Identification of the type of enterprise corporate culture with regard to the perception of changes

Abstract

The article claims that modern management views enterprise performance as an open socio-economic system, in which personnel play a central role. Employees’ attitude to various processes in management determines success of strategies and tactics. The personnel play a crucial role in implementing changes, because they demonstrate support, neutrality, or resistance. It is noted that the resistance to changes stems from the prevailing corporate culture of the enterprise and depends on its development.The purpose of the research paper is to provide evidence for the dependence of changes on types of corporate culture, and to develop tools of identification of these types. The article examines the concept of corporate culture in relation to management of changes, and determines the connection between corporate culture and resistance to changes based on the indicator of instability of changes. It is found out that resistance to changes in a certain corporate culture is the process of growing unwillingness to change due to the prevalent corporate culture.The tendency to resist changes is defined as functional instability of corporate culture, which is characterized by high frequency of resistance in response to changes and measures taken to overcome such resistance. With regard to management of changes, the author proposes to distinguish between two types of corporate cultures: fiduciary and non-fiduciary, based on employees’ attitude to changes. In fiduciary corporate culture, there is a high level of trust between the management and personnel in a way that the management encourages introducing changes. If resistance arises, it is minimal, and it is quickly overcome through information and motivation measures. In non-fiduciary corporate culture, the management and the team responsible for changes do not show or lack interest in changes, and under these circumstances, resistance, that has a significant impact, is comprehensive and systemic.In fiduciary corporate culture, the role of personnel in the management of changes can be described as linear processes, whereas in non-fiduciary corporate culture, changes can be described as variable flows of changes resulting from unwillingness to introduce changes. The level of corporate culture with regard to changes is proposed to be determined through using the integral indicator calculated as a weighted average of partial indicators (characteristics) of corporate culture: 1) strong – weak; 2) adaptive – not adaptive; 3) ethical – unethical; 4) developed – latent; 5) harmonious – non-harmonic; 6) creative – bureaucratic; 7) controlled – spontaneous; 8) with a high-low level of instability. The approbation of this approach to the identification of corporate culture of the enterprise was carried out on the basis of enterprises that form the basis of the iron ore sub-sector of Ukraine. The approach, discussed in the research, has been applied for identification of corporate culture the mining industry f Ukraine, chosen as an example.