Cultural Synergy and Organizational Change: From Crisis to Innovation

Pernille Solveig Strøbæk; Joachim Vogt

Cultural Synergy and Organizational Change: From Crisis to Innovation

Abstract

This paper explores informal codes and rhythms of social behavior at work and their relation to organizational change and wellbeing. After a
merger within a public service organization we organized 8 focus groups of 2-3 clerical or academic employees within a head office and a division
office (N = 21). Word counts of ‘I’ and ‘we’ revealed that people sharing pre-merger organizational background (homogeneous groups)
used ‘we’ more often than heterogeneous groups. Head office employees were concerned with workload and social code, whereas division office
employees mainly discussed meetings, commitment, and office space. Organizational background rather than office cultures guided these
differences. We found that in a merged organization cultural synergies are possible to create if practical and social values for employees are
offered. Thus, interesting new ways to transform problems and frustrations into solutions and innovations were revealed and deserve further
research.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Business and Media Psychology
Volume	4
Issue number	1
Pages (from-to)	25-34
Number of pages	10
ISSN	2191-5814
Publication status	Published - 2013

Keywords

Faculty of Social Sciences

Access to Document

http://journal-bmp.de/2013/06/english-cultural-synergy-and-organizational-change-from-crisis-to-innovation/?lang=en

Cite this

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title = "Cultural Synergy and Organizational Change: From Crisis to Innovation",

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AU - Strøbæk, Pernille Solveig

AU - Vogt, Joachim

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AB - This paper explores informal codes and rhythms of social behavior at work and their relation to organizational change and wellbeing. After amerger within a public service organization we organized 8 focus groups of 2-3 clerical or academic employees within a head office and a divisionoffice (N = 21). Word counts of ‘I’ and ‘we’ revealed that people sharing pre-merger organizational background (homogeneous groups)used ‘we’ more often than heterogeneous groups. Head office employees were concerned with workload and social code, whereas division officeemployees mainly discussed meetings, commitment, and office space. Organizational background rather than office cultures guided thesedifferences. We found that in a merged organization cultural synergies are possible to create if practical and social values for employees areoffered. Thus, interesting new ways to transform problems and frustrations into solutions and innovations were revealed and deserve furtherresearch.

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KW - occupational health

KW - organizational restructuring

KW - social rhythms

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