- •In praise of the fourth edition
- •CONTENTS
- •FOREWORD
- •The concept of consulting
- •Purpose of the book
- •Terminology
- •Plan of the book
- •ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
- •1.1 What is consulting?
- •Box 1.1 On giving and receiving advice
- •1.2 Why are consultants used? Five generic purposes
- •Figure 1.1 Generic consulting purposes
- •Box 1.2 Define the purpose, not the problem
- •1.3 How are consultants used? Ten principal ways
- •Box 1.3 Should consultants justify management decisions?
- •1.4 The consulting process
- •Figure 1.2 Phases of the consulting process
- •1.5 Evolving concepts and scope of management consulting
- •2 THE CONSULTING INDUSTRY
- •2.1 A historical perspective
- •2.2 The current consulting scene
- •2.3 Range of services provided
- •2.4 Generalist and specialist services
- •2.5 Main types of consulting organization
- •2.6 Internal consultants
- •2.7 Management consulting and other professions
- •Figure 2.1 Professional service infrastructure
- •2.8 Management consulting, training and research
- •Box 2.1 Factors differentiating research and consulting
- •3.1 Defining expectations and roles
- •Box 3.1 What it feels like to be a buyer
- •3.2 The client and the consultant systems
- •Box 3.2 Various categories of clients within a client system
- •Box 3.3 Attributes of trusted advisers
- •3.4 Behavioural roles of the consultant
- •Box 3.4 Why process consultation must be a part of every consultation
- •3.5 Further refinement of the role concept
- •3.6 Methods of influencing the client system
- •3.7 Counselling and coaching as tools of consulting
- •Box 3.5 The ICF on coaching and consulting
- •4 CONSULTING AND CHANGE
- •4.1 Understanding the nature of change
- •Figure 4.1 Time span and level of difficulty involved for various levels of change
- •Box 4.1 Which change comes first?
- •Box 4.2 Reasons for resistance to change
- •4.2 How organizations approach change
- •Box 4.3 What is addressed in planning change?
- •Box 4.4 Ten overlapping management styles, from no participation to complete participation
- •4.3 Gaining support for change
- •4.4 Managing conflict
- •Box 4.5 How to manage conflict
- •4.5 Structural arrangements and interventions for assisting change
- •5 CONSULTING AND CULTURE
- •5.1 Understanding and respecting culture
- •Box 5.1 What do we mean by culture?
- •5.2 Levels of culture
- •Box 5.2 Cultural factors affecting management
- •Box 5.3 Japanese culture and management consulting
- •Box 5.4 Cultural values and norms in organizations
- •5.3 Facing culture in consulting assignments
- •Box 5.5 Characteristics of “high-tech” company cultures
- •6.1 Is management consulting a profession?
- •6.2 The professional approach
- •Box 6.1 The power of the professional adviser
- •Box 6.2 Is there conflict of interest? Test your value system.
