ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd Edition

416 ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND LEADERSHIPnot all right and must, if necessary, enlist the aid of outsiders in gettingthis message across. Such willingness requires a great ability tobe concerned for the organization above and beyond the self, tocommunicate dedication or commitment to the group above andbeyond self-interest.If the boundaries of organizations become looser, a further motivationalissue arises in that it is less and less clear where a leader’sultimate loyalty should lie—should it be with the organization, theindustry, the country, or some broader professional communitywhose ultimate responsibility is to the globe and to humanity insome broader sense?3. Emotional StrengthUnfreezing an organization requires the creation of psychologicalsafety, which means that the leader must have the emotional strengthto absorb much of the anxiety that change brings with it as well asthe ability to remain supportive to the organization through thetransition phase, even if group members become angry and obstructive.The leader is likely to be the target of anger and criticism because,by definition, he or she must challenge some of what thegroup has taken for granted. This may involve such powerful symbolicacts as closing down a division in the company that was theoriginal source of the company’s growth and the basis of many employees’pride and identity. It may involve laying off or retiringloyal, dedicated employees and old friends. Worst of all, it mayinvolve the message that some of the founder’s most cherished assumptionsare wrong in the contemporary context. It is here thatdedication and commitment are especially needed to demonstrateto the organization that the leader genuinely cares about the welfareof the total organization even as parts of it come under challenge.The learning leader must remember that giving up a culturalelement requires one to take some risk—the risk that one will bevery anxious and, in the end, worse off, yet must have the strengthto push into this unknown territory.