Showing papers on "Culture change published in 2005"

Examining the Cultural Adjustment Experiences of African International College Students: A Qualitative Analysis.

Abstract: The authors examined the cultural adjustment experiences of 12 Kenyan, Nigerian, and Ghanaian international college students through semistructured interviews Using consensual qualitative research methodology (C E Hill, B J Thompson, & E N Williams, 1997), 7 primary domains or themes related to these students' cultural adjustment experiences were identified, including (a) presojourn perceptions of the United States, (b) postsojourn perceptions of the United States, (c) cultural adjustment problems in the United States, (d) responses to prejudicial or discriminatory treatment, (e) family and friendship networks, (f) strategies for coping with cultural adjustment problems, and (g) openness to seeking counseling to address cultural adjustment problems Implications of the findings are discussed

Organizational culture in public sector organizations

Abstract: Purpose – To provide two possible approaches for enhancing organizational culture awareness and promote cultural change in public sector organization. These approaches include training and leading by example.Design/methodology/approach – Literature outlining fundamental aspects of organizational culture is summarized, serving as a foundation for reviewing the potential value of training as a method for enhancing public managers' awareness of organizational culture. This is followed by an illustrated example of how the culture was changed in major department of a public organization through leading by example.Findings – Training and leading by example can serve as effective methodologies for promoting culture awareness and brining about culture change in organizations.Practical implications – The article highlights some interesting similarities and differences between cultures in public organizations and cultures in private sector organizations. The differences, in particular, reinforce the importance of t...

Practicing Restorative Justice in School Communities: Addressing the Challenge of Culture Change

Abstract: The practice of restorative justice in schools has the capacity to build social and human capital through challenging students in the context of social and emotional learning. While restorative justice was originally introduced to schools to address serious incidents of misconduct and harmful behavior, the potential this philosophy offers is much greater. The conviction is that the key challenge for schools is addressing the culture change required to make the shift from traditional discipline, driven by punitive (or rewards based) external motivators, to restorative discipline, driven by relational motivators that seeks to empower individuals and their communities.

"Doing" Agency: Introductory Remarks on Methodology

Abstract: As a theory of social reproduction, agency provides an attractive framework for understanding how material culture relates to everyday social action, to long-standing cultural institutions, and to wholesale culture change. What remains under-explored in archaeology is the question of how to proceed in linking observable material patterning to the agency of ancient social reproduction and how to understand the role of material culture in this dynamic process. This introduction (to this and the next issue of JAMT (Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory)) explores why there is a need for archaeology to develop explicitly articulated “middle range interpretive methodologies” that are appropriate for agency-oriented research in the past.

Customer relationship management and the impact of corporate culture — A European study

Abstract: Customer relationship management (CRM) has been in use for about ten years. After the post-2001 economic downturn, CRM attracted less interest in many organisations, as many benefits did not materialise. Cost-cutting strategies prevailed, despite many firms facing problems of decreasing loyalty and declining shares-of-wallet in an increasingly competitive environment. Cultural aspects emerged as important in determining success or failure in CRM implementation. This paper explores the connection between CRM implementation and culture. The model of ‘CRM culture building elements’ presented here shows the tight connection between customer orientation and learning and the relationship between organisational climate and the respective occupational sub-cultures.

Applying risk perception theory to public health workforce preparedness training.

Abstract: Since 9/11, public health has seen a progressive culture change toward a 24/7 emergency response organizational model. This transition entails new expectations for public health workers, including (1) a readiness and willingness to report to duty in emergencies and (2) an ability to effectively communicate risk to an anxious public about terrorism or naturally occurring disasters. To date, however, research on readiness education for health department workers has focused little attention upon the risk perceptions that may influence their willingness to report to duty during disasters, as well as their ability to provide effective emergency risk communication to the public. Here, we apply risk perception factors to explore the potential barriers and remedies to effective public health workforce emergency response.

Culture change in long-term care: educating the next generation.