- •Box 6.3 On audit and consulting
- •6.3 Professional associations and codes of conduct
- •6.4 Certification and licensing
- •Box 6.4 International model for consultant certification (CMC)
- •6.5 Legal liability and professional responsibility
- •7 ENTRY
- •7.1 Initial contacts
- •Box 7.1 What a buyer looks for
- •7.2 Preliminary problem diagnosis
- •Figure 7.1 The consultant’s approach to a management survey
- •Box 7.2 Information materials for preliminary surveys
- •7.3 Terms of reference
- •Box 7.3 Terms of reference – checklist
- •7.4 Assignment strategy and plan
- •Box 7.4 Concepts and terms used in international technical cooperation projects
- •7.5 Proposal to the client
- •7.6 The consulting contract
- •Box 7.5 Confidential information on the client organization
- •Box 7.6 What to cover in a contract – checklist
- •8 DIAGNOSIS
- •8.1 Conceptual framework of diagnosis
- •8.2 Diagnosing purposes and problems
- •Box 8.1 The focus purpose – an example
- •Box 8.2 Issues in problem identification
- •8.3 Defining necessary facts
- •8.4 Sources and ways of obtaining facts
- •Box 8.3 Principles of effective interviewing
- •8.5 Data analysis
- •Box 8.4 Cultural factors in data-gathering – some examples
- •Box 8.5 Difficulties and pitfalls of causal analysis
- •Figure 8.1 Force-field analysis
- •Figure 8.2 Various bases for comparison
- •8.6 Feedback to the client
- •9 ACTION PLANNING
- •9.1 Searching for possible solutions
- •Box 9.1 Checklist of preliminary considerations
- •Box 9.2 Variables for developing new forms of transport
- •9.2 Developing and evaluating alternatives
- •Box 9.3 Searching for an ideal solution – three checklists
- •9.3 Presenting action proposals to the client
- •10 IMPLEMENTATION
- •10.1 The consultant’s role in implementation
- •10.2 Planning and monitoring implementation
- •10.3 Training and developing client staff
- •10.4 Some tactical guidelines for introducing changes in work methods
- •Figure 10.1 Comparison of the effects on eventual performance when using individualized versus conformed initial approaches
- •Figure 10.2 Comparison of spaced practice with a continuous or massed practice approach in terms of performance
- •Figure 10.3 Generalized illustration of the high points in attention level of a captive audience
- •10.5 Maintenance and control of the new practice
- •11.1 Time for withdrawal
- •11.2 Evaluation
- •11.3 Follow-up
- •11.4 Final reporting
- •12.1 Nature and scope of consulting in corporate strategy and general management
- •12.2 Corporate strategy
- •12.3 Processes, systems and structures
- •12.4 Corporate culture and management style
- •12.5 Corporate governance
- •13.1 The developing role of information technology
- •13.2 Scope and special features of IT consulting
- •13.3 An overall model of information systems consulting
- •Figure 13.1 A model of IT consulting
- •Figure 13.2 An IT systems portfolio
- •13.4 Quality of information systems
- •13.5 The providers of IT consulting services
- •Box 13.1 Choosing an IT consultant
- •13.6 Managing an IT consulting project
- •13.7 IT consulting to small businesses
- •13.8 Future perspectives
- •14.1 Creating value
- •14.2 The basic tools
- •14.3 Working capital and liquidity management
- •14.4 Capital structure and the financial markets
- •14.5 Mergers and acquisitions
- •14.6 Finance and operations: capital investment analysis
- •14.7 Accounting systems and budgetary control
- •14.8 Financial management under inflation
- •15.1 The marketing strategy level
- •15.2 Marketing operations
- •15.3 Consulting in commercial enterprises
- •15.4 International marketing
- •15.5 Physical distribution
- •15.6 Public relations
- •16 CONSULTING IN E-BUSINESS
- •16.1 The scope of e-business consulting
- •Figure 16.1 Classification of the connected relationship
- •Box 16.1 British Telecom entering new markets
- •Box 16.2 Pricing models
- •Box 16.3 EasyRentaCar.com breaks the industry rules
- •Box 16.4 The ThomasCook.com story
- •16.4 Dot.com organizations
- •16.5 Internet research
- •17.1 Developing an operations strategy
- •Box 17.1 Performance criteria of operations
- •Box 17.2 Major types of manufacturing choice
- •17.2 The product perspective
- •Box 17.3 Central themes in ineffective and effective development projects
- •17.3 The process perspective
- •17.4 The human aspects of operations
- •18.1 The changing nature of the personnel function
- •18.2 Policies, practices and the human resource audit
- •Box 18.1 The human resource audit (data for the past 12 months)
- •18.3 Human resource planning
- •18.4 Recruitment and selection
- •18.5 Motivation and remuneration
- •18.6 Human resource development
- •18.7 Labour–management relations
- •18.8 New areas and issues
- •Box 18.2 Current issues in Japanese human resource management
- •Box 18.3 Current issues in European HR management
- •19.1 Managing in the knowledge economy
- •Figure 19.1 Knowledge: a key resource of the post-industrial area
- •19.2 Knowledge-based value creation
- •Figure 19.2 The competence ladder
- •Figure 19.3 Four modes of knowledge transformation
- •Figure 19.4 Components of intellectual capital
- •Figure 19.5 What is your strategy to manage knowledge?
