-
The False Promise of Organizational CultureChange: A Case Study
of Middle Managers inGrocery Retailing*
Emmanuel Ogbonna and Barry WilkinsonCardiff University;
University of Bath
The strategic importance of managing organizational culture has
been acentral theme in organizational literature over the past two
decades. But relativelylittle attention has been given to the
impact of culture change initiatives onmanagers. This paper reports
on the impact of a programme of culture change onmanagers at one of
Britains leading grocery retail chains. Based on a series
ofdetailed interviews with managers together with examination of
company documentsand an understanding of trends in grocery
retailing, we explain the purpose andcontent of change, and
document and analyse the reactions of those managers whoare
expected to change their own cultural orientations as well as
persuade theirsubordinates to change. We conclude that in this case
at least changes in managerialbehaviour, as with previously
documented changes in the behaviour of shopfloorworkers, are
related more to surveillance, direct control and the threat of
sanctionthan any transformation of managerial values. Indeed, the
situation and experiencesof managers one of reduced autonomy, close
monitoring and control, andperceived career insecurity are
explained less in relation to organizational culture,more in
relation to organizational (re-)structuring intended to create a
morecentralized form of organizational control.
INTRODUCTION
Attempts by the UKs major grocery retailers to transform the
culture of theirorganizations through human resource management
practices intended to instilcompany loyalty and a customer ethos
among staff are well documented (March-ington and Harrison, 1991;
Ogbonna and Harris, 1998; Ogbonna and Wilkinson,1988; Rosenthal et
al., 1997). Previous research (for example, Ogbonna andWilkinson,
1990) identified a range of problems associated with these
culture
Journal of Management Studies 40:5 July 20030022-2380
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003. Published by Blackwell
Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ,UK and 350 Main
Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
Address for reprints: Emmanuel Ogbonna, Cardiff Business School,
Cardiff University, Colum Drive,Cardiff CFI 3EU, UK
([email protected]).
-
change programmes, and concluded that the prospects for a
company to trans-form successfully the values of a low paid, low
skilled and largely transient work-force were poor. Behavioural
changes were documented, but these related toheightened
surveillance and closer direct control of employees rather than
changesto values and assumptions (see Ogbonna and Wilkinson, 1988,
1990). Evidence ofalteration to employee values has been limited
(for example, Rosenthal et al., 1997)and behavioural change has
been related in part to instrumental motives (seeOgbonna and
Harris, 1998). These findings have been echoed in several other
dis-cussions of the culture phenomenon (see for example, Ackroyd
and Crowdy, 1990;Hpfl et al., 1992; Legge, 1994; Ogbor, 2001;
Willmott, 1993) and Anthony (1990)raised the perplexing question of
why, in the face of achieving at best only aresigned behavioural
compliance, managers continued to pursue culture
changeprogrammes.
One answer to this question, as Anthony discusses at length,
might lie in thepsychological needs of managers to engage in
legitimatory activities, and to theirneed to distance themselves
from shopfloors (building a cocoon). Another, whichcould be argued
from the mainstream view of organizational culture (see forexample,
Alvesson, 1993; Martin, 1992; Meyerson and Martin, 1987;
Ogbonna,1993; Ogbor, 2001; Silvester et al., 1999) could simply be
the length of time itmight take to change ingrained and embedded
cultures.
However, previous studies of planned culture change have
commonly beendirected at low-level employees, especially shopfloor
workers (see Ackroyd andCrowdy, 1990; Harris and Ogbonna, 1998a,
1998b; Ogbonna and Wilkinson,1988, 1990; Rosenthal et al., 1997).
It is possible that the ambiguous findings ofstudies into culture
management might be explained by the peculiar nature ofmuch
shopfloor work and shopfloor workforces. That is, relative to
managerial andprofessional occupational groups, most shopfloor
workers are subject to poor termsand conditions of employment, have
poor (if any) career prospects, and in groceryretailing are often
part-time or temporary workers for whom the job is not a
centralaspect of life. Hence, in order to provide a fuller
assessment of the organizationalculture paradigm, the question of
whether planned culture change is more likelyto be achieved at
managerial levels needs to be addressed. Put simply, if
managersenjoy greater rewards and opportunities, carry more
responsibility, exercise a widerrange of skills, and invest more of
their identity in their work and careers, then itmight logically be
assumed that they are more likely than shopfloor workers torespond
positively to values espoused by their organizations.
The research on which this paper is based was designed to
contribute to thedevelopment of the literature on planned culture
change by exploring managerialperceptions of organizational culture
initiatives, and examining whether plannedculture change is more
likely to be achieved at managerial levels. It seemed to usthat
while an organization-wide strong culture might be unlikely under
most cir-cumstances (and certainly in UK grocery retailing) the
managerial ranks within
1152 E. Ogbonna and B. Wilkinson
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
the organizations might more readily identify with espoused
values. Whether thiswould be the case or not, it was clear that the
paucity of empirical research intomanagers relationships with, and
responses to, culture change initiatives made theman important
focus of enquiry. The evidence gathered was primarily a series
ofin-depth interviews and detailed observation of the work of
middle managers inone of the leading UK grocery retail chains,
together with an array of documen-tary evidence on change
programmes, organization reporting structures, and orga-nizational
control systems.
Prior to the presentation of the findings of the study, we set
the study in contextby briefly overviewing the literature on
planned culture change and its links to thestudy of middle
managers, and by describing the research methods adopted.
MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Organizational culture has become a key concept in the human
resource man-agement literature, with scholars distinguishing
between a personnel manage-ment or low commitment approach which
emphasizes a bureaucratic, rule-basedculture, and an HRM or high
commitment approach which emphasizes em-powerment and shared values
(Guest, 1991; Storey, 1992; Watson, 2002). Like theorganizational
behaviour literature, the human resources literature is
character-ized by debate over the importance of the culture concept
as well as the possibil-ity and desirability of planned culture
change. Thus, although organizationalculture is now a widely
studied topic, considerable conceptual difficulties continueto
undermine the status of the concept. Interestingly, the spread of
theoretical perspectives through which culture has been studied in
organizational settings has added to (rather than resolved) the
confusion and complexity surrounding the concept (see discussion by
Rowlinson and Proctor, 1999). In this regard,researchers have
called for an amalgamation of extant conceptualizations into an
integrated theory of organizational culture (see Frost et al.,
1991; Hendry,1999).
However, whilst a consolidation of existing knowledge is yet to
be achieved, itis arguable that an element of convergence is
emerging in contemporary organi-zational culture research. It is
beyond to scope of this review to provide a full discussion, but it
is important to note that organizational culture is commonly
conceptualized as dynamic (see Frank and Farhrbach, 1999; Hatch,
1993; Schein,1996), multifaceted (see Harrison, 2000; Ogbonna and
Harris, 2000) and layered (seeDetert et al., Hofstede et al., 1990;
Pettigrew, 1990; Schein, 1992).
Paradoxically, despite the general lack of agreement amongst
academicresearchers, practitioner interest in applying the concept
of culture to their organizations has been growing rapidly. Such is
the attractiveness of culture topractitioners that a recent survey
concluded that 94 per cent of organizations ex-perienced planned
cultural change in 1997 (see IRS Employment Trends, 1997). This
Organizational Culture Change 1153
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
level of interest is clearly premised on the assumption that
astute executives cancontrol the cultures of their
organizations.
Research into managing organizational culture has caused
widespread contro-versy and divisions both amongst academics and
between academics and practi-tioners. Previous reviews of the
literature have been comprehensive and theintention is not to
provide a rehearsal of these debates (interested readers
arereferred to the reviews by Legge, 1994; Martin, 1985; Ogbonna,
1993; Ogbonnaand Harris, 2002). However, a brief overview of the
broad tenets of this literatureis important to set the context for
this research. Three broad positions character-ize research in this
area. Working largely from a functionalist perspective, the
firstcategory of studies consists of those writers who view culture
as an organizationalvariable which, like other organizational
variables, is subject to the control ofmanagement. This approach is
clearly premised on the assumption that the per-formance of an
organization is dependent on the strength of its culture, a view
which is championed by a number of academics and practitioners (see
Deal and Kennedy, 1982; Denison, 1990; Kilmann, 1982; Kotter and
Heskett, 1992;Peters and Waterman, 1982). In many ways, the
popularity and practical acceptance of this perspective is
evidenced by the large number of organizationswhich are frequently
reported to be undergoing planned cultural intervention (seeIRS
Employment Trends, 1997; Worrall et al., 2000). Proponents of this
perspectivehave also offered several models to assist managers in
their quest to achieveplanned cultural change (for example,
Silverzweig and Allen, 1976; Wilkinson et al., 1996).
