in the
Financial Management Initiative, provides the new model of
organisational life for the new culture’.
Stage 4. Re-freeze the new culture
This is where the new culture becomes a normal part of the
pattern of working life. The second term of the Thatcher
government is associated with this re-freezing, with less
new initiatives being brought in, and a bedding down of the
new traits and practices. At the same time, there was some
change on the part of ministers as they became to value
more the traditional skills of civil servants. So the culture
change was a two-way process.
3.5 USA
In order to diagnose organisational culture, the
Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) is
often used by organisations. The instrument is in the form
of a questionnaire that requires individuals to respond to
several dimensions. Steps for designing an organisational
culture change process are: (1) diagnosis and consensus for
the present, (2) diagnosis and consensus for the future, (3)
what it means, (4) illustrative stories, (5) strategic action
steps, and (6) an implementation plan (Cameron and
Quinn, 1999, pp.77-89). The purpose of organisational
culture assessment is to help ensure that the organisation
is clear from the outset about its current culture, why it
needs to change, and where it needs to go (OECD,2002).
The US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) utilises the
Organisational Assessment Survey (OAS) as an Organisational
Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) designed to assess
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
organisational culture/climate processes that are related to
organisational effectiveness (http://www.opm.gov). The
survey assesses several dimensions that organisational
theory, research, and practice indicate are related to
organisational effectiveness. This assessment process is
important to any organisation that is striving to improve
outcomes, such as financial performance and customer
satisfaction. OPM has worked with many organisations in
various phases of organisational assessment and change
management. Agencies that have taken the OAS become part
of a learning network of public sector organisations known as
Performance America. The survey has been used to assess
performance, benchmark best practices, make changes, and
evaluate success of agencies (OECD, 2002).
3.6 Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC)
was established in 1865 to finance the increasing trade
between China and Europe. The HSBC is the second largest
financial institution in the world and is headquartered in
London. The Bank’s international network comprises
approximately 10,000 offices in seventy-seven countries. In
the late 1990s to ensure HSBC remained in the league of
top ten banks in the world by market capitalisation, the
Bank introduced a five year strategy, Managing for Value.
To help operationalise the strategy, a bank-wide
strategic culture change programme called Together, We
Win! (TWW!) was introduced over the period 2000-2001 for
HSBC Holdings Hong Kong plus five subsidiary companies.
The core purpose of the culture change programme was ‘to
work together to embrace change and allow HSBC
continuing success in the twenty-first century’. The
strategic goals of the programme were to heighten levels of
customer satisfaction, to build shareholder value and to
improve staff satisfaction. Six core values were identified for
the programme: 1. Achieve More! 2. Embrace Change! 3.
Delight Customers! 4. Take Personal Responsibility! 5.
Continuously Learn! 6. Continuously Improve!
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INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR EXAMPLES OF
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A steering committee was formed to provide strategic
direction. This committee comprised the head of personal
financial services, head of corporate and institutional
banking, head of human resources and the head of
training. A programme manager reported to the steering
committee and received direction from the chair. A
dedicated programme team supported the programme
manager, and the programme had a budget and other
resources assigned to it. The steering committee met as a
group every six weeks during the duration of the
programme.
The programme was divided into two phases (see Figure
3.3). Phase one comprised a centralised one day event. Over
15,000 staff from HSBC Holdings Hong Kong plus five
subsidiary companies attended the one-day event, 120
participants each day between November 2000 and July
2001. In the morning, cross functional teams at the event
explored the six core values and their implications. These
teams each had facilitators specifically recruited and
trained from line staff. Facilitators were recruited to provide
the workforce with positive role models from their own work
environment and to create a group of ‘champions’ who
would bring the programme back to the workplace upon
completion of their event duties. These facilitators knew the
business intimately compared to external trainers and had
a lot of credibility in terms of the internal customers.
Each afternoon, a member of the top management team
took central stage in the Event Hall to discuss current
business issues, reinforce the core values in their
presentation and answer a Q &A session. At the end of each
day the event was reviewed by the core team members and
event facilitators. This provided customer feedback and the
programme was modified where appropriate to demonstrate
customer-centricity and continuous improvement.
Phase two involved transferring the learning event to the
multi-faceted local workplace of over 15,000 staff by
providing customised learning tools to help staff embrace
change in their local workplace. The programme was
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
implemented in the workplace during normal work duties.
Teams would apply the programme core values with
support and reinforcement from their team leaders and
identified line champions. Senior management across the
business identified 1,400 line managers as team leaders
26
Figure 3.3 TWW! Projects and Activities Map and Core
Programme Design
Core Programme Phase 1:
A Centralised Event
Cross-functional teams
explored 6 core values
during a one-day event,
covering the first 3 steps
of the experiential
learning cycle (‘do’,
‘reflect’ and ‘connect’)
Phase 2:
Workplace Localised
Local teams action-planned on 6 core values in
their own workplace, covering the last step of
the experiential learning cycle (“apply”)
Module 1: Teamwork (3 months)
Module 2:Embrace Change (3 months)
Module 3:Delight Customers (3 months)
Module 4: Take Personal Responsibility
(2 months)
Module 5: Continuous Learning (3 months)
Module 6: Continuous Improvement (4 months)
Learning and
Development
Centred
Experiential Learning
Activities
Live Q&A with Top
Management
Self-Directed Learning
Interdependent Team Learning
Structured
Support Activities
and Projects
Event Hall Development
Steering Committee
Meetings
Materials Design and
Development
Facilitator Recruitment
and Training
Pilot Run Management
Event Management
Stakeholder Management
Communications
Workforce Alignment
Steering Committee Meetings
Advisory Committee Meetings
Materials Design and Delivery
Materials Distribution
Pilot Teams Management
Event Management
Stakeholder Management
Communications
Culture
Embedding
Mechanisms
Leadership Focus
Allocation of Resources
Rites and Rituals
Formal Statements and
Values
Role-modelling, Teaching and Coaching
Rewards and Status
Recruit, Select and Promote
Organisational Systems and Procedures
Source: O'Donovan, 2006 (p.11 & 13)
INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR EXAMPLES OF
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and almost half of these were non-executives. Over 13,000
staff who reported into these line managers became
programme team members. Every department head was
responsible for taking ownership to drive the programme in
their area of the business, forty TWW! champions were
recruited by department heads to help them drive the
programme in their part of the business and 290 line
materials co-ordinators were recruited for materials
distribution. Phase two of the programme involved a
combination of self-directed learning and interdependent
team learning. A TWW! booklet was produced and
circulated to every staff member. The booklet explained the
linkage between the TWW! core values and HSBC group’s
strategic imperatives and articulated to staff how each
individual could contribute to the group strategy in their
own roles. To support the learning process, all staff received
packages of learning resources (module focus materials,
team leader guides, inspirational books on specific core
values, small gifts such as key rings, calendars, computer
mats etc).
Six modules were based around the core values outlined
in phase one and these modules were delivered by team
leaders with a focus on the actions teams needed to take for
their internal and external customers. Each of the six
modules focused on a particular value and consisted of
three key activities (an introductory activity, our team
score, team action planning and team self-assessment). A
total of 1,400 teams across the HSBC completed 100,800
action plans over the course of phase two.
During phase two a number of issues were dealt with by
the programme:
• Many staff wanted another fun event away from the
office and it was a challenge to integrate programme
learning and action-planning into the busy work
environment.
• All line-managers were updated on and given support
and coaching (where necessary) in leadership
workshops in terms of facilitating team activities.
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
• To overcome the excuse for not embracing change by
claiming one is too busy, stakeholder management and
communications played a crucial role in securing buyin
from staff.
• As this was the first culture change programme in the
history of the HSBC, insiders who had not experienced
a culture change initiative with previous employers had
no benchmark to refer to.
• The Head of Training retired in 2001, and over the
lifetime of the programme three individuals were in the
post. None were training and development professionals
and this led to lack of continuity and expertise which
created additional challenges with handover periods.
O’Donovan(2006) outlines the key features of the TWW!
programme as follows:
• It aligned the internal social environment with the fastpaced
external environment using strategy to underpin
a service culture.
• It gave over 15,000 staff a strong, ingrained sense of the
programme’s core values and strategy from the top
management to the most junior staff.
• It transferred the baton of leadership from the general
manager to the most junior line managers via policy
changes and leadership workshops
• It stimulated innovation, risk-taking and learning from
mistakes in an environment where staff were expected
to ‘get it right first time’.
• It engaged staff bank-wide in the process by seeking
input for materials design, development, delivery and
evaluation.
• It transferred responsibility for learning and
development to the workplace with training providing
support courses to meet needs identified during team
action-planning activities.
• It empowered staff allowing them to take responsibility
for their own learning, deciding at a local level which
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tactics and tools to employ to convert core values into
results.
O’Donovan (2006) further outlines the main outcomes and
results of the TWW! Programme, including:
• Return on Investment was 634 per cent for every 1 HK$
invested in the programme, i.e. a direct return of
HK$6.34 in net benefits per HK$. The total external cost
of both phases of the programme was HK$6.3 million
over two-and-a-half years. HK$40 million in increased
revenue plus significant cost savings were achieved
through line teams implementing all six core values in
the workplace. The more satisfied team and more
satisfied customers led to an improved profit despite the
difficult economy and market conditions. The value of
the suggestions implemented under the Bank
suggestion scheme for improvements in work practices
was HK$16.1million (In 2001, 2,202 suggestions
provided HK$6.7 million in terms of implementation
value, in 2002, 7,359 suggestions provided HK$9.4
million in terms of implementation value).
• The brand image of HSBC benefited when the
programme won a number of industry awards. In 2005
TWW! won an Excellence in Practice Award conferred by
the American Society of Training and Development. In
November 2003 the programme was awarded the Best
Practice Award 2003 by the Best Practices Management
Hong Kong for People Training and Development. At the
end of 2003 the Hong Kong Retail Management
Association awarded the retail bank the Customer
Service Grand Award for the first time in its history,
based on the new service culture implemented under
the Together, We Delight Customers, a core value of the
TWW! programme.
• At the programme design stage a variety of internal
measures were identified to provide feedback from both
internal and external customers, for example, the
employee attitude survey (managed by external
consultants) and other historic local measures managed
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
by the line. These tools provided a benchmark in terms of
key performance indicators. Customer satisfaction was
measured by telephone surveys and questionnaires to
existing customers. Over 7,000 customers are contacted
annually to gain their views against eleven key service
categories and a mystery shopper programme is also run
by the Bank to assess the reception given to an
anonymous customer. Over the two-and-a-half years of
the TWW! programme there was consistent improvement
in all historical measures. The general manager
conducted an employee attitude survey prior to
commencement of TWW! and at the end of 2002. Every
category showed improved feedback: the HSBC company
image improved by 15 per cent, the quality of supervision
by 14 per cent, in terms of empowerment by 14 per cent,
customer focus by 14 per cent, working relationships by
12 per cent and quality by 10 per cent.
• Through team efforts to improve, Teamwork, a premier
centre team achieved a 32 per cent reduction in the
amount of overtime required and maintained their
standard delivery lead-time at four minutes despite a
five per cent increase in counter business and won first
ranking in the credit card sales programme within their
divisions. Another division under the Delight Customers
initiative enhanced their service standards by revisiting
branch service standards through videos, briefings,
experience sharing and role-plays. For the fourth
quarter of 2001, ninety-five new accounts were opened
in this division compared to a total of ninety-six for the
previous three quarters as a whole and customer
satisfaction increased as evidenced by customer
feedback.
• Staff across the HSBC agreed the main benefits of the
programme included that it gave teams a safe forum
and a common language for discussing difficult issues
during a period of major change and it gave teams the
tools and official backing to make local changes where
necessary (O’Donovan, 2006).