- •19.3 Developing a knowledge organization
- •Figure 19.6 Implementation paths for knowledge management
- •Box 19.1 The Siemens Business Services knowledge management framework
- •20.1 Shifts in productivity concepts, factors and conditions
- •Figure 20.1 An integrated model of productivity factors
- •Figure 20.2 A results-oriented human resource development cycle
- •20.2 Productivity and performance measurement
- •Figure 20.3 The contribution of productivity to profits
- •20.3 Approaches and strategies to improve productivity
- •Figure 20.4 Kaizen building-blocks
- •Box 20.1 Green productivity practices
- •Figure 20.5 Nokia’s corporate fitness rating
- •Box 20.2 Benchmarking process
- •20.4 Designing and implementing productivity and performance improvement programmes
- •Figure 20.6 The performance improvement planning process
- •Figure 20.7 The “royal road” of productivity improvement
- •20.5 Tools and techniques for productivity improvement
- •Box 20.3 Some simple productivity tools
- •Box 20.4 Multipurpose productivity techniques
- •Box 20.5 Tools used by most successful companies
- •21.1 Understanding TQM
- •21.2 Cost of quality – quality is free
- •Figure 21.1 Typical quality cost reduction
- •Box 21.1 Cost items of non-conformance associated with internal and external failures
- •Box 21.2 The cost items of conformance
- •21.3 Principles and building-blocks of TQM
- •Figure 21.2 TQM business structures
- •21.4 Implementing TQM
- •Box 21.3 The road to TQM
- •Figure 21.3 TQM process blocks
- •21.5 Principal TQM tools
- •Box 21.4 Tools for simple tasks in quality improvement
- •Figure 21.4 Quality tools according to quality improvement steps
- •Box 21.5 Powerful tools for company-wide TQM
- •21.6 ISO 9000 as a vehicle to TQM
- •21.7 Pitfalls and problems of TQM
- •21.8 Impact on management
- •21.9 Consulting competencies for TQM
- •22.1 What is organizational transformation?
- •22.2 Preparing for transformation
- •Figure 22.1 The change-resistant organization
- •22.3 Strategies and processes of transformation
- •Figure 22.2 Linkage between transformation types and organizational conditions
- •Figure 22.3 Relationships between business performance and types of transformation
- •Box 22.1 Eight stages for transforming an organization
- •22.4 Company turnarounds
- •Box 22.2 Implementing a turnaround plan
- •22.5 Downsizing
- •22.6 Business process re-engineering (BPR)
- •22.7 Outsourcing and insourcing
- •22.8 Joint ventures for transformation
- •22.9 Mergers and acquisitions
- •Box 22.3 Restructuring through acquisitions: the case of Cisco Systems
- •22.10 Networking arrangements
- •22.11 Transforming organizational structures
- •22.12 Ownership restructuring
- •22.13 Privatization
- •22.14 Pitfalls and errors to avoid in transformation
- •23.1 The social dimension of business
- •23.2 Current concepts and trends
- •Box 23.1 International guidelines on socially responsible business
- •23.3 Consulting services
- •Box 23.2 Typology of corporate citizenship consulting
- •23.4 A strategic approach to corporate responsibility
- •Figure 23.1 The total responsibility management system
- •23.5 Consulting in specific functions and areas of business
- •23.6 Future perspectives
- •24.1 Characteristics of small enterprises
- •24.2 The role and profile of the consultant
- •24.4 Areas of special concern
- •24.5 An enabling environment
- •24.6 Innovations in small-business consulting
- •25.1 What is different about micro-enterprises?