Notwithstanding the practical appeal of the idea that executives
can control theculture of organizations, numerous critical
researchers have questioned the ethicaland intellectual foundations
of this view. It is within this broad group ofresearchers that the
remaining two approaches to the study of organizationalculture
management are located. The most critical researchers frequently
arguethat the assumption that organizations can achieve planned
cultural change is bothintellectually flawed and practically
impossible. In this regard, researchers havequestioned the capacity
of managers (including their knowledge and information)to
understand and control the basic values and assumptions of
employees which,by definition, are deeply embedded in the
subconscious (see Krefting and Frost,1985; Gagliardi, 1986).
Furthermore, critical culture researchers have argued thatthe rich,
complex and differentiated nature of culture makes it a neutral
resourceand one which can equally be employed by the managed as
well as those manag-ing (see Harrris and Ogbonna, 2002; Legge,
1994; Ogbonna, 1993).
Another strand of research emerging from the critical
perspective argues thatthere is some scope for cultural
manipulation. These researchers argue that whilstplanned cultural
change is difficult, cultural processes in organizations may
beinfluenced by certain (albeit rare) organizational and industry
conditions (seeChristensen, 1999; Martin, 1985; Meyerson and
Martin, 1987; Ogbonna and
1154 E. Ogbonna and B. Wilkinson
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
Harris, 2002). That is, the successful implementation of planned
culture changeis dependent on the context in which it is
introduced. However, whilst acknowl-edging that change may be
possible under certain conditions, such critical culturetheorists
warn that cultural manipulation not only raises ethical dilemmas
but thatit is also potentially dangerous and may lead to unintended
consequences for theorganizations and individuals concerned (Casey,
1999; Ogbor, 2001; Ray, 1986;Watson, 2002; Willmott, 1993).
While lower level employees responses to culture change
initiatives have beenwidely studied, managers are typically
presented simply as the agents of culturechange rather than the
targets. That is, managers experiences of, and responses to,planned
culture change, have not been studied. Yet studies of the related
topics ofquality management and employee involvement have
identified middle managersas barriers to the successful
implementation of such initiatives (Bradley and Hill,1983; Fenton
OCreevy and Nicholson, 1994; Marchington et al., 1993).
FentonOCreevy (2001, p. 26) points out that middle management
resistance often takeson subtle forms, such as engaging only in
those involvement activities most visibleto senior management. He
goes on to argue that the context in which initiativesare
introduced (e.g. the level of managerial job security; the
structuring of mana-gerial roles) have a direct bearing on their
enthusiastic acceptance and pursuit.Some studies have suggested
that reductions in managerial layers have been asso-ciated with
increased job autonomy and satisfaction for middle managers
(Dopsonand Stewart, 1990; Thomas and Dunkerly, 1999). Scase and
Goffee (1989) on theother hand uncovered greater insecurity and
pressures to perform while Watson(2002) has detailed a high degree
of ambivalence among managers towards neworganizational
initiatives. Thus, studies of middle managers suggest that
theirresponses to initiatives might be akin to those of shopfloor
employees they arecontext-dependent, or as Peccei and Rosenthal
(2001) argue with regard to cus-tomer orientation initiatives, they
must be supported by human resources strate-gies that fit. Our own
study provided the opportunity to explore the extent ofacceptance
and pursuit of a strong culture by middle managers working in a
par-ticular organizational and sectoral context.
Overall, the literature on managing organizational culture
diverges regardingthe possibility and desirability of the
managerial control of the values, beliefs andassumptions of
organizational members. The position of critical
organizationalculture and human resource management research has
been particularly negative,and many scholars have raised ethical
concerns regarding the inculcation oforganizational values to lower
level employees who are disadvantaged in termsof their status and
power capacity both to decide organizational values and todevelop
appropriate and legitimate strategies of resistance. Such concerns
areunderstandable given that existing studies of culture management
focus on lowerlevel (frequently front-line) employees with no study
directly exploring the impactof culture change on managers. This
study was designed to contribute to the
Organizational Culture Change 1155
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
literature on organizational culture by exploring managerial
perceptions and reac-tions to culture change initiatives.
METHODOLOGY
The study reported in this paper was designed to explore the
perceptions and reac-tions of managers to organizational culture
change initiatives. The aim was touncover whether managers were
more likely to share espoused organizationalvalues than employees
at the lower levels of the organizational hierarchy.
The empirical evidence for the paper was gathered through an
in-depth quali-tative study of a single organization. This approach
was adopted for a variety ofreasons. For example, organizational
culture theorists have extolled the virtues ofthe qualitative case
approach as a way of achieving penetrating accounts of
organi-zational change. Specifically, it is commonly argued that
in-depth case studies aremore appropriate methods of uncovering the
meanings that organizationalmembers ascribe to their environment as
well as the ways in which such meaningsare constructed and
re-constructed (Martin, 1992; Schein, 1996; Smircich,
1983).Furthermore, a number of researchers have noted that since
every organizationhas unique attributes, investigators should adopt
approaches that enable them todevelop insights into the patterns of
values and assumptions that characterize theculture of a given
group (Howard, 1998; Schein, 1990). Such desire for depth
andunderstanding influenced the choice of a single case study.
Similarly, the choice ofa single rather than multiple case studies
follow the persuasive arguments of Dyerand Wilkins (1991) and is
consistent with the precedent of many recent influen-tial studies
in organizational theory in general (for example, Dutton and
Dukerich,1991; Martin, et al., 1998) and organizational culture in
particular (see Kunda,1992; Harrison, 2000).
Research Strategy
The research team have a collective experience of 25 years of
conducting organi-zational culture research. Much of the empirical
studies carried out by the teamduring this period have focused on
cultural change initiatives in the UK food retailsector (for
example, Ogbonna and Wilkinson, 1988; 1990). In this regard, we
haveestablished good working relationship with many organizations
in the industry andthis helped us to gain good access to study the
cultural change initiatives of oneof the top food retailing groups
in the UK.
The case study organization, STAR (a pseudonym), employs over
100,000people, of which just over a third are full time. At the
beginning of the researchin 1996, the company had around 160
stores, of which most were superstores witharound 30,000 square
feet of trading space. Twelve of the stores were designatedas the
model stores and each of these had around 100,000 square feet of
trading
1156 E. Ogbonna and B. Wilkinson
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
space. As will be detailed later, the bulk of the empirical data
for the study wasgenerated from six of these flagship stores.
Data Sources
Data for this study were gathered from three main sources.
Firstly, the companyprovided access to a vast array of documented
material detailing both the espousedrationales for the change
initiative and the strategies for cultural change. Archivaldata
were also made available and these included several internal
memorandarelating to this and previous change initiatives, internal
consultancy reports, copiesof staff attitude surveys, and internal
records of press cuttings.
A second source of data was the observation of managerial
behaviour at a seriesof training and team building sessions
centrally organized for: (1) area managerswho were responsible for
motivating general store managers to adopt the espousedcompany
values; (2) general store managers who were in turn responsible for
moti-vating the management teams in their individual stores; and
(3) other members ofthe store management teams whose commitment to
change was also consideredimportant for the success of the change
initiative. In all, we attended seven one-day training courses and
team building exercises in which over 200 managers par-ticipated.
These courses provided us with a useful opportunity to gauge the
overallstrength of feeling on this and previous change initiatives.
Although we did notconduct formal interviews with the course
participants, we had several informaldiscussions with many
managers. Indeed, we regularly sat with the course par-ticipants
during coffee and lunch breaks and would frequently invite them
tocomment on the change programme. Their comments were recorded in
a researchnotebook as soon as possible after the discussions. A
total of 14 such meetings wereheld with 26 managers, of which four
were area managers, nine were general storemanagers and the rest
were other members of the store-level management teams.Although
these discussions helped in establishing the general pattern of
percep-tions which were explored in detail in subsequent
interviews, they did not provideany verbatim accounts which could
be reported in this paper.
The third and most important source of data for the study is the
series of in-depth face-to-face interviews and observation at six
of the largest stores in STAR(each store had a trading space of
100,000 square feet). These stores were espe-cially targeted
because they were among the 12 stores identified in internal
reportsas STARs flagship stores. Similarly, these stores were
selected because they weredesignated training centres for store
managers across the group and they were alsoamongst the most
profitable stores in the group. In this phase of the study, a
totalof 30 interviews were held with 15 managers (two regional
managers in whoseregions the six stores were located, four general
store managers, two deputy generalstore managers and seven
departmental managers). In addition, we interviewedone head office
director who has experienced several change initiatives with
STAR
Organizational Culture Change 1157
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
and who was the only director to have worked as a general store
manager in thecompany.
The number of informants was deliberately kept low so as to
allow detailedprobing and exploration of the issues, particularly
those issues that were raisedduring the training and team building
sessions discussed earlier.
The Interviews
With the exception of the director, all the managers interviewed
were categorizedas middle managers by the company. An indication of
the significance of the keyinformants is that collectively, the six
participating stores contributed over 500million to the companys
turnover and accounted for around 7 per cent of STARsfull time
employees. At the time of the interviews, the average annual salary
for ageneral store manager in the company was 55,000 although three
of our infor-mants in this category indicated that their annual
salaries and bonuses regularlyexceeded 75,000. In addition, the
package for a general store manager includeda fully expensed
executive car, full family health cover, paid annual holiday
tripsand a range of other benefits.
