Civilisation as we know it has seen an enormous amount of change - social, cultural, scientific, economic, political - and the 20th century alone saw a significant proportion of these transitions, so much so that our ways of thinking and lifestyles are transforming faster than ever.

1. The Nature and Causes of Change:
Impact of Culture on
Organisational Change
Ismail Bin Ahmed
August 2006

2. Contents
1.0 Introduction 1
2.0 Environmental Turbulence 2
2.1 Planned and Emergent Change 2
3.0 The Obvious Reality of Discontinuous Change 3
3.1 The Dimensionality of Civilisations 3
3.1.1 Scenario in the year 2000 5
3.1.2 Scenario in the year 2025 5
3.2 Comparing the Civilisations 6
4.0 Caution with the Culture 7
5.0 Addressing Culture in Implementing Change 8
5.1 Overall Guide to Achieving Successful Change 8
6.0 Conclusion 10

3. 1
The Nature and Causes of Change:
Impact of Culture on Organisational Change
1.0 Introduction
The article The Nature and Causes of Change by Barbara Senior
is particularly engaging to me because it highlights the
importance of recognising limitations of the common sense
approach to managing change especially for managers of the
21st century. Civilisation as we know it has seen an enormous
amount of change - social, cultural, scientific, economic, political
- and the 20th century alone saw a significant proportion of these
transitions, so much so that our ways of thinking and lifestyles
are transforming faster than ever.
Issues raised by Barbara, namely the insufficiency of mere
identification of the triggers for change in her analysis of the
multiple causes of change faced by Shell provide evidence of the
complexity of the change environment and the importance of
analysing the systematic nature of the relationships between
them.0F
1
It is important for managers to remain alert to changes in
their organisation's environments because a firm's performance
is optimised when its aggressiveness and responsiveness match
its environment. Interventions in one variable can have far-
reaching effects in other parts of the situation. Multiple-cause
analysis helps an appreciation of the complex interactions of
environmental triggers for change as well as their relationship to
the organisations' internal environments.1F
2

4. 2
2.0 Environmental Turbulence
Ansoff and McDonnell (1990) state that a firm's performance is
optimised when its aggressiveness and responsiveness match its
environment. As illustrated in Appendix I, Ansoff and McDonnell
proposed five levels of environmental turbulence2F
3
i.e. the
predictable, the forecastable by extrapolation, the predictable but
posing threats and opportunities, the partially predictable
opportunities and the unpredictable surprises. These changing
situations have significant implications for the actions of
managers as they attempt to choose appropriate strategies to
deal with them.
The strength of the forces for change can be related to the
degree of turbulence in the environment: the stronger the force
the more probable it is that the environment is moving to the level
5 described by Ansoff and McDonnell. What this implies is that
the ability to plan and manage change becomes ever more
difficult as the forces and levels of turbulence increase. This is
related to, but further complicated by, the different types of
change which can be experienced by organisations.
2.1 Planned and Emergent Change
Organisations must change. But having changed, having re-
engineered their processes, having created a new work method,
they must put back that sense of trust that has been smashed,
otherwise people - at the end of the day - won't work.
Barbara mentioned Wilson3F
4
who argues that planned change is a
management concept which relies heavily on a single view of the
way change ought to be done. This view assumes that the
environment is known and, therefore, that a logical process of
environmental analysis can be harnessed in the service of
planning any change. Wilson says this view emphasises the role
of human agency, i.e. that chief executives and managers are
able to invoke the changes they feel are necessary and that this
process is not problematic. His argument is that this view does
not take account of the context in which change must take place;
for instance, the cultural and political components which
influence most, if not all, implementations of any planned
change.

5. 3
3.0 The Obvious Reality of Discontinuous Change
Grundy defines three 'varieties of change' (Grundy, 1993)4F
5
experienced by organisations as shown in Appendix II. Grundy
defines the first of the main types of change as 'smooth
incremental change'. The second variety, termed 'bumpy
incremental change' is characterised by periods of relative
tranquility punctuated by acceleration in the pace of change.
Glen Hiemstra5F
6
in his article Evolutionary Models For Cultural
Change suggested the existence of 'discontinuous change' which
is in fact Grundy's third variety of change. Grundy defines
discontinuous change as 'change which is marked by rapid shifts
in strategy, structure or culture, or in all three' which can be
likened to change in response to the higher levels of
environmental turbulence as detailed by Ansoff and McDonnell.6F
7
3.1 The Dimensionality of Civilisations
Hiemstra provides an interesting insight on the evolution of the
dimensionality of civilisation followed by the civilisational
developments already achieved by the year 2000 and as
forecasted for the year 2025. Hiemstra stressed that there is
fundamental value in looking back in order to grasp very large
patterns of evolution or change. This model by Glen Hiemstra
which is adapted and summarised below has an explanatory and
predictive power to see the future.7F
8
It analyses the dimensionality
of civilisations into:8F
9
1. Dot-based Culture occurred when hunter-gatherer,
nomadic peoples lived in exceptionally small groups of few
families with less than 50 people, usually only moving about
within a limited area in search of game and edible plants, but
generally did not move far. Such peoples certainly were aware of
three dimensions, as everything they saw had height, width and
depth but they lived in fixed dots, or zero dimensions. It is likely
that they generally avoided contact with other dots, such contact
being potentially dangerous and in a lifetime, one might see only
a few hundred other people.
2. One-dimensional Civilisation took place by about 3,000
years ago when nomads had become farmers and village
dwellers. First adventurers, then merchants began to establish
fixed trade routes between the permanent settlements. The
"amber route" evolved in Europe, the "silk road" connected
China, India and Europe. Camel caravans crossed deserts, and