Abstract: Long-term care facilities for frail elders are usually based upon the medical model, which is focused primarily on the biological functioning of these elders. The medical model allows for little choice on the part of the residents of these facilities. By way of contrast, culture change is a new approach to long-term care. This model of care seeks to meet a wide variety of needs for the elders and aims to expand their choices. This article presents the observations of college students responding to interactions with frail elders and looks at the implications of culture change for young adult college students.

Shifting the balance of power? Culture change and identity in an English health-care setting.

Abstract: Purpose – A recurring theme in Government policy documents has been the need to change the culture of the NHS in order to deliver a service “fit for the twenty‐first century”. However, very little is said about what constitutes “culture” or how this culture change is to be brought about. This paper seeks to focus on an initiative aimed ostensibly at “empowering” staff in an English Primary Care Trust as a means of changing organisational culture.Design/methodology/approach – It presents findings from an ethnographic study which suggests that this attempt at “culture change” is aimed at manipulating the behaviour and values of individual employees and may be interpreted as a process of changing employee identity.Findings – Employees reacted in different ways to the empowerment initiative, with some resisting attempts to shape their identity and others actively engaging in projects to bring their unruly self into line with the ideal self to which they were encouraged to aspire.Originality/value – The challe...

An ethnographic study of nursing home culture to define organizational realities of culture change.

Abstract: The current system of delivery of nursing home care is costly both in dollars and in human terms. Culture change may provide solutions to both issues. Culture change has a different meaning for different organizations depending on where they are in the continuum of change. Detailed observation of staff members "in action" in three long-term care facilities over a period of several months was supplemented by formal and informal interviews of organization members to gain an understanding of the culture of the nursing home organization. Four three-hour observations in each of three facilities, representing privately-held and not-for-profit organizations in urban, suburban, and rural locations yielded insights into the routine, recruitment, training, teamwork, activities, leadership, role-modeling, mentoring, staff and resident satisfaction, weekend staffing and activities, bureaucratic structure, and sharing of best practices. Discussion of each of these issues may provide a starting point for all those facilities that are contemplating significant culture change. If the objective is to have facilities truly embrace a new set of values, then the change begins with the owners and administrators of nursing homes who need to focus on building new relationships with all the stakeholders. In-depth interviews of organization members and six chief executive officers in long-term care in the Western New York area culminated the study with the development of a fifty-question survey for decision makers.

Improving Hospital Performance: Culture Change Is Not the Answer

Abstract: An inappropriate culture is often presented as the reason why hospitals throughout the world have been unable to achieve best practice. Many have concluded that the organizational culture of hospitals limits the ability of these organizations to improve performance, particularly in relation to improving quality and safety. Establishment of a "better" culture is often presented as the resolution to quality, safety, financial and productivity issues in hospitals. Our research indicates that certain management conditions are required before culture change can be contemplated. This paper suggests that we have underestimated the importance of people management in improving practice within hospitals, with the three most important aspects being the development of teamwork, performance management and sophisticated training. We present evidence of the potential contribution good people management can make to high performance, and argue that better people management is a cause, not an outcome, of cultural change.

Organisational Change and Discourse: Hegemony, Resistance and Reconstitution

Abstract: The article considers the discourse surrounding culture change programmes in two British manufacturing organisations. The analysis of organisational discourse is pursued as a means of revealing the indeterminacy of organisational experiences and the problems inherent to the introduction of generic change approaches. An examination of the discourse used in the case companies shows an intricate set of structural, cultural, economic and personal pressures passing through the change concepts.

Cultural revitalization movements in organization change management

Abstract: The 1992 study of Kotter and Heskett on successful corporate culture change reveals one of the most empirically convincing models for organization change management. The procedure demonstrated by Kotter and Heskett's research fits the pattern and dynamics of a universal social phenomenon of culture change defined in 1956 by Wallace as revitalization. Applying the psychodynamics of revitalization explains how this procedure of corporate culture change in distressed organizational cultures creates an adaptable culture of new behavioral norms. The driving force of this procedure is the transference of dependency wishes among anxious organization members onto their perceived powerful organization leader. An understanding of how and why organizational cultures change according to this model can guide the values and behavior of organizational leaders in successfully managing organizational change.