Interviews were semi-structured with the intention that managers
could freelyexpress their thoughts on culture change. They were
asked to contrast the oldand the new company cultures, and they
were asked how their roles, respon-sibilities, and ways of working
and managing might be changing. They were alsoasked to comment on
how they experienced and felt about these developments.Each manager
was interviewed twice and each interview lasted between one andtwo
hours. Interviews were audiotape recorded, resulting in a total 27
audiotapes.We also attended regular weekly management meetings in
the six stores and werepresent during several meetings that
managers were required to have with employ-ees as part of the
change initiative. We also observed actual work behaviour
duringnumerous formal and informal visits to the participating
stores.
Data Analysis
All interviews were transcribed verbatim, leading to over 300
pages of transcribeddata. In addition, we collected over 400 pages
of reports, change manuals andother information. The process of
analysis began with the coding of the inter-views and documents
into theoretically derived categories focusing on the per-ceptions
of the informants on the espoused rationale for change, the
changingnature of managerial roles, the level of culture change
advocated, the approachesadopted, the intended and unintended
impacts of change, and the tensions andcontradictions which
characterized change. Consequently, we worked on the taskof
developing categories, linkages, relationships and subdividing
categories in amanner akin to the approach to grounded theory
suggested by Strauss and Corbin
1158 E. Ogbonna and B. Wilkinson
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
(1990). The coding and categorization were first conducted
independently by theresearchers following which the results were
compared and the inconsistencieswere discussed and resolved.
Following the suggestion of Price et al. (2000), we carried out
internal and external credibility tests by asking an experienced
qualitative researcher to reviewour coding and categories and by
sending our findings to four STAR managerswho expressed an interest
during the interviews. All the comments received wereconsidered and
where necessary, amendments were made to reflect them.
Finally, we recognize that a key limitation of this study is
that it is based on alimited number of informants in a single
organization. However, our intention wasnot to seek
generalizability. Instead, we sought to embrace all the richness
andcomplexity of a real organizational setting to provide what
Lincoln and Guba(1985, p. 359) refer to as vicarious experience. In
this regard, it is anticipated thatthe wealth of contextual detail
and the depth and insight that we provide willenable readers to
assess our findings and evaluate the applicability of our resultsto
other situations.
FINDINGS
Prior to the presentation of the findings, it is useful to
provide some contextualinformation on the case company.
In the mid-1980s, in common with its competitors, STAR attempted
to trans-form the way it did business to become more customer
focused. A whole arrayof changes aimed at improving the offering to
customers were introduced, includ-ing locating new superstores
out-of-town with convenient parking facilities, extend-ing the
range of goods on offer to enable one stop shopping, and enhancing
storeattractiveness with changes to design and layout. A greater
emphasis on customerservice also led to attention to staff
interactions with customers. No longerpunters, customers were to be
treated with courtesy and respect, and this was tobe achieved by a
transformation of the corporate culture. Specifically,
employeeswere expected to identify closely with the company and its
customers, and changesto selection, training, appraisal,
communications, etc. policies were introduced inpursuit of value
change. Our research in this company in the late 1980s onshopfloor
workers responses to culture change initiatives uncovered
significantchanges in shopfloor workers behaviour (giving customers
more attention, dis-playing deference), but this was more to do
with behavioural compliance under asituation of surveillance and
threat of sanction than with any transformation ofthe values of
workers (workers did not express love of either the customer or
thecompany) (Ogbonna and Wilkinson, 1988; 1990). At the time we did
not seriouslystudy managerial responses to the new culture change
initiatives, although on thesurface it did appear that managers
were enthusiastic in their implementation ofthe policies that were
associated with the culture change programme.
Organizational Culture Change 1159
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
But a fuller understanding of managers is important. Not only do
managershave to act the part; they are expected to persuade others,
their subordinates, toact the part too. They are key agents in any
process of change. Hence in this studyour intent was to focus on
managers. How do managers, presented with the impera-tive of
culture change and charged with the responsibility of diffusing
that change,rationalize their experiences and actions? Given their
relatively privileged posi-tions and their presumed career
ambitions, are they more likely to adopt a newset of values,
perhaps become evangelists themselves? The shopfloor workers
westudied included many part-time and temporary workers, wages were
quite poor,and turnover among their ranks was high: would the
different circumstances ofmanagers make them more ready to align
themselves with espoused organizationalvalues?
BACKGROUND: THE STAR WAY OF WORKING FORMANAGEMENT
As mentioned above, previous initiatives to change culture and
values date backto the mid-1980s. New initiatives, some major and
some minor, have been intro-duced since then. The initiative all
the managers were talking about during inter-views in 1996/97 was a
major one it was still being actively diffused four yearsafter its
launch and it focused specifically on the expectations placed on
man-agers, particularly store managers. In 1993 STAR distributed a
100 plus pagesdocument entitled The STAR Way of Working for
Management (hereafter STARWOW)which prescribed in some detail what
managers should do. The document wasproduced by head office
personnel staff with the assistance of consultants and in
consultation with the board of directors. In the document,
co-operation,common purpose, trust, and mutual exchange are the
order of the day, to beachieved through workforce involvement,
continuous learning and develop-ment, and constant listening and
appraising. It urges all managers to win thehearts and minds of
subordinates in order to achieve continuous improvementfor improved
total sales performance. While many of the general themes in
thedocument had been proselytized since the late 1980s, STARWOW is
remarkablefor its detailed explicit prescriptions for managerial
behaviour. (In hindsight itappears to us that perhaps the very
production of the document indicated a lackof satisfaction at the
highest levels of the company with store management.) Detail-ing
some of its content here will give a clear indication of the
culture changethought necessary.
The STAR Way of Working (STARWOW)
STARWOW stipulates a top-down programme of culture change, using
the familiar cascade approach whereby regional managers and
regional personnel
1160 E. Ogbonna and B. Wilkinson
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
managers lead and manage the process through general store
managers. In turnthe general store manager persuades his or her
departmental managers to adoptand internalize the desired values,
behaviours and styles; change then cascadesdown through supervisors
to shopfloor workers (defined as colleagues in theSTARWOW culture
change manual). Most of the messages are aimed at thegeneral store
manager who is presented as the key to change, though the
impli-cations for other levels of management are clear. As
information from officialcompany documentation shows, STARWOW
provides a mix of encouragementand imperative.
The general store manager plays a key part in the process of
change. Everyonein the store takes their lead from the general
store manager and the generalstore manager will either facilitate
it or block and delay it. It will be evident toeveryone whether the
general store manager is truly behind this developmentor only
paying lip service to it . . . It is important that everyone is
aware of thedesired styles of behaviour for the success of STAR,
and realizes the consequences of not operating in the STAR way of
working. (STARWOWManual)
The STARWOW culture change initiative demands a move towards
performanceresponsible teams in each department (grocery, bakery,
dry goods, etc.) of eachstore, where colleagues are trained to do
every task within the department, andwhere many tasks which were
previously the responsibility of managers and super-visors are
delegated to colleagues. Managers and team trainers are expected
tocreate such teams via training in technical competencies and
broadening col-leagues understanding of the business; also through
motivating everyone with avision of STAR, creating a sense of group
loyalty, and getting the team to takeownership.
STARWOW specifies in detail selection criteria for colleagues,
induction pro-grammes for new recruits, and content and methods of
training and appraisal.These are essentially the same as those in
use since the late 1980s, though theyhave been further refined, and
carefully justified in relation to the new way of working. Perhaps
more significant innovations are new specifications for
communications, and clear formal prescriptions for managerial
orientations andbehaviour.
On the communications front, meetings are now specified in terms
of frequency,length and agenda: the general store manager should
meet weekly with depart-mental managers, who in turn should meet
weekly with their teams; and on amonthly basis the general store
manager should bring together the whole man-agement team. In
addition, the general store manager should organize
customerfeedback groups regularly, and groups of colleague
representatives of the storeshould meet with their general store
manager fortnightly. The latter meeting is
Organizational Culture Change 1161
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
called a listening group, and the manager is expected to note
problems and ideasraised by colleagues, and where appropriate take
action to improve things. Pointsraised and action taken are
displayed on a notice board which can be read by allcolleagues. In
fact, interviews and observation revealed that listening groups
werenot always successful, largely because regularly freeing
colleagues for such meetings contradicted the simultaneous drive
for efficiency and maximum humanasset utilization. Hence the
introduction, with senior management approval, ofhuddles, where
managers occasionally put on their huddle hats and pull colleagues
together on the shopfloor for briefer and more informal listening
sessions.