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INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR EXAMPLES OF
CULTURE MANAGEMENT
31
3.7 3M
In 2002 3M celebrated one hundred years in business with
a presence in sixty countries, 55,000 products and
annually applied for over 500 patents. 3M is a diversified
technology company with a worldwide presence in a
number of markets. In 1999, 3M was organised into six
business segments − Industrial, Transportation, Graphics
and Safety, Health Care, Consumer and Office, Electro and
Communications, and Speciality Material − to increase the
pace of growth.
From its early days, 3M fostered a culture of innovation
in its organisation. McKnight, an early vice president, tried
to create an organisation that would encourage its
employees to take the initiative and come up with ideas and
laid down principles for fostering such a culture. Mc Knight
laid out a basic rule of management in 1948: ‘As our
business grows, it becomes increasingly necessary to
delegate responsibility and to encourage men and women to
exercise their initiative. This requires considerable
tolerance. Those men and women, to whom we delegate
authority and responsibility, if they are good people, are
going to want to do their jobs in their own way’.
McKnight Principles
• Listen to anyone with an original idea, no matter how
absurd it might sound at first.
• Encourage, don’t nitpick. Let people run with an idea.
• Hire good people, and leave them alone.
• If you put fences around people, you get sheep. Give
people the room they need.
• Encourage experimental doodling.
• Give it a try − and quick.
Source: James C.Collins and Jerry I. Porras, Built to Last,
(Harper Business, 1997, First Edition)
A commitment to innovation gave employees freedom to
conduct research in areas of their choice even if that
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
research was not related to their official projects. A 15 per
cent rule was instigated, 3M employees were allowed to
spend 15 per cent of their working hours on independent
projects. Most analysts agree that the key factors that
fostered innovation at 3M were its ability to recruit and
retain creative talent with a broad range of interests, create
a challenging environment, encourage knowledge sharing, a
multi-disciplinary approach to work and develop suitable
reward systems. To many business analysts, 3M represents
the house of innovation with a formula for growth of
recruiting the right people, providing them with the right
environment to work and let them do their thing. 3M
codified the six traits of innovative people in its recruiting
brochure as follows: creativity, broad interests, selfmotivated,
resourceful, hard-working and problem-solvers.
3M not only recruited people with the aforementioned traits
but also tried to retain them through providing a
challenging environment and reward systems. In 1984,
3M’s Corporate Scientist Joe Abere initiated and 3M later
launched a new programme to support innovation entitled
the Genesis Program. Under the Genesis Program, 3M
provided financial support to technical employees to
encourage entrepreneurship for projects in the research
stage. Initially, approximately sixty people submitted
proposals at the launch of the Genesis Program. In 1986
3M provided Alpha grants for non-technical employees who
wanted to bring in some innovative processes in
administrative, marketing and other non-technical areas.
In addition to providing a stimulating environment for
employees to innovate, 3M also provided an encouraging
environment for knowledge-sharing among its employees.
3M employees were encouraged to talk and were free to
communicate across departments and share ideas. A
tradition of storytelling, particularly success stories was
encouraged to fire the imagination of employees and
generate innovative ideas. 3M encouraged openness and
cooperation among various divisions to foster innovation
and established forums to encourage employees to share
32
INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR EXAMPLES OF
CULTURE MANAGEMENT
33
ideas and knowledge. In 1951, the Technical Forum was set
up to encourage 3M’s technical staff to discuss, inquire and
share new ideas and technologies. In order to introduce its
employees to new technologies, 3M invited Nobel Prize
winners to forum meetings to discuss research findings.
The Technical Forum conducted problem-solving sessions,
at which business divisions brought their unsolved
technical problems in search of solutions; held an annual
exhibition at which all divisions could display their
technologies and brought together scientists from different
disciplines and formed them into groups to share their
knowledge.
To encourage a spirit of innovation, 3M also focused on
rewarding employees. 3M adopted a dual career path for
employees − technical and management. This approach
enabled a technical person to get promoted to the vicepresident
level without taking on managerial and
administrative responsibilities. In the early 1930s, 3M set
up a pension plan for employees and in 1949 was one of the
first companies to offer its employees stock options. In
addition, 3M instituted non-monetary rewards: awards to
recognise and encourage employee contributions. The
Carlton Society honoured technical employees for their
achievements. The Technical Circle of Excellence and
Innovation honoured employees whose innovations had
considerable influence on the company’s products,
processes or programmes and the Pathfinder Program
honoured non-technical personnel in production teams,
sales, marketing, logistics and finance for developing
innovative methods for launching new products in the
market.
By the late 1990s, 3M’s growth rate started slowing
down and analysts felt it was unable to respond to market
conditions. In December 2000, 3M announced the
appointment of James McNerney Jr. of General Electric as
its CEO. For the first time, an outsider became Chairman
and CEO of 3M. McNerney announced a number of
initiatives to revive the stagnating growth rate of the
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
company including cost cutting measures (under the 3M
Acceleration program Mc Nerney cut research projects from
1,500 to 700; announced a lay-off of approximately 6,500
employees and assured employees that he would invest 7
per cent of annual sales in R&D and preserve the culture of
innovation at 3M). He rationalised purchases and
implemented process improvement programmes in the
company and he gave a centralised direction to the
company from its earlier laissez-faire working style. Mc
Nerney established the leadership development institute,
which offered a three-week development programme for
participants to work on 3M business issues and present
their recommendations to senior management.
3M values
• Provide investors an attractive return through
sustained, quality growth.
• Satisfy customers with superior quality, value and
service.
• Respect our social and physical environment.
• Be a company employees are proud to be part of.
Source:http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/our/co
mpany/information/about-us/
3M management identified six leadership traits (charting
the course of business, raising the targets, energising
subordinates and colleagues, innovating resourcefully,
following 3M values and delivering results) that the
company’s employees should possess and were
incorporated into the performance appraisal process. The
establishment of the leadership development institute
fostered leadership qualities among employees. Mc Nerney
made changes to 3M’s pay structure, which had been based
on seniority and introduced a performance-based pay
structure. All employess had to come up with individual
development plans and demonstrate steps they would take
to improve their performance.
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INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR EXAMPLES OF
CULTURE MANAGEMENT
35
Some business analysts were wary of Mc Nerney’s
changes including the Acceleration program and
introduction of a Six Sigma initiative, fearing that it might
harm the 100-year old culture of 3M that fostered
innovation and sustained its growth. McNerney argued that
though innovation would remain the core competency,
certain aspects of 3M had to change and the changes in 3M
would provide the company with a strategic direction in a
volatile business environment without negatively impacting
its organisational culture. Analysts criticised McNerney’s
style of management (move from egalitarian culture in
terms of developing ideas to one where management took
control of ideas that had potential for commercialisation),
doubts were expressed about the co-existence of the Six
Sigma initiative and innovation in 3M as it would stifle the
spirit of innovation by removing the possibility of mistakes
in the name of quality. However, McNerney’s initiatives
received the support of top ranking employees of 3M who
were willing to make changes to accelerate the growth of the
organisation. McNerney announced that 3M would be
concentrating on high growth sectors such as healthcare. In
2004, sales topped $20 billion for the first time, with
innovative new products (Post-It Super Sticky notes, Scotch
Transparent Duct Tape, optical films for LCD televisions,
and Scotch-Brite cleaning products) contributing
significantly to growth.
3.8 Conclusions
This chapter has outlined the developments in
organisational culture in Australia, Canada and the United
Kingdom. A number of influencing factors including new
public management prescriptions, private sector practices
and leadership development programmes are currently
shaping the culture of the Australian public sector. In the
United Kingdom, Lewin’s classic culture change programme
was used to assess the major culture shift under the
Thatcher government in the 1980s, from an insular
inefficient administrative culture to a more managerial
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
culture with a focus on efficiency in the civil service. A
number of comparative private sector examples (3M, HSBC)
were also reviewed in terms of their successful use of
culture change programmes and initiatives to adapt the
organisation’s performance to a more dynamic
environment. Overall, the examples highlighted in this
chapter underline the importance of leadership in driving
the culture change programmes, as O’Farrell (2006)
emphasises: ‘statements of values, codes of conduct,
principles of public service management and so on, set out
in rules and regulation are simply rhetoric − or what we now
call aspirational statements. Without leadership that is
what they will ever be rhetoric. It is our job as
administrators, managers and leaders to turn them into
reality’ (O’Farrell, 2006. p.8). Gideon Kunda’s study on
managing culture suggests that ‘the idea is to educate
people without them knowing it. To have the religion and
not know where they got it’ (Grey, 2005). Leadership is
necessary to ensure the appropriate culture becomes
engrained as the religion without people knowing it.
36
4.1 Introduction
The aim of this chapter is to review experiences of managing
culture in relation to the implementation of reform across the
public service. In order to determine the effectiveness of
culture awareness and management, a select number of
interviews were conducted at department, agency and at
local government levels. These organisations included: an
older well established department, the Department of
Education and Science; a newly formed and constantly
changing department, the Department of Arts, Sport and
Tourism (DAST); a constantly changing agency, the
Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI); an older, well
established agency which has undergone substantial change
in recent years, the Property Registration Authority (PRA),
and finally, at local government level, Carlow County Council.
In addition, information obtained from previous studies of
the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, Donegal County
Council and South Dublin County Council (O’Donnell, 2006;
O’Donnell and Boyle, 2004 and Timonen, O’Donnell and
Humphreys, 2003) has been incorporated to provide
complementary information on culture change. In
accordance with the central focus of this study, a number of
areas were addressed: leadership and culture, culture and
organisational structures, culture and the environment,
culture and performance, and the effectiveness of culture
training and awareness programmes.
37
4
Irish public service experience with
culture management
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
4.2 Three central government organisations: the
Department of Arts Sports and Tourism, the
Department of Education and Science and the Office of
the Revenue Commissioners
Each department addresses and manages culture in
various ways, depending on a number of factors: structural
changes in departments post general elections, the
dynamics of the public sector modernisation programme in
terms of their department’s agenda/policy areas and
internal synergies, and changes as part of the decentralisation
programme and modernisation process. In terms of
DAST this involved a merging of separate functions with
their own previous identities. In relation to the Department
of Education and Science it necessitated a change of
culture following the Cromien report, and culture change
supported the overall change programme in Revenue.
External drivers can sometimes be used to create a
climate of support for cultural change. The Department of
Education and Science says that the national pay
agreements and partnership have engendered change in the
public sector. The national pay agreements have been used
to facilitate dramatic culture change in the education sector
with whole school evaluations of post-primary schools,
standardised school year, standardised tests, and
development of the special needs area. Partnership in the
wider public service has heralded changes in terms of
modernising the service through joint union, management
and staff involvement in projects and initiatives.
How people are recruited into the public sector has also
brought a change in culture with greater open competitions
bringing in different opinions, norms and perspectives
compared to the precedent of individuals being promoted
through seniority in the public service. In the Department
of Education and Science, a tradition of promotion by
seniority internally was the norm, with a one-third external
to two-thirds internal ratio for promotion. But this is
gradually changing with greater external open competition
compared to the method of consistory (i.e. internal interview
38
IRISH PUBLIC SERVICE EXPERIENCE WITH CULTURE MANAGEMENT 39
favouring seniority) competition. External influences and
experience lead to change in the culture of the organisation.
It is acknowledged that greater open recruitment from
outside the public sector at grades from HEO to PO in
various departments will affect the ethos and culture of
public sector organisations in the future, especially with the
attrition rate under the decentralisation programme and
this will necessitate effective culture awareness and change
programmes in the future.
It should be noted, however, that external drivers are
not always positive, and have to be managed if they are not
to disrupt cultural change. The Department of Arts, Sports,
and Tourism and the Department of Education and Science
both noted the impacts of staff turnover due to decentralisation
on organisational culture. Turnover rates of up to
70-90 per cent in some sections clearly impact on culture,
and these changes need to be managed when planning for
culture change. One commentator suggested that the
negative impact of decentralisation on organisational
culture, especially in the case of departments which
experience frequent changes in their functional boundaries,
cannot be underestemated. Organisational bonding around
disparate functional areas, which in itself presents a
considerable cultural challenge, becomes all the more
difficult when accompanied by a requirement to manage
major staff turnover. The challenge for the organisation is
to accomplish harmonious absorption of disparate
traditions while at the same time retaining the commitment
of staff who will be moving elsewhere under decentralisation.
