Academic literature on the topic 'Organizational culture • corporate culture • culture change • change management • cross-cultural management'

Management effectiveness influences the overall performance of an organization. This may be shown by achieving organizational goals and employee satisfaction even when change occurs. Organizational changes may involve changes in an organization’s structure and strategy that may be planned in advance or may be implemented because of a sudden shift in the environment. Alongside dealing with these distractions, change management helps an organization to implement strategies for inducing change, controlling change, and helping employees to adapt to change. The organization understudy is the Department of Trade and Industry Laguna Provincial Office (DTI Laguna). This study describes organizational resilience and change management as inputs to management effectiveness. More specifically, it determines the assessment in organizational resilience in terms of capital resilience, strategic resilience, cultural resilience, relationship resilience, and learning resilience and the assessment in change management in terms of project management and corporate culture. Likewise, it determines if there is a significant relationship between assessment in organizational resilience and change management. Moreover, it proposes an action plan based on significant findings as inputs to management effectiveness. The study uses a quantitative method of research to gather information on organizational resilience and change management. The entire population of the organization understudy is small; thus, the participants of the study are all 62 employees of DTI Laguna, including the management and support staff. The data gathering instrument is divided into three major parts (profile of the respondents, a questionnaire on organizational resilience using a 4-point Likert scale, and a questionnaire on change management using a 4-point Likert scale) and is tested for reliability using Cronbach’s alpha. An online survey tool (Google Forms) is used to gather the information. The results are analyzed by a trained statistician using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences tool for frequency distribution and percentages, weighted mean, and ANOVA. Based from the results, the employees agree on the assessment in organizational resilience in terms of capital resilience, strategic resilience, cultural resilience, and learning resilience. Employees strongly agree on the assessment in organizational resilience in terms of relationship resilience. There is a significant difference between assessment in organizational resilience in terms of strategic resilience, cultural resilience, relationship resilience, and learning resilience when grouped to length of service. There is a significant difference between assessment in organizational resilience in terms of capital resilience, strategic resilience, cultural resilience, and learning resilience when grouped to monthly income. Moreover, based from the results, employees agree on the assessment in change management in terms of project management and corporate culture. Corporate culture was ranked first. There is a significant difference between assessment in change management in terms of project management and corporate culture when grouped to length of service and monthly income. There is a significant relationship between assessment in organizational resilience in terms of capital resilience, strategic resilience, cultural resilience, relationship resilience, and learning resilience and assessment in change management in terms of project management and corporate culture. The researcher recommends that the Office of the Provincial Director may want to increase connections with employees by devising online bulletin boards wherein employees’ thoughts (pulse survey perhaps) may be posted. Also, they may want to organize an in-house “mentor me” program wherein an open communication may be facilitated between the management and the employees. The quality management team may want to revisit the implementation of monthly staff meeting and quarterly management reviews to maintain management effectiveness. The Administrative and Finance Management Unit may want to further improve the level of trust of employees to the management by devising an online shared portal of status of funds that is to be updated from time to time. Future researchers may do a similar study or may use other variables not included in this study. More so, they may want to compare two or more government agencies to know if they will come up with the same results.

Subject area This telecommunications international business case study is the second in a series (A, B and C) of Vodafone cases. Study level/applicability This case is intended to be used in MBA graduate and undergraduate business courses in strategy, cross-cultural management and human resources. Case overview This case examined organizational structures and human resource operating strategies of Vodafone Egypt from 2002 until 2007. Vodafone’s business model, how Vodafone addressed the differences in national culture between Britain and Egypt and how Vodafone fostered adoption of the Vodafone corporate culture are the main themes of this case. Further, this case examined business issues, products, processes and people systems that challenged Vodafone to grow quickly from zero local operations in 1998 to 4,000 employees and national mobile coverage in 2007. Expected learning outcomes The students who have used this case in the author’s classes have gained a clearer understanding of how international managers often have to develop a change culture and structure as a catalyst for firm growth in emerging markets. Adaptation to the local culture may not be an option for fast growth technology firms and may be ill-suited to meet corporate objectives. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 5: International Business.

Previous works on the implementation of strategic objectives have neglected to consider the critical role of quality management. Beginning with the assumption that the role of quality is instrumental to the successful implementation of any form of generic strategy, a conceptual model of quality management is developed through a set of case studies with 13 North American and European Fortune 500 companies. The results suggest that firms that have experienced greater global competition in earlier years have implemented Total Quality Management (TQM) initiatives earlier, and their programs are subsequently more advanced. Firms with advanced TQM implementation have made significant infrastructural changes within their organizations, and have also embraced the principles of continuous improvement as a critical component of their corporate culture. Moreover, quality has developed into a cultural artifact with an associated language and history that provides an integrating mechanism linking a firm's value-adding activities.

AbstractHealthcare organizations in turmoil often turn to management consultants to collect data, engage in analysis, evaluate processes, and make recommendations. This is a case study of an actual hospital with complex issues around organizational culture, organizational conflict, diversity, and talent management. The paper explores the intervention approaches used to address the toxic organizational cultural problems through the lens of organizational development, change management, and corporate behavioral theory.

<p>Leaders in the Caribbean Diaspora have argued that there is no documented evidence of the association between the three fundamental pillars of public sector organization: leadership, performance and culture. This cross-culture leadership concern has evoked a series of research which basic aim is to conceptualize the leadership culture phenomenon. The problem is that there is a high degree of dysfunctional leadership within the public sectors organizations in the Caribbean diaspora and there is limited empirical evidence that can be had to validate the reason for this inadequacy. The purpose of this study is to investigate the link between transformational leadership styles, corporate organizational culture types and performance in sixteen public sectors organizations. The methodology implemented in this research is the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ 5X), and the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) to collect data. Seventy-five executive directors completed measures of the MLQ 5x leadership traits and culture types. A total of 200 employees from across sixteen public sector organizations completed the measures on leadership and culture. The responses were scaled and coded to enable the segmentation of the data into dependent and independent variables based on the leadership, performance and culture variables. The study utilized the multiple regression models and correlation statistical analyses to determine the degree of commonality among the components. The results indicate support for the hypotheses link between the traits of transformational leadership and organizational culture with performance being the mediating variable. Exploratory analysis showed that several executive leaders have leadership traits that support culture values. The study concluded that transformational leadership and corporate organizational culture have positive effects on facilitating performance and is best suited in managing change and innovation in mature public and private sector organizations.</p>

Organizations encounter the challenge of lacking leadership development pipelines and changing demographics in the workplace. The paper aims to review literature on leadership and its relationship with organizational culture and motivate organizations to embark on change initiatives to continually improve their occupational health and safety (OHS) operations. The key objectives are helping organizations understand the relationship between leadership and OHS performance and how cultural values help connect the dot between them, putting leadership styles into context by focusing on internal factors that impact on an organization, highlighting the development trend of OHS risk management industry throughout the discussion, focusing on some practical guideline on implementing OHS improvement initiatives, introducing the correlation between leading and lagging indicators as a measure of the effectiveness of leadership in enhancing OHS performance. The study develops a framework of operation transmission mechanism that embraces an OHS management system (OHSMS), describes the delivery of cultural value and the impact on workers’ behavior. The outcome of this applied research presents industry good practices that are field tested expertise and guides organizations implement an OHSMS that facilitates organizational leaders to deliver cultural values with appropriate leadership style and organizational health. The OHSMS encompasses, amongst others, policy, process, procedure, standards and techniques. And the design of such a management system is recommended for future research.