On prescriptions for orientations, STARWOW explains in some
detail the char-acteristics and commitments needed by store
managers: these are summarized ascommitted to STAR, committed to
customers, committed to teams, and com-mitted to personal (self and
subordinate) development. Regional managers andregional personnel
managers are asked regularly to monitor managerial orienta-tions on
an informal basis by talking with managers, colleagues and
customers,and to undertake more systematic reviews by examining the
results of role expec-tation graphs (REGs). These entail a self
analysis by each manager, giving a scorefrom 1 (poor) to 10 (good)
for several desirable attributes (I understand customers,I select
the best people, I help subordinates set goals, I communicate
informa-tion on store performance, etc.); this is then followed by
subordinate assessmentsof the manager on the same dimensions and
using the same scale. Discrepanciesbetween superior and subordinate
assessments, as well as low scores, are cause forconcern and
action.
STARWOW tells regional managers and regional personnel managers
that: Itis hard to change a management style. It takes time and
determination. There willbe many moments when people revert to old
ways and other values. They areencouraged to adopt a coaching
relationship with general store managers. Settingtimetables and
benchmarks, and communicating constantly, they are expected
toreport regularly to the Company Board on progress in cultural and
organizationalmanagement in relation to the STAR Way of Working.
They are asked to oversee,for each store in their region, the
introduction of STARWOW, as the general storemanagers take their
store through a specified 17-stage programme of changewhich lasts a
little under six months.
Managerial Responses
The reader may now have a feel for the content of STARWOW and
the methodsof introduction. Desired changes across STARs many
superstores are highly pre-scribed, and responsibilities for
implementation are spelled out quite clearly. Thegeneral store
manager is key to introducing a new management style and
organi-zational culture which is characterized by openness,
delegation, learning, co-
1162 E. Ogbonna and B. Wilkinson
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
operation, trust and mutual exchange. The questions to be
addressed are: Howdid managers understand and respond to the
prescriptions for a new managementstyle?. Did their values become
aligned with the espoused values?; and if theirvalues were
different. Why was this so?
The analysis of the interviews and other data led us to
categorize findings underthree broad headings. Firstly, we discuss
the views of managers on the old andnew ways of working. Second, we
present the answers of managers to questionsof how change had
affected the way they behave in practice: how they
managesubordinates, how they relate to head office, how they make
decisions, etc. Here,issues of control (in particular being
controlled) were expressed regularly andstrongly. Our third
category, career, was, like the second, not a topic which
wasdeliberately or consciously pursued in interviews, but was one
which most man-agers expressed a view on, in response to questions
such as what is it like to workfor STAR?
Then and Now
The old way of working at STAR, according to most interviewees,
was tell anddo (as we are constantly reminded according to one
cynical manager). Generalstore managers said in the old days they
were not expected to think for them-selves, it was very much head
office controlled. In turn departmental managerssaid they were
ruled by intimidation and position Im the general store managerso
what I say goes. A deputy general store manager summed up the old
way asa very dictatorial approach down from top management, you
shall do it or else,if you dont like it, theres the door. However,
a few managers questioned the tell and do characterization of the
past (a characterization espoused at severalpoints in the STARWOW
document), pointing instead to a degree of paternal-ism and a
degree of independence from head office. A general store
managersaid, as a manager then it was a very powerful position
because people listenedto you . . . the way the company was then
was that you were very much runningyour store.
Although a majority of interviewees made negative comments about
the theold culture, many expressed positive views about the new,
often using the termi-nology found in the STARWOW document.
Interestingly, the similarities betweenthe comments of the managers
and prescriptions of the STARWOW change document provide an
indication of the willingness of the managers to exhibit compliance
with the espoused management values. This also raises an
interestingquestion relating to the extent of value
internalization. That is, if the enthusiasmof managers is an
indication that genuine culture change had been achieved
(seeOgbonna, 1993), the managers would have been more likely to
articulate the positive aspects of the espoused culture in their
own terms rather than regurgitatethe language of the STARWOW
document. For example:
Organizational Culture Change 1163
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
. . . the new culture as its supposed to be is very much, well,
adult relationships,feedback, cycle of improvement, give feedback,
they listen, and we want you to take part, and youve got something
to offer and its about responsibility and taking ownership and all
these things. (General store manager, 7 yearsservice)
Well its a bit more open and honest and challenging, its
treating colleagues likeyou would like to be treated yourself and
its also developing people, its verymuch more a developing role the
whole time. Instead of telling somebody to doit you are asking them
to do it and you are also asking for ideas and feedbackconsistently
while doing it. Although you are still the manager, at the end of
theday they are also doing the thinking themselves so you are
encouraging themto think and to take ownership of their ideas.
(Departmental manager, 2 yearsservice)
Many managers (interviewed between 1996 and 1997) commented on
the incom-pleteness of the implementation of STARWOW (which was
launched in 1993),often and perhaps predictably blaming top
management for not devoting the nec-essary resources to follow it
through. A deputy general store manager commentedthat:
I think its like a lot of things that have been launched in this
organization. Itstarts off with a bang and then peters off whether
it be through lack of enthu-siasm or resource or whatever . . .
weve had STARWOW launch one, weve hadlaunch two, and now I hear
there is something coming up soon that should havebeen launched in
January that hasnt appeared yet . . . (Deputy general storemanager,
8 years service)
In this regard, the extensive use of training and teambuilding
strategies by headoffice change managers is one indication of the
desire of top management to main-tain the momentum of the STARWOW
change initiative. However, a number ofmanagers suggested that
other limits to the progress of STARWOW were relatedto the nature
of the work and the workforce. For instance:
I think that there will always be elements of the workforce who
are quite happyto go to work, you tell them what to do, how to do
it, and they do it and gohome again. Because of the nature of our
workforce predominantly part-timeand still a relatively high
percentage of those on relatively low wages I thinkweve probably
got more of those than we recognize. I think we have to be
verycareful about that because we could be seen to be ramming it
down their throatsthat we want them to be involved and that could
actually work as a negativeagainst us. (Regional manager, 13 years
service)
1164 E. Ogbonna and B. Wilkinson
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
But a number of comments from the informants suggested a radical
cynicismtowards the new way of working. One said:
Its a bit like communism, Im telling you this is how it works we
want themasses to believe it, but I want to live in wealth and have
millions in the bank,but you peasants do as I say, not as I do!
(Regional manager, 11 years service)
Ironically, it was the one company director interviewed who was
the most scathing:
. . . most of the paternalism, if not all of the paternalism
that we knew in theold company has gone and has been replaced by
hard unfeeling and uncaringmanagers who compound that behaviour by
actually putting the message outthat they are the opposite, that
they are in fact caring and solicitous employerswhich they are not.
(Director, 17 years service)
This director was one of a few long serving board members who
were graduallybeing replaced by younger directors with a different
approach. His comments sug-gested a battle between an old and a new
generation of directors, with both sidesclaiming the moral high
ground, was being won by the new generation. Such gen-erational
conflicts have been documented previously (see Gouldner, 1954;
Wilkin-son and Smith, 1984). In this regard, the findings of this
study suggests a tendencyfor an organization undergoing change to
attribute the negative aspects of changeto experienced employees
and to label such employees old guard and resistantin a manner that
makes their actions more visible. Such practices appear to belinked
to attempts by the new generation to control organizational
discourse,eliminate insurgence and encourage employees who wish to
remain in the orga-nization to repress their ambivalence (see
Casey, 1999; Ogbor, 2001).
During interviews managers often echoed the ideals embodied in
STARWOW.However, when asked to talk in more detail about their
roles, responsibilities andrelationships under the new regime,
those very same managers typically indicatedserious reservations or
qualifications. Negative commentaries related particularlyto loss
of control (and autonomy, and respect from superiors) on the one
hand,and to (fears about) career prospects on the other. Similarly
to the findings of otherstudies on empowerment (see Grugulis et
al., 2000; Lee, 1999), the rhetoric ofempowerment and personal
development in STARWOW stood in stark contrast to managers
expressed experiences which characterized feelings of selftorment,
discipline and loss of identity.
Control
The issue of control emerged as significant in the study of
managers and organi-zational culture change. Indeed, almost all the
managers interviewed expressed
Organizational Culture Change 1165
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
strong views on what they perceived as the tightening of
organizational controlsystems. A particular source of concern was
the increasing interference of the headoffice and the escalating
attempts to monitor and control the work of store man-agers. As two
informants note:
. . . management teams in all the stores have felt that cultural
change has addedto the pressure of running the business because
they were being monitored andmeasured on a lot more other things
apart from pure commercial performanceof the store. (Deputy general
store manager, 7 years service)
Store managers have a lot less control than weve had before
without a shadowof a doubt . . . by the week and by the month a
little bit more is taken awayfrom us; its literally if you
over-spend you will get a call on Monday morning. . . (General
store manager, 12 years service)
Indeed, the researchers were shown two memos which were received
by differentgeneral store managers on the days they were
interviewed. In one memo, a headoffice operations manager commented
on the 1 per cent over spend on staffingin the previous week while
the other memo detailed concern over the storemanagers
implementation of employee communication and feedback systemunder
the STARWOW change initiative. In both cases, the managers were
askedto inform the head office on how they planned to improve or
resolve the issuesidentified. Other interviewees commented on the
psychological impact of workingin an environment wherein their
power to control various aspects of their opera-tion was dwindling.
