Managing Culture and Change at BBC: A Case Study Report

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MANAGING CULTURE AND CHANGE
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background of the company............................................................................................................3
Recent Changes in BBC..................................................................................................................3
Identification of the reason for significant change management in the BBC..................................4
Identification of internal and external factors for change management..........................................7
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Reference List................................................................................................................................11
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Introduction
Change management can be described as an effective process that contributes a beneficial role in
the development of organisational structure and culture. This is a systematic approach in which,
people can learn new skills and behaviours in the case of maintaining organisational
performance. In addition, the management of organisational change and culture can help a
company to achieve their determined objectives and goals. In this study, the primary focus is to
analyse the change management process within a company, named as the BBC. Additional to
this, the study identifies the potential internal and external perspectives in the case of occurring
change management process within the organisation. The study also provides the theoretical
concepts in the case of implementing the change management process. In this context, the study
evaluates the significance of change management process on the development of organisational
culture and organisational structure. Based on the identified current organisational changes, the
study provides some recommendations in order to improve the process of implementation of
organisational change in the future.
Background of the company
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the world’s largest and oldest broadcasting
organisation, situated in London. The broadcasting corporation is working for public interests
with 21000 employees (Bbc.com, 2019). BBC serves public services with a wide range of
content such as news, entertainment as well as other media contents. The company aims to
provide distinctive and high-quality output services to the public in the world. The revenue of the
company is 130 million Euros as per the annual financial report of 2018 (Bbc.com, 2019).
Recent Changes in BBC
BBC is considered as one of the leading organizations in the UK media sector and with every
passing year, the organization is facing tough challenges from new players, which are entering
the market. In order to meet such challenges, the organization is implementing new models and
making changes, which are helping the organization to not only perform better but also coping
up with the pace. One such initiative-launched way back in 2002, which is still helping BBC to
manage successfully its organizational culture, is Making It Happen. This is one of the largest
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public-sector change programs, which was introduced in the UK and consider as successful one
as well. The process was initiated back in 2000 when the new director-general of BBC launched
a series of structural and financial changes known as One BBC by involving more
representatives from program making to executive and took out layers of management
(Riddington, 2014). This was designed to encourage more collaboration from the executive team
that leads to a reduction of overhead costs. In 2001, the organization is looking for changing the
business culture of the firm and the basic focus of the director was to ensure that BBC becomes
large creative organization of the world. There are seven key areas, which were worked on by
the top management, and those are: Inspire creativity; Connecting with the audience; Valuing
people; Introduce the concept of we are the BBC; Providing Space; Leading more and managing
well and Just do it concept. Considering all these factors, the top management introduces the
Making It happens model in 2002. The aim of the organization was to involve as many staff as
possible so that the overall model is cost-effective, flexible and non-centralized in nature
(Riddington, 2014).
Identify the reason for significant change management in the BBC
Before the campaign was launched, there was a significant drop in the market share of BBC as it
was as low as 28% due to a drop in viewership, lesser coordination among employees and
overcome the effect of broadcasting act law of the UK. To manage these challenges, once Dyke
took charge, he made some significant alterations in the management model and system. One
such significant one is the rational goal model, which was focusing on achieving an
organization’s overall business goals and the other one is the managerial process model, which
supervises the productivity of different models. The chosen change in approach Making It
Happen is considered as the part of the McKinsey 7 s model to drive internal changes within the
firm. To make it successful, the organization is going through a number of changes in its
managerial level, which are necessary to implement the overall change management
successfully. Some of the major reasons linked with the change management in the organization
are
 It is helpful in improving internal communication within the business organisation.
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 Enhance the significance of leadership in the process of cultural changes within the BBC,
which will help in improving the overall business performance of the firm.
 Linking organizational changes with both internal and external factors that can promote
change management of the organisation (Barton, 2014).
According to the analysis of O’Dwyer (2014), key reasons linked with change management in
organizations such as BBC are
 It is helpful to collect information associated with overhead costs associated with various
programs of the organization and
 Benchmarking of the internal resources can be done in terms of costs associated with the
same so that the firm can manage values associated with the program.
 Improve the process of communication
Theoretical and literature perspectives for organizational development, culture and change
management process
Organisations across the globe are changing continuously to adopt all possible changing in the
business industry. Organizational changes are managed by different strategic considerations to
integrate more new ways of working and requirement to improve the business performance of
the firm. As Pieterse et al. (2012, p. 799) in his review has mentioned that “these considerations
typically result in structured change programs based on the assumption that change management
consists of a (limited) set of interventions, which are regarded as objective, measurable and
linearly manageable programs that can be realized in a relatively short time”. The ideology of
organizational change management is defined as changing the company’s direction, structure,
and capabilities n order to ever-changing requirement of customer as well as internal needs. The
idea of organizational change is closely linked with the strategy of the organisation. With the
change in the business strategy of the firm, change management is also gaining importance
significantly. In any organisation, the change is characterized by rate of occurrences, how it is
come about and characterized by scale associated with the business process.
