The Impact of Organizational Culture on Leading Change

The primary objective of this study was to model the interaction between organizational culture and change, delineating the ways in which a leader’s knowledge of organizational culture affects the process of implementing change, and identifying the stages of the change process at which the interaction between organizational culture and change implementation holds functional significance. Many existing models of organizational change acknowledge the influence of tacit dimensions of organizational life at one or more stages of the change process (Bate, Khan, & Pye, 2000; Burke, 2008; Demers, 2007; Wilkins & Dyer, 1988). These models reflect differing levels of granularity with respect to the process of effecting organizational change, and each recognizes distinctive stages of change implementation (By, 2005). The Model of Organizational Change in Cultural Context (OC Model) introduced in this article was developed to reflect critical stages in the process of change implementation where organizational culture exerts differential influence. The OC Model was derived from an ethnographic study undertaken to investigate how organizational culture shapes the development and mediates the implementation and impact of change initiatives introduced by newly appointed leaders recruited from outside large, complex organizations. Research questions focused on (a) how knowledge of organizational culture is acquired by newly appointed leaders, (b) how cultural knowledge affects the process of change implementation, and (c) how tacit elements of organizational culture influence efforts to effect change. This article presents theoretical propositions of the OC Model, positioning it within the context of existing conceptual and process models of organizational change and establishing an agenda for future research. Implications for leadership and organizational studies are explored.