For example:
Managers are being policed, theyre being told what to do . . .
theyre reactingto head office wanting things done; theyre not
trading managers, theyre justflying around reacting to situations
that other people are creating and theyrevery very stressed out.
(Deputy general store manager, 8 years service)
One manager who was interviewed shortly after a feedback meeting
with an areamanager expressed his concern at the way the
organization was undermining therole of store management and his
dissatisfaction with the companys approach toappraising store
managers. As he notes:
I just got feedback from a hundred colleagues, an upward
feedback sessionwhere they fill in forms and answer various
questions . . . Theyve been drawnup and designed by somebody who
has very obviously had a personnel back-ground, who has never run a
company store in their life, and some of the ques-tions that are in
it are very very awkward for a colleague to answer, and veryvery
unfair for you to take feedback on. Such as, does your general
store
1166 E. Ogbonna and B. Wilkinson
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
manager communicate with you on a daily basis?, which is unfair
to ask a check-out operator or a lady on the deli counter. (General
store manager, 6 yearsservice)
Such comments are typical responses to the increase in
behavioural and opera-tional prescriptions and monitoring in STAR.
The nature of behavioural pre-scriptions and monitoring systems
(including REGs) has been summarized earlier.Operational monitoring
is equally, if not more, detailed including items such ascustomer
complaints, mystery shopper scores, average check-out queue
lengths,scanning speeds, contract cleaning bills, turnover and
absentee rates, and freecarrier bags usage, as well as sales,
wastage and shrinkage measures. Performanceleague tables which list
all group stores against these and other measures are pub-lished
and distributed on a monthly basis. The best stores act as
benchmarks;other stores are set targets for improvement; the worst
stores are subject to closeattention and monitoring while their
managers undergo further training.
The grounds were laid for the possibility of close monitoring
and league tablesby the late 1980s. Store managers autonomy had
already began to be underminedby the progressive centralization of
purchasing and distribution functions, anddecisions on stock
levels, range, and product offerings were increasingly beingtaken
at head office. Managers could be judged simply on how well they
imple-mented a recipe determined elsewhere. In addition, advances
in information tech-nology and systems such as
electronic-point-of-sale (EPOS) enabled a range ofaccurate
information to be analysed speedily for all the stores in the
chain(Ogbonna and Wilkinson, 1996). By the mid 1990s, league tables
on a range ofmeasures were being published and distributed monthly,
and while almost all themanagers interviewed expressed concerns
over the validity of particular measuresand the ways in which
results were interpreted, the consequences of the resultscould not
be escaped. One regional manager lamented that:
. . . its a statistical approach to managing a multi-million
pound business itsall based on statistics. (Regional manager, 13
years service)
The same regional manager went on to give an example:
So, they have this agenda about increasing rotas, you know, less
colleaguesworking more hours, reducing labour turnover (but) no one
ever asked me whatthe problems are, such as recruitment, retention,
labour turnover, absenteeism. . . I genuinely believe that they
dont want to know. (Regional manager, 13years service)
The alienation from, or even hostility towards, head office
suggested in this quo-tation was repeated by the vast majority of
informants:
Organizational Culture Change 1167
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
. . . from head office, store management dont have respect,
undoubtedly theydont, and I think for some strange reason they have
even less respect than theyused to have . . . store management are
slightly the whipping force for thecompany. (General store manager,
8 years service)
Before people were appointed to head office Id make them work in
a store fora year, so they can appreciate what it is like in store
and understand the effectsthat decisions they make would have on
stores. (Departmental manager, 3 yearsservice)
In STARWOW its meant to be we challenge head office and they
give us whatwe want and theyre the service centre and they are
servicing us. Thats the wayI would like it to be, but I dont see it
heading that way. (Deputy general storemanager, 9 years
service)
Equally, the vast majority of managers in the study felt quite
powerless against thedirectorate and, as will become clear in the
next section, feared serious sanctionfor any (to use the language
of one of STARs quality manual) non-conformanceto
specification.
Career
The regularity of negative comment about increased prescription
and surveillancefrom head office was matched by the frequent
expression of fears about negativesanction, especially in relation
to job security and career prospects. This point isbest illustrated
by the comments of two regional managers regarding the fears
andinsecurity that characterized managerial work and the ways in
which the culturechange programme at STAR had accentuated
these:
. . . the other thing that concerns the general store managers
is this on-goingreview of general store managers and this
uncertainty does not engender a greatdeal of confidence in terms of
where they sit . . . you will end up eventually withpeople spending
a disproportionate amount of their time looking over theirshoulders
as opposed to concentrating on the job. (Regional manager, 11
yearsservice)
. . . whenever you meet certain key people you always have to
project this happyand I love the company impression . . . because
there is this underlying insecu-rity, because sometimes what people
say isnt really what they think, there is anulterior motive, there
is a bit of suspicion around . . . (Regional manager, 13years
service)
1168 E. Ogbonna and B. Wilkinson
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
The insecurity is, according to virtually all managers
interviewed, not just in theimagination. Change at STAR has not
been restricted to behavioural and opera-tional issues, but
includes structural change. Managers described delayering,
aflattening of the hierarchy in stores, taking people out when they
reach theirfifties, and a shift in promotion preferences for deputy
and general store managersto favour graduates in their late
twenties over more experienced departmentalmanagers. According to
the director interviewed there was an unwritten, but
. . . deliberate policy . . . of saying we take the 20 per cent
of worst performersout in year one and replace them and in year two
take the next 20 per cent whoare the bottom performers of the good
ones and you work your way up . . .(Director, 17 years service)
Such practice of linking organizational rationalization with a
deliberate attemptto eliminate those who are perceived to be
unenthusiastic about the espoused cul-tural ideals has been
documented in other studies of culture change (for example,the case
of Westco Millennium change discussed in Ogbonna and Harris,
1998).Unsurprisingly, the managers interviewed in this study
expressed not only theirfrustrations in terms of personal career
development, but also concerns for theirjobs:
. . . we are now becoming a business of getting rid of people
very very quicklywithout them necessarily seeing it coming and
people do not seem to have along term career opportunity in our
business, so there doesnt seem to be a lotof people being allowed
to work into their fifties and towards a sensible retire-ment. I
think its great if you are very highly paid and have the chance of
amass-ing substantial capital but for most people who depend on
their monthly paycheque its obviously a major concern. (General
store manager, 12 years service)
I know that sometimes you think about security of your position
and your futureand what you are going to be doing. At times of
structural changes you dowonder to yourself will I still be with
this company in five years time or whatwill I be doing in five
years time with this company . . . (Departmental manager,4 years
service)
. . . people are concerned because we are taking on over a
hundred graduatesand after six months they go through managing a
series of departments andround about their mid-twenties if they
have performed well they go from firstline managers to general
store managers. So in their mid to late twenties theseare the
people that will become general store managers. The companys
(non-graduate) first line managers are saying what incentive have I
got to work hard
Organizational Culture Change 1169
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
and achieve results when I know I am going to get side stepped.
(Regionalmanager, 11 years service)
Our methodology precludes definitive claims about the impact
that feelings ofcareer insecurity may have on the perceptions and
behaviours of individual man-agers. However, most managers
interviewed expressed serious concerns over theease with which the
company was willing to dispense with the services of experi-enced
managers whose dedication and commitment contributed to
transformingthe company to its present position as a leading
grocery retailer. In this regard,many managers noted that the fear
of losing their jobs has acted as a significantdriver to their
behaviour which now reflects compliance to top managementespoused
behaviours. As two managers observe:
I would consider myself to be a bit of an animal, very
experienced and veryforthright in my comments and speak my mind,
but I can say hand on heartthat I would be frightened to give
feedback (to head office) thats controversialor challenging what we
are doing because it would be deemed as negative.(General store
manager, 10 years service)
. . . we feel insecure and although it is very open and you can
talk to the chiefexecutive, I think the most worrying aspect is you
dont really feel you can beopen and that concerns me. A lot of the
openness is really tongue in cheek . . .(Departmental manager, 6
years service)
The director interviewed was particularly lucid on the fears and
anxieties of man-agerial staffs, and his comments help sum up the
situation:
. . . whilst there is a genuine commitment amongst many general
store man-agers and line managers for the principles that STARWOW
stands for, there isno doubt that underneath it all there is a
resentment and fear of not perform-ing . . . There has been an
argument for many years as to whether behaviourchanges attitude or
attitude changes behaviour. I think in the case of STAR thepressure
is put on people to change their behaviour forcing them to
changetheir behaviour whereas it means that people can act in
certain ways while notbeing fully committed towards it . . . it is
a behaviour change that is forced onpeople you must act in this way
and do it in this format. (Director, 17 yearsservice)
Although this director is considered part of the old guard, his
summary of thesituation is instructive. As a senior executive in
the company, such views suggestrecognition of the difficulty of
expecting people to change their cultural beliefs(described as
attitude by the director) under the threat of sanctions, job
insecurity
1170 E. Ogbonna and B. Wilkinson
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
and fears. Ironically, the directors comments also suggest that
top managers areaware that what is being achieved is not culture
change in the sense of beliefs andvalues but rather behavioural
change in the face of tight regulations and controlof work.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions and
responses of managersto organizational culture change initiatives.