To understand organisation change management, there are three different models, which are
most commonly used by the experts to correlate the same and those are Kanter’s et al. Ten
Commandments for Executing Change; Kotter’s Eight-Stage Process for Successful
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Organisational Transformation and Luecke’s Seven Steps (Cameron and Green, 2015). Out of
these three models, the Kotter’s Eight-Stage process for successful organisation transformation is
considered as the most important one. The stages of successful organizational change are
established a sense of urgency, developing a guiding coalition, development of vision and
strategy, communicate the revised vision with employees of the firm, empower broad-based
action, focus o short term win, consolidate more on gains and anchor new approaches for the
future. (Adeniji, Osibanjo, and Abiodun, 2013) The model address all the key issues, which are
necessary to address possible changes in an organisation, are addressed with the help of this
model.
Along with organization’s change management process, another critical aspect that the experts
need to address in the modern era is holistic organisational development. One of the basic model
associated with the process is Lewin’s Change Model that supports overall organizational
development in holistic environment. Often stagnation is considered as major challenge for any
organisation in modern era and according to the Change Model of Lewin, the Unfreeze-Change-
Refreeze model was introduced back in the 1950s and remains popular (Kotter, 2012). The idea
of Lewin’s change model is closely linked with behavioral modification of the people of any
organisation where Unfreeze is prepare desired changes, changes which are linked with
implementation process and Refreeze is associated with solidify those change. The review of the
change model often suggests that the process of change management in an organisation can fail
if the top management is unable to communicate the need of the same to the lower level staff
appropriately (Kotter, 2012).
Along with organizational development and change management, the top management must look
at the cultural factor of the firm as well to make sure that its change management strategy is
successfully implemented and yield appropriate results. The overall change in the business
process of the organization often affects the culture as well because intellectual capitals become
mobile as the years going by. It affects change management as well in modern era simply
because most often employees of any business firm are opposing any kind of changes at the
initial level. This can be achieved in an environment, which supports knowledge sharing and
encourages the culture of teamwork in the organization (Onyango, 2014).
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Considering all these factors, one can suggest that the organization changes in the BBC also
followed the same line. The top management after analyzing the market scenario had realized
that there is a significant requiring of medication in the business model as well a management
structure of the firm to compete with other players. The campaign Making It happen was
designed to not only involve more employees with the decision-making process but also at the
same time to encourage people to give more innovative ideas, which can boost the performance
of BBC. Moreover, the structural reshuffle of the firm helps the organization to bring about
change successful change management in the firm.
Identification of internal and external factors for change management
In 2002, the BBC has implemented an initiative of culture change management within the
workplace. The cultural change process has been called “Making It Happen”. This change
management program can be described as one of the largest initiatives of change management in
public sectors within the UK market. In addition, it has been identified that the organisational
change process has followed the self-help approach (Benn et al., 2014). In the case of
introducing the change management process with the BBC, several internal and external
perspectives or factors have influenced the implementation process. The different perspectives
include employee engagement, leadership management as well as internal communication
(Fernandez and Rainey, 2017). On the other side, connection with the audience and other sectors'
reviews has been considered in external perspectives.
Greg Dyke has analysed that employee engagement is one of the key factors that empower the
program of "Make It Happen". The approach of the program has required being flexible, cheap
as well as non-centralised initiative in the case of operating the change program. The staffs of the
organisation need to be willing in order to lead the change program effectively. It ensures the
commitment and dedication level of employees in order to make high-quality performance. New
ideas of employees need to be honoured that can help in improving the quality of public services
(Prajogo and McDermott, 2014). In this context, Grek Dyke has analysed that leadership is the
major factor or internal perspective that influences the implementation process of culture change.
The CEO and senior board members of the BBC have agreed that cultural change is required in
order to achieve organisational goals, vision as well as objectives. The leaders of the corporation
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have motivated and encouraged their employees to increase the adaptability range of the
organisation to make certain changes within the workplace. In addition, it has been identified that
communication workplace can drive the process of change management. In BBC, effective
communication between employees has helped in sharing different ideas in order to improve the
organisational culture (Goetsch. and Davis, 2014). Generating and sharing new ideas can help in
collaboration between all operational functions within the corporation.