- •Box 25.1 Consulting in the informal sector – a mini case study
- •25.3 The special skills of micro-enterprise consultants
- •Box 25.2 Private consulting services for micro-enterprises
- •26.1 The evolving role of government
- •Box 26.1 Reinventing government
- •26.2 Understanding the public sector environment
- •Figure 26.1 The public sector decision-making process
- •Box 26.2 The consultant–client relationship in support of decision-making
- •Box 26.3 “Shoulds” and “should nots” in consulting to government
- •26.3 Working with public sector clients throughout the consulting cycle
- •26.4 The service providers
- •26.5 Some current challenges
- •27.1 The management challenge of the professions
- •27.2 Managing a professional service
- •Box 27.1 Challenges in people management
- •27.3 Managing a professional business
- •Box 27.2 Leverage and profitability
- •Box 27.3 Hunters and farmers
- •27.4 Achieving excellence professionally and in business
- •28.1 The strategic approach
- •28.2 The scope of client services
- •Box 28.1 Could consultants live without fads?
- •28.3 The client base
- •28.4 Growth and expansion
- •28.5 Going international
- •28.6 Profile and image of the firm
- •Box 28.2 Five prototypes of consulting firms
- •28.7 Strategic management in practice
- •Box 28.3 Strategic audit of a consulting firm: checklist of questions
- •Box 28.4 What do we want to know about competitors?
- •Box 28.5 Environmental factors affecting strategy
- •29.1 The marketing approach in consulting
- •Box 29.1 Marketing of consulting: seven fundamental principles
- •29.2 A client’s perspective
- •29.3 Techniques for marketing the consulting firm
- •Box 29.2 Criteria for selecting consultants
- •Box 29.3 Branding – the new myth of marketing?
- •29.4 Techniques for marketing consulting assignments
- •29.5 Marketing to existing clients
- •Box 29.4 The cost of marketing efforts: an example
- •29.6 Managing the marketing process
- •Box 29.5 Information about clients
- •30 COSTS AND FEES
- •30.1 Income-generating activities
- •Table 30.1 Chargeable time
- •30.2 Costing chargeable services
- •30.3 Marketing-policy considerations
- •30.4 Principal fee-setting methods
- •30.5 Fair play in fee-setting and billing
- •30.6 Towards value billing
- •30.7 Costing and pricing an assignment
- •30.8 Billing clients and collecting fees
- •Box 30.1 Information to be provided in a bill
- •31 ASSIGNMENT MANAGEMENT
- •31.1 Structuring and scheduling an assignment
- •31.2 Preparing for an assignment
- •Box 31.1 Checklist of points for briefing
- •31.3 Managing assignment execution
- •31.4 Controlling costs and budgets
- •31.5 Assignment records and reports
- •Figure 31.1 Notification of assignment
- •Box 31.2 Assignment reference report – a checklist
- •31.6 Closing an assignment
- •32.1 What is quality management in consulting?
- •Box 32.1 Primary stakeholders’ needs
- •Box 32.2 Responsibility for quality
- •32.2 Key elements of a quality assurance programme
- •Box 32.3 Introducing a quality assurance programme
- •Box 32.4 Assuring quality during assignments
- •32.3 Quality certification
- •32.4 Sustaining quality
- •33.1 Operating workplan and budget
- •Box 33.1 Ways of improving efficiency and raising profits
- •Table 33.2 Typical structure of expenses and income
- •33.2 Performance monitoring
- •Box 33.2 Monthly controls: a checklist
- •Figure 33.1 Expanded profit model for consulting firms
- •33.3 Bookkeeping and accounting
- •34.1 Drivers for knowledge management in consulting
- •34.2 Factors inherent in the consulting process
- •34.3 A knowledge management programme
- •34.4 Sharing knowledge with clients
- •Box 34.1 Checklist for applying knowledge management in a small or medium-sized consulting firm
- •35.1 Legal forms of business
- •35.2 Management and operations structure
- •Figure 35.1 Possible organizational structure of a consulting company
- •Figure 35.2 Professional core of a consulting unit
- •35.3 IT support and outsourcing
- •35.4 Office facilities
- •36.1 Personal characteristics of consultants
- •36.2 Recruitment and selection
- •Box 36.1 Qualities of a consultant
- •36.3 Career development
- •Box 36.2 Career structure in a consulting firm
- •36.4 Compensation policies and practices
- •Box 36.3 Criteria for partners’ compensation
- •Box 36.4 Ideas for improving compensation policies
- •37.1 What should consultants learn?
