Ogbonna and Harris (2014) take the case of an English premier league football club to illustrate how, despite an attempt by executives to transform the culture, the planned actions were impeded by strong forces perpetuating the culture. The football club’s espoused values and beliefs were articulated on plaques, framed prints, and in the published biographies as well as historical documents linked to two of the most successful team managers. They included honesty, hard work, winning, trust, family, respect, and togetherness. The CEO and his team tried to change  the culture by introducing a range of new systems (such as a new performance management and reward system) and ways of managing to develop ‘a new culture of sustainability’ (2014: 676), to develop a more efficient and self-funding club. A key element of the change was to shift the perception of success away from winning trophies alone to winning trophies and profitability.

However four years later both managers and employees broadly agreed that the espoused change had not been fully achieved. Changes to core club values had not occurred as the new core values were viewed as incompatible with the long-standing cultural traditions and values that were seen as core to the club.

Questions

1. Is it your experience of organizations that ideas are only implemented if everyone is convinced of the validity of the idea?

2. If not, what is more usual in your experience?

3. Is this an attractive idea? What might be its disadvantages?