Organizational Culture and Leadership
In the Copper Ridge, Inc.: In Search of a New Culture, CEO Andrew Gladstein attempts to change the organizational culture at Copper Ridge to boost the company’s performance. He follows the principles outlined in ‘Organizational Culture and Leadership by Edgar Schein to successfully change the organizational culture. First, he did not let leave out his formal leaders when he tried to bring change to the company. He understood that all the company leaders were important in championing the behaviors that would change the company’s organizational culture. Gladstein was also aware that if all of his formal leaders who worked under him were on board with the changes he wanted to bring in the company, the rest of the company staff would follow suit. Gladstein’s ideas of organizational change were linked to business objectives. He highlighted the problems that were most likely connected to declining performance in the company, such as setting poor targets. He then found a way to link these ideas to setting new business objectives, such as setting better objectives that would profit the company financially.
Gladstein also deployed an informal leader to bring change to the company. Gladstein called a meeting of the senior management team comprising of 75 men and women. He then introduced a new Chief Human Resources Officer, Steve Hartman. Gladstein was aware of Hartman’s experience with the human resources department, and he knew that Hartman was the right man for the job. He, therefore, established him as the informal leader who would drive change in the organizational culture of the company as he had done in Tek company, where he had led a cultural initiative that revolutionized Tek’s business.
Schein would have approved of Gladstein’s approach to bringing organizational culture change to the company as it followed the principles outlined in his book, and it yielded a positive change in the company in the long run.
Reference
Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons.