AND CULTURE CHANGE SUCCESSFUL
Measuring the intended structure and culture change at
Belastingdienst/Noord
Final version
Master thesis, MscBA, specialization Change Management
University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business
November 2, 2009
IRMA VAN KEULEN
Student number: 1704974
Spilsluizen 12
9712 NS Groningen
+31 (0)6 1096 3211
i.van.keulen@student.rug.nl
First supervisor / university
Second supervisor / university
Dr. Karin Prins
Dr. Ben Emans
Supervisor / field of study
Jelte Lindeboom
Belastingdienst/Noord, Groningen
ABSTRACT
To make a culture and structure change successful different methods can be used. In this research these methods are described and their influence on the success of organisational change is explored. The company chosen for this research is Belastingdienst/Noord, a tax service organisation located in the North of the Netherlands. But before the methods for making a culture and structure change successful could be investigated, first the needed culture and structure change at the company had to be identified. According to the management of Belastingdienst/Noord the supportive departments of the company needed to change to increase the internal customer satisfaction. The internal customers were asked, with the help of a questionnaire, what their opinion was about the service of the supportive departments. Afterwards the intended culture and structure change was identified as a more pro-active culture, more cooperation between the different supportive departments and a more customer-focused attitude. The methods which should be used for making the intended change successful are involvement, communication, leadership, performance management, training and coaching. The way these methods should be used is researched with the help of different interviews within the company. The value of the research is that the supportive departments of Belastingdienst/Noord have received a view of the internal customer satisfaction and therefore have been come aware of the aspects which should be changed in these departments. Also other organisations that cope with internal customer dissatisfaction can learn from this research and use the methods explained for a change in their culture and structure.
Key words: culture change, structure change, success of change, internal customer
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS_________________________________________________ 4 1. INTRODUCTION ________________________________________________________ 5
1.1 Description and aim of the research ________________________________________ 5 1.2 Belastingdienst/Noord ___________________________________________________ 5
The organisation. _______________________________________________________ 5
Collegial boards.________________________________________________________ 6
The supportive departments._______________________________________________ 6 1.3 Research question ______________________________________________________ 7
2. LITERATURE STUDY ___________________________________________________ 8
2.1 Internal customer satisfaction._____________________________________________ 8 2.2 Structure and culture change ______________________________________________ 9
Organisational culture.___________________________________________________ 9
Organisational structure. ________________________________________________ 10
Changing organisational culture and structure._______________________________ 11 2.3 Success of structure and culture change ____________________________________ 12 2.4 Methods for making change a success _____________________________________ 13
Involvement. __________________________________________________________ 13
Communication. _______________________________________________________ 13
Leadership. ___________________________________________________________ 14
Performance management._______________________________________________ 14
Training and coaching.__________________________________________________ 15
3. RESEARCH METHODS _________________________________________________ 16
3.1 Research model _______________________________________________________ 16 3.2 Data collection________________________________________________________ 17 3.3 Data analysis _________________________________________________________ 19
4. RESULTS______________________________________________________________ 21
4.1 The influence of structure and culture change on internal customer satisfaction _____ 21 4.2 The influence of involvement on the success of the intended change _____________ 24 4.3 The influence of communication on the success of the intended change ___________ 24 4.4 The influence of leadership on the success of the intended change _______________ 24 4.5 The influence of performance management on the success of the intended change___ 25 4.6 The influence of training and coaching on the success of the intended change ______ 25
5. DISCUSSION __________________________________________________________ 26
5.1 Conclusions with answers on the research questions __________________________ 26 5.2 Recommendations _____________________________________________________ 28 5.3 Limitations __________________________________________________________ 29
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
• CB = Collegial Board
• EIC = External Internal Communication • HRM = Human Resource Management • IM = Information Management
• M1 = Management Team • M2 = Executives
• MT = Management Team
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Description and aim of the research
Belastingdienst/Noord is the tax service organisation in the North of the Netherlands. The organisation is focusing on improving the service for the external customer. Improving external customer satisfaction goes hand in hand with internal customer satisfaction. Therefore the focus is also on improving the service for the internal customer. The service providers of the internal customer are the supportive departments. Therefore the research is focused on how the service provision of the supportive departments is at this moment and when this is not satisfactory, how the departments should change to get the service provision up to standard. The internal customers are the Management Team, Collegial Boards and employees, the supportive departments are the Human Resource department, Planning Finance and Control department, Information Management department and External and Internal Communication department. According to different researchers (Burnes, 2004; Jones, 2007) organisational change can be divided into cultural and/or structural change. Therefore this will be the focus of the change of the supportive departments. Both the internal customers and the supportive departments were asked to give their opinion about the culture and structure of the supportive departments. The results of this research has lead to the development of an intended change. Besides that, methods which will make the intended structure and culture change successful, are researched and adjusted to the change for the supportive departments of Belastingdienst/Noord. All this together will lead to the improvement of the internal customer satisfaction at Belastingdienst/Noord.
1.2 Belastingdienst/Noord
The organisation. The Belastingdienst has over 30,000 employees who are responsible for a large amount of different tasks. The most familiar tasks are to charge and collect taxes. Yearly the Belastingdienst processes the different declarations of 6 million individual people and 1.1 million entrepreneurs. The Belastingdienst is not only responsible for charging taxes but also for payment. They for instance take care of payment for provisional returns and for premium charges which households can receive for the costs of child care, rent and medical care. Other important work processes are detecting fraud, controlling in, out and transition of goods, and supervision over the compliance of different fiscal laws and rules.
which are called M2. Besides that, M1 and M2 and the employees are supported by several supportive departments.
FIGURE 1
Organisational structure Belastingdienst/Noord
Collegial boards. There are 5 collegial boards in Belastingdienst/Noord, these boards are called collegial because there is not one leader, and the decisions are made together in a team of 3-14 people. Customer service has all the first order contact with the external customers. They answer the questions of customers by phone or in person at their information desks. The administration handles the administration process of all the processes in the company. Individual control is in contact with the larger customers, thus the large companies in the Netherlands. The department consists of special teams who are responsible for a certain company. General control handles the contact with the small to medium size companies and the individual people. Cashing is responsible for the payment of the tax from the customer to the Belastingdienst.