6. 4
ships began to sail along the coastlines. Travel was one-
dimensional, following fixed routes between dots. Villages grew
into great trading cities, and wealth grew in an unprecedented
way. Not only goods were exchanged. Knowledge and ideas
were exchanged, and learning began to flourish. Civilisation had
become one-dimensional, a culture of social interaction along
fixed paths.
3. Two-dimensional Civilisation. Eventually, trade routes
began to cross and overlap and people began to develop a two-
dimensional sense of the world. They thought about the width
and length of the world and the first two-dimensional maps of the
world were drawn where a concept of society emerged in which
people in villages in every direction were considered part of the
whole. Leaders of great trading centres saw an opportunity to
accumulate wealth and power by using the roads to grab control
of vast territories, and empires were born. Shipping expanded,
and then ushered in the full transition to a two-dimensional
culture in about the 15th century when shipbuilders discovered
how to build large ships seaworthy enough and with technology
that enabled them to sail around the world. The "age of
discovery" that resulted wrote the concluding chapter of
Civilisation's shift to two dimensions.
4. Three-dimensional Civilisation started when people
attempted to fly using primitive balloons and gliders. Within a
dozen years after the first powered flight became a reality,
aeroplanes were used in warfare. Passenger service followed
soon after, and, by 2000, over a billion people were flying in com-
mercial flights each year. Rockets launched people and satellites
into the more distant third dimension and the emergence of
three-dimensional culture again spawned new social and political
orders.
5. Four-dimensional Civilisation. We have begun the move
into a fourth dimension, the dimension of cyberspace which is
now in its adolescence. The world of cyberspace provides even
greater degrees of freedom and action. This is a world of four
dimensions, and no dimensions, a world of instant
communication across any distance, and a world of no distance
at all.

7. 5
3.1.1 Scenario in the year 20009F
10
The following list of developments by the year 2000 are what
historians point to as evidence of the shift toward the fourth
dimension:
• e-commerce became major force in business, even as the
web caught its breath;
• data traffic instead of the voice became driving force in
telecommunications;
• mobile phones in Japan, Nordic and Latin countries
exceeded land line phones;
• optical storage technology accelerated rapidly;
• distributed computing fundamentally altered how we
thought about computing;
• the working draft of human genome was finished;
• scientists produced the quantum computer and the DNA
computer;
• Clay Ford forecast that fuel cells would replace internal
combustion;
• advances in quantum physics became the dominant force
in technological development.
3.1.2 Scenario in the year 202510F
11
By the year 2025, developments we now consider to be
wildcards will quite likely have come to fruition, as living in four
dimensions speeds up the exchange of knowledge and learning:
• We live in a data-flow culture, in which all transistors are
connected to all other transistors in one vast global
computer. Plugged in, we cannot imagine an unplugged
world.
• Nanoscale replicators have begun to make earlier forms of
manufacturing obsolete.
• Light-based and molecular computing are realities, making
the limits of silicon moot.
• Genomics has moved fully beyond research and
development into biogenetic treatments.
• Anti-ageing has radically extended the average lifespan.
The dimensionality of the evolution of Civilisation, then, provides
one framework for considering the future in the future's own
terms.

8. 6
3.2 Comparing the Civilisations
Understanding the common themes within the framework
proposed by Hiemstra gives an enhanced ability to see the
future. In addition, cultures do not move in lock step together
along this evolutionary path of civilisational dimensions. It is too
easy, living in an advanced post-industrial society, to forget that,
in some cultures, industrial and pre-industrial norms of living may
still prevail.11F
12
There are peoples effectively living in one
dimension, others in two and others in three. Each new
dimension increases the degree of freedom and action, and
generates unpredictable new opportunities; wealth, learning and
power accumulate to those who move into the higher dimension.
We might also assume that this change will be accelerated.
Just as illustrated by Kehoe and Taylor,12F
13
what was unimaginable
a few years ago, is now with us and with far-reaching
implications for life generally and business in particular.
However, although Kehoe and Taylor predominantly discussed
change in the technological environment of organisations, it is
also about economic imperatives and, not least, the impact this
development will have on people's lifestyles including their social
interactions, expectations and cultural norms.

