An organizational change is
a change in corporate culture. As we know from discussing what is in Brown
(2011,) corporate cultures are the shared values, beliefs an organization holds
true and can be a particularly heavy influencer on how its members preform.
Changing that culture to better align with today’s global economy and market
involves innovation, adaptation that many times may involve the use of an
external OD practitioner before, during and after the transformational change.
Particularly when the culture is resistant to change and innovations, the OD
practitioner can greatly enhance the success of these strategic changes.
Examples of these corporate
cultural changes and keeping in-line with an ever-changing market would be
Gallery Furniture of Houston Texas. According to its owner Jim McIngvale,
Gallery Furniture enjoyed 30 years of profitable sales and growth that ended
after the housing bubble burst in late 2007. McIngvale realized that in order
to not only survive but grow during the recession, innovation and changing the
process by which his employees changed their current culture of behavior,
looking for new and fresh methods of delivering to the customer what they
wanted was paramount to the continued success of Gallery Furniture.
General Stanley McChrystal
discusses how in the blink of an eye the manner in which an organization like
the U.S. Army had to accomplish a Transformable Change after 9/11. As Gen
McChrystal explains how his traditional leadership was tailored from his father
in Vietnam, Robert E. Lee and John Buford and now the environment, speed,
scrutiny and sensitivity evolved in such a rapid manner it did not afford people
the opportunity to reflect upon the differing complexity and content of the
current situation.
Gen McChrystal discussed how
the importance of leadership in a force that was spread over 20 countries with
organizations that were not necessarily military. He emphasized the importance
of the need to get key leaders together not for a face-to-face meeting but
through the use of video conferencing, chat, and email and phone conversations.
Trust and confidence were the order of the day that needed to be established by
all parties and throughout the conflict, building faith was paramount and
recognized as a new type of leadership style.
Although the missions of
both leaders were different as one was the owner of a retail organization and
the other was the leader of a military organization and subsequently a
coalition force. They in their own right shared some common values and
struggles in completion of their objectives.
As discussed in Brown
(2011,) both leaders had a need to develop their respective transformational
strategies in a manner that highlighted core characteristics like: individual autonomy,
sensitivity to the needs of customers and employees, support, openness of
available communications channel and risk behavior. Sharing the vision,
empowering the individual, developing trust and rewarding performance were also
priorities that lead both leaders to successful champagnes and objectives.
Brown (2011,) also states
that the Relative Strength of Corporate Culture is characterized through an
organizations basic value that are intensely held and widely disseminated through
out an organization like the six stanza Ranger creed. Another area that both
leaders exemplified in was the Strategy-Cultural Matrix. Much like Brown
(2011,) discusses transformational changes can be more effectively accomplished
if the organizational culture is taken into consideration. The four strategies
or basic alternatives utilized in determining transformational change are:
manage the change (risk management,) reinforce the culture (negligible risk,)
manage around the culture (manageable risk) and finally change the strategy to
fit the culture (unacceptable risk).
To sum up the outlooks and
successes of these two fine leaders who realized early on that the key to
success is the ability to be totally honest with not only your staff, or in the
case of Gen McChrystal, his command. But to be brutally honest with yourself,
realizing how Gen McChrystal so eloquently put it: “I came to believe that a
leader isn’t good because they’re right; they’re good because they’re willing
to learn and to trust.
References:
Brown, D. R. (2011). An
experiential approach to organization development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall
McIngvale, J. D. (2013). Influencer
training helps Texas retailer save millions and prosper in economic recession. [Web].
Retrieved from www.Vitalsmarts.com
McChrystal, S. (Performer)
(2011). Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn. then lead [Web]. Retrieved
from www.TED.com
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