The supportive departments. These departments support the Management Team, Collegial Boards and employees with fulfilling their tasks, and can be divided into 4 departments. These 4 departments are HRM (Human Resource Management), PFC (Planning, Finance and Control), IM (Information Management) and EIC (External Internal Communication).
circumstances there are two advisors employed: the prevention employee and the reintegration manager.
The PFC department is responsible for controlling the employees of the company. Firstly, they are concerned with budget control, the department makes a budget at the beginning of the year, makes proposals for the division of the budget and guards the output of the budget. Secondly, the department is responsible for formation supervision; this means that they indicate how much staff is needed in the company. The department does research about the amount of staff and makes proposals for the management. Thirdly, the department is concerned with management information; the process of the on forehand determined tasks will be controlled. In this way the team leader and employees can make appointments about which tasks should be done and when. Fourthly, the department gives attention to risk control, data security and integrity. These attention areas are important because tax payers need to be sure that their information is not used for other purposes then intended. Fifthly, the department gives advice to the management about the development and control of administrative organisation and internal controls. Finally, the department is the key department for developing accountability reports.
The IM department is concerned with the information policy which is derived from the company policy. Besides that, they are responsible for development and concern of the information systems and means.
The EIC department is responsible for the communication throughout the whole company; they create the digital media and are represented in several project groups. Their task is to give advice about the communication message, the communication moments and the communication means which can be used. Besides the internal communication EIC is also responsible for outside communication, for example for the house style of letters which are send, advertisements which are made and the design of the building.
1.3 Research question
After the description of the research and of the organisation, it is time to determine the research questions on which the rest of the research will be based. The research consists of two parts, first of all the content of the change will be indicated and second of all the methods which make this change a success are determined. This leads to the following two research questions:
Research question 1: What should be changed in the culture and structure of the supportive departments of Belastingdienst/Noord to increase the internal customer satisfaction?
2. LITERATURE STUDY
Based on the research questions formulated above two conceptual model are made. The models can be found below; afterwards all the variables will be explained with the help of literature. First the variables of conceptual model 1 will be explained and afterwards the variables of conceptual model 2. After some variables a sub question will be defined for the research.
FIGURE 2 Conceptual model 1
The ultimate goal of this research is to improve the internal customer satisfaction within Belastingdienst/Noord. Therefore in the first part of the research the changes in culture and structure will be explored which will increase the internal customer satisfaction.
FIGURE 3 Conceptual model 2
In the second part of the research the methods will be investigated which will make the culture and structure change, defined in part 1, a success.
2.1 Internal customer satisfaction.
service quality for increasing the internal customer satisfaction is dependent upon the flow of information between departments, stronger orientation towards meeting customer needs, upgrading provision systems and changing departmental culture and structure (Chaston, 1994). The higher the quality of the internal service the higher the internal customer satisfaction, consequently this will lead to external customer satisfaction.
2.2 Structure and culture change
In both conceptual models 1 and 2 the variable structure and culture change is included. Therefore first organisational culture and structure in general will be described. Afterwards culture and structure change will be described. Because the variable success of structure and culture change belongs to conceptual model 2, this will be described in chapter 2.3.
Organisational culture. Pinto (2007) defines organisational culture as “the unwritten rules of
behaviour or norms that are used to shape and guide behaviour which are shared with organisational members and taught to all new members of the company”. According to Jones (2006) a culture has influence on how people make a decision and which decisions they make, how people handle information and how they behave. Culture therefore has a large influence on an organisation.
Over time there are different models developed concerning organisational culture. A few of these models will now be described. Cameron and Quinn (1999) and Handy (1986) both developed four types of cultures. The model of Cameron and Quinn (1999) is the competing values framework, which is based on internal focus and integration versus external focus and differentiation. The other dimension is based on flexibility and discretion versus stability and control. The clan culture describes an organisation that focuses on internal maintenance with flexibility, concern for people, and sensitivity to customers. The adhocracy culture can be found in an organisation that focuses on external positioning with a high degree of flexibility and individuality. Besides that, in the hierarchy culture the focus lies on internal maintenance with a need for stability and control. Finally, the market culture focuses on external positioning with a need for stability and control. Handy (1986) describes the four main types of culture as: power, role, task and person. The power structure is mostly found in small organisations where one powerful person has the control. The role culture is often used in bureaucracies and mechanistic organisations. This culture stresses the importance of rules, procedures and hierarchy; people have to stick to their job description (role). The task culture focuses on getting the job in hand (task) done, there is not described how it should be done. This culture is mostly used in organizations where flexibility and teamwork is needed. Lastly, in the person culture people get the possibility to work with whomever they want; these people are then forming a cluster.
organisational members and critical incidents. The type of technology used within an organisation can have an influence on the culture which is supported. High level technology can lead to a fast-paced technology based culture. Furthermore, a company’s environment influences the culture of the organisation. Companies may develop a culture with low risk-taking, stability and efficiency in a simple and slow-changing environment. On the other hand, companies may promote rapid response, external scanning for opportunities and threats and risk taking, when they are in a highly complex environment. Geographical locations can also have an influence on the culture of an organisation, because people have different culturally based attitudes in different geographical locations. Reward systems support the view that the beliefs and actions of the top management are more important than official company policies, in this way a culture is formed around pollution and dishonesty. Culture can be influenced by rules and procedures for the acceptable behaviour of employees, rules and procedures are especially important for the behaviour of new employees. Besides that, key organisational members have a large influence on the organisational culture and critical incidents demonstrate for all the workers what it takes to succeed in the organisation. These factors described determine if a culture is strong, collaborative, customer-focused, project-oriented or fast-paced (Pinto, 2007).