Cultural Influence on the Implementation of Lessons Learned in Project Management

Abstract: :To investigate NASA's process for culture change, we conducted research and analysis of the data in the NASA Lessons Learned Information System (LLIS) from a cultural perspective, and conducted extensive collaborative discussions with NASA personnel and a Technical Advisory Board (TAB) convened for this project. The results of this study indicate that culture change in order to implement lessons learned processes and achieve their benefits has been evolutionary and variable across NASA centers. Our interactions with and analysis of the JPL Lessons Learned Committee indicate that JPL has successfully implemented a comprehensive lessons learned process addressing technical and cultural change challenges. The process should be of interest to the project management community at large. Based on the results of this effort, we conclude that lessons-learned culture change is possible and underway at NASA. Executive-level, systems-based lessons learned guidance and support is critical for NASA-wide implem...

Utilising a safety culture management approach in the Australian construction industry

Abstract: New innovations in health and safety management are required to further reduce injuries and fatalities in the Australian construction industry Current approaches to safety management emphasise hazard identification and reduction, but fail to fully account for a worker’s motivation to behave safely In order to understand and improve safety motivation, many researchers and practitioners are utilising the construct of safety culture Unfortunately, the transitory nature of work within the industry frequently hinders an organisation’s attempts to develop and maintain a good safety culture Hence, a framework is needed to facilitate the formation of a good safety culture across the construction industry as a whole A proposal is advanced as to how culture change can be facilitated by using a system of competencies developed and applied to the key safety roles within the industry This set of nationally standardised and accepted competencies would specifically state what is required by those who have safety critical roles, to positively influence construction site safety culture By encouraging organisations to integrate these competencies into their existing HRM processes such as selection, training and performance management, it should be possible to (1) educate the industry as to best practice in safety culture management, (2) provide a safety culture management system that allows a good safety culture to be built quickly on new projects, (3) ensure a standard level of competency within the workforce to allow for ease of movement of workers between sites and contractors, and (4) improve safety culture and in turn potentially improve safety on-site

Towards Environmental Innovation — A Policy Synthesis

Abstract: The papers in this book seek to bring together two research communities; namely, those who write from the "innovation systems" perspective, looking at the patterns and dynamics of technological innovation within different national and international contexts and those who are engaged in the specific study of "environmental innovation", looking at the processes whereby new products and processes can be developed which take account of ecological impacts and resource usage. The aim of the book is to see whether new insights could be gained regarding appropriate policies for better environmental innovation and what the possibilities and limitations for policy are when the two perspectives collide and combine. Studies of environmental innovation over the last ten years have concentrated on a few key issues. Firstly, they have been interested in investigating what stimulates companies to come up with 'green(er)' innovations in either the products they sell or the processes they use to make or distribute them. The main focus has been on whether government-imposed regulations have been and should continue to be a main stimulus for such innovations. The answer has been clear regulation is the most important stimulus to innovation, though other factors are also influential in some circumstances, such as changes in market demand, effects of supply chain pressures (which is a form of inter-organisational demand change) and culture change within the innovating organisation or the campaigning of NGOs. There has also been much work on the institutional contexts of pollution abatement, the adoption of clean(er) technologies and the redesign of products to incorporate materials with less ecological impact. More recently, focus has begun to move towards thinking about innovation for sustainability, rather than just for the more limited aims of reduction of ecological impact of existing products and processes. If this new direction is to come up with some new policy insights, it should be able to benefit from recent work on innovation systems, which sees innovation as part of broader socio-economic processes.