There is also the need to ensure that staff joining a
decentralising department achieve full cultural immersion
within a short time-frame.
Looking internally, team working is an important part of
inculcating the desired cultural traits to an organisation,
and is commonly used by the organisations examined. For
example, the Department of Education and Science has
undergone significant change in how it is organised
following the recommendations in the Cromien Report. As a
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
result of the subsequent changes, the department looked at
new ways of working across divisions to address issues in
the policy areas under its remit and looked at its structures
to address the work pressures in the different areas. The
professional and administration staff in the department
work together on project/policy teams. The assistant
secretary grade has a key role in ensuring that professional
and administrative staff work on a common task on policy
teams, developing coherent meetings with the team to
alleviate issues that may become divisive and engendering
a sharing of norms to create a more coherent culture in the
organisation. In particular, cross-organisational teams,
whether through networks or issue-driven working groups,
are a particularly powerful means of shining a spotlight on
areas of potential change and improvement. For example, in
Revenue, the organisation review team, which played a key
role in the structural review and grade integration
programme successfully implemented in the past few years,
was derived from the then taxes, customs and excise and
general service areas to ensure that any, and all, of the
assumptions and methods of each part of the old
organisation would be open to challenge and that no one of
these ‘traditional’ areas could claim they were not part of
the change process.
Departmental reorganisation offers opportunities for
culture change. But this requires good leadership and
effective support structures. After general elections, some
departments are re-constituted or new areas/functions are
added and this requires active management by the
secretary general and senior management to blend new
elements into the existing culture of the department. To this
end, ensuring active co-operation of all elements in the new
set-up by using cross-cutting teams to work on projects can
be of assistance.
For example, the establishment of the Department of
Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands following the 1997
general election brought with it the challenge to fuse
together in a single entity a disparate grouping of functions
40
IRISH PUBLIC SERVICE EXPERIENCE WITH CULTURE MANAGEMENT 41
which included arts, culture, development of the Gaeltacht
and the offshore islands, broadcasting and responsibility
for the natural and built heritage (previously exercised by
OPW/Dúchas). This required the development of strong
integrating strategies involving the creation of inclusive
partnership structures, an expanded MAC and a pro-active
programme of staff mobility. There were particular
challenges arising from the fact that Dúchas was by far the
largest component of the new Department. Its staffing
comprised both professional and administrative civil
servants and it had a strong service delivery ethos whereas
the main responsibilities of the other parts of the
department revolved around policy formulation. Much was
achieved over the five-year period 1997-2002. The
departmental partnership committee was widely
acknowledged within the department as a key influence on
organisational and cultural coherence. However, although
some limited progress had been made over the five-year
period with the integration of professional and
administrative staff, the organisational reform process
remained unfinished business when the department was
abolished following the 2002 general election. The
consequent re-allocation of functions saw the arts and
culture functions of the former department combined with
tourism and sport in a new Department of Arts, Sport and
Tourism. This was a much smaller entity in which the three
functions of arts, sport and tourism were similar in size.
The main organisational priorities for the new department
were to create a corporate structure comprising the core
business functions of finance, organisation and HR to serve
the three functional areas and to maximise opportunities
for synergies between these areas. Although the cultural
disparities between tourism, sport and the arts were not as
marked as those experienced in the former Department of
Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands, they did exist and
needed to be addressed. The departmental MAC was
reconstituted and expanded and gave initial overall
direction to the integration process. A bottom-up approach
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
was adopted to the preparation of the department’s first
statement of strategy which also helped to foster a sense of
common purpose between the three line divisions. The
relatively small size of the department made collaborative
work across divisions relatively easy to accomplish and
facilitated the exploitation of opportunities for functional
synergies. Thus, collaboration between the tourism and
sports divisions resulted in a highly-successful hosting by
Ireland of the Ryder Cup. Similarly, high-profile cultural
events such as the Bloomsday and Beckett Centenary
celebrations demonstrated the efficacy of cultural tourism
programmes
In Revenue, a culture of innovation has been facilitated
by encouraging devolution through the creation of the
regional divisions and a large cases division (LCD) which
moved senior management closer to operations, thereby
facilitating decision making on new approaches without the
restrictiveness of head office sanctioning decisions
centrally. The existence of four regions, and the LCD
working in parallel, provides space for the regions to
develop differing approaches and compare results. For
example, the regions have successfully developed a number
of local projects targeting industry groups in their areas
(entertainment/hospitality in the east and south-east
region, fishing in the border, midlands and west region,
hairdressing and high-value cars in the Dublin region,
motor industry in south west region). They have also piloted
innovative approaches to the Revenue ‘basics’ of audit,
compliance and customer service. Subsidiarity is very
much encouraged in Revenue. It has taken considerable
effort in Revenue (tax administrations tend to be a very
traditional command and control organisations) to ‘allow
people the freedom to make mistakes in pursuit of better
ways to do things’. Revenue management will support new
approaches and recognise that when some of them fail (as
they inevitably will) the response must be one of
acknowledging the effort and learning from, rather than
condemning the outcome.
42
IRISH PUBLIC SERVICE EXPERIENCE WITH CULTURE MANAGEMENT 43
The general principle is that decisions are made by
stakeholders at the lowest appropriate level, and carryforward
of devolution is inherent in the structure and in the
approach to the Performance Management Development
System (PMDS). Local partnership groups (LPGs), for
example, are encouraged to get involved in suggesting new
ways of doing the traditional business as well as the
development of overall strategy. Regional Management
Teams (RMTs) are a key part of the structure of each region
and decisions do not go beyond the RMT if the impact is
purely local and there is no conflict with standing policy.
A key factor in sponsoring a culture of change is that it
has to be driven from the top, with a management attitude
which acknowledges that the status quo is never ‘sacred’
and everything is open to question and improvement. In
practice, the Management Advisory Committee (MAC) is the
key forum for driving change and an obvious vehicle for
imprinting the culture across divisional boundaries. In
Revenue the MAC is a sizeable nineteen members. Good
practice might suggest that this should be smaller but
Revenue took the very deliberate decision to include all
three board members and all the assistant secretaries to
ensure a corporate approach and to effectively manage a
large, complex and diverse organisation. A huge effort is put
into managing and chairing the MAC with tight scheduling
of meetings −’A’ and ‘B’ item agendas and a general briefing
session which provides each member the opportunity to
update on issues/ideas. Briefing items which are judged to
require more detailed discussion are placed on the next
agenda of the MAC. Experience shows that this MAC is key
to a real sense of shared values, common objectives and
effective delivery. To a great extent it is the fountain from
which much of Revenue’s organisational culture flows.
Other cross-organisational structures, the MAC
briefings, operational networks and an Operations
Management Group (OMG) which brings coherence to the
work of the regions allows the lessons learned from these
initiatives to be shared across the organisation. A close
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
relationship between the Operations Policy and Evaluation
division (OPED) and the regions − through OPED
attendance at regional management team meetings,
networks and operations management group (OMG) − also
helps ensure that change does not overstep the
‘constitutional’ boundaries thereby compromising Revenue
through inconsistency. It is a way of managing the tension
between encouraging local cultural traits while at the same
time ensuring there is a central common culture across the
organisation. No specific change management fund exists
but incentives include recognition, promotional
opportunities where change and innovation are key criteria
in the internal competitions, and the use of exceptional
performance awards to help to encourage a culture of
change and signal that it is valued in the organisation.
Training of staff in the new cultural traits desired can be
an important support for the management of culture. A
programme of training on general management for all
grades in the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, from
clerical officer to assistant secretary level, was instigated
three years ago. This training involved allocating particular
themes or management suggested themes to multi-grade,
multi-disciplinary groups. ‘They would sit down together
and ask are there better ways of doing the job?’ This was an
empowering process for the group and they delivered
results and made suggestions to management on these
themes and got management buy-in. The process allowed
people ‘learn by doing’.
The role of legislation and codes of practice also shape
organisational culture in the civil service. For example, all
Revenue officials at assistant principal level and above,
including certain other officials involved, for example in
procurement decisions, are required to submit an annual
Statement of Interests under the Ethics in Public Office
Acts 1995 and 2001 (Revenue Annual Report 2006, 2007).
The Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour is an
integral part of the terms and conditions of service of all
civil servants. It reinforces existing rules in many areas of
44
IRISH PUBLIC SERVICE EXPERIENCE WITH CULTURE MANAGEMENT 45
civil service organisations, including Revenue’s own code of
ethics and sets out the main principles, standards and
values that the civil service espouses and advocates.
(Revenue Annual Report 2006, 2007) ‘Appropriate
opportunities are used to actively reinforce values of
integrity and honesty e.g. annual circular to remind staff of
their obligations under the Ethics Acts, publication of
information on Revenue’s internal Internet system,
publication during 2006 of Revenue’s revised Internet and
E-mail Policy and also Revenue Security and Confidentiality
Policy’ (Revenue Annual Report 2006, 2007).
4.3 Two public sector agencies: The Property
Registration Authority and the Broadcasting
Commission of Ireland.
The Property Registration Authority (PRA) provides a system
of registration of title to land carrying a state guarantee. The
main customers of the PRA are lawyers, professional law
searching firms, financial institutions, public corporations,
local authorities and private firms. The organisational
change programme involved changing front-office and back
office services, and much emphasis was put on creating a
culture that supported the change programme. Business
process redesign (BPR) was used to help structure the
change process. There was some increase in middle
management due to increased work, and clerical officer
staff were given the opportunity to advance to executive
officer/higher executive officer level.
The BCI is an independent statutory organisation
responsible for a number of key areas of activity with regard
to television and radio services in Ireland. The Commission
was established in September 2001 by the Minister for Arts,
Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands. The work of the
Commission is guided by four pieces of legislation (the
Radio and Television Act, 1988, the Broadcasting Act 2001,
the Broadcasting (Funding) Act 2003 and the Broadcasting
(Amendment) Act 2007). The mission of BCI is to stimulate
the development of an excellent indigenous broadcast
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
industry that meets the diverse entertainment, education
and information needs of the people of Ireland, while
making effective use of a national resource. The key
functions of the Commission include the licensing of
independent broadcasting services including the additonal
licensing of television services on digital, cable, MMDS and
satellite systems; the development of codes and rules in
relation to programming and advertising standards and the
monitoring of all licensed services to ensure that licence
holders comply with their statutory obligations and terms of
their contracts. As noted earlier in the case of the PRA,
culture also underpins both the BCI’s organisation
development policy and the divisional structure based on
its core functions.
Some organisations find benefit in using assessment
exercises and surveys to track culture within their
organisation and to indicate where attention should be
focused in terms of desired changes. For example, BCI
underwent an organisational culture mapping exercise in
2003, with outside consultants who determined a set of
values to give a sense of where culture is at in BCI. The
BCI’s internal policies (organisational and staff
management) will be focused to maintain this culture in all
of its actions. Changes and growth of the organisation in
the future will have to be consistent with the BCI culture in
order to be implemented successfully. The key elements of
the BCI culture are underpinned in the following definition
of culture:
a set of shared values that manifest themselves in the
behaviour and other elements of a given group. Culture
is constructed and learned, i.e. it does not form part of
the human nature and it is distinct from individual
personality; however it is shared by members of the
group. (BCI, 2003b)
One message that comes across strongly from the cases
studied is the importance of creating a supportive climate
for culture change. This may be done either by using
external forces for change as a driver, or through using
46
IRISH PUBLIC SERVICE EXPERIENCE WITH CULTURE MANAGEMENT 47
internal strategic drivers. As an example of an internal
strategic driver, some organisations incorporate managing
culture as a central tenet of their organisation development
(OD) policy and strategic planning. For example, an
organisation development (OD) policy was required in the
Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) arising from
significant growth since 2001 (notably in its name, size,
influence and remit) and the commitments to develop the
organisation’s culture, processes and systems as outlined
in the strategic plan (2004-2008). Further change is
anticipated with the establishment of the Broadcasting
Authority of Ireland (BAI); the BCI is expected to form the
nucleus of this new enlarged organisation. The OD policy
forms an overarching policy, the objectives of which are: to
provide an appropriate structure for the implementation of
relevant organisational development policies and initiatives,
to strengthen communications within the organisation, to
chart the culture of the organisation, to enhance
management and staff relationships within the
organisation, to provide a framework for the empowerment
of staff and to facilitate the implementation of change where
such is needed (BCI, 2003b).