9. 7
4.0 Caution with the Culture
As organisations take on changes which involve devolution and
empowerment, we must all be mindful that even if we are already
at the gates of the fourth dimension, some cultures do not take
kindly to empowerment or even the dismantling of the structures
they feel safe and protected inside. So, while change is
necessary, how it is introduced, how it is explained is just as
important as the actual mechanics.
For example, companies with a matrix management organisation
have had disastrous experiences in places like Italy, Portugal
and Spain. Southern European's cannot cope with conflicting
instructions: they cannot work that way. They need one boss who
tells them what to do. Proud Spaniards have been known to walk
off the job if they are asked to do something they consider
demeaning or below their status. Attempts to introduce matrix
management to German companies has also met with strong
resistance and incomprehension.13F
14
In another example, management by objectives and its countless
derivatives will never work in a place like Spain. The MBO
system rewards on the basis of performance measurement and
the Spanish just don't like being checked up on.'14F
15

10. 8
5.0 Addressing Culture in Implementing Change
Faced with the cultural factors exemplified above, organisations
must prepare employees for change in such a way that they start
liking change and start to see change as a normal commodity
rather than a nerve-racking situation. Organisations have to help
all employees understand that only they themselves are
responsible for creating, maintaining and enlarging their careers.
Before introducing any sweeping changes, organisations must
consider how the news will be received in the different 'culture
pockets' around the business. Change agents must think global,
act local. This apply both to customers and organisations.15F
16
To make change work, change agents have to spend a lot more
of their time on interpersonal issues, building confidence in the
people that work for them, either full-time or as contractors.
Support staff will be specialists in their area, constantly growing
and adding to their knowledge and will work in multi-functional
teams, breaking up when assignments and projects are
complete.
The Ten Cultural Components to Consider When Implementing
Change16F
17
proposed by Timothy Golpin as shown in Appendix III
outlines the organisational rules and policies, goals and
measurement, customs and norms, training, ceremonies and
events, management behaviors, rewards and recognition,
communications, physical environment and structure change
agents have to identify, analyse and consider when implementing
change.
5.1 Overall Guide to Achieving Successful Change
In applying the insights suggested above and given our strengths
and limitations, change agents must take heed that change is
also more likely to succeed if:17F
18
• The leaders of the organisation establish and communicate
a compelling reason to change.
• The leaders agree upon and communicate a compelling
vision for the future of the organisation.
• The change seeks and quickly achieves clear, tangible,
bottom-line results that all can see.
• The leadership team floods the organisation with
information about the change effort.
• The change effort is led by a strong and committed top-
management guiding coalition that is in full agreement

11. 9
about the need to change and what the change is intended
to accomplish.
• Everything is changed at once rather than in piecemeal
fashion. Change is large-scale and addresses all of the
cultural components that could impact the success of the
change effort.
• Everyone in the organisation is involved in a meaningful
way, through a search conference or otherwise, in deciding
why a change is needed, what should change, and how the
change should be accomplished.

12. 10
6.0 Conclusion
Organisations are changing - like pieces of plasticines they are
being kneaded and shaped by unseen· hands. We cannot stop
that happening, but we all have the opportunity to get involved in
the shaping of our own job, our own company, our own industry.
Agents of change must be aware of cultural limitations and their
effects which surrounds an organisation. Any person, any
enterprise, any industry, any country that does not invest in
innovation and new skills to fight the future is obsolete. People in
an organisation may say 'I don't want to do it that way'. Fine, but
in the world of business tomorrow, failure to keep investing
means death. And this will also apply to countries that don't help
their industrial base prepare for tomorrow and don't understand
that the old rules no longer apply.
Corporate success will increasingly be based on the ability to
attract people to work in it - or for it - based on reputation as a
place where the latest knowledge and skills are available.
Tomorrow's leaders will have to remember that this is a key part
of the 'compensation' package of the future.
Endnotes
1
Senior, Barbara (1997). `The Nature and Causes of Change' from Organisational
Change. Harlow, Essex: Financial Times, Prentice Hall.
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid., Ansoff and McDonnell (1990)
4
Ibid.
5
Ibid.
6
Glen Hiemstra, Founder and CEO of Futurist.com, ghiemstra@futurist.com. This
article was first published in Scenario and Strategy Planning in October 2001,
Ringland, Gill (2002). Scenarios in Business, John Wiley & Sons Limited. pp. 99
7
Senior, Barbara (1997). `The Nature and Causes of Change'.
8
Glen Hiemstra, cited in Scenarios in Business, pp. 99
9
Ibid. pp. 100-102
10
Ibid. pp. 103
11
Ibid. pp. 103-104

13. 11
12
Senior, Barbara (1997). `The Nature and Causes of Change'.
13
Ibid.
14
Richard Hill, We Europeans, cited in Johnson, Mike (1995). Managing In The
Next Millennium, Butterworth Heinemann. Butterworth Heinemann. pp. 53
15
Ibid. pp. 53
16
Ibid. pp. 51.
17
Source: Timothy Golpin, Connecting Culture to Organizational Change, H.R.
Magazine, March 1996, pp. 84-90, Boyett, Joseph & Boyett, Jimmie (1998), The
Guru Guide – The Best Ideas of the Top Management Thinkers. John Wiley and
Sons Inc. pp. 68-69
18
Boyett, Joseph & Boyett, Jimmie (1998), The Guru Guide – The Best Ideas of the
Top Management Thinkers. John Wiley and Sons Inc. pp. 78