Culture Change - is it sustainable

Indeed many, including some of the most successful companies, are in a constant state of change, and even those not directly exposed to the demands of the global market ignore this trend at their peril.

Yet, while these new ways of operating have demonstrably improved many a bottom line, as well as increasing shareholder value and economic performance generally, the jury is still out on the sustainability of the newly-nurtured cultures that underpin them.

There is a nagging doubt that the attitudes and forms of behaviour that mark this new culture may not be sufficiently robust to survive a major change in circumstances.

Indeed, there is every chance that the relentless demands of the global market and harshness of economic rationalism could create a backlash not unlike that experienced by crash dieters whose fond memories of things sweet and gooey prove too compelling once the pressure has been removed.

Old habits die hard, and replacing them with better ones can be even more difficult, especially when the merit of the "the new way" is far from certain to those who are carrying the can. That is, the ordinary employee who thinks of him and herself as working harder for less pay and with little or no job security.

Workers’ perceptions of themselves as the meat in the sandwich does not augur well for the sustainability of the new workplace cultures. Nor does the fact that such sentiments are increasingly finding a political voice, and on a global scale.

The recent World Economic Forum held in Switzerland was concerned as much with putting a human face on globalisation and toning down its enforcer, economic rationalism, as it was about the threat it potentially poses to the world’s economy and financial system.

Indeed the fears expressed by political leaders on that occasion were so grave as to suggest that some form of large-scale, or even global, effort to curtail the market’s omnipotence may not be a question of whether it will happen, but when.

The reverberations of any such move, if or when it eventuates, would severely test the veracity of newly-fostered workplace cultures.

But even in the momentary absence of such monumental structural changes, it is doubtful that the head-on approach being used by many companies to manage cultural and organisational change is either appropriate or effective in the longer term.

The head-on change management approach is one where management pursues across-the-board change with the overtly stated objective of increasing shareholder value.

The question managers must ask themselves is, are employees sufficiently motivated by the need to, as they will see it, line investors’ pockets?

Is it wise, ie good management, to preach the market gospel when less confronting messages and initiatives achieve results that are not only better, but far more sustainable?

The alternative to the head-on change management approach, is the creation of a cornerstone, or catalyst, around which broadly-based cultural change can be built.

Importantly, such catalysts are not solely or overtly concerned with the ultimate, market-driven mores, but instead must also be a demonstrable expression of management’s and the board’s interest in, and concern for, their employees.

There are many ways in which such concern can be demonstrated. But ultimately they must include the physical, and indeed mental and emotional well-being of employees. In other words, the very building blocks that are at the heart of any modern occupational health and safety program.

I believe that OH&S is an ideal vehicle for cultural change because through it employees have an opportunity to reclaim some of the esteem and self-confidence they have lost over recent times because of the emphasis on the market and shareholder expectations. That attitude, I have no doubt, is not even obviated by the fact that a growing number of employees today also own shares in their employers’ enterprise.

The use of a change catalyst, such as OH&S, may not entirely replace coercion as a motivating force for change. However having removed it from centre stage, it puts in place a far more acceptable and ultimately sustainable approach to change management.

Dick Carter is chairman of OH&S consultants ZEAL Consulting which specialises at driving cultural change through its health and safety management approach.