The BCI Strategic Plan 2004-2008 identifies the
following list of values for the organisation: openness and
transparency, fairness, consistency and flexibility, people,
quality, innovation, excellence, efficiency and effectiveness,
respect and loyalty. These values incorporate a summary of
the desired organisational culture of the BCI. In addition to
these, the BCI organisation is characterised by a number of
strengths, including being informal, evolving, consultative,
and supportive. The organisation fosters individual and
group decision making and responsibility (through
empowerment). This combination of values and strengths
are the expression of the BCI organisational culture. While
some of these are explicit, it is noted by BCI that others are
implicit and may necessitate concerted focus from all parts
of the organisation in order to flourish.
Leaders have a key role to play in promoting desired
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
cultural traits. Leaders in this context include but are not
limited to the chief executive. It may be the management
team, or leaders at other levels in the organisation. For
example, due to the organisational structure in BCI, it is
possible that at times the organisational culture may not be
perceived to exist in a uniform manner. This could relate to
the difference in size and make-up of each of the divisions.
It is, therefore, expected that the management team will
play an important role to ensure the consistency of culture
across the BCI. It is noted by BCI that this is important to
ensure that staff should never feel that other staff members
working in other areas are better/worse treated than
themselves; cross-functionality may mean that staff are
exposed to different management styles during the span of
their career with the BCI; and management in BCI believe a
consistency of core cultural traits is important to maintain
what has made the BCI the successful organisation it is: its
flexibility, its care for its staff, and its focus on development.
Similarly, in the PRA the chief executive selected the
programme change steering committee to co-ordinate and
drive development of new projects and changes affected by
the use of ICT systems. All functional areas in the
organisation were represented on the steering committee.
To allay union fears, management held communication
sessions/consultation sessions with the unions and all
internal stakeholders. The change programme took place in
the context of a review of the overall business strategy for
the organisation, as developed through the strategy
statement and business planning process. The change
programme provides a blueprint for project-based change.
At the Property Registration Authority, a huge amount
of work is done by management to influence culture. An
improvement in culture is achieved by ensuring a coherent
management culture, use of integrated work arrangements
and cross-functional teams, providing extra skills to
technical/legal staff and an opening-up of management
posts to staff. The McKinsey (1978) seven ‘S’ organisation
model is referred to in the PRA and most of the 7S elements
were changed except the structure (e.g. staff, strategy,
skills, style, systems, shared values). The CEO led by
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IRISH PUBLIC SERVICE EXPERIENCE WITH CULTURE MANAGEMENT 49
example, and also promoted leadership of change at both
line management and staff levels.
Given the recent changes in structure at BCI, the
benefits of retaining key management people during the
change process, from a pre-existing organisation structure
(older culture) that merged with another organisation, was
important. For example, a small number of the team
management from a smaller organisation transferred onto
the seven member management team of BCI, this ensured
a smooth transition during the merging of functions and
cultures of both organisations.
Business drivers can also be used to create a supportive
climate for culture change. In the past, there was a culture
in the PRA, for example, akin to the internally focused
organisation model describecd in Figure 2.3, but nowadays,
the model is more business oriented with clear outputs,
identifiable customers and close interaction with
customers, speed of delivery, more of a move towards the
rational goal model. The organisation is very business
focused, with cost reduction and efficiencies very high in
the organisation. Since 1999, there has been a 125 per cent
increase in productivity in the PRA. People’s individual
returns and outputs are important in the PRA. It is a vital
organisation operating in a complex demand driven legal
environment. In the PRA, overall culture in the organisation
is very results-oriented and this is underpinned by the four
main constituents in their PMDS programme: achievement,
drive, commitment and customer services
Employee engagement and empowerment when
introducing cultural change was stressed in both the BCI
and the PRA. Both used partnership as a vehicle to explore
culture and organisation development issues. In BCI, for
example, the partnership forum involves management and
union members and is central to the successful
introduction of relevant organisational and staff policies
and the implementation of change within the BCI. The role
and remit of the partnership forum is to provide the
opportunity for increased employee involvement in decision
making, utilising a joint problem-solving approach,
achieving consensus on the implementation of change,
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
enhancing the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the BCI
while simultaneously meeting the needs of management,
union and employees. The partnership forum is a key
initiative within the OD policy in that it is the cornerstone
of all organisational policies and activities.
As in the BCI, partnership is seen as very useful in the
PRA, but interviewees stress it can be hugely timeconsuming.
In the PRA, from the beginning management
insisted on meetings of unions, management, and staff. It
was agreed not to discuss trivial issues at partnership, but
to put real issues on the table. Partnership is useful as it
develops a culture of openness and enables management
and unions to be seen other than as in their perceived roles.
In the PRA, sense of responsibility and sense of
ownership is encouraged at executive officer level. For
instance, executive officers take responsibility and sign-off
on cases, for example, sign-off on legal cases regardless of
the value of the property concerned. Only if a difficult legal
issue is involved is it sent up the line.
In both the BCI and the PRA all grades are required to
have an element of team-working as part of their core
duties. There are huge interdependencies as ‘the system is
only as good as everyone working in it’ and team working is
central both to effective working and to ensuring a culture
that supports a coherent and consistent approach to work.
Team-working is important and is encouraged in these
organisations that rely heavily on particular expertise, for
example legal expertise in the case of the PRA. There is a
huge dependency on knowledge and knowledge sharing is a
key cultural requirement for all staff.
The Property Registration Authority places a huge
emphasis on training for managing culture. They found that
training can support culture if there is not already an ethos
of culture change in the organisation, but training courses
in splendid isolation can become a ‘tick the box’ exercise in
organisations and may not impact on culture change as line
managers may ‘talk the talk but not walk the walk’. And
people can be sent on expensive courses, but employees
become frustrated when they are not in a position to make
changes they have learnt on courses. In the PRA, with a
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IRISH PUBLIC SERVICE EXPERIENCE WITH CULTURE MANAGEMENT 51
strong ethos of probity and fairness, training on
organisational culture emphasises these traits. Overall,
training courses in isolation are of limited value to changing
culture if not reinforced by what is happening on the job.
Training reinforces what is there already in the
organisation, it is an aid not a substitute, otherwise
training does not work. Training is only useful if an
employee uses it in the job, as the benefit needs to be on the
job.
4.4 Three local authorities: Carlow County Council,
Donegal County Council and South Dublin County
Council.
Carlow County Council has changed its organisational
culture over its first (2001-2004) and second (2004-2009)
corporate plans. The council has implemented business
planning ethos and methods in each department of the
council, developed customer centric services based on ICT
developments and opened new civic centres and involved
itself in greater collaboration and teamwork with other
public bodies and agencies in terms of economic
development of the county. The council enhanced customer
services through use of ICT developments, opening new
offices in Tullow and Muinebheag and cross-agency
collaboration in provision of services and economic
development of the county. The second corporate plan
(2004-2009) sets out the policies and directions the council
will pursue over the next five years, in order to ensure the
achievement of the highest levels of efficiency and
effectiveness to improve and enhance the standard of
service to the people of Carlow. Formulation and
implementation of business action plans by each
department of the council ensures that the objectives and
strategies outlined in the corporate plan are achieved. The
corporate plan also incorporates customer service
indicators published on an annual basis to ensure that the
standard of service is enhanced.
Similarly, the culture of Donegal County Council has
significantly changed through organisation changes
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
effected in the 1990s. The council restructured from a
bureaucratic organisation structure to one of decentralised
service centres with cross-agency collaboration, and
teamwork. A new management and accountability structure
was put in place in which managers are fully accountable
for all aspects of delivering the service (financial, human
resource, quality of customer service etc) (Mc Loone, 2003).
There is potential to have increased productivity and to
reduce unit costs, as accountable managers begin to use
the new financial management tools to target cost
reductions, productivity and improved quality. Greater
devolution in decision making, greater teamwork across
functions in the local authority are evident in this devolved
structure and work is organised and delivered in customercentric
integrated service centres with close collaboration
among the council areas and other associate agencies and
services.
Equally, South Dublin County Council has transformed
its services structurally to become more flexible in terms of
cross-functional collaboration in the delivery of council
services and cross-agency collaboration in the county.
There are over 1,600 people working in South Dublin
County Council (SDCC). The council has ¤3.7 billion in
assets and a budget of ¤500 million in 2006. The corporate
mission statement is ‘...the provision of open, effective,
inclusive and participative local democratic processes
together with best quality services, facilities and supports
which sustain, improve and promote the social,
environmental, cultural and economic fabric of South
Dublin County Council for all who live, work and visit
here...’ (SDCC, 2006b). As highlighted in Figure 4.1, the
council has restructured to enable greater flexibility and
cross-functional working, through division of the
management team into three clusters/teams: Cluster A:
Managing the changing physical place (roads, development,
planning and services); Cluster B: Managing organisational
change (finance, corporate, human resource and
information technology) and Cluster C: Measuring the
council’s impact on quality of life (housing, legal,
community and environment).
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IRISH PUBLIC SERVICE EXPERIENCE WITH CULTURE MANAGEMENT 53
The local authority examples illustrate that clear
strategic leadership is necessary to ensure the consistency
of organisational culture. For example, in Donegal County
Council, the county manager selected a project team to coordinate
the development of new management structures to
more effectively support the delivery of decentralised
services and to develop integrated service centres in close
partnership with the agencies. An inter-agency project
board was established in 2000 and a project manager
appointed. Project leaders were assigned in the principal
participating agencies. Strong leadership is a key ingredient
in driving the change process and ensuring a culture of
Figure 4.1 South Dublin County Council's Approach to
Harnessing Staff and Information Resources
F
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L
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C
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T
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O
N
A
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T
I
V
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Y
D
A
T
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Cluster / Team
Managing the Changing Physical Place
Cluster / Team
Managing Organisational Change
Cluster / Team
Measuring Our Impact on Quality of
Life
Reorganised Management
Team
Roads
Development
Planning
Arch Services
Housing
Legal
Community
Environment
Finance
Corporate
Human Resource
Info Technology
Integrated, Web Based, Electronic File
Accrual accounts
Asset register
Development levy scheme
3 Year Capital Programme
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
change is implemented and sustained. In Donegal change
would not have happened without the drive and initiative of
the county manager. The project manager and inter-agency
project board have initiated core work programmes such as
service re-engineering studies, analysis of means tested
services, contact centre feasibility studies and data analysis
of common client information (Sheridan, 2003).
Similarly, the local authority examples also highlight
that a well planned and soundly based structural reorganisation
is important to embed the culture of change in
an organisation. Best practice in change management is
employed by SDCC, with clear objectives set out, an open
communication policy across the organisation, stakeholder
buy-in at all levels, top level support for change and
adequate resourcing of change. Planning and consultation
of the change process and progress is regularly mapped,
communicated and appreciated. Management must drive
any change agenda and whole-hearted appraisal is required
to decide where the organisation is going. Kotter’s (1995)
seminal article ‘Leading Change: Why Transformation
Efforts Fail’, is a good blueprint for organisations in their
change endeavours. It is acknowledged that culture change
is the biggest challenge to implementing change in the
public sector, alongside keeping pace with technological
developments. Equally, in Donegal County Council an
international organisational specialist was employed to
design the framework for the new organisational structure
based on the levels of complexity of work cross-referenced
by the capabilities of employees. The structure implemented
was based on the template put forward by Elliott Jacques
(1996) in his book Requisite Organisation − a system for
effective managerial organisation and managerial
leadership. ICT developments enabled an electoral area
model of decentralisation to underpin the new management
structures and incremental change ensured the
modernisation is culturally embedded by involving all
stakeholders in the transformation(Donegal County
Council, 2001(a), 2001 (b)). This ensured a culture of
change was successfully managed and embedded in the
new structures.
