Organizations - Culture & Change Management

I really enjoyed reading chapter 3 in Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense, “Is work fundamentally different from the rest of life and should it be?” written by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton. The authors defined the dimensions of why work should be separate from the rest of life, and also why integrating work with the rest of life gives some benefits. Pfeffer and Sutton examined both benefits and drawbacks of these dimensions with evidence-based examples. One of the insights that I think is crucial in management is Love – Maybe Even Friendship Is a Dirty Word. According to Pfeffer and Sutton (2006), since many people spend lots of time in close proximity at work, relationships often develop. However, many companies have policies forbidding dating among coworkers. The companies hope to avoid legal liability from sexual harassment claims, charges of nepotism and favoritism, and the intrusion of workplace gossip (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2006, p. 64). In contrast, some companies, such as Southwest Airlines, encourage people to embrace and build relationships, including friendships and family intersections, in the workplace. Southwest believes that it is easier to achieve coordination through informal relationships. Pfeffer and Sutton examine both advantages and disadvantages of this issue. It is like a double-edged sword. From my dad’s experience in his own business, one of his employees who worked in another province dated another employee, who worked in accounting, in the office based in Bangkok. They conspired to cheat my dad’s company. I do not think that I need to challenge implicitly this assumption of the concept since the authors who wrote this concept have a strong argument and scientifically evidence-based examples to support the insight. I wonder what you guys think about this issue? Or have you ever heard about this kind of issue in your workplace?

I also found a set of eight questions to consider before launching a major organizational change in chapter 7, "Change or Die," to be important in change management. The set of questions consists of the big eight questions: 

• Is the practice better than what you are doing right now?
• Is the change really worth the time, disruption, and money?
• Is it best to make only symbolic changes instead of core changes?
• Is doing the change good for you, but bad for the company?
• Do you have enough power to make the change happen?
• Are people already overwhelmed by too many changes? 
• Will people be able to learn and update as the change unfolds?
• Will you be able to pull the plug?  (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2006, p. 167).

These questions can help executives, employees, analysts, academics, and business reporters to shape and scan which changes are worth making, delaying, or avoiding (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2006, p. 166-167). These questions should be applied in my internship workplace’s change management since my boss has many ideas in his mind to develop his company, such as the HACCP in food safety and establishing a new retail outlet without considering data base demographics. I wonder what could help executives, employees, analysts, academics, and business reporters to decrease their bias and answer honestly these eight questions. I mean, it is quite difficult for people to avoid taking side with themselves.

A Good Way to Change a Corporate Culture, by Peter Bregman
This recommendation is evidence-based. Bregman’s argument is based on coherent scientific reasoning of the study, which was conducted by the University of Illinois researcher Leann Lipps Birch. Birch conducted a series of experiments on children to see what would get them to eat vegetables they disliked. Birch found one thing that worked predictably. She put a child who didn’t like peas at a table with several other children who did. Within a meal or two, the pea-hater was eating peas like the pea-lovers. This was called peer pressure. Bregman adapted this study to use as the recommendation for one head of the firm, who wanted to change an organizational culture.

I have taken a lot from this session. I have learned a foundation of change management, culture in organization, and national culture. I found the most rewarding lessons from this session to be why work should be separate from the rest of life, and also why integrating work with the rest of life gives some benefits, from chapter 3 in Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense. People cannot predict which one will succeed or fail unless they experience it and/or use scientific evidence to support their perspectives. Since human beings are the biggest resource of any organization, I am looking forward, with interest, to learn the next session's materials.