Transforming Public and Nonprofit Organizations

CHAPTER SIXCreating a Change-Centric Culture

One of the most difficult organizational issues to address in introducing change is the culture of the organization. This chapter focuses on organizational culture and discusses some approaches to addressing problems that might arise if the culture is resistant to change.

UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Organizational culture consists of the norms and routines exhibited by people who work in organizations. Organizational norms signal to employees what they should do, how they should feel, and what they should think about organizational activities. As one of our interviewees noted, culture is “the way we do things around here.” Culture often is deeply ingrained in an organization; behavioral, emotional, ...