1. Zhang, 1
Di Zhang
LIS 580 A
27 February 2012
Fostering Change Within an Organization Culture
Organizations tend to exhibit a culture and subcultures that can be analyzed on
three levels: artifacts, values, and assumptions. They are also constantly in flux due to
cultural shifts, competition, new technologies, and a many other factors. Edgar H. Schein
has been a leading researcher in both organizational culture and change. In this paper, I use
Schein‟s model of culture to analyze the subcultures of Ballard Library, a branch of the
Seattle Public Library (SPL). I also use his model of change to analyze an important
change that is occurring in Ballard Library: the shift away from top-down approach to
management.
Culture
Artifacts are the most visible level of culture and include the constructed physical
and social environment, although their meaning is not always decipherable. To reach a
deeper analysis of culture, one must examine the values and underlying assumptions
shared by the participants in the culture and subcultures. In this section of the paper, I will
examine three subcultures at Ballard Library—shelving and clerical staff (I will call them
service staff), reference staff, and managers—and analyze these subcultures according to
Schein‟s three levels so of culture. Service staff are concerned with the flow and handling
of materials and direct interaction with library patrons. Reference staff are information
professionals that deal with answer questions regarding searches for information.
Managers supervise the other staff and oversee the day-to-day operations of local branches.

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Service Staff:
One important artifact shared by service staff is stories. One clerk told shelvers a
story of when she was a shelver and the Manager was overly critical and demanding of her.
She had felt overwhelmed and broke down in tears; eventually the union had to get
involved to reprimand the Manager.1 The union is therefore a symbol of justice for service
staff and a check on power of managers. One value that we can discern is that service staff
should seek outside support when they feel that they are being treated unfairly.
Some shelvers resent the fact that they cannot “change the rules” of their jobs, often
complaining about having to do tasks a certain way. Yet these staff members are often
afraid or otherwise unwilling to voice their concerns to management. The underlying
assumption here is that you should always do what your boss tells you andyou should do
things the way others have agreed upon (whether by explicit agreement or acquiescence
tothe current system of doing things), even when you find a reason to do things differently.
Thus, even though you should voice your opinions and suggestions freely is an espoused
value, it is not an actual value that is in line with the behavior of many shelvers. This
highlights Schein‟s claim that such espoused values are not congruent with underlying
assumptions, which are actually better predictor of behavior (1996, p. 436). When
espoused values are congruent with underlying assumptions, it can help unify the group
around a common philosophy. Thus, there is room for improving unity in Ballard‟s
shelving and clerical staff; the latter talk more often to managers and are more comfortable
voicing their opinions than the former.
1
The Assistant Manager (who used to be the Manager under the old system of management) at that branch
has been overheard saying that unions get in the way of what she wants her workers to do. Although this was
most likely said in a joking way, it still reveals tensions between management and the union.

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However, there are several underlying assumptions that service staff do share: you
should always help coworkers whenever you can, and you should ask for help whenever
you need. These assumptions have always been reliable in solving problems in the
workplace and are therefore taken for granted. There is alsoa belief among service staff
that staff members are competent, hardworking and well intentioned and that they should
be given the benefit of the doubt. For example, if two or more staff members are seen
standing still and engaged in a conversation, the service staff assume that those staff
members are discussing something that relates to work. Therefore, they are still perceived
as being productive workers, rather than lazy or incompetent, even when they are not
performing any work related tasks.
Reference Staff:
One important artifact for reference staff is displays, which is a creative artifact that
highlights the library‟s collection and influences the kinds of books and media library
patrons check out. Displays reinforce the idea that librarians are responsible for the
collection. Therefore, a shared value is that librarians, and only librarians should manage
the library collection. However, this valuewas not working well for the Ballard staff;
librarians were not coordinating their displays and were too pressed for time to do a good
job on them. Therefore, this assumption did not represent a “solution to a problem that
works repeatedly” (Schein, 1996, p. 437). In other words, this value does not represent an
underlying assumption but is merely an espoused value that needed to be reevaluated.2
2Since the end of 2011, all staff members have been encouraged to create displays. The culture has
shifted to one where everyone shares responsibility for the library collection. Members are able to see
their influence and their interests reflected in their work environment and in the circulation of

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Another artifact that is particular to reference staff is their jargon. For example,
when referring to magazines, librarians may speak of “current issues” and “back issues.”
Jargonisindicative of a subculture because it points to a common way of describing things
and therefore a common way of perceiving and thinking about things. It creates a sense of
community and culture around reference staff‟s esoteric knowledge of the collection,
reinforcing the underlying assumption that reference staff members are the library‟s
“professional staff” and are the “go-to” people for information searches.
Managers:
Jargon is definitely a part of this subculture as well. For example, ifone attends
managerial meetings, or even unit meetings with all staff, one will often hear managers
speak of WEDE, which stands for Welcome Engage Deliver and Exceed Expectations,
SPL‟s customer service slogan. This is language that is particular to managers, who wish
to spell out what customer service is in no uncertain terms.3 Thus, management staff value
writing out standards and organizational values for the sake ofinspiring and evaluating
staff performance. In reality, management has fallen behind in evaluating staff and the
actual behavior of managers does not truly reflect espoused values. The underlying
assumption is that management does not need to talk to staff unless there is a problem with
performance.4 This contributes to a culture that believes in negative reinforcement5 and
materials. Thus, the underlying assumption is that all library staff members have a say in how the
collection is managed, especially in terms of highlighting topics and themes of interest.
3The rest of the staff rarely use slogans or acronyms, but rather demonstrate customer service through setting
and learning from examples.
4
I have worked nearly 4 years at SPL and only had one performance evaluation. A manager once told me: “if
we don‟t have to talk to you, that means you‟re doing a good job.” I call this the negative reinforcement
assumption.
5
An exception is the occasional generic party that celebrates “a job well done by the wonderful staff”
without giving any specifics about performance.

