Changing Organizations into a Customer-Responsive Culture 

Changing Organizations into a Customer-Responsive Culture 

Christine M. Reinheimer 

Arizona State University 

Organizational Psychology 84391 

November 5, 2013 

Changing Organizations into a Customer-Responsive Culture 

Organizational culture is an important factor in organizations. It is a “system of shared  meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations” (CITE  512); it is how employees perceive the organization. This can be assessed through seven primary  characteristics which are innovation and risk-taking, attention to detail, outcome orientation,  people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness, and stability; and also by magnitude,  whether it is high or low in strength (“Project Management”, 2001). An organization’s culture  influences the performance and satisfaction of employees, which in turn influences the  satisfaction of customers (“Project Management”, 2001). Building a strong and positive  organizational culture is something organizations are striving for today. One excellent example is  the recent achievements of the IT Department of Capital Region Health Care (CRHC) under the  leadership of Deane Morrison, CIO. 

The IT department was undergoing numerous challenges in regards to their clients.  Although they were very innovative, they had numerous complaints about their unfriendliness  towards clients and their failure to communicate (“Project Management”, 2001). These incidents  alerted Morrison that something major needed to be done. The culprit was how the employees  viewed the problems they were facing. Employees felt like they were doing everything that they  can and that it was up to the clients to change. Morrison did not see it this way. He knew that to  change the culture of the organization, he needed to started the change in himself. His failure was  expecting his employees to do as he says without him being an example. He had to change  (“Project Management”, 2001). 

Morrison started with utilizing an outside training program, an Ouellette training course  that focused on “IT as a Service Culture.” He made this as a prerequisite for all current and new  employees. This course was a jump start into turning the organization into a positive direction. It  also provided reinforcement for their goals and values (“Project Management”, 2001).  Morrison also took into account the group’s strength in project management and utilized  it for the benefit of his mission. He assigned groups and group leaders within them to come up  with different ideas on how to tackle their problem with clients. He assigned deadlines and held  meetings every Tuesday for the groups to be able to plan out their tasks and help everyone stay  on track. Communication is another key problem within the organization and these changes  helped to foster an open communication environment (“Project Management”, 2001).  The changes Morrison helped to achieve was a slow process but everyone can see the  gradual changes. They called clients “users” at first but changed it to create a more positive view  of them. They also wrote up a client bill of rights. They communicated better with their clients  and as they did so, the clients became more cooperative with working things out when things  went wrong. The employees also started feeling more satisfaction in their jobs and also resulted  in higher performance.  

 Morrison had created a positive organizational culture which is “emphasizes building on  employee strengths, rewards more than it punishes, and emphasizes individual vitality and  growth” (Robbins & Judge, 2013, p. 527). He formalized the company which “creates  predictability, orderliness, and consistency (Robbins & Judge, 2013, p. 515). He emphasized the  core values of the company through all his meetings, he became a role model for all his employees to follow. He opened up communication lines within the organization, which in turn  opened up communication with their clients. 

Having a strong and positive organizational culture and open communication is key in  changing organizations to become better at dealing with customers. We need to first assess the  problem and apply the appropriate solutions using the strengths of our organization. Companies  who adopt this will be successful in dealing with their clients. 

References  

Project Management Helps IT Group Grow More User-Friendly. (2001, May 15). CIO. Retrieved  November 5, 2013, from http://www.cio.com/article/30287/ 

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Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. (2013). Organizational behavior. Boston: Pearson.