The key issue was to uncover whethermanagers would be more likely
than their subordinates to respond positively to anorganizational
culture change programme. The findings suggest that managers areat
best ambiguous about culture change. Managers made positive
comments on STARWOW, particularly in relation to openness in
communication and toseeking a greater involvement from
subordinates. However, the same managers in the same interviews
expressed concerns about being policed from head office and working
in fear of negative sanction (appearing bottom in league tables,
re-training, promotion blockage, and ultimately redundancy). This
is relatedto the common notion of a tongue in cheek openness on the
part of managers.Interestingly, this finding parallels that of
Jackall (1988) that in some US compa-nies under conditions of
restructuring, managers expressed enthusiasm for whatthey were
doing while covering up the profound anxieties they were
experiencing.There was a big gulf between store managers and head
office (from where theprescriptions originated) and many store
managers saw the directorate as hypocritical, of not acting out
STARWOW themselves, but insisting everyoneelse did.
Our analysis suggests that managers were not wholly taken in,
that a strongculture did not exist within the middle management
ranks from departmentalmanagers through to regional managers. Their
active implementation ofSTARWOW, huddle hats and other initiatives,
may derive in part from the legiti-macy they attach to STARWOW
sentiments about involvement, colleague devel-opment, etc., but
more importantly from heightened surveillance and threat ofsanction
from an increasingly powerful head office and directorate.
In the context of the literature on organizational culture
change, our findingssupport the position of critical researchers
who suggest that attempts to imposetop management derived values on
employees are fraught with difficulties andunintended consequences
(for example, Casey, 1999; Harris and Ogbonna, 2002;Ray, 1986;
Willmott, 1993). Indeed, the idea that organizational members
mayreadily adopt top management derived values (whether or not
these are consistentwith their own individual values) may not only
be nave but may also raise signifi-cant issues regarding individual
identity. In the current case, the organizations previous attempts
at culture change were designed to shape individual identity
andconstruct them into particular corporate actors. The present
change programme
Organizational Culture Change 1171
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
requires managers to assume new identities that are in many
respects different,and the difficulty that many of them appear to
have in reconciling the differencesis one indication of the
problematic nature of planned organizational culturechange (see
Ogbor, 2001).
The finding that managers are as ambivalent as lower level
employees on theissue of culture change is interesting in a number
of respects. In particular, if evi-dence of planned culture change
cannot be found amongst the ranks of relativelyprivileged managers,
then a key question must be whether the experiences of man-agers
and other employees in organizations undergoing cultural change can
beconceptualized in relation to organizational culture alone. Thus,
although manystudies of organizational culture change frequently
describe structural changeprocesses, their conceptual frameworks
and analyses continue to draw extensivelyfrom the culture
literature. This issue probably explains the continuing focus
ofmuch culture literature on debates of whether culture management
is achievable(see Driscoll and Morris, 2001; Legge, 1994; Ogbonna
and Harris, 1998, 2002;Peccei and Rosenthal, 2001). The findings of
this study suggest that whilst theinterests of executives may
revolve around planned culture change (see IRS Employ-ment Trends,
1997), the experiences of other organizational members may best
beexplained not in terms of organizational culture alone but in
relation to the com-bined impacts of cultural processes and
organizational re-structuring.
Such broader analysis provides an opportunity to explore how
organizationalre-structuring promoted as culture change may reveal
the significant impact ofother changes which may characterize
contemporary work organizations butwhich may be downplayed by the
focus on culture change alone. In this regard,the finding of the
impact of career insecurity on the behaviour of managers inthis
study echoes the work of other studies of management work and
organiza-tional re-structuring (Berkeley-Thomas, 1983; Worrall et
al., 2000). In the currentcase, a deliberate policy of replacing
older managers with new blood was con-sidered central to the
cultural transformation process. Whilst this approach is
con-sistent with the practices prescribed in the literature on
managing organizationalculture (for example, Ogbonna and Harris,
1998; Silverzweig and Allen, 1976), itis this threat of insecurity
that provided managers with a visible and powerfulsymbol of the
likely consequences of their behavioural choices. Indeed, it has
beenargued that career prospects are a key basis for organizational
commitment bymanagerial employees and are central to managers sense
of identity (Dunford,1999; Ebadan and Winstanley, 1997; Scarbrough
and Burrell, 1996). Hence, thedesire of managers to maintain their
careers can be seen as a primary reason why,like their colleagues
at the checkout, managers might be smiling and sayingplease, but
not necessarily meaning it.
Furthermore, the situation of STARs middle managers can be
explained inrelation to structural changes and applications of
surveillance technologies whichhave combined in a way that
undermines the autonomy of store management in a
1172 E. Ogbonna and B. Wilkinson
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
continuing shift of strategic decision making power to a central
head office. Therhetoric of empowerment conveniently ignores such a
historical and politicalcontext (see Lee, 1999; Wilkinson, 1998).
Structural change relates primarily tothe centralization of
decisions in areas such as buying, product range,
inventory,distribution and marketing to head office, a process
which brings economies ofscale and enables the grocery chain to
take advantage of its market power in a situation of increasing
industry concentration (Harris and Ogbonna, 2001). Hencethe comment
that general store managers are being told what to do . . .
theyrenot trading managers. Such a fate for store managers has been
documented inother studies of retailing (Baret et al., 2000;
Bramble et al., 1996; Wrigley andLowe, 2002). Thus, whilst some
surveys of middle managers (across a range ofindustries) suggest a
reducing number of managers with a wider range of dutiesand a
greater strategic orientation (see Dopson and Stewart, 1990, 1993;
Worrallet al., 2000), our own case study reveals a narrower range
of duties and a greatlyreduced scope for strategic decision making
in a process akin to proletarianization,providing support for
Scarbrough and Burrells (1996) analysis. We would suggestthat such
a process may lead to behavioural changes, but it does not lead to
a situation conducive to managers buying in to the espoused
culture: their heartsand minds are elsewhere.
Just as the centralization of functional activities such as
buying and productrange and location have been made economically
feasible by advances in infor-mation systems, so detailed control
and monitoring of store level activities havebeen enabled by
similar advances. Hence there is very little autonomy over
jobswhich have been reduced in scope. Even carrier bag usage is
measured and pub-lished, with advice from above on how to improve
for those stores failing toconform to specification. And there are
detailed prescriptions on how to select andmanage shopfloor staff
the one commodity which (for the moment at least)cannot be bought
centrally, but whose characteristics and performance can be
mon-itored centrally. A range of operational measures is routinely
used to assess stores,and managers can see their own and others
positions in well publicized leaguetables. Poorly performing stores
are subject to even closer attention and monitor-ing while the
store managers are subject of further training. Close monitoring
andcorrective discipline also applies to the behaviour and
attitudes of store managers,with superior, self and subordinate
assessments being scrutinized for low scores ordiscrepancies that
may, like poor organizational performance, lead to
correctiveaction. Hence detailed surveillance, which has been well
documented for retailshop floor workers (du Gay, 1996; Freathy and
Sparks, 1996; Smith, 1988; Wrigleyand Lowe, 2002) also applies to
store managers. And this surveillance comes withimplicit threats to
managerial careers and livelihoods. As the STARWOW forManagement
document states: It is important that everyone . . . realizes the
con-sequences of not operating in the STAR way of working. Store
managers, then,experience a contradiction, reflected in their
comments in interviews, between
Organizational Culture Change 1173
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
what they hear (cooperation, common purpose, trust) and what
they see(reduced autonomy, detailed prescription and monitoring,
and career insecurity)(cf. Dunford, 1999). In sum, after several
years of erosion of their autonomy, storemanagers, in Armstrongs
(1989, 1991) terms, have little left of their agency status.Trust
has been replaced by behavioural and performance prescription,
monitor-ing and control. The new trusted agents, much smaller in
number, reside at headoffice.
Oranizational culture change promises to improve the performance
of organi-zations through transforming values and thereby
maximizing human asset uti-lization. It is presented as a superior,
cheaper form of control than bureaucraticcontrol (see Ray, 1986).
But perhaps the promise is a false one. The purpose oftransforming
culture is undermined by practices which contradict the
rhetoric(Dunford, 1999). In line with Willmotts (1993) analysis, we
found that not only isthere an erosion of (expensive) arrangements
such as job security and career pro-gression which might smooth the
conflicts of interest between the company andits middle managers,
increasingly there have been real threats to the livelihoods
ofmanagers who fail to conform. Our documentation of an
instrumental compli-ance and a skilful parodying of corporate
culturism (Willmott, 1993) makes sensein this context.