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does not believe in a consistent dialog between management and other staff about
performance.
Change
SPL management is currently transitioningto a more democratic and less
hierarchical model of problem solving called “interest-based problem solving” (IBPS).My
analysis will focus on how local managers, particularly at Ballard Library, are leading the
effort to change. According to Schein (2002), all planned and managed change begins from
a quasi-stationary state and occurs in 3 stages: unfreezing, changing, and refreezing. In
order for change to happen, the current equilibrium must first be „unfrozen.‟ That is, there
has to be a reason and a motivation to change on the part of the targets. This involves
disconfirmation of the current state of affairs as well as a psychological safety, supporting
the target in a way that will help them overcome learning anxiety (i.e. learning new
behaviors, attitudes, and roles). Neither requirement for unfreezing has been adequately
utilized by managers at the Ballard Library. Managers have not provided information about
why the current top-down “dictating” approach to problem solving is unacceptable.6
Moreover, there is not enough psychological support offered tostaffto undergo change.
Althoughstaff will be required to attend training on interest-based problem solving, there is
no set timeframe on when staff will be trained. This creates uncertainty and raises anxiety.
One worry is that managers will expect staff to be “more involved” in the meantime
without having yet had the training; this is already happening at Ballard, where the
Assistant Manager is expecting staff to be more vocal and take on a greater role in
6
For instance, is it because it is not effective? Is it because it violates our espoused values? Is it because it is
inadequate for meeting the organizational goal to “foster an organizational goal of innovation” (goal 5 of the
SPL Strategic Plan)?

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facilitating unit meetings without providing training or information on why and how this
change should occur.
Only after being unfrozen do the targets become uncomfortable with the current
state of things and thus motivated to change. Theactual change is the second step in the
change process. According to Schein (2002), change occurs from a combination of role
modeling and scanning. Role modeling refers to active coaching that demonstrates by
example new ways of thinking, new behaviors, and new skills. Scanning involves trial and
error as targets figure out what solutions will work in their environment. The latter change
strategy is more conducive to lasting change, as is evident at the Ballard Library. Ballard
staff members were recentlyasked to scan their environment to propose standards of
appearance for their work environment. Managers took the service staff and reference staff
on a “walking tour” of the library and asked for ideas of how to improve the library‟s
appearance for both workers and patrons. With little role modeling7, staffmembers were
broken up into teams that would meet on their own, do their own analysis of a specific area
of their environment, draft up a portion of the appearance standards, and present their
proposals at a unit meeting. Heavy emphasis was put on the proposal of innovative
solutions and “trying things out” to see if they would be effective in the workplace. Schein
suggests that scanning is the most important part of lasting change, as “[s]uperiors
must…learn how to force the learners to develop their own solutions to the change
dilemma and must make themselves relatively unavailable as role models” (p. 41). Once
staff realize that the solutions that they discover on their own are actually effective, they
7
Staff were given a copy of appearance standards that had been developed at another branch. However, these
appearance standards were only to be used as a starting point to brainstorm ideas for how things should work
at Ballard.

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are more likely to internalize the new approach as a basic assumption.
The final step in the change process is refreezing. According to Schein (2002), this
involves “personal integration” where new behaviors will only last if they fit the
personality or culture of the staff (p. 39). SPL hopes to facilitate refreezing by having all
staff eventually undergo the same IBPS training. This offers the best chance to change the
culture of SPL because it involves “team building” and the acceptance of change by whole
system, starting with management (all managers have already had the training), not just
one subculture (p. 40). However, training a staff that amounts to hundred of members with
several subcultures and a great deal of diversity within and between those subcultures does
present its share of challenges. For starters, the goal of training all staff in a timely manner
is overly ambitious and unrealistic. At the moment, only managers have had IBPS training,
yet they have already begun to expect changes in the rest of the staff without the aid of a
system-wide unfreezing. Secondly, managers must consider the vulnerability of staff to
change. Older staff membersthat are in the “baby boomer” generation often have deep-
rooted beliefs that managers should dictate to their subordinates. There are also language
and cultural barriers; for example, many staff members speak English as their second or
third language and may not be comfortable accepting the level of vocality required of the
new model of problem solving. Currently, SPL‟s greatest challenge in changing the system
is to provide the disconfirmation and the psychological safety needed to unfreeze the
system. Addressing underlying assumptions of staff and providing the training needed to
understand the rationale behind the new problem solving approach will greatly assist the
facilitation of lasting change.

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Bibliography
Schein, E. H., 1990, Organizational culture, American psychologist, 45(2), 109.
Schein, E. H., 1996, “Defining Organizational Culture”, in: Shafritz Jay M. and Ott
Steven J., Classics of Organization Theory, 4th edition, 430-441
Schein, E. H., 2002, “Models and Tools for Stability and Change in Human Systems”,
Reflections, Vol. 4(2), pp. 34-46.