Purpose This study aims to consider the transition that took place between two major telecom multinational companies (MNCs) during an acquisition in an emerging market, Laos. The differences in the orientation of top management, corporate culture and cultural distance led to the ineffective performance of the acquired telecom company. Design/methodology/approach Content analysis is used to identify the key factors in the case. The sources of data are annual reports, past interviews, market reports, and participant observation. Findings The ineffective performance of the acquisition was related to the lack of cultural compatibility of the new top management, a corporate culture that emphasized costs over customer satisfaction and the failure to close the cultural gap between the Middle Eastern cultural values and the Lao values. Research limitations/implications The data are mostly secondary data with some interviews of key managers. The case study would benefit with more extensive primary data, but the company was reluctant to respond. Practical implications The match between the top management leadership style, the complementarity of the new corporate culture with the existing one, and the reduction in the gap in national cultures are all critical in the continuing successful performance of an acquisition. A strategy of localization increasing the competencies of the local managers and professionals and the adaptation of the organization processes and practices to the local context are more effective in achieving positive performance. Social implications The change in corporate cultures from the collaborative/customer satisfaction emphasis of Tigo to a competitive/cost culture of Beeline led to a significant conflict with other telecom providers in Laos. This had performance consequences for Beeline and also the telecom sector. Originality/value This study is a unique demonstration of what happens in an acquisition of a telecom company in an emerging market. It is an interesting interplay of two major telecom companies with similar strategic choices but very different corporate culture orientations.

ABSTRACTThis study examines the influence of culture on management's response to the challenge of climate change, as manifested in firms' voluntary participation in carbon disclosure via the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). We argue that national culture impacts managerial attitudes and philosophies about environmental protection and thus affects the willingness as well as the extent to which managers recognize the need for emissions control and disclosure. Based on a sample of 1,762 firms from 33 countries, we find that cultural dimensions of masculinity, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance are strongly and consistently related to carbon disclosure propensity, regardless of whether G. Hofstede, G. J. Hofstede, and Minkov (2010) or Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) culture measures are used. Our results also show individualism and long-term orientation has significant impact under the Hofstede measure, although not under GLOBE measures, after controlling for other compounding factors. In addition, our evidence implies that national culture may moderate the effect of carbon control mechanisms, such as emissions trading schemes. Finally, the empirical evidence indicates that the impact of culture is not sensitive to national wealth and industry membership. The findings suggest culture exerts incremental influences beyond economic and regulatory incentives and therefore should be adequately considered in the combat against global warming and particularly in negotiations for an international climate agreement that is more acceptable to societies with disparate cultural backgrounds.

Purpose – In the present kaleidoscopic business landscape the concepts of corporate sustainability are increasingly affecting corporations’ relationships with society and shaping how business leaders interpret changes to their organizations. The path to sustainability is best viewed as an organizational change initiative for which the “how” and “why” must be considered. Broadly, change initiatives have a notably poor success rate, which is likely related to discord between an initiative and the people undertaking it. Corporate sustainability is a transformational change that impacts business culture and a firm’s relationship with its community. The purpose of this paper is to examine the corporate-societal relationship to better understand implications of undertaking sustainability change initiatives in today’s global environment in this three-part paper in terms of value creation, for whom, and how sustainability is becoming an increasingly significant portion of this equation. First, a basis for corporate sustainability and the concepts surrounding who the stakeholders need to be examined, after which the reasons for attempting sustainability, in terms of value creation, and considerations for the implementation (culture, identity, attachment) of said change initiative will be explored. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical and practitioner research papers were reviewed to: illustrate the meaning and approaches to corporate sustainability; and analyze how organizational change initiatives can best be used to facilitate organizational transformation. Findings – There is no consensus on the meaning of corporate sustainability, rather there continues to be an evolution of ideas and theories shaping the evolution of corporate sustainability. To implement any form of corporate sustainability requires that managers understand their objective and the cultural and psychological barriers of organizational change. Better engagement with those undertaking organizational change and clear articulation of the change’s purpose can better lend themselves to an initiative’s success. However, there is no panacea and managers must recognize that approaches may need to be altered. Research limitations/implications – Research tends to occupy one of two spheres, either corporate sustainability or change initiatives. More linkage between these two concepts and empirical research of the effectiveness of organizational change practices for corporate sustainability is needed. Practical implications – A better understanding of organizational change theories, practices, and procedures may benefit managers and organizations that endeavor to realize corporate sustainability. Social implications – Given the implications of recent corporate collapses and their perceived malice, there is now greater thought about the role these organizations have in society. Concepts regarding shared value and mutual benefit to society and corporations can be expected to remain at the forefront of the public decorum. Originality/value – This paper sought to draw stronger ties between corporate sustainability and organizational change, highlighting that the two are codependent.

Purpose – In the present kaleidoscopic business landscape the concepts of corporate sustainability are increasingly affecting corporations’ relationships with society and shaping how business leaders interpret changes to their organizations. The path to sustainability is best viewed as an organizational change initiative for which the “how” and “why” must be considered. Broadly, change initiatives have a notably poor success rate, which is likely related to discord between an initiative and the people undertaking it. Corporate sustainability is a transformational change that impacts business culture and a firm’s relationship with its community. To better understand implications of undertaking sustainability change initiatives in today’s global environment the corporate-societal relationship needs to be examined in this three-part paper in terms of value creation, for whom, and how sustainability is becoming an increasingly significant portion of this equation. First, a basis for corporate sustainability and the concepts surrounding who the stakeholders need to be examined, after which the reasons for attempting sustainability, in terms of value creation, and considerations for the implementation (culture, identity, attachment) of said change initiative will be explored. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical and practitioner research papers were reviewed to illustrate the meaning and approaches to corporate sustainability and analyze how organizational change initiatives can best be used to facilitate organizational transformation. Findings – There is no consensus on the meaning of corporate sustainability, rather there continues to be an evolution of ideas and theories shaping the evolution of corporate sustainability. To implement any form of corporate sustainability requires that managers understand their objective and the cultural and psychological barriers of organizational change. Better engagement with those undertaking organizational change and clear articulation of the change’s purpose can better lend themselves to an initiative’s success. However, there is no panacea and managers must recognize that approaches may need to be altered. Research limitations/implications – Research tends to occupy one of two spheres, either corporate sustainability or change initiatives. More linkage between these two concepts and empirical research of the effectiveness of organizational change practices for corporate sustainability is needed. Practical implications – A better understanding of organizational change theories, practices, and procedures may benefit managers and organizations that endeavor to realize corporate sustainability. Social implications – Given the implications of recent corporate collapses and their perceived malice, there is now greater thought about the role these organizations have in society. Concepts regarding shared value and mutual benefit to society and corporations can be expected to remain at the forefront of the public decorum. Originality/value – This paper sought to draw stronger ties between corporate sustainability and organizational change, highlighting that the two are codependent.