- •Box 37.1 Areas of consultant knowledge and skills
- •37.2 Training of new consultants
- •Figure 37.1 Consultant development matrix
- •37.3 Training methods
- •Box 37.2 Training in process consulting
- •37.4 Further training and development of consultants
- •37.5 Motivation for consultant development
- •37.6 Learning options available to sole practitioners
- •38 PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
- •38.1 Your market
- •Box 38.1 Change in the consulting business
- •38.2 Your profession
- •38.3 Your self-development
- •38.4 Conclusion
- •APPENDICES
- •4 TERMS OF A CONSULTING CONTRACT
- •5 CONSULTING AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- •7 WRITING REPORTS
- •SUBJECT INDEX
Consulting and culture
To be culture-sensitive, a management consultant does not have to be a sociologist or an anthropologist. Some knowledge of culture can be gained by reading about and discussing cultural issues with other people. Genuine interest in the meaning of culture and in different cultures provides a good background for understanding and correctly interpreting a particular cultural context.
However, this is only the first step. Like any other person, a consultant who has never lived and operated in a culture different from his own will find it difficult to perceive and understand the full meaning and power of another culture, and the role of various factors that may be unknown in his own culture. Only people who have been in contact with a different culture for some time can understand not only that culture but also their own. Social and working contacts with other cultures provide us with a mirror in which we see our own culture.
Being culture-tolerant
Culture is very important to people. Their preference for fundamental cultural values is emotional, not rational. They may even regard certain social norms and traditions as eternal and sacrosanct. In contrast, a management consultant may regard the same norms as anachronistic and irrational. There may be a grain of truth in the consultant’s view, since cultures may well include values that, for instance, perpetuate social inequalities or inhibit development. Nevertheless, cultures reflect centuries of society’s experience and help people to cope with life. Respect for different cultures and tolerance of their values and beliefs are therefore essential qualities of a good consultant.
In their attitude to other cultures, consultants are inevitably strongly influenced by their own culture. Tolerance towards other cultures, religions and ethnic groups is a cultural characteristic, too: some cultures are highly tolerant of different cultural values, while others are less so. A consultant who has been moulded by a relatively intolerant cultural environment should be particularly cautious when working in other cultures.
5.2Levels of culture
National culture
The term “national culture” is used to define the values, beliefs, behavioural norms, habits and traditions that characterize human society in a particular country. In an ethnically and linguistically homogeneous country, there may be one national culture, but in many countries there are several distinct cultures. The question is, do these cultures mix with each other, cohabit peacefully and tolerate each other, or do they make coexistence within one country and the functioning of the economy difficult?
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Box 5.2 Cultural factors affecting management
The following aspects of national cultures tend to be reflected in management structures and practices:
●the distribution of social roles and the status assigned to them;
●the criteria of success and achievement in economic and social life;
●respect for age and seniority;
●the role of traditional authorities and community leaders;
●democratic versus autocratic traditions;
●individualism versus collectivism;
●spiritual versus material values;
●responsibility and loyalty to family, community and ethnic group;
●socialization and communication patterns;
●the acceptability and the form of feedback, appraisal and criticism;
●religion, its importance in social life and its impact on economic activity;
●attitudes to other cultures, religions, ethnic groups, minorities;
●attitudes to social, technological and other changes;
●the conception of time.
