Strategies for Cultural Change

Strategies for Cultural Change develops a conceptual framework for thinking about cultural change. Starting with a discussion of the vocabulary (the concepts) of cultural change, the book moves on to the grammar (the thinking structures), and finally the ''oral'' practice (the applications) of cultural change in the organizational setting. Four main questions are addressed: Why change culture? Is planned cultural change possible? What kind of cultural change is envisaged? How does cultural change occur? The book contains 14 chapters organized into two parts. Part One examines the different types of cultural change strategy in some depth. ''Developmental'' and ''transformational'' strategies are then brought together into a single conceptual framework for cultural change. Part Two shifts from strategy to implementation; from thinking frameworks to frameworks for action. It begins by surveying current practice and examines the various, often strikingly different, ways in which people seek to effect cultural change in their organizations. Accounts are presented based both on the author's own first-hand experiences of working with private and public sector companies on cultural change programs, and on an extensive review of the available literature.