Despite the ubiquity of the term ‘organisational culture’ in both popular and scholarly management literature, it remains an ambiguous concept, whose practical application is recognised as being far from universally successful. Models which seem to be preferred by practitioners are often criticised as being static or mechanistic, while more dynamic scholarly approaches tend to discount the possibility of deliberately influencing organisations at the cultural level. This dissertation, instead of focussing on culture as some sort of objective or unchanging attribute of an organisation, treats it as a phenomenon emerging from social interaction and individual sense-making. It draws on, and extends, George Kelly’s Personal Construct Psychology to build a framework for understanding the production of meaning by individuals in their social context, and how this contributes to the establishment of the collective boundaries between which cultural effects are observed. This framework is applied to the case of a business school attached to a large university, which is first absorbed into its Commerce Faculty, and then dissolved into a new Department, as the overall university structure is modified. Grounded Theory methodology is used to develop an approach to the description of the cultural interaction and changes that occur, and to generate theory that goes some way to explaining how and why they do. The theory gives insight into how latent cultural distinctions become, or are made, salient and the different means by which divisions may be resolved or superseded, sometimes resulting in conflict. Implications are explored for the management of organisations undergoing change, particularly where this involves merging or restructuring organisational units, and for the training and development of managers who are to be involved in such activities. ¶ At a theoretical level, building on a constructivist and processual ontological base, the dissertation makes contributions to the understanding of behaviour in organisations and draws on pragmatic epistemologies such as those advanced by George Herbert Mead. It brings concepts from psychology, sociology and management disciplines to bear on the problem of cultural interaction, and suggests that integrating them in this way may enhance their value in this context. ¶ By focussing on culture as a phenomenon produced at the interface of collective constructions, the dissertation proposes that it be viewed as fundamentally dynamic once eloquently described as ‘multiple cross-cutting contexts’ – but, nevertheless, explains how it may be recognised more through its apparent intractability than its fluidity. Whilst rejecting managerialist approaches which would suggest that culture and, through it, people, can be manipulated at will to reliably produce desired effects, the dissertation suggests ways in which insight into cultural interactions might be generated for those who are participating in them, and options developed to influence these interactions that might otherwise not have been available. It therefore has potentially valuable implications for management practice.

This thesis provides a comparative study of managerial practices in Europe. Patterns of behaviour and preferred modes of organisation are identified in four countries, based on an in-depth case study of a chosen/specific European company. While the corporate culture and industry remain constant, national context manifests itself as the essential variable between the different operations. The thesis proposes/argues that this factor — national context — is a powerful variable which frames the activity of management. Europe is a continent of diversity; each nation has unique traditions, particular historical and cultural roots as well as its own institutional framework. This diversity means that managers learn to operate in a manner that suits their particular context. The thesis documents such national divergence in terms of managerial practices and behaviour. The processes of integration of European Union member States and of globalisation also contribute towards the shaping of management. The case study company, as a leading provider of Information Technology services, is among the avant-garde pioneers of a technological, borderless world. Common pressures affecting managers across the board — and thus regardless of national context — are also identified: these include the pressure to achieve profit and efficiency. In addition, a degree of convergence between human resource management policies and practices also makes itself visible. The thesis demonstrates, above all, the influence of national culture and national environment vis-à-vis management; an argument which may be reaffirmed given the context of globalisation. In brief, a European company is a cultural kaleidoscope

The aim of this thesis is to study the usage of an Apparel and Footwear Environmental Assessment Tool, the Rapid Design Module, in Swedish companies in the textile and fashion industry and the tool’s possible impact on the change process of organizational culture towards a more sustainable one. A qualitative study has been conducted via interviewing and observing employees using the focal tool on-site in three different companies. A theoretical framework within organizational culture was developed along with necessary cultural traits a company should nurture in order to change its culture towards a more sustainable one. The most important findings pointed out that companies should develop common guidelines in order to use the tool in question coherently and in unison. The tool was found to act as a change initiator in the employee level of the companies and additionally management support was found to be essential in order to empower employees in taking initiative in their work. Furthermore, the tool showed signs of increased collaboration within the companies’ external and internal environments, i.e. learning from one another, as well as it was observed to encourage interdependent thinking, which both are the necessary traits mentioned earlier.
Program: Master programme in Fashion Management

This thesis investigates the understanding and practices of contemporary Mongolian management since the 1990s. In particular, it focusses on the shared experiences of local managing practitioners in Mongolia by exploring the conceptions of a manager, management, and managerial roles from the participants’ perspective and the contextual influencing factors on their understanding. Since the 1990s Mongolia has undergone a series of cultural and institutional changes in relation to its political, economic and societal development. The country has fluctuated between having the fastest growing economy and the world’s worst performing currency. Mongolia itself has become the land of opportunity for many by attracting foreign direct investment, however, the knowledge of local management practice is as yet little understood as there have been no academic or empirical studies conducted in English before. Therefore, this research aims to build an understanding of the concept of management in Mongolia by examining the narratives of thirty five local managers in relation to their experiences during and after the socialist period. Moreover, it investigates the contextual influencing factors from practitioners’ perspectives with an ethnographic approach. This qualitative study draws on interviews with three groups of local managers in Mongolia, who are described as socialist-era, transitional-era and non-native managing practitioners. There are some similarities and differences amongst these identified groups, but each was distinguishable by their formal training, work ethic and management approach. Furthermore, this research found that the intertwining contextual factors of a nomadic cultural heritage, socialist legacy, and the pressures of the current economic and societal changes and political interference influence management thinking in equal measure in contemporary Mongolia. The importance of this study lies in its theoretical and empirical contributions. By evaluating the relationship between classical management literature and indigenous management concepts with a focus on the varieties of contextual factors, this study attempts to provide an original insight into non-Western management practices. It aims to extend the current theories of crossvergence, indigenous management studies, and understand the nature of managerial work in a cross-cultural context. By carrying out the first academic study to examine Mongolian management perspectives in English, it contributes empirically to global management knowledge, and to the local business community.

