Improving Maintenance and Reliability Through Cultural Change. Stephen Thomas G.

Figure 5-5 Cultural behavior vs. role model behavior

      An important point that needs to be recognized is that the site leadership must want to make this change. Although a new culture can spring up in one that has a different focus, it will not live a very long time. The predominant model and the supporting culture will extinguish it before it has a chance to thrive.

      But what if the leadership does want to make the change? In this case, the existing role models will be given a different set of expectations. They will either comply or, over time, be replaced. The other alternative, one which is used more frequently than the former, is to bring in from outside the organization people who exhibit the new cultural behavior. They remove the old role models who can not adapt to the new way of working; they promote those who have adapted. The organization then sees these new managers as successful and, in the true definition of role models, emulates them.

5.7 How Role Models Can Change a Culture

      Role models are a critical part of an organization’s culture for several reasons. First, people need examples of how the organization expects them to behave in their jobs and within the larger context of the organization. Second, people want to see what success looks like so that they can model their behavior and achieve success in their own careers. Third, people also want to see the “good – bad examples” which depict clearly what the organization does not want to see in its employees. The first two reasons are positive and the third negative, but each has its place in the value of role models in the business

      Roles models are needed because they are an essential and initial step in the change process. Figure 5-5 shows how role models fit and interact to help support cultural change. In this quad diagram, role models are portrayed on the y-axis as either reactive or proactive. The x-axis shows the organization’s cultural behavior, also reactive or proactive. Note that role models can and do work in both roles at different times, dependent on the status of the change initiative. The line starting in block 1 and running through blocks 3, block 2 and ending in block 4 shows how role models introduce and bring about change in a company.

      Block 1 represents the current condition or baseline that is encountered when a role model is brought into a company. Usually the existing role models have a reactive focus and, as a result, so does the culture. Invariably the new role models recognize that change is needed; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been hired in the first place. They next progress to block 3 (a proactive role model in a reactive culture) where they implement a change that supports their new model for doing work.

      Initially a single initiative is all that is needed. We are not trying to “build Rome in one day.” We are, however, trying to initiate long-lasting change and that must start slowly. For example, role models may mandate that a preventive maintenance program be established and not permit deviation from the schedule. Through their own behavior and through setting expectations for the organization, the role models provide guidance in how they expect work to be conducted. They do not pull the PM crews for reactive work, no matter what is happening in the plant. Furthermore, they praise those who have done the PM more then those who fight the fires.