Culture Change in Nursing Homes: An Ethical Perspective

Abstract: Culture change is a philosophy and a process that seeks to transform nursing homes from restrictive institutions to vibrant communities of older adults and the people who care for them. A key principle of culture change is that residents and staff will become empowered, self-determining decision makers. This ethical thread is implicit in the principles and care plans constructed by and with residents and their caregivers. Substantive improvement in clinical indicators has been attributed to culture change. However, the link between clinical outcomes (eg, reduced anxiolytic and psychotropic medication use) and empowerment has not been demonstrated. Satisfaction measures indicate that residents are more satisfied, but it is unclear if this represents greater feelings of autonomy and self-determination than were felt prior to culture change initiatives. Most health care professionals would agree that a nursing home can be the most restrictive long-term care setting. The “culture” in culture change is a community in which individuals value and respect each other and help each other, as would family members. Staff are members of the community, the family, not set apart from it. Hence, the focus of culture change is to reinvent the nursing home (NH) so that the depen

THE MEANING OF “e-”: NEOLOGISMS AS MARKERS OF CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY

Abstract: A community is known by the language it keeps, and its words chronicle the times. Every aspect of the life of a people is reflected in the words they use to talk about themselves and the world around them. As their world changes – through invention, discovery, revolution,evolution or personal transformation – so does their language. Like the growth rings of a tree, our vocabulary bears witness to our past.- John Algeo (Fifty Years Among the New Words)Algeo reveals two interesting concepts in this simple passage. First, he acknowledges the intricate relationship between language and culture. Although it is no secret that both language and culture change over time, he explains how language acts as a marker of history, reflecting back culture as it changes. Secondly, he points to vocabulary as the primary indicator for tracking this change and recognizes that new words or neologisms can be useful tools for understanding how culture is evolving. Algeo shows us that through monitoring vocabulary change, we can track cultural change. New words are constantly entering the lexicon to describe new concepts and technologies and what they mean to us. Conversely, older words continually fall out of use as they decrease in cultural significance. Considering the influence digital technology has had on society, it is not surprising then that lexicographers have found that science and technology are by far the most prolific sources of neologisms in recent times (Crystal 2002; Knowles & Elliot 1997;Van Dyke 1992; Gozzi 1990).

HR as a strategic partner: Culture change as an American Express case study

Abstract: A corporate culture is the combination of the values and characteristics that define an organization. It influences the way employees relate to each other, to customers, to shareholders, and to business partners. It drives behaviors and unites employees around a shared set of values. Companies with strong, formally articulated values that are focused on the needs of their constituencies have an important advantage over those without such values. American Express recently worked to strengthen its culture and renew its corporate values. I will focus on why this initiative was important, how we reviewed company culture and implemented culture change strategy, and what early results showed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Systemwide Deployment of Medical Team Training: Lessons Learned in the Department of Defense

Abstract: : Advancing to a culture of safety requires a systems change. Teamwork, a powerful patient safety tool, can achieve this goal. Lessons learned within the U.S. Department of Defense indicate that for teamwork initiatives to be effective, they must possess a clear blueprint defining the solid steps for building the desired culture. Such a blueprint must be clear, detailed, and self-evident. The blueprint must include training design; curriculum; tools and associated media; a well-grounded evaluation system; concrete structural and process change steps; and a systems feedback loop necessary for organizations, leaders, change teams, and staff to build upon, learn from, and course correct. Practical theories of training and change provide the framework for a systems model for team-driven change. The process of developing this new model, combined with analyzing the experience and lessons learned in team training, resulted in identifying the steps necessary for successful team-driven patient safety culture change. These steps detail the structures and processes necessary to (1) establish the vision of, and for, teams; (2) plan and prepare the environment; (3) train and implement behaviors and expectations; (4) monitor and coach to sustain behaviors; and (5) align and integrate the behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to describe these steps and the essential leadership actions for deploying a systems-guided teamwork initiative.