Les entreprises multinationales ou transnationales, dont le nombre ne cesse d’augmenter, présentent la particularité d’avoir des salariés présents sur les différents continents, travaillant avec des rythmes et des cultures différentes. Dans le cadre des activités des entreprises, de plus en plus de salariés sont amenés à travailler en équipe multiculturelle et délocalisée. Ces mêmes entreprises sont à la recherche des meilleures performances opérationnelles et le déploiement de la démarche Lean est un levier reconnu d’obtention des meilleures performances de manière pérenne et ce depuis des dizaines d’années. En parallèle, depuis le développement d’internet et des nouvelles technologies, de nouveaux outils deviennent disponibles pour collecter et analyser les données ou encore pour produire. Au sein des entreprises et alors que les impacts sont souvent traités de manière séparés, c’est bien de manière systémique et en même temps qu’interagissent les dimensions culturelles, le déploiement du Lean et la mise en œuvre des outils liés à l’ère numérique. Dans un soucis ultime performance pérenne, c’est bien l’efficacité du système dans sa globalité dont il est question. Ce mémoire propose de faire un état des lieux séparé puis synchronisé et de proposer une aide à l’évaluation et à la mise en œuvre cohérente de l’ensemble des trois éléments
Multinational or transnational companies, whose number is constantly increasing, have the particularity of having employees working on different continents, having different rhythms and culture. More and more employees are required to work in multicultural and remote teams as part of their business activities. These same companies are looking for the best operational performance and the deployment of the Lean approach is a recognised lever for obtaining the best performance in a sustainable manner and has been for decades. In parallel, since the development of the Internet and digital technologies, new tools have become avaible to collect and analyse data or to manufacture. Within companies, while the impacts are often processed separately, it is indeed in a systemic way and at the same time that the cultural dimensions, the deployment of Lean and the implementation of tools linked to the digital era. With the ultimate aim of sustainable performance it is the efficiency of the system as a whole that is at stake. This thesis proposes to review of industrial situations, and to propose an support for the evaluation and consistent implementation of all three elements i.e culture, Lean and digitalization

Mergers have been described as the most complex business process that an organisation can be faced with, requiring executives and other stakeholders to discharge the promise of a more successful merged organisation. However, several studies have highlighted the factors that led to the demise of the merged organisations. One of the often quoted and frequently blamed aspects related to merger failure has been the lack of effective post-merged organisational culture integration and alignment. Where mergers have been successful, it was attributed to a structured approach to integrating and aligning all aspects related to organisational culture thus ensuring the creation of a high performing organisation, conducive to effective performance management. The main research problem in this study centred around the identification of strategies that could be used to design an integrated model for creating a post-merged organisational culture which is conducive to effectively managing performance. To achieve this objective, the following approaches were adopted: A literature study was conducted with the view to identifying the challenges facing merged organisations in general and post-merged South African Higher Education institutions in particular. The researcher also conducted interviews with senior HR practitioner at the institutions participating in this study to gain insights into their experiences of performance within their merged institutions. The institutions involved in this study were Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT and Durban University of Technology (DUT). The insights gleaned from these interviews were incorporated into the survey questionnaire. The literature study also concerned itself with the identification of strategies that merged organisations could use in its pursuit of organisational culture alignment and integration. These strategies included conducting critical pre-merger assessments or due-diligence studies, adopting structured approaches to dealing with resistance to change, employee engagement, the design, implementation and communication of monitoring and evaluation of merger success measures as well as several other moderating variables referred to in figure 1.2. In terms of sub-problem six of the study, the findings of sub-problems one, two and five were used to develop an eight-step integrated theoretical model to create an organisational culture conducive to effective performance management in a post-merged environment. The model served as a basis for the design of a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to ascertain the extent to which respondents from the three participating institutions (NMMU, CPUT and DUT), perceived the various strategies as being important in establishing a post-merged organisational culture conducive to effective performance management. The results that emerged from the empirical study showed a strong concurrence with the strategies identified in the literature study and included in the integrated theoretical model. The quantitative and qualitative results from the empirical study where incorporated into the integrated theoretical model, which lead to a refined Eight-Step Integrated Post-merged Organisational Culture Creation Model as depicted in Figure 7.1 with associated details in Figure 7.2.

AbstractChange is incorporated in our personal and professional lives and there is no argument about that. In today’s era of constant technological and economical evolution, businesses are forced to adapt to the new circumstances by leveraging efficiency, decreasing time of adaptability in order to gain competitive advantage and survive. For this reason, the change management field’s role is considered to be crucial for all organizations in all industries. The change management process obtains multiple components among others, communication, leadership and resistance to be the most significant but at the same time the most challenging and problematic. It is widely recognized that organizational culture does play a substantial role in the overall change management process, however culture is being defined by another attribute too; nationality. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate which cultural factors influence and challenge change management. Furthermore, this research intends to investigate how masculinity versus femininity as a dimension in Hofstede’s cultural framework is reflected in the change management process.In order to address there two research questions, a qualitative multiple case study took place by obtaining data from two international companies operating in Sweden and Greece. The results of this research indicated that national culture has an impact on the change management process throughout multiple dimensions of Hofstede’s cultural framework. Last but not least, masculinity versus femininity appeared throughout all the examined change management processes. Participation and inclusion are concepts substantial for the feminine cultures whereas competition and individual benefits for the masculine ones. All these concepts for each culture should be taken into account in order to reduce change resistance and enhance the leadership efficiency. Overall, companies should take into consideration the national characteristics of the country they operate when forming strategies and applying processes in order to work an efficient and beneficial way for their employees.