Organisational structure. According to Burnes (2004) the organisational structure defines
where the power lies, how people relate to each other and how the hierarchy is structured. Pinto (2007) sees organisational structure as consisting of three key elements. Firstly, the organisational structure makes the formal reporting relationship clear; this includes the number of hierarchical levels and the span of control. Secondly, the way people are grouped together within departments show the organisational structure, this can be based on function, product, geography or project. Finally, the organisational structure is also based on the design of systems for communication, coordination and integration of effort between departments. This element relates to the supportive mechanisms within an organisation.
in the dual hierarchy there are also two bosses, which can lead to mixed and conflicting messages (Pinto, 2007).
Burns and Stalker (1961) relate the organisational structure to the environment. They identified two ideal forms of organisational structure: mechanistic and organic. Characteristics of the mechanistic structure are centralisation and strong level of control. The information streams vertical through the organisation, everyone’s task is very clear and communication goes via the top of the organisation. There is a high level of standardisation and formalisation, and hierarchy is important. In contrast, characteristics of the organic structure are decentralisation and freedom of employees. Information streams horizontal through the organisation and the tasks of the employees are less clear. There is a degree of integration through teams and taskforces and hierarchy is less important. Burns and Stalker (1961) indicate that a mechanistic structure is more effective in a stable environment and that the organic structure is more appropriate in an unpredictable environment.
Furthermore, Lawrence and Lorsch (1967) researched the relation between the structure of departments within a company and the external environment. The structure is analysed by the degree of differentiation and integration between departments. Differentiation is the level of difference which managers and staff see between their practices, procedures and structures. Integration is the degree of collaboration between different departments to meet their individual objectives. In general the greater the interdependence between departments, the more integration is needed. According to Thompson (1967) there are three forms of interdependence between departments. Pooled interdependence is a structure where the departments work relatively autonomous, but all the departments together fulfil the organisations purpose. Sequential interdependence is a structure where one department provides the input for another department. Reciprocal interdependence is a structure where all the departments interact with each other.
Conceptual model 1 leads to the following research question, which also has been formulated in chapter 1.
Research question 1: What should be changed in the culture and structure of the supportive departments of Belastingdienst/Noord in order to increase the internal customer satisfaction?
2.3 Success of structure and culture change
Burnes (2004) sees a relation between structure and culture and places it in a continuum which can be found in figure 2. This means that a mechanistic structure is more suitable for a role culture and an organic structure more appropriate for a task culture. Thus, for making change a success it is important to adjust the culture and structure to each other.
FIGURE 4
Structure – culture continuum
Source: Burnes (2004)
But when is change a success? Change is a success when the goals which are determined upfront are reached. Thus, when the performance of the people involved matches with the goals, this performance can in return be increased by training and coaching. Change is also a success when it is socially constructed as a success. Thus, when the people involved get communicated through their leader that the change is a success. When this leader lays the focus on the success then people will believe in it (Burnes, 2004). Therefore change is a success when the methods which are now shortly mentioned will be used. These methods will be discussed in the following section.
This leads to the following research question which is already formulated in chapter 1.
2.4 Methods for making change a success
Different methods can be used to make an intended change a success. Below these different methods will be described. The methods which are selected are applicable to use in the organisation Belastingdienst/Noord. Therefore methods like rewards and recruitment are not selected because Belastingdienst/Noord has both a reward and employee stop due to cutbacks in the expenditure. The five selected methods for change will be described below, after each method a sub question is formulated which will be answered with the help of interviews within the organisation.
Involvement. Involvement is based on letting organisational members participate directly in
planning and implementing change. This can be seen as the most effective strategy to make change a success. Involvement can not only lead to overcoming resistance but also to developing high-quality change ideas, because the people who are involved in the change can indicate if a change will be effective and they can identify pitfalls and barriers. When people are involved they have the possibility to include their own interests and needs, this in return will lead to more commitment to the change. In large-scale projects not everyone can be involved in all planning and implementation aspects, and then it is important to identify and get the people involved that are needed for the change. People can be selected who are key opinion-formers and who give guidance to their colleagues (Cummings & Worley, 2005; Burnes, 2004; Albrecht, 2003).
Sub question 2.1: How can involvement be applied in the supportive departments of Belastingdienst/Noord to make the intended change a success?
Communication. Communication in change can be defined as informing the people involved
about the steps which will be taken in realising the change, therefore it is essential during the implementation of organisational change and for making change a success (DiFonzo and Bordia, 1998; Schweiger and Denisi, 1991; Elving, 2005). To make change a success resistance has to be avoided, therefore the right communication is necessary, because people get resistant to change when the consequences are uncertain. People can prepare themselves for a change when they are informed in the right way, but informing is not the only reason why communication is important. When people are involved in the discussion and debates for the need and form of change, they get the possibility to discuss openly and in that way also convince themselves of the need for change. Communication is a very difficult aspect, because it does not matter how good you communicate, there will always exist informal rumours. Managers and experts should therefore seriously take this into account (Cummings & Worley, 2005; Burnes, 2004; Elving, 2005).
Leadership. According to Burnes (2004) leadership can be defined as the process of
establishing goals and motivating others to pursue and achieve these goals. Different sources (Burnes, 2004; Pinto; 2007) mention that a leader in contrast to a manager should focus on the future, create the change and create a culture based on shared values. When doing so a leader needs to establish an emotional link with the followers and use personal power (Nahavandi, 2000). In previous decades there is conducted a lot of research about different types of leadership (Zaccaro, 2007; Sternberg, 2007; Avolio, 2007; Burns, 1978; Conger and Kanungo, 1998; Kets de Vries and Miller, 1985). An interesting research, conducted by Sims, Faraj and Yun, (2009), describes in what situation which kind of leadership will make change a success. An aversive leader is a leader who threats, intimidates reprimands and punishes. The situation where aversive leadership is needed is when there is a problem that has to be solved quickly. Comparing to aversive leadership, directive leadership is more benign, but still top-down, and expresses the leadership through direction, instructions and command. Directive leadership is used most often in situations where there is not much time. Transactional leadership is a sort of leadership that builds a relationship which is based on exchange. With the help of rewarding, the leader steers the people in the right direction. A transactional leadership style can be chosen when a leader has control, the turnover is low and when people are attracted to rewards. The transformational leadership style is also a top-down based style, but it differs in the way of how the leader acts to his people. The transformational leader is a more charismatic person who motivates and energizes his people. He has a great vision and by motivation and energizing his people he pursues his vision. This type of leadership is used and effective when a crisis looms. Leaders who use the empowering style are leaders that encourage initiative, self-responsibility, self-confidence, self-goal setting, positive opportunity thinking, and self problem solving to their people. With this style of leadership there is aimed on the long-term performance, high follower self-confidence, high follower self-development, and very high innovation. Compared with the transformational or charismatic leadership the empowering leadership works also when the leader is absent (Sims, Faraj and Yun, 2009).