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IRISH PUBLIC SERVICE EXPERIENCE WITH CULTURE MANAGEMENT 55
The local government examples illustrate that creating a
climate for culture change may involve using linkages to the
wider community and opportunities to profile the desired
changes through the active use of media and PR to help
create the desired image. This is evident in Carlow County
Council’s promotion of the concept of community
ownership of villages and towns. Community ownership −
’it’s the Carlow Way’ − is a phrase used to promote such an
image. Also, a major initiative of branding Carlow was
launched using celebrities such as the TV personality
Kathyrn Thomas in terms of tourism, and the political
journalist Olivia O’Leary in terms of business/development.
The local authority has implemented a major programme of
economic development as its main priority led by high-end
promotion and major quality of life initiatives. A culture of
leadership in local government, business and community
involvement, teamwork and co-operation between all
organisations (public and private) aims to ensure that
Carlow is proactively designing and developing innovative
initiatives to meet the growth needs of its population and
economy. In the same way, in Donegal County Council,
corporate commitment was important in creating a cooperative
and collaborative culture with partner agencies
and community organisations in developing the Integrated
Service Delivery Centres. An important element of the new
decentralised structures is the strong corporate
commitment from the senior management team in the
council, together with the elected members. Active support
has also been forthcoming from most senior managers in
the partner agencies. This has supported and driven a
culture of change in the organisation. Agencies and public
sector organisations involved in the ISD project are at
differing levels of the partnership process and this involves
greater consultation by management with all parties to keep
them in the information loop, to ensure cultural obstacles
are overcome and to ensure all issues are addressed. This
is also necessary to align the various cultures in each
organisation to reinforce the overall corporate culture that
is being advocated by the project.
Team working can also involve inter-agency team
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
development and thinking. It is not limited to within
organisations. In local government, as exemplified by the
Carlow case, managing culture in teams that span issues
affecting the county is deemed important to enable
innovative developments and to meet challenges in the local
economy. A culture of team-working within the organisation
and joint-working with outside organisations develops a
community and entrepreneurial spirit to enable the
emergence of innovative developments, such as a
biotechnology research centre in Carlow. Underpinning all
these joint-venture developments is the leadership at local
government level to inspire the economic development of
Carlow. A focus on education and research is central to the
development of new innovative initiatives. Networking with
the directors and heads of the Carlow educational colleges,
IT Carlow, the vocational education committee and Teagasc
enabled the development of joint-marketing, joint-thinking,
joint analysis and development of innovative initiatives. A
proposal to establish a national biotechnology research
centre employing 170 people is being advanced by Carlow
County Council, Teagasc, Carlow Institute of Technology
and the private sector and will position Carlow strongly in
the bio-tech industry in terms of industrial development,
biofuel, research and development (R&D) and industrial
spin-offs. It is an example of public services being creative,
using joint-working with agencies, educational bodies and
public service thinking with real involvement by the local
authority. The developments in Carlow demonstrate that to
understand somebody else’s business (e.g. private sector), it
is important to apply a variety of local management skills to
the initiative, including inter-agency team working, coupled
with academic backing and consultant expertise to provide
for joint-thinking, networking and joint application to
develop an innovative and entrepreneurial culture. Joint
working and developing a culture of team-working in the
county has enabled a sectoral development group to emerge
providing an alignment of corporate goals, alignment of
thinking, providing resources to marketing in the areas of
education, biotechnology, arts, culture etc.
As well as training, reward and recognition can be used
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IRISH PUBLIC SERVICE EXPERIENCE WITH CULTURE MANAGEMENT 57
to signal the importance of particular cultural traits and
encourage their adoption. In Carlow, they aim to use
various reward mechanisms to encourage behaviours they
require. For example, in terms of the tidy towns they
received and promoted the first Irish Business Against
Litter (IBAL) award. A Co-operation Ireland north/south
award sponsored ‘Best Pride of Place Award’ was presented
to Tullow town for building citizenship. A culture of winning
is encouraged in Carlow. IT staff in the county council
proposed the idea of wireless Internet in Carlow, it was the
first WIFI town in 2007 and was done in partnership with
e-net Local Government Computer Services Board. Carlow
County Council received an E-Government partnership
award. Leadership, reward and recognition are very
important in managing culture and in turn very important
in developing a local economy.
The local authority examples also highlight the
importance of project teams and functional clusters or
groups to administer the change programme and guarantee
a smooth transition culturally to the modernisation
programme. In 1995, the Donegal county manager
established a project team to assess the possibilities for
organisational change prior to the rollout of a service decentralisation
programme. The work of Donegal County Council
has been divided into seven different directorates and into
four levels of management. The four levels of management
represent different levels of decision making and
responsibility. In the old structure accountability was
divided between professional and technical work,
administrative work, finance work, human resource work
etc. In the new structure each managerial role has
accountability for all aspects of the work of the staff for
whom the manager is accountable. As a result, the new
structure distinguishes the managerial roles from other
roles in the grading structure. The council employs over
1,000 people. Around fifty now have managerial
accountability for the work of others, i.e. on average one
manager is accountable for the work of twenty persons (Mc
Loone, 2003). It was decided to decentralise council services
to district offices based in the six electoral areas in the
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
county. Subsequently, in July 2001 a partnership was
formed between Donegal County Council, the North Western
Health Board, the then Department of Social Community
and Family Affairs, and FÁS to appoint a project manager to
explore the possibilities of utilising the framework of the
public service broker (PSB) to develop integrated interagency
services to citizens. The intention was that integrated
service centres (ISCs) be established to enable the customer
to access information, advice and services across multiple
channels and multiple agencies at a single point (Donegal
County Council, 2002(a), 2002(b), 2001,).
Similarly, in South Dublin County Council, the
organisational change and modernisation team has an
important role to support the business and organisational
changes necessary in achieving the corporate mission. The
role of the organisational change and modernisation team is
to ensure that the culture of the organisation permeates
throughout the change programme by promoting the
corporate mission and vision of senior management. The
organisational change and modernisation working group
provides a support framework for projects and initiatives
and ensures that these are aligned with the corporate
objectives and culture of the organisation. Recent
developments that underpin this programme include
significant investment in staff, training, document
management systems, hardware and software, enabling
SDCC to rapidly deploy and utilise these resources to
impact on high quality service. For example, there has been
successful redeployment of staff from various departments
to the customer care centre as a result of changes in work
practices. PMDS provides a framework to support and
facilitate change. The partnership process provides
opportunities for the council to maintain its focus on
customers and quality service delivery (SDCC, 2006b).
The main factors influencing a culture of change in
South Dublin County Council include: leadership
encouraging a culture of an ‘excellence’ approach to
customer service provision, an open attitude to teamworking
and partnership, employee involvement in PMDS
and operational plans, family-friendly policies,
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IRISH PUBLIC SERVICE EXPERIENCE WITH CULTURE MANAGEMENT 59
technological advances that support the use of web-enabled
geographical maps to simplify data accessibility and
connectivity and provide ease of interrogation and an
innovative approach to customer service provision (SDCC,
2006c).
Figure 4.1 captures what SDCC is trying to achieve with
regular meetings between the county manager and the
directors of the clusters (for example, the county manager
meets one director from each cluster every first/second
Tuesday of the month and, moreover, meets all twelve
directors on one-to-one basis once a month). The county
manager drives the change programme by dividing
management into cluster groups with an agreed agenda and
strong focus on service to the areas. The outcome of all the
change is to deliver on promises outlined in council policy
documents and to ensure that the customer is the primary
focus of service delivery.
In SDCC any difficulties in communicating the message
of change or overcoming culture issues are overcome by use
of partnership communications and by mentoring
individuals to change the process. In terms of encouraging
change, the management team instigated a performance
management system consisting of 360-degree feedback
from colleagues, which showed strengths and weaknesses
for each individual manager. This is important in terms of
the culture being endorsed by the leader and advocated in
the organisation by gauging the perceptions of the senior
management team. In SDCC, strategic training and PMDS
are linked to the overall vision of change and this has
helped pioneer a culture of further change.
4.5 Key chapter findings
This chapter provides examples of how a range of public
service organisations have sought to use culture to
modernise their organisations. Inter-linked themes were
focused on in this chapter, including the importance of
leadership, strategy, team-working, training on cultural
awareness backed up by on the job experience. Across the
public service organisations reviewed, our research
suggests that there are varying degrees of culture
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
awareness and management in practice. However, the
following specific learning points are worth noting.
Leadership is important in creating the climate for
culture change in an organisation. Project teams, crossfunctionality/staff
mobility are good methods of addressing
sub-cultures and developing a consistent, coherent culture
in an organisation. It was noted by one interviewee that ‘it
is important to learn quickly, total culture should be
flexible, with structures around the project team and
exemplify positive lessons learned, you use structure to
integrate the organisation on different floors, use crossfunctional
teams on different cases working in a team,
project teams become part of the process of working and
shares knowledge across core areas, but it is very important
for management to govern at a central level’. Formalised
methods of addressing culture, including a culture
mapping exercise and culture survey, inclusion of culture
explicitly in the business plan or strategy statement, were
used by some organisations to address culture change
issues where new sections or divisions were being
incorporated into an organisation. Others believe in a more
informal approach with a mix of general management
training (including a course on culture) and on-the job
training and mentoring by management to enable a
coherent culture to develop.
In comparison, MacCarthaigh’s (2008) study on values,
provides some interesting findings from a number of public
service and local authority workshops that were held to
determine the most commonly identifiable values and how
these values were developed and transmitted. ‘In two of the
three workshops, particularly strong emphasis was placed
on the role of line managers (and not senior managers) in
the transmission of values. The emergence of management
teams played an important role in respect of values.’ This
has important implications for how organisational culture
evolves in an organisation, and particularly, the crucial role
played by line managers and management teams in
transmitting values, as these are an important component
of the overall organisational culture dynamic.
The scale of an organisation was mentioned by some
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IRISH PUBLIC SERVICE EXPERIENCE WITH CULTURE MANAGEMENT 61
interviewees in terms of the effectiveness of culture on
reform programmes; and the importance of not confusing
structural changes in an organisation with cultural change
was noted. To ensure effective culture change in an
organisation, an open-door management style was
advocated underpinned by cross-divisional project/policy
teams to ensure an effective way of addressing cultural
divisions between professional and administrative staff in
organisations. Greater open recruitment was seen as
creating a new culture set-up in public sector
organisations, creating greater competitive influences and
external norms and cultures compared to the former
method of internal promotions based on seniority. Staff
mobility and decentralisation were highlighted as major
influences on culture change in the public sector in the
coming years.
In terms of managing culture, one respondent
mentioned that they were not aware of culture being a
factor in a public sector context or as a study 3-4 years ago,
but now it has become more important and needs to be
named/defined as culture in corporate strategies and
organisation policies. It is important to recognise culture in
an organisation’s strategic plan, in terms of risk
management and corporate governance and if it be an
issue in an organisation, name it, define it and manage it.
Some interviewees expressed an interest in the
interventions side of culture and how these could be
manipulated to enhance performance. MacCarthaigh’s
study on public sector values (2008) found that informal
and formal methods of communicating values were
favoured by a number of civil service and local government
participants in three workshops on values. The study
findings also emphasise the centrality of public service
values that should be an integral part of both a formal
method of induction for new recruits involving case studies
and role play and also informally through the examples and
on-the-job training provided by senior managers and line
managers. Leadership commitment and culture awareness
training are important in relation to culture management.