In an increasingly environmentally awareworld, companies are influenced bysustainability thinking and there ismuch talk about certifications,reporting requirements, andenvironmental work. Meanwhile, projectshave become a common way to conductbusinesses, however, without significantenvironmental consideration in theproject process. By using changemanagement in corporate culture andorganizational behavior, we examine howa process of implementation of newapproaches and methods may look like andhow the new work method affects itsusers.This thesis deals with the subject whereenvironmental and sustainabilitythinking is incorporated in projectmanagement. Our ambition is that theresults will lead to greaterunderstanding and awareness in companiesand eventually be developed and fullyutilized. The conclusions first presentthe changes needed to be done in theorganization and its culture and thensome concrete steps to take towards moreeco-friendly project management methodstogether with proposals for reporting.Because the subject is in thedevelopment phase, this is a preliminarystudy and an introduction to a moresustainable project management. Finallythe conclusions present suggestions forfurther studies to get deeperunderstanding in the field.
Miljömedvetenheten och arbetet med att spara på våra resurser tar allt mer fart runt om isamhället. Uttryck som återvinning, energismarta lösningar, förnyelsebar elproduktion ochhållbar avfallshantering får alltmer uppmärksamhet. Detta är högst välmotiverat då vårtnuvarande konsumtionssamhälle inte skulle finnas kvar länge till då vi förbrukar allt mernaturtillgångar, produkter och energi på daglig basis. Aldrig förr har väl uttrycket ingen kangöra allt men alla kan göra något känts så aktuellt som nu. Självklart gäller detta hushåll ochprivatpersoner men framför allt företag och större organisationer vilka ofta spenderar ochförbrukar väldiga resurser. Dessutom är det oftast de som både har pengar och makt attverkligen påverka utgången av konsumerandet.Något annat som blir allt vanligare bland företagens arbetsmetoder är att bedriva sinverksamhet i projektform. I vissa fall har själva företagsidén blivit att man nischat sig helt tillatt skapa och leda projekt åt andra företag, så kallade managementkonsulter.Detta visar alltså flera åtskiljda växande intressen på frammarsch, men bedrivs de utan någrasamband? Företagens befintliga miljöarbete består mestadels i att sätta upp mål vilkaförhoppningsvis kan leda till någon form av certifiering eller intyg på att en viss nivå haruppnåtts. Dessa miljömål har ofta bristfälliga uppföljningar samtidigt som det finns en uppsjöav olika rapporteringsmodeller och certifieringar vilket försvårar kontinuerlig uppdatering avaktuell status inom området.Denna uppsats är gjord på uppdrag av företaget CGI Sweden vilket i vår uppstartsfas hetteLogica. I och med namn- och ägarbytet är de numer ett av världens största IT-konsultbolagmed många stora kunder över hela världen. De har identifierat ett behov av att på projektbasiskunna genomföra kontinuerliga uppföljningar av miljörapportering vilket skulle underlätta förföretag att uppnå sina hållbarhetsvisioner. CGI Sweden miljörapporterar enligt GRI-standardvilket vi haft som utgångspunkt när arbetet startades. Uppsatsens huvudfokus behandlarpotentiella vägar att gå när företag skall genomföra kultur- och organisationsförändringarsamt börja med sitt miljöarbete på projektnivå. Tankar som genomsyrar studien är hurorganisations- och kulturförändringar sker inom företag, om och i så fall hur företag beaktarmiljöarbete inom projektledningen idag, hur stort intresset är att integrera hållbarhet i sinprojektledning, hur man med hjälp av GRI kan utveckla en potentiell framtida metod och vaddetta skulle innebära.En stor del av uppsatsens empiriska material är insamlat från ett flertal intervjuer med insattaprojektledare, chefer och miljöansvariga från företagsvärlden för att få en så tydlig bild sommöjligt av rådande situation och branschernas framtida syn på våra tankar.Utifrån en sammanställning och analys av intervjuerna, GRI-rapporteringar samt teorier omhur förändringsarbete går till har flertalet rekommendationer i form av förslag och tänktalösningar till problemet framkommit och presenteras i resultatet. Detta mynnar ut i slutsatservilka belyser några konkreta steg som är applicerbara. Vi har genom detta arbete även kommitfram till flera tänkvärda förslag till vidare studier.

AbstractOrganizational values, as the criteria that guide decision-making, play a central role in the implementation of management by missions (MBM). Most social organizations today develop a set of values. These sets of values are normally treated as fixed and even as untouchable. However, over time, some values change and evolve both in the organizational environment and within the organizations themselves. Some values may fall into the background, while others should come to the forefront. As a result, leaders need to adapt to these changes and create corporate cultures that best align with their corporate purpose over time. In this chapter, we propose a framework to help organizations create balanced sets of values in four categories: business, relational, development and contribution values.

AbstractMeeting the needs of industrial development and reflecting the emerging demands onto the field of education has led to the emergence of Education 4.0 and initiated pedagogical, cultural, and managerial transformation in education in this direction. As a result of this transformation, macroscale structures and policies have been replaced by a microscale, web-oriented, local government paradigm. This section discusses current trends in education management and school leadership which are examined in the light of new education and management paradigms. In this direction, the shift in the education management paradigm, the sources of change, the role of school leaders in organizational development, the expected characteristics of school leaders in Education 4.0, and the use of the Internet of Things in education management and monitoring systems are addressed. In Education 4.0, the concepts of innovation management, digital literacy, productivity, collective participation in management and decisions, education communities, and capacity development are prominent in school leadership. This section emphasizes that strategic leaders who are able to adapt to the paradigm shift contribute and direct the formation of school culture and values. In this direction, the importance of organizing trainings for developing leadership skills and raising leaders who will help to restructure schools and shape cultural trends are underlined in the chapter. Emphasis is placed on the importance of raising leaders with technological skills who can use multi-channel communication strategies in school management.

The main purpose of this chapter is to present the interlinkage of soft systems methodology (SSM) and organizational culture. Often, organizations find themselves within a problematic situation connected with cultural issues. Analysis of such issues is complex because of the numerous stakeholders involved and the multi-faceted and dynamic nature of the culture. This chapter focuses on organizational culture, which is among the most important assets on which an organization rely, particularly for the sake of change management. Here the authors begin with a review on the concept of organizational culture and proceed to discuss the factors affecting the organizational culture and then present a model of organizational culture, cultural aspects of SSM, and a real-world application of SSM in the form of a case study of corporate ethical culture analysis.

In many business schools, the cross-culture management course has become a central response to the increasingly globalized and internationalized world in which graduates will work. The core content, pedagogic assumptions, and anticipated learner outcomes of this course have changed over the last two decades, moving from the passive transmission of national culture knowledge to more active and responsive knowledge-creation that might better serve students in approaching cross-culture management challenges. In restructuring his cross-culture management course, the present author reflected on these shifts and on the national culture richness of the envisaged students. This chapter explores ways of utilizing the informal cultural learning and tacit national culture knowledge of course participants to create a learning experience that might be more useful for students who will engage in the international organizational and corporate world of the twenty-first century.

In many business schools, the cross-culture management course has become a central response to the increasingly globalized and internationalized world in which graduates will work. The core content, pedagogic assumptions, and anticipated learner outcomes of this course have changed over the last two decades, moving from the passive transmission of national culture knowledge to more active and responsive knowledge-creation that might better serve students in approaching cross-culture management challenges. In restructuring his cross-culture management course, the present author reflected on these shifts and on the national culture richness of the envisaged students. This chapter explores ways of utilizing the informal cultural learning and tacit national culture knowledge of course participants to create a learning experience that might be more useful for students who will engage in the international organizational and corporate world of the twenty-first century.

The Internet has become the essential media for daily work of cultural management professionals. Its richness of contents and the fast evolution of technologies do even exceed the capacity of adaptation and decision of the professionals due to the wide range of possibilities that the Internet offers. It is in this new context where technologies and cultures get mixed up as cultural institutions cannot play the same roles as they did in the analogic world. Not only the classical functions of conservation, research, commission or exhibition have to be valued, but also in the role of broadcasting, doors to communication 2.0 should be opened, getting into the social networks, not only sharing but also listening what the users have to say. This new step has to be managed by institutions that are able to understand and add the new philosophy 2.0 in their corporative and communication culture. It is not longer one-way communication as the role of the users is essential. The author will analyse the strategies and models of some institutions that have incorporated digital practices and culture in their organizations and communication and therefore, the way they connect with their different audiences (Creators/artists, users and other organizations.) have changed.

Knowledge management is defined by different authors as the process that enables the sharing, capture and application of knowledge from the individual to the group and further to organizational level. The organizational atomization observed in the academia imposes importance in paying attention to a culture that encourages knowledge management and also assigns equal importance to the cooperation and the work in team. However, due to the different levels of heterogeneity among and within these organizations there is not just one model that fits well. Through a literature review on the knowledge management in the academia, the purpose of this chapter is an exploratory study that identifies the main cultural challenges in the development and implementation of a knowledge management system in the academic context.

