View the pictures of a chapter below and answer the review questions in the last picture.

CHAPTER 5 People Behaviors and Organizational Culture for Change and Sustainability This chapter discusses values, attitudes, personalities, and perceptions of individuals, and how these determinants affect individuals' responses toward organizational change. It also discusses the concept and the impor- tance of organizational culture, and how organizational culture affects a change process. Stakeholder engagement, organizational culture theories, and human resource management theories and practices would be pow- erful tools to help organizations address employees' negative response to change. People's Values, Attitudes, Personalities, and Perceptions Individuals have their own set of values, attitudes, personality, and per- ceptions toward change and sustainability.? If the majority of the stake- holders share the same values, attitudes, and perceptions toward a green s reserved. business, it is easier for leaders and change agents to manage the change for sustainability process. So, what are values, attitudes, personality, and perceptions? Values refer to abstract ideas or steady evaluation beliefs that steer per- sonal thinking, preferences, and courses of action. Some of the popular work-related values are respect for others, respect personal choice, free- dom and privacy, recognition for competence and accomplishments, par- ticipation at work, work commitment, a strong sense of responsibility, Copyright @ 201 taking pride in work, preference for work-life balance, financial and job security, a high level of self-development, career development, and being84 CHANGE MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABILITY substantive approach toward the expansion of better understanding and effective ways of solving many business and environmental issues, include ing environmental reporting, designing systems that can adapt to changes in the surroundings, responses to government regulations regarding to green tax, carbon tax, and so on." Effective implementation of the changes would result in improving the employer-employee relationship quality, job motivation, and role auton- omy. Together with these key features, trust and cooperation between management and employees, and among stakeholders would further help the organization in cost saving, addressing risks associated with change, as well as in meeting future contingencies effectively. Besides, changes also entail both financial and nonfinancial impacts on the organization, such as customer satisfaction, trust and reliability, brand reputation, which can become either competitive advantage or disadvantage to the organization in today's competitive marketplace.6 Conclusion Individuals do have different values and personalities that produce differ- ent attitudes and perceptions toward change initiatives. There is no doubt that some employees are against any changes, no matter whether change is for their benefit or not, whereas others support or resist change based on the responses of the majority of the employees. However, organiza- tional culture certainly plays a key role in shaping the way change is man- aged in an organization. Organizational culture eventually stays put for some time, and maintained collectively by most of the members of an organization. According to Bate et al. and Burke, it is one of the deter- minants influencing the success or failure of a change initiative, which, in turn, affects the change outcome.676 It does not mean that organiza- tional culture cannot be modified or shifted, but it requires special efforts of leaders, change agents, and other stakeholders as well. Change agendas can be ruined by resisting forces that are rooted in the existing organizational culture. Thus, leaders and change agents should have a comprehensive understanding of how cultural dynamics influence and are influenced by attempts to carry out organizational change.WHEN-WN PEOPLE BEHAVIORS AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 35 Review Questions . Dene individuals' values, attitudes, personalities, and perceptions. . How do individuals\" perceptions aect a change process? . What is organizational culture? . How can organizational culture facilitate organizational change? . In which conditions that organizational culture is considered a bar rier to organizational change? . Why should leaders and change agents engage employees in a change process? . How can change in people and organizational culture help organiza tions to achieve environmental sustainability? 76 CHANGE MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABILITY health conscious." Some values regarding sustainability include saving water, electricity, and resources, a preference for adopting green technol- ogy, green and sustainable consumption, and paperless systems, respect for nature, and shared responsibility in environmental protection. Yet, Liu explained that "individualistic and materialistic values" are some causes of unsustainability. Attitudes are defined as predispositions to respond to a situation in a certain way. Attitudes refer to the assessment of a particular item, object, quality, or behavior." They are usually the mirror of values." For example, if a manager in an organization considers energy conservation is a "good" value, he or she would have positive attitudes toward any suggestions for saving energy consumption. Attitudes are usually expressed as "like" or "dislike" for certain people or