There is a huge emphasis on training in organisations
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
where culture is an issue. Training can support where there
is no ethos of culture change, but training courses should
not be done in isolation from the organisation as it may
become ‘a tick the box’ exercise and not lead to culture
change. Therefore, training must be carefully managed. You
also need buy-in by line managers/managers in an
organisation to ‘walk the walk, not just talk the talk’.
People can be sent on expensive courses but it frustrates
them when they return from a course if they are not in a
position to make change in their own organisation. PMDS
programmes in organisations can be used as a positive way
of reinforcing organisational culture and is used by a
number of organisations consulted.
There is no one generic model for addressing culture in
an organisation but a number of factors affect its impact
including, scale of the organisation, structural framework,
leadership style, management buy-in, professional/
administrative split in the organisation, stability of the
organisation, PMDS programme, national pay agreements
and modernisation, recruitment methods, crossfunctionality,
use of project teams and explicit inclusion of
culture in strategy statements/business plans. Culture
awareness is noted in all organisations but how it is
managed determines the degree of successful
implementation of change in existing departments and
organisations and, importantly, in the new decentralised
structures.
It is important to create a supportive culture for
promoting change. This may be realised by reassuring staff
that it is alright to take a risk and that management will
support them both in successful endeavours and during
failures. Public sector managers should accept that there is
still significant potential for things to go wrong but
nevertheless believe that the potential value of the project is
such that it is worth taking those risks. In particular,
developing a supportive culture underpinned by risk
management principles is necessary if the public sector is
to become more flexible and efficient in cross-collaborative
projects and developing a shared services model.
Leadership is important to create and implement
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change, to indoctrinate the vision and organisational
culture throughout the management team and the
organisation, to keep people focused, and to manage the
change process effectively. It is important to ensure effective
management of organisation change by ensuring that
appropriate resources are provided to ensure that the
project is actively driven.
It is important to have open communication channels
and ongoing consultations with the various partner
agencies and public sector organisations involved in a
cross-agency project, underpinned by a flexible structure of
working groups and collaborative teams and supported by
funding bodies and partner agencies. This ensures that
cultural barriers are overcome and synergies develop
between the organisations to provide a more cohesive and
efficient service for the customer.
It is important to ensure the customer is the focus of the
change process, even if this may involve costs. For example,
in Donegal, devolving public services to local electoral areas
has had cost implications but, as the Fitzpatrick Evaluation
Report (2005) highlights, it is paramount in terms of
customer convenience and accessibility.
The budgetary financial cycle can serve as a very
powerful tool to encourage change. For example, at Donegal
County Council if a manager is given a level of resources to
deliver a work programme and if through efficiencies or
better working arrangements, or any form of innovation,
he/she can save ¤100,000 to ¤2m, Donegal County
Council does not penalise them for that, by cutting their
budget next year. They can proceed with additional work
with those resources. Equally, however, if a manager
oversteps that budget, the overspend has first call on their
budget the following year. This ensures the development of
a culture of risk management and effective use of resources.
5.1 Introduction
The aim of this final chapter is to review evidence from the
report that shows why managing culture is important in
effectively enhancing both organisation performance and, in
macro terms, the modernisation programme; to summarise
the findings of the research presented in the preceding
chapters, thereby providing guidance in relation to more
effectively shaping and managing culture; and by doing so
to identify issues to be addressed towards its effective
engagement and use in the public service.
5.2 What is culture? The concept of culture revisited
Organisational culture is a widely used term but one that
seems to give rise to a degree of ambiguity. For the past
number of decades, most academics and practitioners
studying organisations suggest the concept of culture is the
climate and practices that organisations develop around
their handling of people. (Schein, 2004) Furthermore, some
proponents suggest that the concept of culture should take
on board the way organisations do business as well as the
way they handle people.
Watson (2006) emphasises that an important trend in
managerial thinking in recent decades has been one of
encouraging managers to try to create strong organisational
cultures. ‘It has been recognised that it would help
managers enormously in the struggle for control if they
could get all their employees to subscribe to the beliefs
inscribed in a corporate bible − especially if they themselves
could write this bible’ (p.256, Watson, 2006). Schein (2004)
suggests that culture and leadership are conceptually
intertwined. This is supported by O’Farrell (2006) in his
analysis of the Australian public service, where he
64
5
Conclusions and recommendations
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 65
concludes that ‘statements of values, codes of conduct,
principles of public service management and so on set out
in rules and regulation are simply rhetoric − or what we now
call aspirational statements. Without leadership that is
what they will ever be rhetoric. It is our job as
administrators, managers and leaders to turn them into
reality’ (O’Farrell, 2006. p.8).
Schein (1990) emphasises that there are visible and
invisible levels of corporate culture (the ‘culture iceberg’
analogy − see Figure 2.1). Organisational culture, then, is
made up of more ‘superficial’ aspects such as patterns of
behaviour and observable symbols and ceremonies, and
more deep seated and underlying values, assumptions and
beliefs. Some proponents argue that organisational culture
can be changed by focusing on the more visible aspects
such as rites and rituals, as these help shape behaviour.
However, others argue that this is a misunderstanding of
culture and that the ‘deeper’ aspects of culture such as
beliefs and feelings must be taken into account when
considering organisational culture and potential changes to
culture.
5.3 Why is culture an important issue for public service
managers?
Why should public service managers concern themselves
with culture? Will it make any difference at the end of the
day to know what type of culture or cultures exist in an
organisation, what cultural traits may be desired, and so
on? For managers with busy schedules, is culture
something they should be concerned with?
The evidence presented here, from the literature,
international studies and the Irish experience, suggests
that culture is indeed something that public service
managers should pay attention to. First and foremost, this
is because culture affects the performance of organisations.
In the private sector organisations studied − The Hong Kong
and Shanghai Banking Corporation and 3M − there is a
clear and explicit link between culture change and
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
performance. But this can also be the case in the public
sector, despite the absence of a ‘bottom line’. Ban’s (1995)
study of the good performance of the US Environmental
Protection Agency compared to other federal agencies, cited
in Chapter 2, shows how culture can affect performance. As
cited by Pandey et al (2007, p.403) Ban’s study suggests
that ‘In simple terms, Organisation A and Organisation B
could face exactly the same rule burden. However,
Organisation A could be more effective than Organisation B
because of its ability to cope with and manage this rule
burden. The difference between the two organisations is the
nature of the organisational culture: Organisation B has a
culture that encourages rule adherence, resulting in a
greater likelihood of goal displacement away from
effectiveness, whereas Organisation A has a culture
focusing on finding ways to use the rules flexibly to improve
performance’. The Irish cases studied, such as BCI and the
PRA, would also suggest that attention paid to culture
influences performance in a positive manner.
The evidence from this study would also suggest that it
is particularly important for managers to pay attention to
culture when reacting to or planning major organisational
change. Culture is particularly important when an
organisation is undergoing significant transformation or
when introducing major reforms which require different or
new cultural or value traits from those exhibited in the past.
In the Canadian public service, for example, culture change
was demanded and driven by a number of corruption
scandals that shook people’s trust in the public services. In
the UK civil service and Queensland Health examples
studied, new cultural traits were deemed important in
promoting a new way of working. In the UK example, a shift
to a more managerial culture was deemed necessary in
order to promote greater efficiency. In Queensland Health,
characteristics such as patient-centric services, community
engagement and clinician-led decision making were
practices the new culture is intended to support. In the
Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, the amalgamation
66
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 67
of existing and new functions following on from
departmental reorganisation prompted a need to develop a
new, cohesive culture for the department. Similarly, in
Donegal County Council, the development of integrated
services centres at electoral level necessitated a change in
culture to incorporate new managerial arrangements,
devolved decision-making powers and a more customercentric
approach to services.
Schein (2004) underlines the point that diagnosing a
culture for its own sake is not only too vast an undertaking
but also can be viewed as a boring and useless exercise. ‘On
the other hand, when the organisation has a purpose, a
new strategy, a problem to be solved, a change agenda, then
to determine how the culture impacts the issue is not only
useful but in most cases necessary. The issue should be
related to the organisation’s effectiveness and should be
stated in as concrete a way as possible’ (p.362).
5.4 What can managers do to influence/shape culture?
Knowing that culture is important in shaping
organisational practice and performance in public sector
organisations is one thing. But a subsequent issue is the
extent to which managers can actually shape or influence
culture. The literature on culture change explored in
Chapter 2 is somewhat ambivalent on this point. On the
one hand, examples can be identified where interventions
can influence culture. But on the other hand, some
academics warn of the danger of attempting to influence the
more superficial aspects of culture such as symbols and
ceremonies, while ignoring the more pervasive and deep
seated aspects of culture such as values and beliefs. These
more deep seated aspects of culture are much more difficult
to influence. MacCarthaigh (2008), for example, examines
the challenges involved in developing distinct public service
values, a key underlying element of organisational culture
in public organisations.
Based on the academic literature in this study and the
findings from the interviews, Figure 5.1 sets out a
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
framework that identifies six key issues that managers need
to address in order to contribute to creating a more
developmental and performance oriented culture in their
organisation.
Figure 5.1 A framework for understanding and managing
culture: six key issues for managers to address
Creating a climate for change
In terms of creating a climate for change, culture is only
effective if it is applied to the relevant area needing change
or is tied to some organisational issue. It is suggested by
one commentator that understanding the determinants of
cultural behaviour is crucial to the creation of a climate for
change; change agendas which are not congruent with the
cultural ethos of an organisation can often deliver perverse
results. Several of the organisations studied here used
internal or external drivers in order to facilitate the culture
shift they wanted to see achieved. For example, the UK civil
service at the ‘unfreezing’ stage of their change programme
68
Creating a
climate for
change
Employee
engagement
and
empowerment
Leaders as
champions
Team
orientation
Tracking
cultural
change
Training,
recognition
and rewards
Developmental/
performance
culture
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 69
created a climate where civil service change to a more
managerial culture was seen as required in order to address
long standing problems. The Department of Education and
Science uses the social partnership agreements as a
framework within which to promote change. BCI has used
its organisational development policy as the driver for
developing the organisation’s culture in the desired
direction.
Leaders as champions
Leadership is clearly important in determining the
effectiveness of culture change. The leaders of organisations
are ‘champions’ of understanding and managing culture in
the organisation and of rewarding or punishing subcultures
depending on whether they align or not with the corporate
culture espoused by the leaders. The influence of leaders in
terms of rewarding the sub-culture groups that espouse the
dominant beliefs, values and underlying assumptions of the
organisation cannot be underestimated. This is
demonstrated, for example, in Queensland Health, 3M and
the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism where
significant emphasis has been put on leadership
development programmes and initiatives. The local
authority examples illustrate that clear strategic leadership
is necessary to ensure the consistency of organisational
culture. For example, in Donegal County Council the
county manager selected a project team to co-ordinate the
development of new management structures to more
effectively support the delivery of decentralised services and
to develop integrated service centres in close partnership
with the agencies. An inter-agency project board was
established and a project manager appointed. Project
leaders were assigned in the principal participating
agencies. Strong leadership is a key ingredient in driving
the change process and ensuring a culture of change is
implemented and sustained. Similarly, in Carlow County
Council, the county manager was instrumental in
developing the networks for co-operative economic
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
development initiatives with public bodies and agencies at
a local level.
Employee engagement and empowerment
Employee engagement and empowerment is crucial to
ensure that the culture is effectively managed and aligned
with the cultural assumptions of the organisation as a
whole. Demonstration projects in the UK civil service, which
promoted the desired managerial thinking and at the same
time engaged staff in the change process, were an important
element in cultural change. Local partnership committees
and projects in BCI and the PRA have been used to engage
and empower staff, though each recognises that
partnership arrangements need careful management if they
are to be successful. But, it is also noted by one
commentator that structures or initiatives designed to
empower employees, e.g PMDS, partnership committees
and statements of strategies run the risk of degenerating
into mechanistic initiative-killing processes if the emphasis
shifts from empowerment to form-filling
Team orientation
Team working was a common feature in most organisations
studied, in terms of crossing existing barriers and as a
useful means of promoting and disseminating new cultural
traits. In terms of individual and organisational
development, teams are seen as a way of investing in talent
development. HSBC, for example, put particular emphasis
on team projects rooted in the promotion of the desired core
values for the organisation. The Department of Education
and Science has used more team working post the Cromien
report that criticised many existing management practices
and procedures. The Carlow County Council case highlights
a further dimension of team orientation − the benefits of
developing joint team working with individuals and
businesses outside the organisation to help shift the focus
to the promotion of a developmental culture. Similarly,
Carlow County Council, Donegal County Council and South
70
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 71
Dublin County Council emphasise a culture of cross-agency
and cross-functional collaboration and teamwork with
public bodies and agencies in developing more effective
provision of services at a local level.