Sub question 2.3: What role does the leader need to play to make the intended change in the supportive departments of Belastingdienst/Noord a success?
Performance management. Performance management can be defined as the process of
for performance feedback, this can be a direct evaluation of an individual or work group by a supervisor, manager or colleague. During a change process goals can be set which make the change a success, afterwards these goals can be measured and when not accomplished these goals can be adjusted (Cummings & Worley, 2005).
Sub question 2.4: How can performance management be applied when making the intended change in the supportive departments of Belastingdienst/Noord a success?
Training and coaching. Coaching can be described as a method of directing and instructing
an individual or group and training as an organised activity aimed at teaching information and instructions to improve the performance of the receiver. Both activities focus on the skills, knowledge and capabilities of organisational members. Coaching helps an individual to set and meet goals, improve interpersonal relations, handle conflict or address leadership styles. Training is more an educational aspect that is invented to transfer knowledge and skills to many individuals at the same time (Cummings & Worley, 2005). In a change process training can be used to obtain new skills and competences but it can also have other purposes. Namely, training can be used to give to people the skills to undertake the change themselves, it can stimulate continuous improvement or it can make them aware of the need for change (Burnes, 2004). This in return will lead to the success of the change. Using internal coaches and trainers has many benefits, namely cost benefits and aligning coaching and training methods with the organisation’s strategic approach (Rock and Donde, 2008).
3. RESEARCH METHODS
In this chapter the methods which are used for the research are described and explained. The research model has been used as research structure and is therefore first explained. Afterwards, the way of data collection is described and finally the way of data analysis is explained.
3.1 Research model
This research is focused on changing the supportive departments of Belastingdienst/Noord; therefore the focus of the change should be on attitudes, behaviour, tasks and procedures at the group level. When this is related to the model of Burnes (2004: 529), there can be seen that this concerns a planned change approach for the attitudes and behaviour, and a Kaizen approach for tasks and procedures. Lewin created the action research model for the planned change approach; the research model below is constructed based on the action research model of Lewin (Burnes, 2004; Cummings and Worley, 2005) and gives a clear overall view of the total research which has been done. The research will more specifically be explained further on. The model consists of the following steps:
1. Problem identification: the key executive, who is the supervisor at the company of this research, identified that the organisation has a problem. This problem is that the internal customer satisfaction was not up to standard.
2. Consultation with a behavioural science expert: the executive, who identified the problem, has come into contact with a semi-expert, in the role of the researcher, who could help analyse the problem.
3. Data gathering and preliminary diagnosis: during the research the methods for gathering information in collaboration with the organisational members were interviews and questionnaires, whereby the internal customers as well as the supportive departments received a questionnaire and participated in an interview. 4. Feedback to a key client or group: during the end presentation at the company the
diagnostic data is fed back to the supportive departments of Belastingdienst/Noord. This involves judgement about private information and information where the group is not ready for and has therefore been discussed beforehand with the supervisor of the company.
5. Joint diagnosis of the problem: during the end presentation there has been decided that the supportive departments are going to work on the recommendations presented. 6. Joint action planning: the researcher and the organisational members have agreed
together on further actions which should be taken. Together with the supervisor this has been worked out and a complete action plan has been developed where the supportive departments can work on without the help of the researcher. This is the beginning of the moving step in the three-step model of Lewin.
involvement, communication, leadership, performance management, training and coaching.
8. Data gathering after action: action research is a cyclical process; therefore there must also be gathered data after the action to measure the difference. This can in return lead to re-diagnosis and action (Burnes, 2004; Cummings and Worley, 2005).
3.2 Data collection
To collect data both questionnaires and interviews have been used. For the first part of the research, namely determining the intended change, questionnaires have been used. This includes the relation between the variables culture and structure change and internal customer satisfaction. For the second part of the research, in which the methods making the intended change a success are analysed, different interviews have been held. This includes the relation between the variables involvement, communication, leadership, performance management, training, coaching and success of structure and culture change. The questions for the questionnaire and interviews are made with help of different literature sources, which are described in the literature study above. Besides that, for the questions of the questionnaire also different employees of the supportive departments have participated in helping to determine what they would like to know of the internal customer. This has been done in a meeting which has been planned for all the employees of the supportive departments. This meeting was intended first of all to ask their help in getting the right questions in the questionnaire and second of all to get awareness for the research and to get the supportive departments involved.
applicatory’. This extra option has been added to give respondents the opportunity to choose not to answer when the question is not related to their work field.
There have been held both interviews before setting out the questionnaire and after setting out the questionnaire. The interviews on forehand were firstly focused on getting to know the different departments of Belastingdienst/Noord and secondly on getting an impression about the relation between the supportive departments and the internal customer. The interviews afterwards were focused on getting the opinion of different stakeholders on the methods which can be used for making the intended change a success. The researcher already had an idea of the way these methods could be used for making the change a success, but asked more experienced stakeholders for their opinion and support of the researchers ideas. The questions during the interviews were based on the different methods for making change a success described in the literature study. The interviewees received the outcomes of the questionnaire and change plan formed with the help of these outcomes. Based on this change plan the interviewees could give their opinion about the way the different change methods could be used. The interview questions can be found in appendix 2.