objects. There are three components of attitudes, namely the cognitive component (beliefs), the affective compo- nent (feelings), and the behavioral component (intentions)." In terms of change for sustainability, stakeholders may negatively or positively express their beliefs and feelings toward a change intervention, which can con- tribute to sustaining corporate business and protect the natural environ- ment. Such beliefs and feelings will affect their intentions on what and how to respond to organizational change and a change process. Personality is defined as an individual's lasting paradigm of behaviors, thoughts, and emotions." Personality makes individuals respond differ- ently to the same context and same circumstance. Similarly to attitudes, if an employee has a positive personality, he or she would not respond negatively to a change intervention without a valid reason, especially when the change aims to protect the environment. rights reserved. Perception refers to the process through which receivers will select what information to be received, then organize and interpret it from their own perspective in the given environment." For example, employees may have perception of working in a safe and healthy environment where the level of greenhouse gas emission is low." However, a lot of factors affect an individ ual's perception, such as stereotypes, halo effects, and selective perceptions. . Stereotypes-People have the tendency to generalize or make Copyright @ 2014. assumptions regarding the personalities of all members of aPEOPLE BEHAVIORS AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 77 group, based on the image of a few members or an inaccurate image about what group members are like. 15.16 For example, if employees generalize that all managers only protect the orga- nization's interest and their own interest, any suggestions for change by a manager will not elicit a positive response from these employees. . Halo effects-People may also have the tendency to transfer goodwill or positive feelings about one person (e.g., humor- ous, pleasing appearance, caring) to another. " . Selective perception-People may categorize and interpret only selective information. " Thus, during the change process, information may be disseminated to employees, but some of them may only want to receive selective information, which pertains to themselves or their divisions. . If change agents understand the concepts, they would select proper channels of communication to disseminate the information about change to members in a more persuasive manner. Organizational Culture and Change Organizational Culture Organizational culture is defined as "a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations."19 It also refers to the shared patterns of mindsets, beliefs, and behaviors of the majority in an organization.2 Organizational culture can be shaped by top management and founders, and then it can be self-reinforced over time." Many authors explain that culture is a type of glue that can socially tie members in an organization together since culture, a socially constructed variable, affects the way people think, feel, and do. Thus, Copyright @ 2014. Business Expert Press. Al rights reserved. organizational culture can influence individual performance, which, in turn, affects the organization's performance.2223.24.25.26 However, organi- zational culture is long-lasting and slow to adapt to change. Therefore, change agents are required to have different skill sets to incrementally alter organizational culture in a given time frame.78 CHANGE MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABILITY Organizational Culture and Change This section discusses how organizational culture affects a change process in an organization. In change management for sustainability, organizational culture has been considered one of the fundamental determinants of success or failure of a change process. 25,29 The reason is that changes cannot be fully implemented if members of the organiza- tion do not want to shift their values and beliefs toward a green business model.30.31.32 Basically, organizations consist of groups of people who have to work with one another in a given context, that is the organization with limited resources. Human nature is very complex and evolves, which affects the social binding system in the organization.3 Employees in the organization undoubtedly play a very vital role but their nature, per- sonal aspirations, behavior, and interactions more or less influence the organizational culture. Unlike bringing changes in technologies or mak- ing some improvements in the management systems, transformation of organizational culture, including the norms, beliefs, and values, is a tedi- ous and challenging task." In other words, the change process is less likely to affect the organizational culture, which is deep rooted in the organization, if change agents and leaders cannot influence employees' mindsets and behaviors. A simple, less bureaucratic, and less hierarchical authority in the organizational structure and culture is very much effective for the flow of information and feedback about the changes. Apparently, interaction among various groups of stakeholders, such as managers, employees, sup- pliers, and customers of the organization is very important for achieving the common goals. Finally, one of the most desirable outcomes of any change interventions is employee's improved performance. This is one of the measures of the success or failure of a change process. It is also very important for boosting up the morale of employees for the overall better- ment of the organization.