Abstract
M.Comm.
“We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us” – Marcel Proust
Organizational change has become a buzzword in the organizational behaviour industry. In theory and on paper, organizational change is an appealing concept with its aim to assist leaders to adapt organisations to situational variables. In reality organizations are filled with aging paradigms, entrenched cultural artifacts, - values and deeply held - assumptions that make them quite inflexible and therefore closed to new and innovative ideas. Organizational leaders are faced with the problem of growing and renewing companies in order to meet the expectations of external and internal company stakeholders. The external stakeholders are continuously demanding higher and higher returns on capital and do not tolerate poor performance. The internal stakeholders of companies have also become more selective when choosing amongst potential to be employers.
It is therefore important that organizations have an understanding of the image that they portray to the market and potential employees. Organizational culture is a tool that can assist leaders to define the type of organization they want to be and thus the image they portray to its stakeholders. Organizational culture is defined as a pattern of shared basic assumptions that a group learns as it solves its problems of external adaptation and internal integration. If the assumptions lead to success they are considered to be valid and should be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive and think and feel when confronted with external environment adaptation or internal organisation integration issues
A positive organizational culture reinforces the core beliefs and behaviours that a leader desires while weakening the values and actions the leader rejects (Kaufman 2002). A negative culture becomes toxic, poisoning the life
of the organization and hindering any potential for creativity, collaboration and prosperity