The sample size for the questionnaires is determined with the help of a sample size calculator1, which can be found in appendix 3. Of the 7 members of the MT and the 55 CB members no sample has been taken, but of the total of 1,600 employees a random sample of 310 people has been taken. Besides that, of the 48 members of the supportive departments also no sample has been taken. The in total 419 people have received the questionnaire via e-mail and were requested to fill the questionnaire in and send it back via post to guarantee their anonymity. After the first deadline there were only received 50 questionnaires of the internal customer and 27 questionnaires of the employees of the supportive departments. Therefore a reminder has been send to these people with the message if they could please send in the questionnaire; afterwards an extra 40 internal customers and 14 employees of the supportive departments reacted. The response of the internal customers was still low and therefore a new group of 600 random employees was selected, who received the questionnaire. Of this group 67 employees filled in the questionnaire which makes the total of respondents 157 internal customers and 41 members of the supportive departments. This is a response of respectively 16% and 85%. The respondents consisted of 78% male and 22% female, the total population of Belastingdienst/Noord consists of 72% male and 28% female. In table 1 the division of the respondents over the different departments can be seen, this can be compared with the division of the total population in table 2. Thus, when comparing the characteristics of the respondents with the total population of Belastingdienst/Noord there can be seen some small differences, but overall this is representative.
1
TABLE 1
Departments of respondents
TABLE 2
Departments of total population
For the interviews also a random sample of 8 different executives has been taken, because of the holidays it was important that a person was available otherwise this person could not be selected as interviewee. From the interviewees 50% was female and 50% was male. The interviewees were for 50% members of the management team and the other 50% were executives of the different departments within Belastingdienst/Noord. There has been chosen to select executives because they have a clear view of the company as a whole and because they have a clear view of the employees in the company and can therefore also partly speak for them.
3.3 Data analysis
To analyse the data from the questionnaires the programme Excel has been used, the answers of all respondents were inserted separately into the Excel file. Afterwards, the percentages of the answers to all the questions were calculated. At the beginning of the questionnaire the respondents were asked to fill in the degree of contact with each supportive department separately, the respondents who answered this question with ‘never’ were excluded for the results of that specific department. The reason for this is that these respondents do not have a clear view of these departments. After the calculations, the percentages were interpreted and a comparison was made between the different supportive departments and between the answers of the internal customers and the supportive departments. A summary of the outcomes of the questionnaires is made based on a table where the different points are graded as positive point, average point and improvement point. A clear division of the outcomes could be seen on the 65% line, therefore the results are divided on this basis. This means that when a variable is a positive point then it does not have to be changed; this is the case when more than 65% of the respondents answer a question positively. When a variable is an average point then the opinions of the different respondents were divided and therefore there should be used different approaches for different groups, this is the case when no clear 65% of the respondents are positive or negative. Finally, when a variable is an improvement point then the respondents were mainly negative and thus a change is very important, this is the case
Departments of respondents 17% 46% 9% 15% 3% 11% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% Indi vidua l con trol Gen eral con trol Cash ing Adm inist ratio n Cust omer ser vice Other
Departments of total population
foundation for determining what should be changed in the culture and structure of the supportive departments.
4. RESULTS
The results of the questionnaires and the interviews will be given in this chapter. The results are divided based on the relations between the variables.
4.1 The influence of structure and culture change on internal customer satisfaction
In general there can be seen that employees are more negative in their answers than members of the collegial boards and the management team. The answers of the supportive departments are most often in between the answers of the employees and CB members. In table 1 the degree of contact between internal customers and supportive departments is shown, how this is divided will be described below. In table 2 the comparison between the different supportive departments is given based on the positive, average and improvement points. In the table one view has been formed of all the different opinions of the MT, CB members and employees. However, with some points the opinion of the different internal customers differs widely, in this case the point has been graded as average, further on there will be explained which group of internal customers has which opinion in these average points.
Structure. In table 1 it shows that employees have a lower degree of contact with the
supportive departments than the CB and MT members. During the interviews most CB members indicated that this is not strange, they expect the employees to come to them with questions related to the supportive departments. The CB member probably already knows the answer and otherwise he/she will contact the supportive departments. The negative answers of the employees is explained by a CB member as ‘unknown makes unloved’, thus the lower degree of contact makes them more negative.
TABLE 1
Degree of contact between internal customers and supportive departments
Often Sometimes Never
EIC 1 – MT 5 71% 14% 14% EIC – CB 6 15% 76% 9% EIC – employees 3% 38% 59% HRM 2 – MT 86% 14% 0% HRM – CB 35% 65% 0% HRM – employees 5% 74% 21% IM 3 – MT 14% 86% 0% IM – CB 15% 71% 15% IM – employees 2% 39% 59% PFC 4 – MT 71% 29% 0% PFC – CB 41% 50% 9% PFC - employees 2% 34% 65% 1
More than 50% of the CB members and 40% of the employees would appreciate it when the employees of the supportive departments would be more present at the different offices. For the MT members this is not applicatory because the supportive departments are already present in their office. Besides that, as well the MT, CB members as employees prefer personal contact with the members of the supportive departments. Additionally, 71% of the MT members and 38% of the CB members indicate that the supportive departments do not have a good mutual cooperation, 76% of the members of the supportive departments also expected this answer. Interviewees explained that for the internal customer contact it would be better when the supportive departments are more divided between the offices, but for the mutual cooperation between the supportive departments it would be better to keep the supportive departments at the office in Groningen. As can be seen in table 2 all the departments have a good availability and everyone has a fast way of answering questions. Besides that, the majority of internal customers are satisfied with their cooperation with the supportive departments. Points where the different departments definitely should work on to improve the internal customer satisfaction are the familiarity of the post box and the specialities of the employees of the supportive departments. But the opinion about the familiarity of the specialities of the HRM department is divided, of the MT and CB members more than 65% of the respondents are familiar with the specialities but of the employees only 15% is familiar with the specialities. Additionally, the internal customers are also divided about their satisfaction with the degree of noticing new developments by the supportive departments. For the department EIC this can be seen as a positive point, for the department IM this was not applicable and for the departments HRM and PFC the opinions are divided. Of the MT and CB members more than 65% of the respondents indicate that they are satisfied with the notice of new developments by HRM and PFC, but of the employees 45% indicates that they are not satisfied with the notice of new developments.