This study examines the organizational culture of Japan by studying the activities of three large companies in order to have a better understanding of the nation’s culture and its effects on the society. From the perspective of cultural relevance, a literature review has been conducted in order to see the basis of the Japanese behavior and the differences between Japan and other countries. The paper discusses the cultural dimensions of Japan according to Hofstede vision and makes a foray into the present by analyzing them in a number of world-renowned companies. After presenting the methodology, the paper explains the reason for the company selection and provides a detailed analysis for each of them through organizational culture components, as found in Schein and Denison. All Japanese cultural features have a long history, undergoing little change over time, although globalization has played an important role in the partial diminution of some of them. There are deeply rooted cultural elements such as beliefs, symbols, rituals, to which employees adhere and which contribute to the development of companies and society as a whole. At the end, the paper presents possible limits of the research, but also provides the basis for further studies.

Attention to safety and health are of ever-increasing priority to industrial organizations. Good Safety is demanded by stockholders, employees, and the community while increasing injury costs provide additional motivation for safety and health excellence. Safety has always been a strong corporate value of DuPont and a vital part of its culture. As a result, DuPont has become a benchmark in safety and health performance. Since 1990, DuPont has re-engineered itself to meet global competition and address future vision. In the new re-engineered organizational structures, DuPont has also had to re-engineer its safety management systems. A special Discovery Team was chartered by DuPont senior management to determine the “best practices’ for safety and health being used in DuPont best-performing sites. A summary of the findings is presented, and five of the practices are discussed. Excellence in safety and health management is more important today than ever. Public awareness, federal and state regulations, and enlightened management have resulted in a widespread conviction that all employees have the right to work in an environment that will not adversely affect their safety and health. In DuPont, we believe that excellence in safety and health is necessary to achieve global competitiveness, maintain employee loyalty, and be an accepted member of the communities in which we make, handle, use, and transport products. Safety can also be the “catalyst” to achieving excellence in other important business parameters. The organizational and communication skills developed by management, individuals, and teams in safety can be directly applied to other company initiatives. As we look into the 21st Century, we must also recognize that new organizational structures (flatter with empowered teams) will require new safety management techniques and systems in order to maintain continuous improvement in safety performance. Injury costs, which have risen dramatically in the past twenty years, provide another incentive for safety and health excellence. Shown in the Figure 1, injury costs have increased even after correcting for inflation. Many companies have found these costs to be an “invisible drain” on earnings and profitability. In some organizations, significant initiatives have been launched to better manage the workers’ compensation systems. We have found that the ultimate solution is to prevent injuries and incidents before they occur. A globally-respected company, DuPont is regarded as a well-managed, extremely ethical firm that is the benchmark in industrial safety performance. Like many other companies, DuPont has re-engineered itself and downsized its operations since 1985. Through these changes, we have maintained dedication to our principles and developed new techniques to manage in these organizational environments. As a diversified company, our operations involve chemical process facilities, production line operations, field activities, and sales and distribution of materials. Our customer base is almost entirely industrial and yet we still maintain a high level of consumer awareness and positive perception. The DuPont concern for safety dates back to the early 1800s and the first days of the company. In 1802 E.I. DuPont, a Frenchman, began manufacturing quality grade explosives to fill America’s growing need to build roads, clear fields, increase mining output, and protect its recently won independence. Because explosives production is such a hazardous industry, DuPont recognized and accepted the need for an effective safety effort. The building walls of the first powder mill near Wilmington, Delaware, were built three stones thick on three sides. The back remained open to the Brandywine River to direct any explosive forces away from other buildings and employees. To set the safety example, DuPont also built his home and the homes of his managers next to the powder yard. An effective safety program was a necessity. It represented the first defense against instant corporate liquidation. Safety needs more than a well-designed plant, however. In 1811, work rules were posted in the mill to guide employee work habits. Though not nearly as sophisticated as the safety standards of today, they did introduce an important basic concept — that safety must be a line management responsibility. Later, DuPont introduced an employee health program and hired a company doctor. An early step taken in 1912 was the keeping of safety statistics, approximately 60 years before the federal requirement to do so. We had a visible measure of our safety performance and were determined that we were going to improve it. When the nation entered World War I, the DuPont Company supplied 40 percent of the explosives used by the Allied Forces, more than 1.5 billion pounds. To accomplish this task, over 30,000 new employees were hired and trained to build and operate many plants. Among these facilities was the largest smokeless powder plant the world had ever seen. The new plant was producing granulated powder in a record 116 days after ground breaking. The trends on the safety performance chart reflect the problems that a large new work force can pose until the employees fully accept the company’s safety philosophy. The first arrow reflects the World War I scale-up, and the second arrow represents rapid diversification into new businesses during the 1920s. These instances of significant deterioration in safety performance reinforced DuPont’s commitment to reduce the unsafe acts that were causing 96 percent of our injuries. Only 4 percent of injuries result from unsafe conditions or equipment — the remainder result from the unsafe acts of people. This is an important concept if we are to focus our attention on reducing injuries and incidents within the work environment. World War II brought on a similar set of demands. The story was similar to World War I but the numbers were even more astonishing: one billion dollars in capital expenditures, 54 new plants, 75,000 additional employees, and 4.5 billion pounds of explosives produced — 20 percent of the volume used by the Allied Forces. Yet, the performance during the war years showed no significant deviation from the pre-war years. In 1941, the DuPont Company was 10 times safer than all industry and 9 times safer than the Chemical Industry. Management and the line organization were finally working as they should to control the real causes of injuries. Today, DuPont is about 50 times safer than US industrial safety performance averages. Comparing performance to other industries, it is interesting to note that seemingly “hazard-free” industries seem to have extraordinarily high injury rates. This is because, as DuPont has found out, performance is a function of injury prevention and safety management systems, not hazard exposure. Our success in safety results from a sound safety management philosophy. Each of the 125 DuPont facilities is responsible for its own safety program, progress, and performance. However, management at each of these facilities approaches safety from the same fundamental and sound philosophy. This philosophy can be expressed in eleven straightforward principles. The first principle is that all injuries can be prevented. That statement may seem a bit optimistic. In fact, we believe that this is a realistic goal and not just a theoretical objective. Our safety performance proves that the objective is achievable. We have plants with over 2,000 employees that have operated for over 10 