Whitewashing instead of transformation: it takes more than values prescribed by management to change corporate culture.
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Dusseldorf Cultural change can develop destructive forces. At Samsung in South Korea in the mid-1990s this was even to be taken literally: company boss Lee Kun Hee had computers and mobile phones worth around 50 million dollars smashed and burned at the time. Lee heralded the change towards more efficiency and customer orientation. At least that’s what people like to say in change manager circles to this day.
A legendary beacon, but controversial 27 years later. “Culture change on command doesn’t work,” says Hans-Joachim Gergs. The experienced consultant in organizational development teaches at the Technical University of Munich. Rather, his research on success factors in matters of change showed that in times of digital transformation and a shortage of specialists and managers, “continuous self-renewal” is important. Companies would have to “permanently train their muscles for change”, change permanently, so to speak. Sounds nice, but how does it work?
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