Culture. The majority of internal customers are satisfied with the contact with the supportive
TABLE 2
Positive and improvement points per supportive department
EIC HRM IM PFC
Structure
Availability + + + +
Speed of answering + + + +
Use of post box by internal customer -- -- -- -- Cooperation of internal customer with
department
+ + + +
Specialities of employees -- +/- -- -- Notice of new developments + +/- N.A. +/- Culture
Pleasant contact + + + +
Rules and procedures too important N.A. +/- + +/-
Satisfaction with advice + +/- + +
Satisfaction with support + + + +
Think along with internal customer +/- +/- + +/- Empathy with internal customer +/- +/- + +/- Delivers right products and services +/- +/- + +/-
Pro-activity -- +/- +/- --
Both
Average grade communication 6.4 6.5 6.5 6.2 Average grade products and services 6.3 6.8 6.7 6.1 Average grade customer-focus 6.3 6.7 6.9 6.3
+ Positive point +/- Average point -- Improvement point N.A. Not Applicable
also an aspect of a culture which is formed, there is a closed culture within Belastingdienst/Noord, people are very nice to each other and very often keep their thoughts to themselves.
Finally, the average grades for communication, products and services, and customer-focus for every department lay not that far apart. The departments HRM and IM are graded the highest and the departments EIC and PFC the lowest.
4.2 The influence of involvement on the success of the intended change
All interviewees agree that involvement is very important in the intended change project. One interviewee indicates: “involvement is important but it should lead to more active behaviour, otherwise the change will not be a success”. This means that people can not say that they are going to change and then not do it. Therefore, other interviewees suggest to first decide upon the direction which should be taken, this should be explained to the people involved and then these people can think along about which steps could be taken. When the people involved think along they can formulate their own goals for making the change a success, this will work better then when these goals are forced upon them. The change will be a success after all these goals are reached.
4.3 The influence of communication on the success of the intended change
According to multiple interviewees communication is often forgotten, they state: “when implementing the intended change there should on the first hand be made a communication plan”. Another interviewee indicates that the vision of the change should be widely communicated; this will lead to the success of the change. It is also important to inform the internal customers about the change; in this way they know how this is affecting them. During and after the change it is important to communicate short-term wins, this will give satisfaction to the people involved and this will stimulate them to continue with making the change a success.
4.4 The influence of leadership on the success of the intended change
make people aware of the short-term wins and reaching their goals, this will make the change a success.
4.5 The influence of performance management on the success of the intended change
Not all interviewees agree that performance management can play a role in making the intended change a success, one says: “it is difficult to measure the products and services which the supportive departments deliver”. Others say that the output of the different employees can be measured, but that performance management should not be a goal itself and can be perceived as threatening, so a clear goal should be defined with a positive approach. Performance management can therefore be better used to measure the quality of the outputs and not the quantity; this will lead to a more aware way of working. One interviewee says: “the performance can be measured by asking feedback to the internal customers and to colleagues, which can be done by the leader or by the supportive department member him/herself”. When people know that their performance is measured, the pressure for fulfilling the different goals for making the change a success will be higher. Also after performance measurements the short-term wins can be visualised and this will stimulate making the change a success. The performance can be measured quarterly and annually with a similar or smaller questionnaire like has been done now.
4.6 The influence of training and coaching on the success of the intended change
5. DISCUSSION
In this chapter first the conclusions will be given with the answers of the research questions, the theory of chapter 2 will be compared with the results of the questionnaires and interviews of chapter 4. Additionally, recommendations for Belastingdienst/Noord will be given how they can make their intended change a success. Finally, some small limitations of this research will be discussed.
5.1 Conclusions with answers on the research questions
The research questions will now be answered by comparing the theory with the results of the research. With answering the different questions also the conclusions will be given.
Research question 1: What should be changed in the culture and structure of the supportive departments of Belastingdienst/Noord to increase the internal customer satisfaction?
In the literature there can be seen that there are different types of culture, the results of the questionnaires and interviews show that the internal customers prefer a more pro-active culture. Therefore the culture of the supportive departments of Belastingdienst/Noord should be changed from a re-active culture to a pro-active culture in order to increase the internal customer satisfaction. In this culture the supportive departments should not wait for the internal customer to come to them, but the members of the supportive departments should go to the internal customers to ask what their needs are. In the competing values framework described in the literature study the dimensions internal focus versus external focus and flexibility versus stability are described. The results of the questionnaires and interviews shows that at this moment the supportive departments have an internal focus, where their focus is on their own department, and that this should be changed to an external focus, where their focus is on the internal customers and on the cooperation with the other supportive departments. There is also the need for a flexible culture, because every internal customer has their own wishes. Therefore every internal customer needs tailor-made products and services, which can also be seen as the contingency approach where dependent on each situation and person a different approach should be used. The preferred culture can therefore be described as a task culture, where flexibility and teamwork are the key words. Additionally, the culture within Belastingdienst/Noord is partly formed by rules and procedures and should be more customer-focused and collaborative to increase the internal customer satisfaction.
less familiarity of the other departments while this is important because of the reciprocal interdependence. As is described in the literature the reciprocal interdependence means that the supportive departments and internal customers need each other; therefore there is a high need of integration which also means a high degree of collaboration, based on the results of the questionnaires and interviews this is all necessary to increase the internal customer satisfaction. Additionally, the results show that there is some misunderstanding about the formal reporting, not all executives agree if the reporting of their employees should go through them or directly to the supportive departments. Therefore, there should be decided what the standard will be.
As can be seen in the answers of the questionnaires, the employees are more negative than the CB and MT members, reason for this is that they have less contact with the supportive departments and therefore have less positive experiences. Besides that, the supportive departments can very good estimate the answers of the internal customers. The supportive departments have a good idea what should be changed in their culture and structure, the only problem is that until this point on no action has been taken to change this.
Research question 2: How can change methods be used by Belastingdienst/Noord to make the intended culture and structure change of the supportive departments a success?
Both the literature and research results show that involvement is very important when wanting to make the intended change a success. This is also the reason why Belastingdienst/Noord has chosen and should from now on choose for involvement of the supportive departments. At this point the supportive departments and internal customers are already involved in doing the questionnaires and interviews. Besides that, the supportive departments have also thought along with the design of the questionnaire during a special meeting. Because the supportive departments should change their culture to more pro-active and customer-focused and their structure to more interdependent and collaborative, the involvement is even more important.
