Organizational Culture Change

Abstract

The literature consistently cites a 60-70 percent failure rate in regard to organizational change efforts. Transitioning an organization from a current state to a desired future state, regardless of the scale, magnitude or duration of the project, requires that people at all levels of the organization understand, support, and adopt the changes. In other words, an organization’s capacity to achieve its goals correlates with its ability to shape its culture in support of them. This article provides examples of the ways in which Woods Services, a multi-service population health management and advocacy organization, set out to create an intentional organizational culture in support of its strategies and transformational initiatives. The culture shaping initiatives described in this article demonstrate the concerted efforts Woods made to align its corporate culture with its strategic and transformational goals in the areas of employee engagement and development; innovation; quality standards; and equity, diversity, and inclusion.