Tracking cultural change
Tracking cultural change is important in terms of assessing
whether the culture has become misaligned in terms of subgroup
cultures’ practices, or whether there are issues or
challenges to be addressed which could undermine the
cultural ethos and underlying assumptions of the
organisation. In the US, the Organisational Culture
Assessment Instrument (OCAI) has been used to good effect
in some federal agencies. BCI undertook an organisational
culture mapping exercise. Schein (2004) suggests that the
ten-step Culture Awareness Programme (see Appendix 2 for
details) is a helpful instrument in most situations in which
leaders need to manage some element of their culture. This
internal deciphering process is sufficient and useful in
many circumstances, and it is possible to conduct at
various intervals as a tracking mechanism of culture issues
or alignment with performance.
Training, rewards and recognition
Training in terms of culture awareness is viewed differently
in various organisations. Culture is an aspect of general
management training in some organisations. In other
organisations, it is deemed appropriate to learn from
leaders and managers about the prevalent cultural norms
and assumptions. 3M has placed as much emphasis on
non-monetary rewards such as honours and recognition
programmes as it has on monetary rewards. Carlow County
Council, similarly, has placed significant emphasis on
recognition and reward and particularly encouraging
entering national recognition and reward schemes as a way
of encouraging a winning culture. Story-telling or writing up
successful change management programmes can make a
significant contribution to the development of positive
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
cultural values in organisations. It is acknowledged by one
commentator that it is certainly a failure of the public sector
that it does not adequately acknowledge or proclaim its
successful transformation.
5.5 Conclusion
The importance of understanding, harnessing, managing
and maintaining an appropriate culture in public sector
organisations cannot be underestimated in terms of its
impact on the modernisation agenda. Developing
appropriate measures to address culture issues in
organisations in terms of increasing organisational
capability and performance were addressed in earlier
chapters of this study. While the implications of such
approaches are wide-ranging, fundamentally, it is
implementing effective culture management policies in a
manageable way for organisations that falls within the remit
of leadership in these organisations. Leadership plays an
important role in effectively managing and developing
culture in organisations. Leadership must be committed to
managing culture in terms of developing and sustaining
organisational performance, while managers throughout
the organisation are responsible for its effective
development throughout the organisation.
It has been shown in the organisations examined for
this study that ensuring employee commitment through
culture awareness programmes and team oriented projects
and initiatives (e.g. demonstrations, partnership, teambased
projects) creates a climate for change and further
endorses the relevant culture advocated by managers.
Training in terms of culture awareness is viewed differently
in the various organisations examined. Culture is an aspect
of general management training in some organisations. In
other organisations, it is deemed appropriate to learn from
leaders and managers about the prevalent cultural norms
and assumptions. But, it is important to track cultural
change (through culture mapping exercises or culture
awareness programmes) in terms of assessing whether the
72
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 73
culture has become misaligned in terms of sub-group
cultures’ practices, or whether there are issues or
challenges to be addressed which could undermine the
cultural ethos and underlying assumptions of the
organisation.
There is much that remains to be done to address the
evident gap between the impact of cultural issues and the
approaches adopted by managers, which are quite
rudimentary in many public sector organisations. The
organisations cited for this study provide useful examples of
how organisations can effectively manage organisational
culture as an integral part of both corporate strategies and
organisational change measures to enhance performance
and innovation. This study contributes to the awareness
and understanding of culture management in public sector
organisations. But, the challenge is to develop this
understanding into practical measures in public sector
organisations to further bolster modernisation and deliver
the ‘performance culture where indicators inform policy
choices, budgetary allocations and the day to day
management of operations’ (Cowen, 2008).
In the 1970s, the emphasis within the civil service appeared
to be on trying to change the organisation and structures of
departments. A major review of the public service was
commissioned by the government during the 1960s and in
1969 the Report of the Public Services Organisation Review
Group (known as the Devlin Group) recommended a
separation of policy-making from policy execution functions
within departments and changes in organisational
structures, in response to a major perceived problem of
concern with the finer points of day-to-day administration at
the expense of strategic thinking about long-term issues
(McCarthy, 2005; Administration, Vol. 43, No.2,p.47). But,
‘politicians and civil servants alike saw the proposals as
threats to their best interests, and were not convinced of the
merits of full separation of policy and executive
functions….little progress was made in implementing the
major recommendations although many of the subsidiary
proposals have been put into effect − admittedly after many
years’ consideration’. (Administration, Vol. 43, No.2, p.47).
The white paper Serving the Country Better (1985) focussed
on improving management in the public service in terms of
clear statements of aims and objectives of departments;
specific results to be achieved to be identified in advance;
decentralisation from central to line departments and within
line departments; greater responsiveness to citizens’ needs
with a more efficient, courteous and prompt service to the
public. This paper did not lead to significant overall changes
due to a change of government and a budgetary crisis at that
time, but, ‘there is no doubt that the initiative did serve to
bring about a cultural adjustment in the civil service −
particularly in focusing on the need to serve the public better
as clients or customers’ (Administration, Vol. 43, No.2, p.47).
74
APPENDIX 1
Organisation Culture and Irish Public
Sector Reform
APPENDIX 1 75
The 1980s saw a re-emphasis on clarifying the role of public
service managers and improving the quality of their
performance, partly due to the necessity to implement
major reductions in public expenditure and reductions in
public service numbers during that decade. The
introduction of the Top Level Appointments Committee led
to more competitive appointment and promotions which
helped to bring about some change.
Overall, ‘many of the changes effected in departments
have been of the cosmetic type. There are only a few
examples of major attempts to change the culture of
organisations. This civil service culture has been
described as ‘a legacy of austere traditions and archaic
chivalry’. In particular ‘the lack of management training
of many of the senior personnel in the civil service would
be a factor in this lack of development. Another factor is
that attempts at change have generally had a top-down
approach − a coercive rather than a participative
approach but with little or no follow through or support’.
(Administration, Vol. 43, No.2, p.48).
It is acknowledged that some of the service delivery
departments made notable efforts to develop a customeroriented
culture but by the early 1990s none of the
programmes had reached a satisfactory performance level.
In the 1990s, the Strategic Management Initiative (SMI,
1994) provided the framework and Delivering Better
Government (DBG) (1996) set out the programme for
modernisation in the civil service. DBG required civil
servants to better support the Government in achieving its
objectives in relation to national development; to make
more effective use of resources and to provide a high quality
service to all its customers (McCarthy, 2005). In 1995,
Hurley advocated that ‘Strategic management is a process
which must become integrated in time into the very fabric
and culture of public administration. We must be able to
look back in ten years’ time and say that the initiative
continues to operate, not just as a framework for renewal
but as a comprehensive approach to our work generally, a
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
set of tools and attitudes which influence and direct
management thinking at all levels’. (IPA, 1995, p.41)
McCarthy (2005) points out that SMI has provided the
framework for the building blocks to achieve the objectives
set out in DBG and in so doing it has supported the vision
for the civil service set out in DBG:
• as a high performance, open and flexible organisation
operating to the highest standards of integrity, equity,
impartiality and accountability;
• with a mission and culture of quality service to
Government and to the public at every level, delivered in
a helpful and courteous manner;
• that makes the maximum contribution to national
social and economic development and to competitiveness,
within a clear strategic framework, both at the
level of the individual Department and across
Departments;
• making use of effective human resource management
systems to ensure that each person who works in the
Civil Service can develop to his/her maximum potential
in contributing to the attainment of stated goals;
• that provides, through a partnership across all levels in
the Civil Service, equality of opportunity for all through
its standard of recruitment, conditions of work, training
and development of people and promotion practices;
• supported by modern systems of financial management,
to ensure value for expenditure undertaken within the
limits set by Government;
• that operates necessary and simplified regulations
efficiently and fairly;
• that must be competitive by reference to international
comparisons and benchmarks (McCarthy, 2005).
Boyle and Humphreys (2001) emphasise that the
agenda of change has been broad and deep at both central
and local government levels. McCarthy agrees with this, by
outlining the importance of having legislative change to
76
APPENDIX 1 77
underpin responsibility and accountability in the Civil
Service. He suggests that published statements of strategy
and annual reports have complemented new avenues of
accountability through (i) Freedom of Information
legislation (FOI Act, 1997) and (ii) the compellability of
witnesses to attend an energised system of Parliamentary
Committees.
McCarthy (2005) outlines a number of other significant
developments that are aimed at culture change in the
public sector including: the introduction of the Quality
Customer Service Initiative and Customer Charters for
Government Departments and Offices; the introduction of
the Performance Management and Development System
(PMDS) for all civil servants; the provision of better financial
management systems as part of the Management
Information Framework (MIF) and the introduction of the
MIF in Departments and Offices to provide better and more
timely financial and management information; the
enactment of the Public Service Management (Recruitment
and Appointments) Act, which modernised the recruitment
system for the civil service. For the first time in 2004, the
civil service recruited a number of staff by open recruitment
competition for the Higher Executive Officer and Assistant
Principal grades. Similarly, the civil service recruited a
number of staff by open competition for the Principal Officer
grade in 2007. Other developments included the instigation
of more competitive promotions and more crossdepartmental
mobility of staff, particularly with the onset of
greater decentralisation; the Civil Service Regulation
(Amendment) Act has been enacted and this devolves
functions in relation to appointments, performance,
discipline and dismissal to more appropriate levels; the
Code of Standards and Behaviour was published in
September 2004 and sets standards for service delivery,
behaviour at work and integrity for staff in the civil service;
a White Paper on better regulation, Regulating Better,
setting out the principles to inform the government’s
approach to regulatory policy was published in January,
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
2004. A key element of this process was the use of
regulatory impact analysis in departments. The Value for
Money and Policy Review Initiative has been strengthened
as a tool to scrutinise spending programmes and their
effectiveness, and multi-annual capital budgets have been
agreed to allow departments greater flexibility in managing
resources (McCarthy, 2005). The public service
modernisation initiative of the 1990s has enabled
significant progress to be achieved in financial and resource
management, human resource management, and customer
management areas.
McCarthy (2005) describes how a similar strategic
approach to reform was undertaken in other parts of the
public service. Better Local Government − A Programme for
Change (1996) set out a programme for the future
development of local authority services through increased
emphasis on corporate planning, creation of county/city
development boards and publication of the Local
Government Act, 2000. A number of initiatives have been,
or are currently being, undertaken in support of better
customer service and increased efficiency in the use of
resources. These initiatives are mutually supportive and
are intended to lead to an improved culture of financial
management in local authorities in the future, based on
value for money and modern accounting principles. He also
suggests that a significant amount of progress on service
provision and customer focus has been made and in June
2005, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and
Local Government published its report on Service
Indicators in Local Authorities (2004). This report from the
Local Government Management Services Board sets out
and analyses key services provided by local authorities
(McCarthy, 2005).
In the health sector, the Health Act, 2004 enabled the
establishment of the Health Service Executive (HSE), and
forms part of the most significant change programme in the
health sector. It aims to provide a more integrated and
cohesive approach to service delivery and result in a more
78
APPENDIX 1 79
co-operative culture in the sector. The restructuring of the
education sector, following on from the Cromien Report,
has delegated functions to relevant bodies under the aegis
of the Department and provided the Department of
Education and Science with an opportunity for greater
focus on strategic management and policy development.