* Cultural Barriers and Change Copyright @ 201 Apparently, there are some sorts of cultural barriers within an organiza- tion that prevent innovations to occur at the corporate level. Leaders andPEOPLE BEHAVIORS AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 79 change agents must work toward overcoming such hindrances in order to achieve the shared vision and the core values of the organization.7 Human nature and interaction among groups are very complex, and it forms the basic unit of the organizational culture. Undoubtedly, people at all levels of organizations possess some sort of cynical attitude toward the intention of organizational leaders, especially when there is an atmos- phere of low trust in the organization. 3839 It is very difficult to obtain the loyalty, commitment, and honesty of employees unless there would be an exchange or a promise for security." Importantly, communication plays the key role in the establishment of trust and in gaining support from multilevel stakeholders. However, unexpected change intervention is responsible for role ambiguities. It sometimes affects the democratic decision making and possibly not accepted by all employees at various levels simultaneously who are threatened of loss of control or power." When a decision is made, some groups of stakeholders are better off, and other groups may be disadvantageous. It is also possible when there would be certain efforts to change technologies. There is a form of resistance by those people who are used to undertaking the traditional modes for production methods. Although this strategy would be effective in cost savings and facilitate socioeconomic benefits in the organization, not all employees are enthu- siastic with such changes if they are not well equipped with new skills and new knowledge. $2 A vague performance evaluation system in the organization is also one of barriers to a smooth assimilation of changes in the organization. Performance parameters are required to be well stated focusing on the employee performance criteria, incentive, and reward systems, which influence the behaviors of the employee. However, zero sum reward allo- cation practices may lower down the morale of the employees. Therefore, leaders and change agents should incorporate change in different parts of Copyright @ 2014. Business Expert Press. All rights reserved. the whole organization, for example, structures, systems, policies, people, and organizational culture." They have to decide whether incremental or transformational change should be carried out in a particular time frame in order to achieve the set objectives. Sometimes, the organization is so internally focused that leaders and change agents exert high pressure on the performance of their teams,80 CHANGE MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABILITY whereas they themselves are also under time pressure and are required to maintain the pace with fast-emerging changes within the organiza- tion." Mostly, this practice often becomes an additional stressor to the change process, and results in resistance."There is a requirement of open-mindedness at that point of time, which is indeed very difficult to handle when there is work pressure. Hence, leaders and change agents should exercise their discretion and take into account employees' emo- tion and physical endurance to decide how much pressure they want to wield on their team members. 7 Employee Engagement and Change How can leaders engage employees in a change process for sustainability and for improving their performance? There is resistance to change in any change process in organiza- tions."Thus, engagement of employees in the change process is one of the effective mechanisms to minimize such resistance. Leaders are required to be ready to maintain such a culture within the organiza- tion to adopt a positive approach toward employee involvement in the change process. Leaders need to get feedback from employees as it is very important to know what and how employees think about the change and react to such change. Therefore, leaders need to work on the positive emotions and work attitude of the employees. And simultane- ously in return, employees are required to know about the problems or issues that arise in the organization through effective communication systems. Employees should be invited to look into the problem, find All rights reserved. out how it occurred, and who is responsible for tackling this problem. Leaders must also keep on observing and grooming junior and senior executives who can be role models and really work to serve the best interests of the organization.* In addition, leaders have to adopt specific change management strat- egies, such as demonstration of respectful attitudes toward employees, provision of information, encouragement of employees to participate in Copyright @ 2014. Busines the decision-making process, and above all, creation of an atmosphere of trust, fairness, and justice to all employees. 5051 Sometimes, hope forPEOPLE BEHAVIORS AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 81 fairness and justice may boost the morale of the employees in the organi- zation. For example, Mcdonald's has launched its own internal website www.ketchup.com.sg, which enables employees in different departments and outlets to communicate and exchange their ideas and work experi- ence with one another." This made Mcdonald's emerge as one of the top employers in the list of Aon Hewitt's Best Employers in Singapore in 2011. Otherwise, insulting or disrespectful treatment by the managers or leaders arouses feelings of annoyance and aggression among employees who may adopt a negative approach toward a change process.