Communication is also important to make change a success, the literature shows that people get frustrated when the consequences of the change are uncertain and thus not good communicated. Therefore from the start of the research the steps are communicated. In the first meeting the research was explained and questions about the research were answered. The interviewees advised that in the next meeting the vision and direction of the change should be communicated, after which the members of the supportive departments can prepare goals which they have to realise for making the change a success. After this, the short-term wins have to be communicated which will lead to more motivated people in making the change a success.
able to motivate and energize, give direction, build on exchange by giving compliments for good behaviour but also promote initiative. In this way the leader can aim on the long-term performance of the supportive departments. Additionally, the leader is the key player in the change and should use all the other methods described to help make the change a success.
Both the literature and the outcomes of the interviews indicate that performance management can play an important role in setting goals and evaluating them afterwards, in this way personal goals can be aligned with the change in the supportive departments, which will lead to success of the change. The reason for performance management is to see if the changes like customer-focused behaviour and collaboration between departments are implemented and to put pressure on the people involved to make this a success. The interviewees advised that this should be communicated clearly; otherwise it can come of as threatening. To measure if the goals are reached the internal customers, supervisors and colleagues can be asked for feedback. Additionally, a quarterly or annually research on internal customer satisfaction can be held. Besides that, also feedback can be asked to the internal customers after launching a new product or service.
According to the literature study and different interviewees training and coaching can play a role in that this can improve the skills and capabilities of the employees of the supportive departments, which will make them perform better and therefore make the change a success. The interviewees advised that the leader of the change project can function as a coach for the employees of the supportive departments who have to change; he can make them aware of the need for change. Besides that, training can be done on the job in the way of organisational learning. Organisational learning is conscious, systematic learning that involves everyone in the organisation and leads to dynamic adaptation (Burnes, 2004; Senge, 1990). Employees can in this way learn from each other how they handle certain situations and in that way perform better for making the change a success.
5.2 Recommendations
the vision and direction of the change, which is a change more focused on cooperation between the different departments and a more costumer-focused culture. (4) Communicating the change vision: the leader of the change should very soon communicate the vision and direction of the change in a meeting where all the members of the supportive departments are present. (5) Empowering broad-based action: after the members of the supportive departments know what the vision is they are involved, because together they should discuss in which way this should be realised; this leads to more high quality change ideas. (6) Generating short-term wins: the leader should show often short-term visible successes, which can be based upon realising short-term goals, this can be done during quarterly meetings with all the members of the supportive departments present. (7) Consolidating gains and producing more change: the leader should push until the vision becomes a reality. (8) Anchoring new approaches in the culture: the leader has to make sure that the people involved hold on to the behaviour until this becomes the new culture.
The 8 steps of Kotter (1995) have already included the methods communication, involvement and leadership. Besides that, the leader of the change should together with the members of the supportive departments set up goals for making the change a success. To measure if the goals are reached the internal customers, supervisors and colleagues can be asked for feedback. Additionally, an annual research on internal customer satisfaction should be held to measure the performance of the supportive departments. Besides that, training and coaching should play an important role, during the year quarterly meetings should be held in which the supportive departments come together and learn from each other and from their coach how things are handled.
5.3 Limitations
A limitation of this research is the small response size on the questionnaire; further research should therefore focus on a larger group of internal customers and be set out earlier in the year. In spit of this, the results are still valuable, because the supportive departments of Belastingdienst/Noord have received a view of the internal customer satisfaction and therefore have been come aware of the aspects which should be changed in their departments. Also other organisations that cope with internal customer dissatisfaction can learn from this research and use the methods explained for a change in their culture and structure.
Additional further research can focus on the relations between other departments within Belastingdienst/Noord and which methods can be used to get these departments working closer together, this research can be set up in the same way as this research. Questionnaires can be set out to first indicate how the cooperation is between the different departments. Afterwards, different interviews can be held to find out which methods can be best used to improve the cooperation between the departments.
REFERENCES
Albrecht, S.L. 2003. Information, involvement and trust in senior management as determinants of cynicism toward change. Australian Journal of Psychology.
Avolio, B.J. 2007. Promoting more integrative strategies for leadership theory building.
American Psychologist, 62, 25-33.
Burnes, B. 2004 Managing Change. Edinburgh Gate UK: Pearson Education Limited.
Burns, T. and Stalker, G.M. 1961. The management of innovation. London: Tavistock.
Burns, J.M. 1978. Leadership. New York: Harper Torchbooks.
Cameron, K.S. and Quinn, R.E. 1999. Diagnosing and changing organisational culture. Addison-Wesley Publishing.
Chaston, I. 1994. A comparative study of internal customer management practices within service sector firms and the National Health Service. Journal of advanced nursing, 19, 299-308.
Cohen, A.R. 2000. Initiating change: The anatomy of structure as a starting point. A commentary on Galbraith and Hirschhorn. In M. Beer and N. Nohria (Eds.), Breaking the
Code of Change: 113-122. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Conger, J.A. & Kanungo, R.N. 1998. Charismatic leadership in organizations. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.
Cummings, T.G. and Worley, C.G. 2005. Organization Development and Change. Mason, OH: South-Western College Publishing.
DiFonzo, N. and Bordia, P. 1998. A tale of two corporations: managing uncertainty during organisational change. Human Resource Management, 37(3), 295-303.
Elving, W.J.L. 2005. The role of communication in organisational change. Corporate
communications: An international journal, 10(2), 129-138.
Farnham, D., Horton, S. and White, G. 2003. Organisational change and staff participation and involvement in Britain’s public services. The International Journal of Public Sector
Handy, C. 1986. Understanding organisations. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Galbraith, J.R. 2000. The role of formal structures and processes. In M. Beer and N. Nohria (Eds.), Breaking the Code of Change: 139-160. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Hirschhorn, L. 2000. Changing structure is not enough: The moral meaning of organisational design. In M. Beer and N. Nohria (Eds.), Breaking the Code of Change: 113-122. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Hofstede, G. 1980. Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. London: Sage.