years without a lost time injury. As injuries and incidents are investigated, we can always identify actions that could have prevented that incident. If we manage safety in a proactive — rather than reactive — manner, we will eliminate injuries by reducing the acts and conditions that cause them. The second principle is that management, which includes all levels through first-line supervisors, is responsible and accountable for preventing injuries. Only when senior management exerts sustained and consistent leadership in establishing safety goals, demanding accountability for safety performance and providing the necessary resources, can a safety program be effective in an industrial environment. The third principle states that, while recognizing management responsibility, it takes the combined energy of the entire organization to reach sustained, continuous improvement in safety and health performance. Creating an environment in which employees feel ownership for the safety effort and make significant contributions is an essential task for management, and one that needs deliberate and ongoing attention. The fourth principle is a corollary to the first principle that all injuries are preventable. It holds that all operating exposures that may result in injuries or illnesses can be controlled. No matter what the exposure, an effective safeguard can be provided. It is preferable, of course, to eliminate sources of danger, but when this is not reasonable or practical, supervision must specify measures such as special training, safety devices, and protective clothing. Our fifth safety principle states that safety is a condition of employment. Conscientious assumption of safety responsibility is required from all employees from their first day on the job. Each employee must be convinced that he or she has a responsibility for working safely. The sixth safety principle: Employees must be trained to work safely. We have found that an awareness for safety does not come naturally and that people have to be trained to work safely. With effective training programs to teach, motivate, and sustain safety knowledge, all injuries and illnesses can be eliminated. Our seventh principle holds that management must audit performance on the workplace to assess safety program success. Comprehensive inspections of both facilities and programs not only confirm their effectiveness in achieving the desired performance, but also detect specific problems and help to identify weaknesses in the safety effort. The Company’s eighth principle states that all deficiencies must be corrected promptly. Without prompt action, risk of injuries will increase and, even more important, the credibility of management’s safety efforts will suffer. Our ninth principle is a statement that off-the-job safety is an important part of the overall safety effort. We do not expect nor want employees to “turn safety on” as they come to work and “turn it off” when they go home. The company safety culture truly becomes of the individual employee’s way of thinking. The tenth principle recognizes that it’s good business to prevent injuries. Injuries cost money. However, hidden or indirect costs usually exceed the direct cost. Our last principle is the most important. Safety must be integrated as core business and personal value. There are two reasons for this. First, we’ve learned from almost 200 years of experience that 96 percent of safety incidents are directly caused by the action of people, not by faulty equipment or inadequate safety standards. But conversely, it is our people who provide the solutions to our safety problems. They are the one essential ingredient in the recipe for a safe workplace. Intelligent, trained, and motivated employees are any company’s greatest resource. Our success in safety depends upon the men and women in our plants following procedures, participating actively in training, and identifying and alerting each other and management to potential hazards. By demonstrating a real concern for each employee, management helps establish a mutual respect, and the foundation is laid for a solid safety program. This, of course, is also the foundation for good employee relations. An important lesson learned in DuPont is that the majority of injuries are caused by unsafe acts and at-risk behaviors rather than unsafe equipment or conditions. In fact, in several DuPont studies it was estimated that 96 percent of injuries are caused by unsafe acts. This was particularly revealing when considering safety audits — if audits were only focused on conditions, at best we could only prevent four percent of our injuries. By establishing management systems for safety auditing that focus on people, including audit training, techniques, and plans, all incidents are preventable. Of course, employee contribution and involvement in auditing leads to sustainability through stakeholdership in the system. Management safety audits help to make manage the “behavioral balance.” Every job and task performed at a site can do be done at-risk or safely. The essence of a good safety system ensures that safe behavior is the accepted norm amongst employees, and that it is the expected and respected way of doing things. Shifting employees norms contributes mightily to changing culture. The management safety audit provides a way to quantify these norms. DuPont safety performance has continued to improve since we began keeping records in 1911 until about 1990. In the 1990–1994 time frame, performance deteriorated as shown in the chart that follows: This increase in injuries caused great concern to senior DuPont management as well as employees. It occurred while the corporation was undergoing changes in organization. In order to sustain our technological, competitive, and business leadership positions, DuPont began re-engineering itself beginning in about 1990. New streamlined organizational structures and collaborative work processes eliminated many positions and levels of management and supervision. The total employment of the company was reduced about 25 percent during these four years. In our traditional hierarchical organization structures, every level of supervision and management knew exactly what they were expected to do with safety, and all had important roles. As many of these levels were eliminated, new systems needed to be identified for these new organizations. In early 1995, Edgar S. Woolard, DuPont Chairman, chartered a Corporate Discovery Team to look for processes that will put DuPont on a consistent path toward a goal of zero injuries and occupational illnesses. The cross-functional team used a mode of “discovery through learning” from as many DuPont employees and sites around the world. The Discovery Team fostered the rapid sharing and leveraging of “best practices” and innovative approaches being pursued at DuPont’s plants, field sites, laboratories, and office locations. In short, the team examined the company’s current state, described the future state, identified barriers between the two, and recommended key ways to overcome these barriers. After reporting back to executive management in April, 1995, the Discovery Team was realigned to help organizations implement their recommendations. The Discovery Team reconfirmed key values in DuPont — in short, that all injuries, incidents, and occupational illnesses are preventable and that safety is a source of competitive advantage. As such, the steps taken to improve safety performance also improve overall competitiveness. Senior management made this belief clear: “We will strengthen our business by making safety excellence an integral part of all business activities.” One of the key findings of the Discovery Team was the identification of the best practices used within the company, which are listed below: ▪ Felt Leadership – Management Commitment ▪ Business Integration ▪ Responsibility and Accountability ▪ Individual/Team Involvement and Influence ▪ Contractor Safety ▪ Metrics and Measurements ▪ Communications ▪ Rewards and Recognition ▪ Caring Interdependent Culture; Team-Based Work Process and Systems ▪ Performance Standards and Operating Discipline ▪ Training/Capability ▪ Technology ▪ Safety and Health Resources ▪ Management and Team Audits ▪ Deviation Investigation ▪ Risk Management and Emergency Response ▪ Process Safety ▪ Off-the-Job Safety and Health Education Attention to each of these best practices is essential to achieve sustained improvements in safety and health. The Discovery Implementation in conjunction with DuPont Safety and Environmental Management Services has developed a Safety Self-Assessment around these systems. In this presentation, we will discuss a few of these practices and learn what they mean. Paper published with permission.