$3 In order to engage and empower employees to make a change inter- vention take place, resource allocation plays an important part in this process. Leaders in an organization must allocate scarce resources, such as transferring of manpower, assigning of authorities and responsibili ties, provision of trainings, and so on, based upon merit, fairness, and individuals' and departments' needs. According to the equity theory, if employees perceive the organization's practice and policy regarding the change process as fair and just, they would respond positively toward the changes to the best they can."* It is noted that change-ready attitude of the senior management (and also employees) of an organization is one of the prerequisite for a support- ive and positive culture and climate to its employees." In addition to this, a well-framed performance management strategy is also very important to the employees in the organization in order to cope with the changes. Leaders and the change agents should explore appropriate ways to engage the best performers in the change process, which, in turn, may enhance the positive working attitude and performance within the organization jhis reserved. (see Figure 5.1).56 Finally, senior management can adopt certain practices, for exam- ple to provide the detailed business presentations across the company while contrasting with previous performance data, to elicit views from different groups of stakeholders. They can also encourage employees to be involved in the decision-making practices.$758 Along with this, training programs to allow employees acquire new skills and knowledge Copyright @ 2014. Busines would be equally effective to maintain the pace with the changes to some extent.5982 CHANGE MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABILITY AT&T's Bell Laboratories identified software engineers who were pro- ductive and high performers in the organization. The Bell Lab team then conducted in-depth interviews with these engineers, and used the inputs to design and implement a hands-on training program to improve the productivity of its workforce. The outcome was very impressive, that is, the productivity of the participants in the program immediately increased by 10 percent, and the productivity of these participants increased up to 25 percent one year later. An increase in productivity is one of the ways to achieve sustainable development in terms of economic dimension. Figure 5.1 AT&T's Bell Laboratories' experience How Can Change in People and Organizational Culture Help Organizations to Achieve Environmental Sustainability? It is pertinent to note that effective commitment, of both management and employees, to change would help an organization implement change successfully and modify individuals' and organization's performance. It is inevitable that the workplace can avoid environmental change, as change is very important to organizations to remain competent and competitive in the global market, and respond to stakeholders' pressure and other external pressure on firms' financial, social, and environmental performance." One simple way to stay competitive is to reduce the operational costs via a reduction in resource (paper, stationery, water, etc.) consumption, energy consumption, a reduction of number of trips by air (using Skype or video conference) instead, and the adoption of green technology (Fig- ure 5.2). However, not all employees will understand the need to imple- ment such practices, and thus organizations should initiate programs to enhance employees' awareness of the benefits of such practices. Accurate and timely information about how cost-cutting initiatives could help the organizations improve financial and environmental performance should be disseminated accordingly. Further, change in the organization must also cater to the need of Copyright effective corporate governance, which is very important for maintainingPEOPLE BEHAVIORS AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 83 SingTel, a publicly listed company in Singapore, has pledged to be a responsible corporate citizen and committed to develop a sustainable business for its various groups of stakeholders via the key areas, namely marketplace, people, environment, and community. SingTel has demonstrated its commitment to manage and mitigate the impact of environmental problems on its business and operations. SingTel has adopted energy-efficient practices and technologies to conserve resources, prevent pollution, and focus on the efficient use of energy and water use, reduction of carbon emissions, and management of hazardous and nonhazardous substances.63 Sing Tel has designed one of their customer service centers in a way that the center is projected as a modern hub to serve its customers, and also reflect how the latest technology has been adopted to address the space constraints, a typical limitation in Singapore (see photos). Copyright @ 2014. Business Expert Press, Al rights reserved. Figure 5.2 Case study: Sing Tel the liaison within both internal and external sources of power. Changes also help in improving the two ways sharing of information, and feed- back and communication system." Effective communication is again a