The Department of Education and Science has always had
a culture of cross-departmental working and this is
reinforced by the changes that have taken place in this
sector with greater co-operative team working and crossdepartmental
working ensuring more effective service
delivery to key stakeholders in the sector.
Boyle and Humphreys (2001) emphasise that ‘handling
relationships between public, private and voluntary bodies
all involved in policy and service delivery requires that
underlying cultural norms are questioned and changed
where necessary. Leadership is required to promote an
emphasis on co-operation, consensus, persuasion and the
like’ (p.80). It is important to take into account the impact
of different cultures in the various organisations involved in
the development of shared services for the public sector and
the effective role leadership will play in aligning the different
cultures that exist in the different organisations. The
shared services model is outlined in the national agreement
Towards 2016. ‘There will be co-operation with the
introduction of shared services between public service and
related organisations where this can give rise to efficiencies
or cost savings. Examples of areas where shared services
will be possible include, but are not confined to, HR,
Finance and Accounts, Payroll and Superannuation
Management, ICT (including telecommunications and data
centers), Procurement, Data Entry/Capture and specialist
legal and secretarial services and areas where unusual or
unexpected needs arise’ (p.116, Towards 2016).
Leadership is also important in terms of how the
management framework operates. New Public Management
(NPM) is credited with transforming the way in which the
public sector understands its business rather than its accom-
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
plishments, in changing the way that business is actually
done. (Litton and MacCarthaigh, 2007, p.57) ‘The cultural
transformation is indicated by the replacement of ‘public
administration’ with ‘public management’ and the takeover of
continuing education for public servants by management
schools’ (Litton and MacCarthaigh, 2007, pp. 57-58).
Litton and Mac Carthaigh (2007) explain that the
business planning model is instrumental in how NPM
operates. ‘The minister is responsible for setting the
objectives of his department. The departmental head draws
up a strategic plan in which the organisation’s environment
is analysed and feasible outcomes identified that will bring
matters nearer these objectives’ (p.58). These outcomes
provide the basis for the business planning process, and
ultimately, for the management of individual performance..
Furthermore, Litton and Mac Carthaigh (2007) suggest that
the new language that this introduces is clearly
instrumental. Critically, they suggest ‘it is concerned not
with what is right or fitting to do but with technical analysis
of the most efficient and effective means to given ends.
Managerial competence is more highly valued than good
judgement in discerning what will serve the public interest’.
(p.58)
While acknowledging NPM’s shortcomings, Litton and
Mac Carthaigh (2007) agree that NPM in its various forms
has contributed to improving public services and its
emphasis on efficiency and effectiveness does allow the
state do more with less. ‘Its recognition of the value of the
staff functions (human resource management, financial
management, production design, strategic planning) that
have long guided private sector enterprises has improved
the monitoring and control of performance in public sector
organisations. Its designation of the consumer has
prompted improvements in service delivery’.
‘NPM is most convincing in circumstances where the
ends of policy are clear and the means towards them are
well understood. It is then that its lessons on efficiency and
effectiveness make most sense and its case that the civil
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APPENDIX 1 81
servant should be the master of management techniques is
at its strongest. However, when ends and means are
uncertain its guidance falters. …The organisational form
matched to this task is the network. Networks are receiving
increasing attention (Murray, 2006). They are set to become
the twenty-first century business model. Whether this is so
or not, they are a better guide to much civil service business
than machine bureaucracy, the twentieth century business
model’ (p.59).
This is an important element that needs to be
considered in future aspects of change programmes − how
culture and various subcultures will affect change in a
greater matrix, networking public service structure rather
than in the traditional hierarchical bureaucratic structure.
Step 1: Obtaining Leadership Commitment
Schein (2004) advises that when ‘deciphering cultural
assumptions and evaluating their relevance to some
organisational purpose’, this process must be viewed as ‘a
major intervention in the organisation’s life and therefore
must only be undertaken with the full understanding and
consent of the leaders of the organisation’ (p.340). In
practical terms, he suggests that it is important, at the
outset when a person from an organisation solicits help
from a consultant or researcher in order to figure out their
organisation’s culture to ask: ‘Why do you want to do this?’
or ‘What problem are you experiencing that makes you
think a cultural analysis is relevant?’ In Schein’s opinion,
‘The only times I have tried to help a group analyse its own
culture without a problem or issue to motivate the process,
the analysis has essentially failed for lack of interest on the
part of the group’. (p.340)
Step 2: Selecting Groups for Interviews
Schein (2004) outlines that the next stage for the researcher
or consultant is to work with the leaders or executives of the
organisation to determine how best to select some groups
representative of the culture. He notes that the criteria for
selection will depend on the concrete nature of the problem
to be solved. Groups can be homogeneous or heterogeneous
in their make-up by either selecting a given department or
rank level or alternatively, by diagonally slicing the
organisation. The group can vary in size from tiny groups (of
3) to large groups (of 30). Schein suggests that it is
important to include sub-cultures in the group formation
by repeating the process in different groups or by
deliberately including samples of members from different
82
APPENDIX 2
Ten Step Cultural Assessment Process
APPENDIX 2 83
groups in order to test in the group meetings, whether the
assumed differences exist.
He also notes that the composition of the group is
affected by the level of trust and openness in the group
particularly, in regard to deciding whether senior people
who might inhibit discussion should attend. He suggests
further that ‘because the level of trust and openness across
various boundaries is itself likely to be a cultural issue, it is
best to start with a heterogeneous group and let the group
experience the extent to which certain areas of
communication are or are not inhibited by the presence of
others’ (p.341). He recommends that once groups have been
chosen, it should be the leader or executives who inform the
groups of the purposes of the meetings. He also advises that
rather than summoning people to a vague general meeting
to do with a culture assessment, that participants must
know either what change problems are being examined or
what research problems the external researcher or
consultant has brought in and gotten commitment to
pursue.
Step 3: Selecting an Appropriate Setting for the Group
Interviews
Schein recommends that an appropriate venue to hold the
group interviews would be a setting that is normally a large,
comfortable room with space for hanging flip chart pages
and with break-out rooms for sub-groups to meet.
Step 4: Explaining the Purpose of the Group Meeting
Schein (2004) recommends that the large group meeting
should be commenced with a restatement of the purpose of
the meeting by someone perceived to be in a leadership or
authority role in the organisation. This should encourage
openness and trust in terms of response. Following this
introduction, Schein suggests that the process consultant
should be introduced as the outsider who will help the
group conduct an analysis of how the organisation’s culture
is a benefit or constraint in solving the problem or issue to
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
be resolved. He recommends that the process consultant
can be an outsider, a member of the organisation who is
part of a staff group devoted to providing internal
consulting services, or a leader from another department
who is familiar with how culture works (p.342).
Step 5: A Short Lecture on How to Think About Culture
Schein (2004) recommends that the consultant should use
Schein’s three level model of Culture (Level 1:artefacts,
Level 2: espoused beliefs and values, Level 3: underlying
assumptions) to explain the manifestation of culture in the
organisation. ‘It is essential for the group to understand
that culture manifests itself at the level of artefacts and
espoused values, but that the goal is to try to decipher the
shared tacit assumptions that lie at a lower level.’ Schein
advises that through use of the model, it is important for
the group to understand the distinctions between each level
and that culture is a learned set of assumptions based on a
shared history.
Step 6: Eliciting Descriptions of the Artefacts
Schein notes that the question that elicits artefacts is ‘What
is going on here?’ He recommends that this stage is where
the consultant tells the group that they are going to start by
describing the culture through artefacts. Recent members
who have joined the group are asked to describe entering
the organisation and what they noticed most upon entering
it. Everything mentioned is written down and presented as
wall hangings visible around the room to encourage the
group to think of its own deeper layers of thinking about
assumptions its members share. ‘If group members are
active in supplying information, the consultant can stay
relatively quiet, but if the group needs priming, the
consultant should suggest categories such as dress codes,
desired modes of behaviour in addressing persons in
charge, the physical layout of the workplace, how time and
space are used, what kinds of emotions one would notice,
how people get rewarded and punished, how one gets ahead
84
APPENDIX 2 85
in the organisation, and so forth’. (p.342) This process
should continue for about an hour.
Step 7: Identifying Espoused Values
Schein notes that the question that elicits espoused values
is ‘Why are you doing what you are doing?’ Schein would
normally choose an artefactual area of interest to the group
and ask people to articulate the reasons why they do what
they do. As values or beliefs are stated, and consensus
formed, then these values and beliefs are written down on a
new page of flipchart. If members disagree, Schein
recommends asking whether this is a matter of different
subgroups having different values or is it a matter of
genuine lack of consensus, in which case the item is
recorded on the chart with a question mark after it, to
ensure it is revisited. The group is encouraged to look at all
the artefacts and to identify possible values implied. This
process should continue for about an hour.
Step 8: Identifying Shared Tacit Assumptions
Schein (2004) suggests that ‘the key to getting at the
underlying assumptions is to check whether the espoused
values that have been identified really explain all of the
artefacts or whether things that have been described as
going on have clearly not been explained or are in actual
conflict with some of the values articulated’ (p.344). He
notes that an example of where these can be misaligned is
exemplified by the engineering group at HP that discovered
that the espoused values of ‘teamwork’ and ‘being nice to
each other’ were overruled by the tacit assumptions that
individualistic competitive behaviour was the way to get
things done and progress in the organisation. This process
takes approximately three to four hours and should be
completed when the group and the consultant feel they
have identified most of the critical assumption areas.
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
Step 9: Identifying Cultural Aids and Hindrances
Schein (2004) suggests that if the group is larger than ten
people, it is necessary to conduct this stage in smaller
breakout groups. The task for the subgroups comprises two
parts, spending an hour or so refining assumptions and
identifying other assumptions that may have been missed
in the large group meeting, and categorising the
assumptions according to whether they will aid or hinder
the solution of the problem that is being examined. The
groups review what the ‘new way of working’ is and how the
assumptions identified will help or hinder in getting there.
Schein (2004) recommends that the subgroups report back
to the total group both the two or three main assumptions
that will aid and also the two or three main assumptions
that will hinder the desired changes.
Step 10: Reporting Assumptions and Joint Analysis
Schein (2004) suggests that the purpose of this step is to
reach some kind of consensus on what the important
shared assumptions are and their implications for what the
organisation wants to do. This process begins with the
reporting back of the subgroups to the full group. If there
is a consensus on these separate group analyses, the
process consultant proceeds into a discussion of
implications. Normally there is a lack of consensus, which
requires further inquiry by the total group with the aid of
the consultant. According to Schein a number of reasons
may account for this: the group may decide that there are
strong subculture differences that must be accounted for;
or some of the assumptions may need to be re-examined to
determine whether they provide resolution of disagreements
at a deeper level; or maybe the group may come to recognise
that for various reasons it does not have many shared
assumptions. ‘In each case, the role of the process
consultant is to raise questions, force clarification, test
perceptions, and in other ways help the group achieve as
clear a picture as possible of the assumption set that is
driving the group’s day-to-day perception, feelings,
86
APPENDIX 2 87
thoughts, and ultimately, behaviour’ (p.347). Schein notes
that once consensus is reached on what shared
assumptions are, the discussion proceeds to the role of
those assumptions in aiding or hindering what the group
wants to do. If on the other hand, real constraints are
identified, the group discussion shifts to an analysis of how
culture can be managed and what it would take to overcome
the identified constraints. Schein (2004) recommends that
the process consultant should provide a lecture on culture
change mechanisms that are implied at this stage and a
new set of subgroups may be formed to develop a change
strategy. This would require an additional minimum halfday
to complete and is additional time beyond the original
one-day meeting on culture assessment.
Schein concludes that the ten-step process described
above is extremely fast and within a few hours a good
approximation can be made of what some of the major
assumptions are. He recommends that if more detail is
required additional observations, participant observations
and group assessments can be made. He argues that in
most situations in which leaders need to manage some
element of their culture, this internal deciphering process is
sufficient and useful.
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