The International Standards Organization (ISO) standard 31000 (Risk Management – Principles and Guidelines) provides guidance on the development of a systematic approach to managing risk within an organization. Using ISO 31000 as a guide, Enbridge Pipelines has enhanced its existing release-focused risk-informed decision-making approach and risk management process. The development of this enhancement has involved engagement of all levels of management and staff, and has required consideration of corporate cultural change, staff communication and training, development of performance measures, and management reporting. This paper provides a high level overview of the ISO 31000 standard as it pertains to its use in the development of the Enbridge Pipelines operational risk management framework, the roadmap for implementation of the framework, and discusses the challenges, successes, learnings, and early results of implementing the framework in a large multi-national pipeline company.

Abstract This research paper represents an organizational change initiative that can be implemented with minimum capital investment. Lean six sigma cultural change initiative was proposed to one of the world's largest Oil and Gas (O&G) producing company specifically in gas processing facilities construction projects department within the company's project management business line. The organizational structural change initiative aimed at enhancing personnel's performance efficiency in executing projects in order to achieve cost savings and/or avoidance up to 10 %. Gas construction projects department execute mega projects with an estimated total budget of $5 billion US dollars of new projects at the planning phase and currently have over 250 employees. A top-bottom cultural change approach was conducted in order to create a buy-in and secure management approval. The team capitalized on their extensive project management and execution experiences combined with lean six sigma training and previous successful continuous improvement implementations positive outcomes to develop a persuasion method. The proposed change depends, 1) changing the norm to become a continuous improvement nor, 2) spreading the use of simple analytical tools that will assist all employees to self-improve their daily tasks execution performance on a continuous base. Once the department manager buy-in is secured, a series of focused workshops are to be conducted in order to introduce the root cause analysis, 5-Whys, fishbone diagrams, and pareto 80/20 rule principal in order to communicate to employees (technical and non-technical) how to eliminate defects and minimize variances with the purpose of enhancing efficiency and effective utilization of resources. The primary exploration of data in this paper is to demonstrate how the authors are able to initiate simple analytical lean tools approach into the employees' mindset thinking approach in order to adapt lean transformation initiative. The team efforts of steering the department into executing mega projects with lean mindset approach is ongoing and active as the transformation is in its ground phase of spreading the culture and setting up the department norm. Nevertheless, the change champion has identified with the project controls division head the new mega projects which are tabled for execution on an expedited mode and initiated introduction of lean into the projects current phase; Front End Loading (FEL) and contracting strategy selection. Hence, the champion contributed into development of different contracting strategies options. These options are cored around enhancing the contract awarding cycle period by up to 50% reduction in consumed time. This is conducted parallel to the continuous efforts of educating the employees on the use of simple root cause analysis tools and continuous improvement approach. This paper represents a new approach of implementing lean thinking mindset in executing mega oil and gas construction projects. The authors go beyond systematically reorganizing the department documentation only but imbedding low cost analytical tools and changing the cultural mindset towards continuous improvement culture and mentality.

What are steps toward a preparing of ”one voice” and consistent message, which may cross cultural borders? Is it so important to start with new technologies or maybe instead of this it would be better firstly to try to be ahead of them and rethink the capacity to change culture, communication management style and implement integrated communication approach? Addressing such questions leads to the main goal of this article: to search and investigate ways of cultural borders crossing having the evident importance of integration ideas incorporation in the field of organisational communication as a reference point. In sum, the derived conclusion is related to the suggestion to think about the new kind of marginalization and two not so strictly bounded cultural types: integrated organisations and their position of winners and not integrated organisations surrounded by isolation at the same time.

Global competition forces manufacturing companies to operate deep changes in their production systems, involving physical resources, operating procedures and the organization. In this context, the Lean Manufacturing (LM) paradigm is quite popular and lean practice efforts have crossed from the automotive sector into other industries. Most academic contributions to literature concerning LM are on specific aspects of LM, while there is little discussion on the overall implementation of LM. This is despite the fact that lean principles encompass all aspects of manufacturing operations and the need of a systemic approach is clearly shown in practitioner-oriented literature. A number of factors (i.e. cultural, technological and industrial differences) may influence or inhibit the implementation of LM. This paper focuses on some of the critical aspects of LM and analyzes the reason why LM principles are difficult to implement. In particular it suggests that, by formulating a solid scientific basis, the application of LM in industry could become easier and more rigorous, and not only based on past experience. At the same time, the paper suggests that when theory-based tools are used in an isolated way, this carries the risk of not effectively coping with the systemic nature of manufacturing systems. This paper proposes the idea of an innovative methodology able to lead beyond the usual concept of LM, i.e. to adopt its basic principles and systemic perspective, but following a rational and deductive approach that explicitly considers company specific features. The methodology is based on the “Systems of Systems” approach currently being used in the context of complex military initiatives and on the integration of different tools, each focused on specific aspects of the manufacturing system. The paper makes a preliminary attempt to describe how the main aspects of manufacturing systems (resources, quality management systems, production planning and control procedures, etc.) can be represented within the SoS framework and how SoS can support the rational definition of the path leading from corporate strategy to system redesign.

Abstract How can a business develop sustainable societal relationships in a world that is often described as volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous? While public expectations of companies are complicated and continuously changing, there are clear underlying trends in modern society that shape this relationship. Understanding these trends allows a company to develop the capability of proactively managing societal relationships. The findings of the study are especially relevant for industries that visibly operate in the public space and should anticipate societal resistance. This paper first describes the societal trends that shaped the way people and organizations have interacted since the Second World War. In this period increasing environmental and social awareness and assertiveness developed along three evolutionary paths: –active public discourse that continuously pushes the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable and desirable, with increasing focus on human values and space for the individual;–industry sectors and international organizations that try to preempt new societal expectations with voluntary guidelines and self-regulation; and–governments that formalize important and matured parts of the public discourse and voluntary guidelines in laws and regulations. Secondly, the authors adopt a practical model to describe how companies have struggled to keep up with this continuously evolving and dynamic societal landscape due to lack of adaptation. An increasingly defensive and reactive business approach to societal pressure has led to a low point in trust from stakeholders. To regain trust and their social license to operate companies need to take a more proactive approach to societal relationships, which require both organizational and cultural change. Finally, the authors take the example from the safety journey, where the oil and gas industry has been very successful in demonstrating that excellence in safety is both a moral obligation and good for the bottom line. The same applies to excellence in societal relationships. Using the evolutionary model of safety culture with its maturity ladder as analogue, the authors provide a practical and value-driven framework to guide companies on their organizational and cultural change journey towards effective societal relationship management.

In this presentation, I will show that various multimodal resources—such as utterance, prosody, rhythm, schematic images, and bodily reactions—may integratively contribute to the holistic achievement of poeticity. By incorporating the ideas from “ethnopoetics” (Hymes 1981, 1996) and “gesture studies” (McNeill 1992, 2005), I will present a plurimodal analysis of naturally occurring interactions by highlighting the interplay among the verbal, nonverbal, and corporeal representations. With those observations, I confirm that poeticity is not a distinctive quality restricted to constructed poetry or “high” culture, but rather an endowment to any kind of natural discourse that is co-constructed by various semiotic resources. My claim specifically concerns a renewed interest in an ethnopoetic kata ‘form/ shape/ style/ model’ embraced as performative “habitus” among Japanese speakers (Kataoka 2012). Kata, in its broader sense, is stable as well as versatile, often serving as an organizational “template” for performance, which at opportune moments may change its shape and trajectory according to ongoing developments. In other words, preferred structures are not confined to an emergent management of performance, but should also incorporate culturally embedded practices with immediate (re)actions. In order to promote this claim, I explore a case in which mutually coordinated performance is extensively pursued for sharing sympathy and camaraderie. Such a kata-driven construction was typically observed in a highly involved, interactional interview about the Great East Japan Earthquake, in which both interviewer and interviewee were recursively oriented and attuned to the same rhythmic and organizational pattern consisting of an odd-number of kata. Based on these observations, I argue that indigenous principles of organizing discourse are as crucial as the mechanisms of conversational organization, with the higher-order, macro cultural preferences inevitably infiltrating into the micro management of spontaneous talk.