McAleese and Hargie's five principles of culture management in organizational contexts

McAleese & Hargie: Five Principles of Culture Management

The work of McAleese and Hargie states five principles of culture management as follows:

Principle 1: Formulate an overall culture strategy

Principle 2: Develop cultural leaders;'

Principle 3: Share the culture by communicating effectively with staff;

Principle 4: Measure the cultural performance;

Principle 5: Communicate the culture in all dealings with customers.

According to McAleese and Hargie, Kroeber and Luckhohn located in excess of 164 definitions of the word 'culture' in a 1952 work in writing. (2004)

This work in writing intends to examine exactly what McAleese and Hargie mean by each of these principles in terms of their application in the business environment.

(I) Principle 1: Formulate an overall culture strategy

The definition of culture is stated to be in general "subject to lively discussions within the scientific debate. In the context of change management there are many different perspectives on organizational culture that highlight different aspects." (Letonja and Letonja, 2008 ) Letonja and Letonja additionally state that culture serves to lay the foundation for the ways and interactions between employees and achieving targets.

Secondly Letonja and Letonja state that the communication of a firm's culture "increases the likelihood that important relationships will be sustainable and productive. (McAleese and Hargie, 2004) Stated to be a factor that complicates the situations is the "potential for the emergence of subcultures within the organization." (McAleese and Hargie in: Letonja and Letonja, 2008) Organizational culture is stated in the work of McAleese and Hargie to be called "the way we do things around here." (cited in Letonja and Letonja, 2008)

(II). Principle 2: Develop cultural leaders

The work of Dreary and Phil (2008) reports as follows:

"Despite agreement among some researchers that organizational change is subject to complex organization processes by which change arises, there has been only moderate agreement on the contextual factors or activities that embrace or influence processes of change. As a result, "what may be successful for one leader may be unsuccessful for another. That is, "cultures need to adapt, and change continually in order to survive" (McAleese & Hargie, 2004:165). However, many organizations fail to acknowledge this."

(III). Principle 3: Share the culture by communicating effectively with staff

Communication of a firm's culture to "clients and other third parties increases the likelihood that important relationships will be sustainable and productive (McAleese and Hargie 2004; Jenkins et al. 2008 cited in Hookana, 2008)

(IV.) Principle 4: Measure the cultural performance

Organizational culture serves as forces that create a sense of membership or cohesion, as well as a sense of difference from those who do not participate (Johnson, 1992). As such, it functions as the social glue that holds the firm together. As organizational culture changes, employees' relationships with each other and with various stakeholders, as well as the expected employees' attitudes and behaviors in the workplace are redefined (Hookana, 2008 citing McAleese and Hargie, 2004) Cultural performance therefore can be measured in the attitudes and behaviors of the employees.

(V). Principle 5: Communicate the culture in all dealings with customers

Hargie and Tourish (2009) cite the work of McAleese and Hargie in their own work entitled "Auditing Organizational Communication: A Handbook of Research Theory and Practice (2009) reporting that the managers of companies do the following:

(1) formulate an "overall culture strategy;

(2) develop cultural leaders;

(3) share the culture by communicating effectively with staff,

(4) measure the cultural performance; and (5) communicate the culture in all dealings with customers." (Hargie and Tourish citing McAleese and Hargie, 2004)

(V). Specific Application of These Principles in the Healthcare Setting

These five principles as stated by McAleese and Hargie (2004) can be specifically applied in the health care setting. The first principle of formulating an overall culture strategy involves planning of the organizational culture, which is followed by development of cultural leaders or managers that understand and whom are committed to the organizational cultural effectiveness and success. These individuals must be properly educated and trained for dealing with cultural specific issues in the workplace.