An important cultural phenomenon is the existence of minorities and their relationship to other ethnic groups within society. Often minorities make a special effort to preserve their particular culture in order to protect their identity and ensure survival within an environment where a majority culture dominates and tends to alter or even oppress minority cultures. Certain minorities possess attitudes, skills, historical experience and material means that have helped them to be extremely successful in business. The implications of this are well known in many countries. Thus, while sensitivity to cultural differences is essential in international consulting, a consultant operating within his or her own country also needs to be aware of cultural differences.
Another increasingly important factor is the growing mobility of people between countries and cultures. In many countries the workforce is international and so may be the management team in the client company. People coming from other cultures bring their cultural values and habits with them. They are also influenced by the culture of their country of residence, and the result is an interesting and sometimes peculiar mix.
We would be hard pressed to review here all the factors embraced by the concept of national (or local) culture. It would be even more difficult to point to all the differences between cultures of which a consultant needs to be aware because they may be related to the work assignment. The spectrum of cultural values, norms and rituals can be extremely wide and can concern any aspect of human, economic and social life. Some cultural factors affecting management are listed in box 5.2.
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Language plays a prominent role in culture. Cultural concepts are described in words, the meaning of many words is culture-bound and language is a vehicle for the functioning and interaction of cultures. Non-verbal expressions and gestures are also culture-bound and may be very important. Non-verbal communication is more difficult to control consciously than verbal communication and tends therefore to be more trustworthy. Some cultures (e.g. North American) attach more importance to what is said, while in other cultures (e.g. Asian) it is essential to understand non-verbal messages.
National cultures are unique, but they are not totally different and closed systems. There are similarities between cultures for reasons such as common language or religion. Long-term interaction of cultures (e.g. between neighbouring countries or during domination of one country by another) also influences culture. In some developing countries, the social groups most exposed to the culture of the former colonial power (e.g. administrators, intellectuals and the business community) tended to adopt some of its values and behavioural patterns. Thus, strong influences of French culture can be observed in French-speaking Africa, while influences of Dutch culture are still present in Indonesia. Cultural changes occur in many countries under the influence of growing material wealth, better general education, expansion of contacts with different cultures and other factors.
There is a growing interest in exploring the role played by national culture in the economic performance and development of particular countries. For many decades, North American culture has been widely regarded as a major factor in the dynamism, competitiveness and achievement of American businesses. At the present time, managers all over the world are keen to get a deeper insight into Japanese national culture (box 5.3).
Professional culture
Professional culture is one shared by individuals who belong to the same profession, e.g. lawyers, medical doctors, civil engineers or accountants. It is very much related to job content and to the role that the members of the profession play in society. It is influenced by professional education and training and tends to exhibit common characteristics across organizational and national boundaries. One of the objectives of professional associations and societies is to preserve and develop professional culture. Ethical values promoted by professional associations tend to become a part of this culture.
The understanding of professional culture may help a management consultant to establish constructive relations with clients and other professionals in foreign countries. It is useful to be informed about the background of managers and staff in a client organization and know, for example, from which universities they graduated. Some members of a client organization (e.g. accountants, internal consultants, training managers) may share common professional values with the consultant: this may be of particular help in penetrating the problems of local culture.
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Box 5.3 Japanese culture and management consulting
Japanese culture, which is a historical growth of indigenous culture with the medieval influence of Chinese culture and the modern influence of Western culture, notably of Western European nations after the Meiji Restoration and American culture after the Second World War, has created a unique approach to management. Two of its key characteristics have strongly influenced business management in Japan.
Group orientation. The values, attitudes and behaviour of managers and workers are oriented towards the interest of the group to which they belong. The basic principle is that the collective interest of the group must be served best. In the Japanese context, the nation and the company are the two groups with which both managers and employees identify most closely.
