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Executive summary
Governments in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are launching a wave of large scale transformations within public-sector entities to increase efficiency, improve the quality of services, and reduce the operational burden on government ministries. These efforts are comprehensive in terms of their scope and ambition. They will also require overcoming deeply ingrained mindsets and behaviors. These transformations are more likely to succeed if governments apply the principles of organizational culture change and change management.
Change management can enable transformation
To grasp the scale of current changes, consider that there are more than 100 transformation programs in Saudi Arabia alone. These are part of the privatization program spearheaded by Saudi Vision 2030. These programs are planned or underway in more than 10 key economic sectors, including transport, education, health, and agriculture. Other GCC countries have similar ambitions, seeking to carve out new private or government-owned corporates that function as profit centers rather than cost centers. This shift requires an alteration in the culture and mindset of employees. These workers were once public officials with secure jobs. Now, however, they need to operate in performance-based, customer-centric environments.
Change can be stressful and difficult in any organization. According to our research, only 54% of major change initiatives succeed. Change may be more difficult in the GCC public sector, which comprises a much bigger share of the overall workforce than in similar high income countries. GCC nationals often believe that government should be responsible for their overall welfare and employment. GCC public-sector jobs are coveted and hard to eliminate. Perhaps the biggest challenge is the sheer size and number of transformations happening concurrently.
Traditional change management offers potential solutions. Transformations that apply change management are far more likely to achieve their objectives while staying on schedule and on budget.
However, traditional change management alone is not enough. Organizations should also transform their cultures to improve productivity, efficiency, innovation, and customer focus, thereby realizing their strategic aspirations and transformational agendas.
Diagnostic showing positive and negative associations of cultural traits
Five paths to culture transformation
Experience shows that organizations should follow five principles to implement their culture transformation systematically.
- Align the organization’s culture with the broader strategic goals of the transformation
- Train and engage a peer-selected network of change champions
- Engage leaders
- Start early
- Adapt the governance structure to the needs of the program
Align the organization’s culture with the broader strategic goals of the transformation
First, leaders should align the organization’s culture with the broader strategic goals of the transformation. Entities that possess a strong culture that is coherent with their strategy typically outperform their peers.
Train and engage a peer-selected network of change champions
Second, organizations should train and engage a peer-selected network of change champions. Rather than trying to mandate change from the top down, organizations should identify change champions. These are influential employees that other people look to for information, whether formally or informally.
Engage leaders
Third, organizations must engage leaders. Engaging the front-line workforce is necessary but not sufficient. Culture and change programs must engage leaders to signal buy-in and generate enthusiasm that affects all levels of the organization.
Start early
Fourth, leaders should activate the change management effort early and in parallel with other project activities.
Adapt the governance structure to the needs of the program
Fifth, organizations should adapt the governance structure to the needs of the program. The most effective organizational structure for change management depends on the scope, complexity, and timeline of the transformation underway. It requires the right mix of centralization and decentralization.
Conclusion
GCC governments have considerable ambitions to transform how their public-sector agencies and ministries operate. They must devote resources and attention to the human component, by applying change management and culture change principles to achieving these goals. In doing so, they can improve the odds of success in these efforts and ensure smooth implementation of their transformation programs.
In the news
Putting a human touch on public sector transformation: The how-to
Change may be more difficult in the GCC public sector, which comprises a much bigger share of the overall workforce than in similar high-income countries.
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