Organizational Culture, Vision, and Ethical Change Leadership

Organizational Culture as the Foundation of Strategic Vision

For change to be effective, the foundational vision of the leader must be carefully crafted. Vision essentially describes where an organization wants to be at a given point in the future. Though there are several aspects a leader should consider when crafting the vision, one of the most significant is the culture of the organization. Whereas there is no universally accepted definition, the notion of organizational culture broadly denotes a set of values, beliefs, norms, principles, standards, and practices common to an organization (Flamholtz & Randle, 2011).

An organization's culture is often crucial for guiding its vision. It dictates important processes and elements such as management and leadership style, the management–employee relationship, employee–employee relationships, and how an organization relates with its key stakeholders — including customers, suppliers, shareholders, and the wider society (Simerson, 2011). In essence, culture lays the foundation for product and service quality, commitment to innovation, customer service, employee management, social responsibility, and virtually every other organizational process.

Aligning Culture with Vision for Organizational Success

Considering organizational culture when crafting the vision increases the likelihood of achieving it (Simerson, 2011). For instance, it would be quite unrealistic for an organization to aspire to be the best in its industry when it does not already have a culture of quality and excellent customer service. Equally, significant problems may arise if an organization attempting to accelerate growth or enhance competitive advantage merges with another organization that has a substantially dissimilar culture.

Organizations with a well-established culture often connect their vision with that underlying culture in order to succeed in the marketplace. At times, leaders are even compelled to adjust organizational values, beliefs, practices, and other cultural elements to ensure alignment between culture and strategic vision (Flamholtz & Randle, 2011). Therefore, organizational culture is one of the most important aspects a leader should consider when crafting the organization's vision.

Ethical Dilemmas in Strategic Change Initiatives

While the implementation of strategic change initiatives often generates significant benefits for an organization, the undertaking does not come without its fair share of challenges. Strategic change initiatives particularly present ethical dilemmas for leaders, especially owing to competing stakeholder interests (Cummings & Worley, 2013). The ethical dilemma that concerns me most as a leader preparing to implement a strategic change initiative is how to balance the interests of employees against those of management.

In any change initiative, the primary goal of management is to enhance organizational efficiency and productivity, which ultimately improves organizational performance — chiefly to the benefit of management and shareholders (Hayes, 2014). While a strategic change initiative may serve the interests of management and shareholders, it does not necessarily serve those of employees.

References

Cummings, T., & Worley, C. (2013). Organisation development and change (10th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Flamholtz, E., & Randle, Y. (2011). Corporate culture: The ultimate strategic asset. Stanford University Press.

Hayes, J. (2014). The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Simerson, B. (2011). Strategic planning: A practical guide to strategy formulation and execution. ABC-CLIO.