Long-term orientation. Japanese managers and workers view their work, as well as their life in general, from a long-term perspective and act accordingly. Time is money to them, too, primarily in the sense that the more time is spent on a plan for an activity, the greater the result of its implementation is likely to be. Typically, a Japanese employee makes work decisions in the expectation of a lifetime career with the organization where he or she is employed.
Only those management techniques – be they for decision-making, problemsolving, leadership, motivation, communication, negotiation or change – that match these two characteristics of Japanese culture have been successfully transferred from Western culture. It was these two characteristics that acted as especially strong obstacles to the change that Japanese managers and employees needed to espouse to meet the challenges of the new world order which emerged in the 1990s.
The enormous changes generated by the new economy, characterized by globalization, the telecommunications revolution and deregulation, demand new qualities that have not previously been prominent in Japanese values and practices, specifically flexibility, speed, creativity and individual initiative. This is requiring fundamental cultural change, going far beyond mere cultural adaptation. The development has generated serious problems, collectively called “the lost decade”, which could not be addressed by Japanese managers and workers in the traditional way. Going outside their own companies, they are increasingly calling for assistance from consultants, who as outsiders have conventionally been retained primarily for their operational expertise such as production control and sales management. In the current situation, they are being retained to help clients solve critical structural and strategic issues, enabling them to accomplish transformation to the new economy.
A universal challenge for management consultants across Japan now is to facilitate and accelerate the transformation not only technically but also culturally. They must do this by fostering the development of those values, attitudes and behaviour that, while still rooted in the history of the nation, assimilate the relevant elements of the best-practice models of today’s world.
Author: Eiji Mizutani.
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Organizational culture
Organizations, too, tend to have their specific culture: a mix of values, attitudes, norms, habits, traditions, behaviours and rituals that, in their totality, are unique to the given organization (box 5.4). Some organizations are well aware of their culture and regard it as a powerful strategic tool, used to orient all units and individuals towards common goals, mobilize employee initiative, ensure loyalty and facilitate communication. They aim at creating a culture of their own and making sure that all employees understand it and adhere to it.2
Organizational cultures, or micro-cultures, reflect national culture first of all. But they also include other values and norms. Research has provided some insight into the organizational cultures of leading corporations in various countries. It has shown that many companies that have been outstanding performers over a long time exhibit a strong corporate culture. In many multinational corporations, the parent company’s culture has considerable bearing on the cultural norms and behaviour of subsidiaries in other countries. This leads to an interesting mix of cultures in the case of foreign subsidiaries, where the influence of local national culture is combined with that of the parent company’s culture. The strong personalities of the founders and of certain top managers also influence organizational culture even in very large and complex corporations.
The hidden dimensions of organizational culture tend to surface during company mergers and takeovers, which in many cases fail to produce expected results often because management is unable to harmonize the different cultures.
Many organizations develop a specialized vocabulary and a wide range of symbols and rituals that staff members have to use and respect to avoid being regarded as outsiders by their colleagues.
A management consultant needs to learn about the organizational culture as early as possible in the assignment if he or she does not want to be perceived as a stranger who does not know how things are normally done in the client organization and whose presence is therefore an irritation. But there is another much more important reason for this: the client organization’s culture may be one of the causes, or even the principal cause, of the problems for which the consultant was brought in. Even if changes in organizational culture are not explicitly stated among the objectives of the assignment, the consultant may have to deal with them and recommend changes.
Changing organizational culture may be a difficult and painful exercise, especially if it is necessary to change the values of the founders and leaders, and habits and practices that have become collective and have been widely established. Changes in leadership and management styles, and re-education, may be required. However, it has been pointed out that “organizational cultures reside at a more superficial level of programming than the things learned previously in the family and at school”.3 Changing organizational culture is a task of top management, but the consultant’s catalytic input can be essential.
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