Organizational Culture: The Key to Effective Change

Organizational change is about changing the way things get done within the organization; which means changing the culture. The true nature of organizational systems is a pattern of dynamic relationships. This pattern at the organization level describes the organization's culture. Research has determine that an organization's culture has a very powerful influence on the organization; so powerful, in fact, that its impact supersedes all other factors when it comes to organizational performance.Culture is “how we do things around here in order to succeed”. It has everything to do with implementation and how success is actually achieved. A management idea no matter how good, will not work in practice (implementation) if it does not fit the culture of the organization. An organization can have the most superb mission and strategy, but if its culture is not aligned with, and supportive of, that strategy, the strategy will either stall or fail.It's important to understand the connection between a utility's culture and the ability of leadership to implement change. Understanding an organization's culture helps a leader understand how to initiate cultural change and how to develop change programs that are consistent with the organization's mission and vision.