Perhaps our findings do not necessarily contradict the notion
that planned culturechange initiatives are feasible in the
appropriate organizational context. Indeed,the STAR case study
identifies that the reduced autonomy and career
insecurityassociated with organizational restructuring were major
impediments to culturechange, and in theory these impediments could
be removed and replaced withmore supportive arrangements. However,
we find it difficult to accept any notionthat changing the
organizational context would be easy, or indeed would be
con-sidered suitable for systematic pursuit. This is because the
broader context is oneof a massive concentration of the UK
supermarket industry over the past twodecades, from which STAR has
been a major beneficiary. This concentration hasbeen premised on
the (well documented) centralization of activities such as
buyingand marketing, the establishment of uniform best practice for
store management,the central monitoring and control of detailed
performance, and more generallyon cost cutting (Burt and Sparks,
1994; IGD, 1993; Lockett and Holland, 1991;Wrigley, 1993; Wrigley
and Lowe, 2002). Under such circumstances the tighten-ing of head
office control that accompanied the STARWOW culture change
initiative appeared inevitable, and the apparent polarity of
opinion between theboard room and middle management is not
altogether surprising in this context.
In conclusion, the context in which culture change initiatives
have been intro-duced, in particular organizational restructuring,
job insecurity and detailed moni-toring and control of behaviour
and performance, makes planned culture changeunlikely. Middle
managers, like shopfloor workers, may be compliant, but theespoused
culture has not been embraced.
1174 E. Ogbonna and B. Wilkinson
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
NOTE
*The term middle manager, while generally understood as those
managers subject to managementfrom above at the same time as they
manage those below, is recognized as problematic becauseof its
varying usage in different organizations. Here we use the term to
refer to the levels of storemanager (store managers oversee
departmental managers and functional managers within stores)and
area manager (area managers each oversee several stores). This is
the definition widely usedwithin the company studied and in the
grocery industry generally.
REFERENCES
Ackroyd, S. and Crowdy, P. A. (1990). Can culture be managed?
Working with raw material.Personnel Review, 19, 5, 313.
Alvesson, M. (1993). Cultural Perspectives on Organizations,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Alvesson, M. and Berg, P. O.
(1992). Corporate Culture and Organizational Symbolism. Berlin: de
Gruyter.Anthony, P. D. (1990). The paradox of managing culture or
he who leads is lost . Personnel Review,
19, 4, 38.Armstrong, P. (1989). Management, labour process and
agency. Work, Employment and Society, 3, 3,
30722.Armstrong, P. (1991). Contradiction and social dynamics in
the capitalist agency relationship.
Accounting, Organization and Society, 16, 1, 125.Baret, C.,
Lehndorff, S. and Sparks, L. (2000). Flexible Working in Food
Retailing. London: Routledge.Berkeley-Thomas, A. (1983). Managerial
careers and the problem of control. Social Science Informa-
tion, 22, 1, 125.Bradley, K. and Hill, S. (1983). After Japan:
the quality circle transplant and productive efficiency.
British Journal of Industrial Relations, 21, 291311.Bramble, T.,
Parry, K. and OBrien, E. (1996). Middle management in an era of
corporate restruc-
turing: a case study of retailing. Labour and Industry, 7, 2,
79102.Brown, A. (1998). Organizational Culture. London: Financial
Times.Burt, S. and Sparks, L. (1994). Structural changes in grocery
retailing in Great Britain: a discount
re-orientation?. International Review of Distribution and
Consumer Research, 3, 1, 195217.Casey, C. (1999). Come, join our
family: discipline and integration in corporate organizational
culture. Human Relations, 52, 2, 15578.Christensen, E. W.
(1999). An exploration of industry culture and revenue growth.
Organization
Studies, 20, 3, 397422.Deal, T. E. and Kennedy, A. A. (1982).
Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life.
Reading:
Addison-Wesley.Denison, D. R. (1990). Corporate Culture and
Organisational Effectiveness. New York: Wiley.Denison, D. R.
(1996). What is the difference between organizational culture and
organizational
climate? A natives point of view on a decade of paradigm wars.
Academy of Management Review,21, 3, 61954.
Denison, D. R. and Mishra, A. K. (1995). Towards a theory of
organizational culture and effec-tiveness. Organizational Science,
6, 20323.
Detert, J. R., Schroeder, G. and Mauriel, J. J. (2000). A
framework for linking culture and improve-ment initiatives in
organizations. Academy of Management Review, 25, 4, 85063.
Dopson, S. and Stewart, R. (1990). What is happening to middle
management?. British Journal ofManagement, 1, 316.
Dopson, S. and Stewart, R. (1993). Information technology,
organizational restructuring and thefuture of middle management.
New Technology, Work and Employment, 8, 1, 1020.
Driscoll, A. and Morris, J. (2001). Stepping out: rhetorical
devices and culture change managementin the UK Civil Service.
Public Administration, 79, 4, 80324.
du Gay, P. (1996). Consumption and Identity at Work. London:
Sage.Dunford, R. (1999). If you want loyalty, get a dog!: loyalty,
trust and the new employment con-
tract. In Clegg, S., Ibarra-Colado, E. and Bueno-Rodriquez, L.
(Eds), Global Management: Uni-versal Theories and Local Realities.
London: Sage, 6882.
Dutton, J. E. and Dukerich, J. M. (1991). Keeping an eye on the
mirror: image and identity in orga-nizational adaptation. Academy
of Management Review, 16, 3, 51754.
Organizational Culture Change 1175
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
Dyer, W. G. and Wilkins, A. L. (1991). Better stories, not
better constructs, to generate better theory:a rejoinder to
Eisenhardt. Academy of Management Review, 16, 61319.
Ebadan, G. and Winstanley, D. (1997). Downsizing, delayering and
careers the survivors per-spective. Human Relations Journal, 7, 1,
7991.
Edwards, P., Collinson, M. and Rees, C. (1998). The determinants
of employee responses to totalquality management: six case studies.
Organization Studies, 19, 3, 44975.
Fenton OCreevy, M. (2001). Employee involvement and the middle
manager: saboteur or scape-goat?. Human Resource Management
Journal, 11, 1, 2440.
Fenton OCreevy, M. and Nicholson, N. (1994). Middle managers:
their contribution to employeeinvolvement. Employment Department
Research Series, 28.
Frank, K. F. and Farhrbach, K. (1999). Organization culture as a
complex system: balance and infor-mation in models of influence and
selection. Organization Science, 10, 3, 25377.
Freathy, P. and Sparks, L. (1996). Understanding retail
employment relations. In Wrigley, N. andLowe, M. (Eds), Retailing,
Consumption and Capital: Towards the New Retail Geography.
Harlow:Addison Wesley Longman, 17895.
Frost, P. J., Moore, L. F., Louis, M. R., Lundburg, C. C. and
Martin, J. (Eds) (1991). OrganizationalCulture. London: Sage.
Gagliardi, P. (1986). The creation and change of organization
cultures: a conceptual framework.Organisation Studies, 7, 2,
11734.
Gouldner, A. (1954). Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy. New
York: Free Press.Grugulis, I., Dundon, T. and Wilkinson, A. (2000).
Cultural control and the cultural manager:
employment practices in a consultancy. Work, Employment and
Society, 14, 1, 97116.Guest, D. (1991). Personnel management: the
end of orthodoxy?. British Journal of Industrial
Relations, 29, 2, 14975.Harris, L. C. and Ogbonna, E. (1998a). A
three perspective approach to understanding organiza-
tional culture in retail organizations. Personnel Review, 27, 2,
10423.Harris, L. C. and Ogbonna, E. (2001). Competitive advantage
and the UK food retailing sector:
past, present and future. Journal of Retailing and Consumer
Services, 8, 3, 15773.Harris, L. C. and Ogbonna, E. (2002). The
unintended consequences of culture interventions: a
study of unexpected outcomes. British Journal of Management, 13,
1, 3149.Harrison, J. D. (2000). Multiple imaginings of
institutional identity: a case study of a large psychi-
atric research hospital. The Journal of Applied Behavioral
Science, 36, 4, 42555.Hatch, M. J. (1993). The dynamics of
organizational culture. Academy of Management Review, 18, 4,
65793.Hendry, J. (1999). Cultural theory and contemporary
management organization. Human Relations,
52, 5, 55777.Hofstede, G., Neuijen, B., Ohayv, D. D. and
Sanders, G. (1990). Measuring organizational cultures:
a qualitative and quantitative study across twenty cases.
Administrative Science Quarterly, 35,286316.
Hpfl, H., Smith, S. and Spencer, S. (1992). Values and
valuations: corporate culture and job cuts.Personnel Review, 21, 1,
2438.
Howard, L. W. (1998). Validating the competing values model as a
representation of organizationalcultures. International Journal of
Organizational Analysis, 6, 3, 23143.
IGD (1993). Trends in Grocery Retailing the Market Review.