Figure 1: Driving factors of change management process in BBC
(Source: Created by learner)
Before introducing the process of cultural change, Greg Dyke has surveyed among the people,
who have been working in both the public and private sectors in the UK. The survey program has
helped Greg Dyke to understand the perspectives of people in order to improve the services for
the public interests. Proper market research needs to be conducted in order to analyse market
trends. It is important to understand the current market trends in order to make changes in
organisational culture. In addition, it has been analysed that audience plays a crucial role in the
case of developing organisational culture and structure (Engert et al., 2016). Audience is the
success factor for the BBC that helps in improving the services of the company. Audience can
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InternalfactorsEmployeeengangementLeadershipmanagementInternalcommunicationExternalfactorsConnectionwithAudienceReviewsofOthercompanies

drive the process of change management. Greg Dyke has analysed the reviews of audience in
order to understand their preferences and interests towards media content. It can help in
assessing the positive outcome of change management process.
Recommendation
The change management process within the organisation can be improved by maintaining better
performance and operation. Employee engagement and leadership management are the crucial
factors for the organisational development. BBC can improve the current process of change
management by evaluating and implementing effective ways. Some potential ways or paths have
been identified below:
Overcoming from challenges
BBC can face several challenges in the workplace during the change management process. The
challenges can be both internal and external. Employees often do not have a clear understanding
of change management. Therefore, the employees of the company cannot be able to move
according the criteria of change management. In this context, the senior board members and
leaders of the corporation need to provide a clear concept about current change management and
encourage them to improve their skills towards leading the program.
Improving the operational progress
Improvement of organisational progress is important for developing organisational change,
culture as well as structure. The management department of the corporation needs to control and
monitor overall process within workplace. It can ensure the high-quality organisational
performance. The employees of the company need to be involved in the change management
process. Therefore, it can ensure the sustainability of the organisational workforce within the
market.
Managing the co-creation of change management
The organisation needs to implement innovative strategies in order to introduce organisational
process. Creativity is one of the key factors that help the corporation to achieve success. The
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organisation needs to provide their content in a creative way that can help in targeting or
attracting more audience. Therefore, public services of the organisation can be improved.
These potential ways can help the organisation can improve its progress in the case of making
sustainable operation. By following these effective ways, the BBC can improve better quality
service for public interest.
Conclusion
It has been concluded from the above study that the organisational culture and change
management process are influenced by several factors. Some internal and external perspectives
play a significant role in the case of managing organisational change process. Moreover, the
study has identified that leadership management and employee engagement are the potential
internal factors that lead to the process of implementation of change management in a significant
way. In this context, the study has also analysed the potentiality of external factors such as
audience and other private and public sectors. These external factors can help the organisation to
understand the potential impact of change management processes on both employees and the
public. Moreover, the study has provided the theoretical concepts of development organisational
culture and change. Therefore, the theoretical concepts can help the BBC to make effective
strategies for implementing change management processes. In that context, the study has
recommended some effective ways in order to implement the process of organisational change.
Therefore, the organisational can be able to improve the performance quality of the employees
and maintain the progress of sustainable operation.
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Reference List
Adeniji, A.A., Osibanjo, A.O. and Abiodun, A.J., 2013. Organisational change and human
resource management interventions: an investigation of the Nigerian banking industry. Serbian
Journal of Management, 8(2), pp.2-16.
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https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20140311-a-chefs-take-on-office-culture > [Accessed 26
August 2019]
Bbc.com (2019). The BBC is the world’s leading public service broadcaster. Available from:
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sustainability. Routledge.
Cameron, E. and Green, M., 2015. Making sense of change management: a complete guide to
the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.
Engert, S., Rauter, R. and Baumgartner, R.J., 2016. Exploring the integration of corporate
sustainability into strategic management: a literature review. Journal of cleaner production, 112,
pp.2833-2850.
Fernandez, S. and Rainey, H.G., 2017. Managing successful organizational change in the public
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Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence:
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Kotter, J.P., 2012. Leading change. Harvard Business Press
O’Dwyer, T.K., 2014. Managing change in broadcast organizations: BBC producer choice
twenty years on. 1(1), pp. 1-11.
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Onyango, W.P., 2014. Effects of Organization Culture on Change Management: A Case of the
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Management, 6(34), pp. 204-214
Pieterse, J.H and Caniels, M.C.J., Homan, T., 2012. Professional discourses and resistance to
change. Journal of Organizational Change Management Emerald Article: Professional
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Riddington, M., 2014. Great things happen when we work together. [online] BBC.co.uk.
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