BetterWork Community Breakfast - Culture

Key Insights 

Moving from fragmentation to collective identity

You shared how the diversity of demographics and ways of working contribute to a fragmented culture that can lead to ‘us vs them’ mentalities, dwindling social connections, and poor decision-making practices. As was also suggested moving away from viewing culture as an orchestra, dictated from the top down, instead defining it as a jazz band, a collection of different perspectives that come together to make ‘beautiful music’. You also discussed the importance of identifying the people that can influence culture and understanding their perspectives and lived experiences to ensure that all of your organisation pulls in the same direction.

Supporting leaders to influence during periods of change

Role modelling is necessary in embedding change, however participants reported difficulty in getting leadership to engage with new behaviours or ways of working. You outlined how leaders, while influential, are also often overworked and vulnerable. Creating a structured space for honest, transparent conversation is essential to help leaders feel heard and supported through change. Equally important is providing the scaffolding that equips them to lead change with confidence. As was also asked once right conditions are in place, can the organisation be clearer on ‘what is in scope’ when it comes to shifting culture and what that means for those who resist change?

Trusting the group

Mars shared compelling work they have been doing around bringing people from different functions and seniorities together to learn from one another. A common theme that emerged from this conversation was the reluctance to ‘trust the group’, frequently pushing leadership to over-control the narrative around culture.  Participants emphasised the importance of allowing the group to self-correct, and of treating the areas where self-correction does not occur as the most meaningful signals of where attention is needed. It is through these unfiltered discussions that an organisation can develop an understanding of what it truly feels like to work there, and in doing so, find the language to articulate its culture authentically.

Research Studies

• Tian et al. (2021), Human Resource Management  studied employees following cross-border acquisitions and explicitly measured employee withdrawal behaviour. Trust in the acquiring company reduced withdrawal; withdrawal then reduced employees' willingness to share tacit knowledge; reduced knowledge sharing impaired knowledge transfer, which was associated with worse acquisition performance. In other words, people don't necessarily resign immediately: they can remain employed while withdrawing valuable effort and knowledge.
  Read the study

• Edwards (2013), Human Resource Management followed 251 employees for 12 months after a multinational acquisition. The outcomes included not only intention to quit but discretionary effort. It looked at how employees' relationship with the new/acquiring organisation affected whether they wanted to leave and how much extra effort they were willing to contribute.
  Employee Responses to Changing Aspects of the Employer Brand Following a Multinational Acquisition

• Sung et al. (2017), Journal of Applied Psychology used pre/post-merger data from 599 employees. They found that employees' perceptions of what the merger meant both for their own job/role and for the organisation were related to changes in organisational identification and attachment, including voluntary turnover.
  Employees' responses to an organizational merger

• Cho, Lee & Kim (2014), Human Resource Management studied 222 employees in a merged company. Employees who felt personally deprived/disadvantaged by the merger were more likely to intend to leave, and this relationship operated through reduced identification with the post-merger organisation. This ​​suggests something deeper than dissatisfaction: “this isn't my organisation anymore.”

• Edwards (2024), British Journal of Management is a useful newer longitudinal study: 869 employees, surveyed before and 22 months after a merger. Withdrawal cognitions increased after the merger overall, although strong pre-merger organisational identification could act as a buffer.

If you would like to discuss any of the above further, feel free to book a call below.