Prosci · · 2017-06-05dimensions: • GLOBE • Hofstede • Trompenaar 11 Individualism vs ... change project. 2. ... The six cultural dimensions in Prosci’s 2016 report give
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Culture What aspects of organization’s culture have the biggest impact on how changes happen? Pulling from other thought leaders’ works on cultural dimensions: • GLOBE • Hofstede • Trompenaar
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Individualism vs Collectivism
The degree to which people act in ways that benefit themselves or the group
Power Distance
The degree to which power is distributed equally or unequally throughout a culture
Uncertainty Avoidance
How much a culture seeks to avoid and mitigate uncertainty
Assertiveness The degree to which a person is expected and allowed to advocate for themselves
Performance Orientation
The degree to which high performance, standards and striving for excellence are rewarded
Emotional Expressiveness
How much or how little people are expected to display their emotional state in a professional environment
Specific challenges 1. Impaired communication: Due to extensive access, information often skipped levels of the organization which resulted in repeating information
several times. Informal communications led to rumors and decreased the credibility of information surrounding change.
2. Increased resistance: Low power distance structures resulted in a large amount of resistance because individuals from all levels of the organization constantly challenged ideas. Employees often did not adhere to changes, and messages were not uniform across the organization. Conflicts arose between levels of management, and productivity suffered consequently.
3. Decreased productivity: Productivity decreased due to more time being spent on gaining buy-in, lack of governance and slower decision processes.
Unique adaptations 1. Increase engagement: Employee engagement was achieved with an increase in functions and meetings that were used to ensure alignment of
the organization across all levels. The quantity of meetings ensured that employees had multiple opportunities to encounter and engage with the change project.
2. Structure communication channels: Communication channels needed to be identified up front to provide a consistent approach for tailoring messages and to open structured feedback from individuals. Communication plans required consistency and frequency, so content could be adjusted to incorporate the topics identified from feedback.
3. Enhance change management plans: Participants in low power distance organizations added structure to change management by placing stakeholders in key positions, including establishing guidelines to ensure all levels were being communicated with and clearly defining roles and responsibilities.
Specific challenges 1. Decreased ability to drive change: Leadership had a decreased capability to direct change, had to put more effort into gaining buy-in for change
and had to engage managers more thoroughly.
2. Increased resistance: Resistance occurred because senior leaders did not account for employees’ input and concerns when dealing with issues centered on change. Employees were then more likely to resist any aspect of change. Senior leaders appeared to think they had more sway over employees than they did.
3. Poor structure: Participants with moderate power distance organizations reported a need to tailor change plans more specifically to groups as opposed to using a uniform approach. Creating individual plans required more time on the change manager’s part and lowered the effectiveness of mass communication regarding change.
Unique adaptations 1. Balance communication: Participants expressed the need to establish balanced communication during change management. Open and honest
feedback was balanced with a clear boundary and understanding of “who has the final say.”
2. Gain buy-in: Participants reported putting more effort toward gaining employee buy-in. Awareness of the need for and importance of change management was created by using more meetings and team activities. Other activities to gain buy-in included visible sponsorship engagement, involvement of key stakeholders, creation of plans for various groups and demonstration of the value of change management.
3. Empower sponsors: Sponsors in moderate power distance organizations were encouraged to take charge of change as an adaption to the position on the power distance spectrum. Empowered sponsors bridged the gap between leaders’ direction and employees’ concerns and feedback.
Low Moderate High Low Moderate High Specific challenges Unique adaptations
Specific challenges 1. Restricted communication: Participants identified too few and poor levels of communication occurring in high power distance organizations. A
large gap was described between senior leaders and frontline employees which resulted in a loss of productivity and increased time for implementation. Fear among employees and executives appearing unapproachable were primary limitations to communication from lower levels to executives.
2. Isolated decision making: Isolated decision making was challenging. Executives made decisions without considering the impact to employees. Consequently, the alignment of the organization suffered because different levels and groups had different directions.
3. Lack of employee engagement: Lack of commitment and trust were other challenges for organizations with high power structures. Passive resistance resulted from these issues because employees felt powerless, unheard and not cared about. Resources had to be reallocated to account for these avoidable problems.
Unique adaptations 1. Communicate openly and directly: Participants reported using executive and senior leaders more often during communications. Higher-level
leadership lent authority to communication, and resistant employees were more likely to adopt change when instructed.
2. Engage leadership: Leadership visibility and engagement ensured that impacted groups understood that company leadership was supportive of and behind change from the beginning. Early leadership involvement encouraged and promoted early adopters.
Adapt your approach to accommodate your culture: Increase effectiveness and avoid common pitfalls Change practitioners who better understand the cultures in which they operate can customize and adapt their approach to drive more successful change. The six cultural dimensions in Prosci’s 2016 report give practitioners direction in how to adjust their approach.
Cultural dimension 1: Individualism vs. Collectivism
Change Agent Network Reasons to use a change agent network 1. Extend project support
The primary response was to provide additional support to the project, often from peers, which expedited change with fewer obstacles and greater focus.
2. Use resources efficiently By using change agent networks, participants readily allocated resources to necessary points of need. A large portion of participants indicated that they…
3. Enhance communication
4. Align consistent objectives
5. Increase knowledge
6. Build credibility
7. Boost ownership
Change agent network roles 1. Communication role
The role most commonly identified by respondents was communication liaison. Members of the change agent network were used to disseminate communications to their respective departments, sites or regions to share information about the change project with a greater audience and provide various forms of feedback to the change project team, such as employee concerns.
2. Leadership role Respondents frequently identified various leadership roles for the change agent network. Examples included acting as the change leader for their department or region…
Industry-specific CM challenges 1. Autonomous nature of employees 2. Lack of designated resources In both health care and education services industries, the unique responsibilities of employees demanded a high degree of autonomy and independent thinking. Physicians, nurses, academics and educators were identified as employees for whom it is difficult to accept change at face value without convincing and clear evidence.
Lack of resources was noted as the second most common challenge when trying to implement change management, including monetary and non-monetary resources. Participants noted a lack of funding designated specifically for change management. Inadequate non-monetary resources included specialized change management training, dedicated change management practitioners and time away from daily priorities to focus on change management.
Industry-specific CM adaptations 1. Alignment with employee characteristics 2. Communication Participants identified various ways in which change management methodology was adapted to work with employees in health care and education services industries. Examples were to include physicians/ professors on change management teams, to meet expectations of a high degree of collaboration and to increase stakeholder engagement.
Participants described ways in which communication was adapted to be most effective in health care and education services industries. Examples included adapting communication to resemble academic discourse in education services industries and linking change to improvements in patient care in health care industries.
Vertical Industry Challenges and adaptations for CM by industry grouping