Jones, G.R. 2006. Organizational design, theory, and change. Pearson Education Limited, Fifth edition.
Kets de Vries, M. & Miller, D. 1985. Narcissism and leadership: An object relations perspective. Human Relations, 38, 583-601.
Kotter, J.P. 1995. Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail, Harvard Business Review.
Lawrence, P.R. and Lorsch, J.W. 1967. Organisation and environment. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School.
Maanen, J. van and Schein, E.H. 1979. Towards a theory of organisational socialisation. In B.M. Staw (Ed.), Research in organisational behaviour: 209-264. Greenwich: JAI Press.
Pinto, J.K. 2007 Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Eduction Inc.
Rock, D. and Donde, R. 2008. Driving organisational change with internal coaching programmes: part two. Industrial and commercial training. 40(2), 75-80.
Schein, E. H. 1984. Coming to a new Awareness of Organizational Culture. Sloan
Management Review, 25(2): 3-16.
Schweiger, D. and Denisi, A. 1991. Communication with employees following a merger: a longitudinal experiment. Academy of management journal, 34(1), 110-135.
Sternberg, R.J. 2007. A systems models of leadership: WICS. American Psychologist, 62, 34-42.
Thompson, J. 1967. Organisations in action. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Wely, P. van. 2002. Organisatiecultuur. Een handleiding voor het succesvol veranderen van
een organisatie. Utrecht: Lemma BV.
APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE Belastingdienst/Noord Enquête Interne Klanttevredenheid
Juni 2009
Beste collega,
Vanaf eind april ben ik binnen Belastingdienst/Noord bezig met een onderzoek naar de interne klanttevredenheid over de stafafdelingen. Onder de interne klant worden het Managementteam, de Collegiale Besturen en alle medewerkers verstaan. De staf afdelingen zijn onderverdeeld in EIC (Externe en Interne Communicatie), HRM (Human Resource Management / personeelszaken), IM (Informatie Management) / toepassingsbeheer en PFC (Planning Finance en Control).
Binnen de Belastingdienst wordt er veel gesproken over de ‘klant centraal’. Maar hoe staat het met de interne klant? Wat verwacht en wenst u van de stafafdelingen? Om daarachter te komen doe ik dit onderzoek. Vraag en aanbod kunnen op deze manier steeds beter op elkaar worden afgestemd. De resultaten van deze enquête zullen dan ook leiden tot een verbetering in de dienstverlening voor de interne klant.
Het invullen van de enquête zal ongeveer 15 minuten in beslag nemen. De uitslag is het meest representatief als u de enquête zo volledig en eerlijk mogelijk invult. De ingevulde gegevens zijn alleen voor mij zichtbaar. Graag zou ik de enquête vóór woensdag 24 juni van u retour ontvangen. Om uw anonimiteit te waarborgen kunt u de enquête na het invullen printen en met de retourbrief per post naar mij verzenden.
Mocht u vragen hebben over de enquête dan kunt u altijd contact met mij opnemen via telefoonnummer (050) 365 4843 of 06 1096 3211.
Bij voorbaat dank voor het invullen van de enquête!
Met vriendelijke groet,
Irma van Keulen
Algemene informatie Geslacht: Man Vrouw Leeftijdscategorie: 20 - 30 30 - 40 40 - 50 50 - 60 60 + Functie:
Managementteam Collegiaal Bestuur Medewerker
Afdeling:
Individueel Toezicht Inning
KATO VOB
VETO Dienstverlening
RTO FIS
Anders: …..
Mate van contact:
Vaak Soms Nooit EIC
HRM IM PFC
Stafafdelingen algemeen
1. Ik vind het prettig als de staf meer op mijn kantoor aanwezig zou zijn
2. Ik vind dat de staf voldoende weet van mijn proces 3. Ik geef de voorkeur aan persoonlijk contact met staf
medewerkers
4. Ik vind dat de staf afdelingen onderling goed samenwerken
Domein EIC
Communicatie
6. Ik vind EIC goed bereikbaar
7. Als ik een vraag stel aan EIC krijg ik binnen een aanvaardbare termijn een reactie
8. Ik maak vaak gebruik van de postbus van EIC voor het stellen van vragen
9. Ik heb een goede samenwerking met EIC 10. Ik ervaar het contact met EIC als prettig
Producten en diensten
11. Ik ken het producten- en dienstenboek van EIC
12. Ik ben tevreden over de volgende producten / diensten: a. NoordNet
b. Rondom Noord c. Deelname beurzen
d. Brochure, flyers en posters e. Huisstijl bewaking
f. Organisatie van evenementen g. Medewerkersjaarverslag h. Advies
i. Ondersteuning j. Communicatieplan
13. Ik vind dat EIC bijdraagt aan mijn betrokkenheid met de regio
14. Ik word door EIC voldoende op de hoogte gehouden over de ontwikkelingen binnen Belastingdienst/Noord
Klantgerichtheid
15. Ik vind dat EIC met mij meedenkt
16. Ik vind dat EIC zich in mijn situatie verplaatst
17. Ik vind dat EIC mij de producten / diensten levert waar ik behoefte aan heb
18. Ik vind dat EIC voldoende pro-actief handelt
Waardering
19. Mijn tevredenheid over de communicatie van EIC kan worden uitgedrukt in het rapportcijfer
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
20. Mijn tevredenheid over de producten en diensten van EIC kan worden uitgedrukt in het rapportcijfer
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
21. Mijn tevredenheid over de klantgerichtheid van EIC kan worden uitgedrukt in het rapportcijfer
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
22. EIC zou voornamelijk meer ondersteuning kunnen bieden in:
23. Opmerkingen
Domein HRM Communicatie
24. Ik vind HRM goed bereikbaar
25. Als ik een vraag stel aan HRM krijg ik binnen een aanvaardbare termijn een reactie
26. Ik maak vaak gebruik van de postbus van HRM voor het stellen van vragen
27. Ik heb een goede samenwerking met HRM 28. Ik ervaar het contact met HRM als prettig