Institute of Grocery Distribution.IRS Employment Trends, 634
(1997). More than nine in ten organizations experience culture
change.
Industrial Relations Services.Jackall, R. (1988). Moral Mazes:
the World of Corporate Managers. New York: Oxford University
Press.Kilmann, R. W. (1982). Getting control of the corporate
culture. Managing (USA), 12, 1117.Kotter, J. P. and Heskett, J. L.
(1992). Corporate Culture and Performance. New York: Free
Press.Krefting, L. A. and Frost, P. J. (1985). Untangling webs,
surfing waves, and wildcatting: a multiple-
metaphor perspective on managing culture. In Frost, P. J. et al.
(Eds), Organization Culture. BeverlyHills, CA: Sage.
Kunda, G. (1992). Engineering Culture: Control and Commitment in
a High-Tech Corporation. Philadelphia:Temple University Press.
Lee, M. (1999). The lie of power: empowerment as impotence.
Human Relations, 52, 2, 22562.
Legge, K. (1994). Managing culture: fact or fiction. In Sisson,
K. (Ed.), Personnel Management: A Com-prehensive Guide to Theory
and Practice in Britain. Oxford: Blackwell, 397433.
1176 E. Ogbonna and B. Wilkinson
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
Lincoln, Y. S. and Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry.
Newbury Park. California: Sage.Lockett, A. G. and Holland, C. P.
(1991). Competitive advantage using information technology in
retailing: myth or reality?. International Review of Retail,
Distribution and Consumer Research, 1, 3,26183.
Marchington, M. and Harrison, E. (1991). Customers, competitors
and choice: employee relationsin food retailing. Industrial
Relations Journal, 22, 4, 28699.
Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Ackers, P. and Goodman, J.
(1993). The influence of managerialrelations on waves of employee
involvement. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 31, 4,
55376.
Martin, J. (1985). Can organizational culture be managed?. In
Frost, P. J., Moore, L. F., Louis, M.R., Lundburg, C. C. and
Martin, J. (Eds), Organizational Culture. London: Sage.
Martin, J. (1992). Cultures in Organizations: Three
Perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.Martin, P. Y. and
Turner, B. A. (1986). Grounded theory and organizational research.
The Journal
of Applied Behavioural Science, 22, 2, 14157.Martin, J.,
Knopoff, K. and Beckman, C. (1998). An alternative to bureaucratic
impersonality and
emotional labor: bounded emotionality at The Body Shop.
Administrative Science Quarterly, 43, 2,42969.
Maybey, C. and Manyon-White, B. (Eds) (1993). Managing Change.
London: Chapman.Meyerson, D. and Martin, J. (1987). Cultural
change: an integration of three different views. Journal
of Management Studies, 24, 62347.Ogbonna, E. (1992).
Organizational culture and human resource management: dilemmas and
con-
tradictions. In Blyton, P. and Turnbull, P. (Eds), Reassessing
Human Resource Management. London:Sage, 7496.
Ogbonna, E. (1993). Managing organizational culture: fantasy or
reality. Human Resource Manage-ment Journal, 3, 2, 4254.
Ogbonna, E. and Harris, L. C. (1998). Managing organizational
culture: compliance or genuinechange?. British Journal of
Management, 9, 27388.
Ogbonna, E. and Harris, L. C. (2000). The dynamic concept of
organizational culture: micro andmacro applications. Global Focus:
An International Journal of Business, Economics, and Social
Policy,12, 2, 2334.
Ogbonna, E. and Harris, L. C. (2002). Managing organizational
culture: insights from the hospi-tality industry. Human Resource
Management Journal, 12, 1, 3353.
Ogbonna, E. and Wilkinson, B. (1988). Corporate strategy and
corporate culture: the managementof change in the UK supermarket
industry. Personnel Review, 17, 6, 1014.
Ogbonna, E. and Wilkinson, B. (1990). Corporate strategy and
corporate culture: the view fromthe checkout. Personnel Review, 19,
4, 915.
Ogbonna, E. and Wilkinson, B. (1996). Inter-organizational power
relations in the UK groceryindustry: contradictions and
developments. International Review of Retail, Distribution and
ConsumerResearch, 6, 4, 395414.
Ogbor, J. O. (2001). Critical theory and the hegemony of
corporate culture. Journal of OrganizationalChange Management, 14,
6, 590608.
Ouchi, W. (1980). Markets, bureaucracies and clans.
Administrative Science Quarterly, 25, 12541.Peccei, R. and
Rosenthal, P. (2001). Delivering Customer-oriented behaviour
through empower-
ment: an empirical test of HRM assumptions. Journal of
Management Studies, 38, 6, 83157.Peters, T. and Waterman, R. (1982)
In Search of Excellence. New York: Harper and Row.Pettigrew, A. M.
(1979). On studying organizational cultures. Administrative Science
Quarterly, 24,
57081.Pettigrew, A. M. (1990). Conclusion: organizational
climate and culture: two constructs in search of
a role. In Schneider, B. (Ed.), Organizational Climate and
Culture. San Francisco: Jossey Bass,41334.
Price, L. L., Arnould, E. J. and Curasi, C. F. (2000). Older
consumers disposition of special pos-sessions. Journal of Consumer
Research, 27, September, 179201.
Quinn, R. E. (1988). Beyond Rational Management: Managing the
Paradoxes and Competing Demands of HighPerformance. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Ray, C. A. (1986). Corporate culture: the last frontier of
control. Journal of Management Studies, 23,3, 28798.
Rosenthal, P., Hill, S. and Peccei, R. (1997). Checking out
service: evaluating excellence, HRM andTQM in retailing. Work,
Employment and Society, 11, 3, 481503.
Organizational Culture Change 1177
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
-
Rowlinson, M. and Proctor, S. (1999). Organizational culture and
business history. OrganizationStudies, 20, 3, 36996.
Salama, A. and Easterby-Smith, M. (1994). Cultural change and
managerial careers. PersonnelReview, 23, 3, 2133.
Scarbrough, H. and Burrell, G. (1996). The axeman cometh. In
Clegg, S. and Palmer, G. (Eds),The Politics of Management
Knowledge. London: Sage.
Scase, R. and Goffee, R. (1989). Reluctant Managers: their Work
and their Lifestyles. London: UnwinHyman.
Schein, E. H. (1990). Organizational culture. American
Psychologist, 45, 10919.Schein, E. (1992). Organizational Culture
and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Schein, E. H. (1996).
Culture: the missing concept in organization studies.
Administrative Science
Quarterly, 41, 22940.Schwartz, H. and Davies, S. M. (1981).
Matching corporate culture and business strategy. Organi-
zational Dynamics, 10, 3048.Silvester, J., Anderson, N. R. and
Patterson, F. (1999). Organizational culture change: an
inter-group
attributional analysis. Journal of Occupational and
Organizational Psychology, 72, 123.Silverzweig, S. and Allen, R. F.
(1976). Changing the corporate culture. Sloan Management
Review,
17, 3, 3349.Smircich, L. (1983). Concepts of culture and
organizational analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly,
28, 33958.Smith, S. (1988). How much change at the store? The
impact of new technologies and labour
processes on managers and staff in retail distribution. In
Knights, D. and Wilmott, H. (Eds),New Technology and the Labour
Process. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 14362.
Storey, J. (1992). Developments in the Management of Human
Resources. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Strauss A. L. and Corbin J.
(1990). Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures
and
Techniques. Newbury Park: Sage.Thomas, R. and Dunkerley, D.
(1999). Careering downwards? Middle managers expectations in
the downsized organization. British Journal of Management, 10,
2, 95184.Trice, H. M. and Beyer, J. M. (1985). Using six
organizational rites to change culture. In Kilmann,
R. H. et al. (Eds), Gaining Control of the Corporate Culture.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Watson, T. J. (2002). Organising and
Managing Work. Harlow: Pearson.Wilkinson, A. (1998). Empowerment:
theory and practice. Personnel Review, 27, 1, 4056.Wilkinson, B.
and Smith, S. (1984). From old school hunches to departmental
lunches. Sociological
Review, 32, 1, 91115.Wilkinson, M., Fogarty, M. and Melville, D.
(1996). Organizational culture change through train-
ing and cultural transmission. Journal of Organizational Change
Management, 9, 4, 6981.Willmott, H. (1993). Strength is ignorance
slavery is freedom: managing culture in modern organi-
zations. Journal of Management Studies, 30, 4, 51551.Worrall,
L., Cooper, C. and Campbel, F. (2000). The new reality for UK
managers: perpetual
change and employment instability. Work, Employment and Society,
14, 4, 64768.Wrigley, N. (1993). Retail concentration and the
internationalisation of British grocery retailing. In
Bromley, R. D. and Thomas, C. J. (Eds), Retailing Change:
Contemporary Issues. London: UCL Press.Wrigley, N. and Lowe, M.
(2002). Reading Retail. London: Arnold.
1178 E. Ogbonna and B. Wilkinson
Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003