Organizational Culture and Change: Measuring and Shaping Organizational Adaptability

Abstract

Successful organizations have always demonstrated their ability to effectively adapt to changing environments. But “how things are done?” in such organizations remained disputed or vague for a long time. About 12 Years ago, we began systematically screening the literatures in IO-Psychology, Organizational Behavior, Management Sciences and similar ones, by using meta-analytical and somewhat later even meta-meta-analytical techniques, as well as employee survey data bases from many multinational organizations to scientifically address two questions for tackling the puzzle of how organizations successfully create and maintain adaptive change: First, what are the core characteristics (observable by leaders, managers, employees and ‘objective’ data analysts around the world) which enable organizations to effectively adapt to rapid change in their respective environments? And second, how can these characteristics be (even cross-culturally) measured (e.g., by asking organizations’ leaders, managers and employees and by using objective performance measures) and thereby effectively used to develop an organization´s culture (i.e. “how things are done around here”), even globally, toward higher adaptability? How this was done, I would like to share with you during my talk - of course, together with the results obtained and the methods and tools employed.

Biography

Felix C. Brodbeck, PhD (University of Giessen, 1993), Dr. habil. (LMU Munich, 1999), Dipl. Psych. (LMU Munich, 1987) is Chair of Organizational and Economic Psychology at Ludwig-Maximilians- Universität, Munich since 2007. From 2000-2007 he held the Chair of Organizational and Social Psychology, and from 2002-2007 he served as Head of the Work and Organizational Psychology Group, at Aston Business School, Aston University, UK (formerly the ‘Aston Group’ headed by D.S. Pugh). For more than 10 years he was a member of the coordination team of the GLOBE Program (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness, Wharton School of Management, headed by R. House) and currently serves on the GLOBE Board of Directors. He has published nine books (the latest published in 2016, about GLOBE: A practitioners brevier in German) and more than 100 scholarly articles (e.g., Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Executive, Human Relations, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Journal of World Business, Leadership Quarterly, Organizational Psychology Review, PLOS ONE, Psychological Bulletin, Strategic Management Journal) in the fields of cross-cultural psychology, leadership, group and organizational effectiveness, organizational culture, decision making, negotiation, innovation, economic psychology, and applied research methods. In addition to serving as an editorial board member in academic journals (e.g., Journal of World Business, Organizational Psychology Review) he published numerous articles in practitioners’ journals and books, and from 2007 to 2010 he served as editor of the German practitioners’ journal "OrganisationsEntwicklung" (Organizational Development). From 2007 to 2017 he was co-owner and senior partner of a consulting company in Munich, Germany, specializing on employee surveys, leadership and organizational development in large multinational companies, which rounds up his track record as a curious traveler in two complementary worlds, the academic world, as an applied organizational psychologist developing and testing theories empirically, and the practical world, as a consultant and EbM-adviser adapting and applying scientific theories and methods in real world settings for the good of working people and their companies.

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