Question
Analyse organisational culture and change in a selected business
Answer
Taking the examples of BNP Paribas Real Estate we can assess the linkage between organisational culture and change.
It is widely believed that culture has a significant impact on the success of change management initiatives, and as change initiatives are at high risk of failure this relationship cannot be overlooked (PWC, 2013).
Resistance to change is a major problem for companies, as change is almost always an essential factor for companies to stay relevant in their markets. Organisational culture is a key determinant of the level of resistance to change, hence the significant influence it holds.
At BNP Paribas Real Estate (BPRE), a subsidiary of French bank BNP Paribas, its UK operations were under threat from the 2008 financial crisis. The property market had suffered and this had a strong effect on the operations of BPRE. As the company had been formed through successive mergers there was a disjointed company culture. It was identified that the company needed to develop a single culture of focusing on business development in order to grow and survive the economic downturn (CIPD, 2011).
Through a change in structure, leadership and underlying cultural values (CIPD, 2011) the company managed to refocus on business growth and has secured a strong position in the real estate market (BNP Paribas Real Estate, 2016). This demonstrates how a change in culture was an integral part in a change of business strategy and performance in response to the need for change.
A change initiative must take into consideration the present and future positions of the company, and this includes the state of the organisational culture. The culture is developed around the organisation in its present state, and so the culture may not fit with the planned changed state. The culture may also be one that is either open or resistant to change.
References
BNP Paribas Real Estate, 2016, BNP Paribas Real Estate 2015 Key Figures (online), available: [https://www.realestate.bnpparibas.co.uk/bnppre/en/about-us/key-figures/our-key-figures-uat_31988.html], accessed: 12/10/16
CIPD, 2011, Developing organisation culture: Six case studies (online), available: [https://www.cipd.co.uk/binaries/developing-organisation-culture_2011-six-case-studies.pdf], accessed: 12/10/160
PWC, 2013, Culture’s role in enabling organisational change (online), available: [http://www.strategyand.pwc.com/reports/cultures-role-organisational-change], accessed: 12/10/16