Processes of culture change in organisations : the contribution of an external facilitator

Abstract: 2 Introduction and Invitation 4 Introducing myself and my inquiry 4 The field of 'organisational culture' 6 An invitation to organisational change practitioners and scholars 11

Developments in public affairs in Australia

Abstract: This paper discusses the integrated public affairs model most common in Australian companies, and its rationale. It describes some key characteristics of the function, drawing on a comprehensive survey of public affairs departments in late 2003. The function has become more senior and strategic, more closely aligned to business imperatives and with stable or growing budgets. It identifies areas of increased attention for practitioners, including support for organization transformation and culture change, stakeholder relations as a line, as well as staff function, reputation management and sustainability reporting. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Co‐ordination and delegation: the core development competencies to create a competitive edge (part 1)

Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to enable the reader to understand: Herrmann's whole‐brained thinking model and its impact on language and difference; trends in development and the need for team‐based whole‐brained learning; why most culture change initiatives fail; what constitutes a core competence; and how a whole‐brained approach is required to ensure culture change, strategy development and the implementation of core competencies.Design/methodology/approach – The four thinking preferences are explained and examples provided of the use of different language for each of the four quadrants of the brain. The trends in development from left‐brained to right‐brained are set out and an example provided of how whole‐brained learning is most effective. Five generic reasons for the failure of culture change initiatives are set out. The core competence of the corporation is explained as well as how it was vital to success that each quadrant of the brain, i.e. the whole brain, is applied in an integrated way to achiev...

Financial Returns from Organizational Culture Improvement: Translating "Soft" Changes into "Hard" Dollars

Abstract: Culture change initiatives can lead to real financial returns. This presentation summarizes the results of a series of studies that demonstrate the strong relationship between constructive organizational cultures and financial performance. First we review cross-sectional studies confirming that constructive cultures are related to financial outcomes across organizations within the same industry. Then the results of longitudinal case studies show how organizational development programs have produced measurable cultural changes that, in turn, have led to improvements in bottom-line financial performance.

Relational Contracting: the Way Forward or Just a Brand Name?

Abstract: Accounts of the development of a successful construction project often stress the importance of team relationship, project environment and senior management commitment. Numbers of studies carried out in the past decades indicate there needs to be a change of culture and attitude in the construction industry. In order for a turn around in the industry, relational contracting approaches have become more popular in recent years. However, not all relational contracting projects were successful. This paper details the fundamental principles of relational contracting. It further reports findings of a research currently taking place in Australia, how effective is relational contracting in practice. The problem addressed in this research is the implementation of relational contracting: • Throughout a range of projects • With a focus on client body staff The context within which the research was undertaken is: • Empowerment, regional development and promotion of a sustainable industry • The participating organisations have experience of partnering and alliancing • Success has been proven on large projects but performance is variable • Need has been identified to examine skill sets needed for successful partnering/alliancing The practical rationale behind this research is that: • Partnering and alliancing require a change of mind set – a culture change • The Client side must change along with contracting side • A fit is required between organisation structure and organisation culture Research Rationale: The rationale behind this project has been to conduct research within participating organisations, analyse, rationalise and generalise results and then move on to produce generic deliverables and “participating organisation specific” deliverables. This paper sets out the work so far, the links between the various elements and a plan for turning the research output into industry deliverables.

Children in need teams : Service delivery and organisational climate

Abstract: This article summarises a short research and development project undertaken in one UK Social Services Department. The project focused on skills and staffing requirements in 'Children in Need' teams and the support processes necessary for such teams to work effectively. The article discusses the concepts of organisational culture and organisational climate and highlights the value of distinguishing the two and of focusing on organisational climate. This provides a means of considering specific issues in a way which is more directly and immediately amenable to management and staff influence, than can be the case with prescriptions for 'culture change'. The potential impact of changes in organisational climate on 'Children in Need'services is also discussed. Summaries of the project findings and recommendations for further development within the department are presented to illustrate the importance and value of a focus on organisational climate.

E‐learning and culture change: The Iolis story

Abstract: (2005). E‐learning and culture change: The Iolis story. The Law Teacher: Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 1-15.