3.1

Reading Reactions Week 3.1

The article “Changing an Organization’s Culture, Without Resistance or Blame” by DiDonato and Gill discusses how to successfully change organizational culture. According to the authors, one greatest challenge an organization can face is changing employees’ behaviors – getting them to put the long-term interests of the organization first or encouraging them to collaborate. Several organizations, including Lear Corporation, have faced challenges in implementing behavior-change initiatives.

After going into bankruptcy during the Great Recession, Lear decided to introduce a new leadership model for the upper- and middle-level managers. The goal was to make the company’s success sustainable. To make the implementation successful, the company took a four-phase approach that focused on awareness, learning, practice, and accountability (DiDonato and Gill, 2015). To build awareness for the change initiative, the company invested in publicity, including framed posters and even commissioning a sculpture for the headquarters lobby. In the learning stage, the organization started by assessing the managers to determine the various strengths they needed to build upon, as well as, areas they needed to get better (DiDonato & Gill, 2015). After the assessment, the managers attended a retreat where senior management talked about the key behaviors in detail. Also, managers were guided through online materials, focusing on videos presenting bad and good behaviors. In the practice stage, managers were allowed to practice the new behavior. And in the last stage, which is accountability, the organization assessed each manager after six months of implementation. Executives started to consider assessment results in the promotion and other human resource aspects.

References

DiDonato, T., & Gill, N. (2015). Changing an Organization’s Culture, Without Resistance or Blame. Harvard Business Review.