Gina has recently been hired as the CEO of the St. Vincent DePaul Society affiliate in your local community. She recognizes that her current organization, a charity, is dysfunctional. Employees and volunteers alike stubbornly pose obstacles to executing her strategic initiatives to grow donations to the charity, sales of donated items, and possible diversification into other activities that could provide financial support to her organization's mission. What might be Gina's options regarding culture-changing actions that could lead to rectifying St. Vincent DePaul's dysfunctional culture?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Actions that Gina can take to change a culture that is out of step with the charity's strategy are: identify facets of the present culture that are dysfunctional and impede good strategy execution; specify clearly what new actions, behaviors, and work practices should characterize the new culture; talk openly about problems with the current culture and make a persuasive case for cultural reform; and follow with visible, forceful actions-both substantive and symbolic-to ingrain a new set of behaviors, practices, and norms. Examples of symbolic culture-changing actions might include inexpensive decorations in the facility, conservative expense accounts and entertainment allowances, a lean administrative staff, scrutiny of budget requests, reduced executive perks, and so on. Another category of symbolic actions includes holding ceremonial events to place the spotlight on and honor paid staff and volunteers whose actions and performance exemplify what is called for in the new culture. Examples of substantive culture-changing actions that display Gina's commitment to instill a new culture include: replacing key personnel who are resisting or obstructing needed cultural changes, and promoting individuals who have stepped forward to spearhead the shift to a different culture and who can serve as role models for the desired cultural behavior.