Top‐down change in a public sector bank: lessons from employees' lived‐in experiences

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine a case study of an Indian public sector bank (PSB) to better understand the employee's experience of the change, specifically top‐down culture change.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a qualitative case study approach to describe and extract lessons from a top‐down change in an Indian PSB. The data were collected twice to understand the extent of change with a gap of two years.

Findings

The study indicates that selective change has occurred as a response to the external environment that affected organizational mission and strategy. The study findings indicate that there is a significant realignment of the strategy, structure, systems, and technology along with the level of customer satisfaction. Efforts to realign employees' experiences and attitudes, however, leave a lot to be desired.

Research limitations/implications

The study is based on single case study.

Practical implications

Lessons on how to implement change in the public sector are discussed. The findings bring forth a unique challenge faced by organizations to create a culture which is a blend of market and employee orientation. Further studies are needed in this domain.

Originality/value

This research fills the literature gap in the domain of culture change by carrying out a study in a developing country in Southern Asia. Second, most of the studies do not make a clear distinction between behavioral and values levels, and very few studies have looked at both the levels simultaneously. The current study is an attempt to fill this research gap.

Citation

Awasthy, R., Chandrasekaran, V. and Gupta, R.K. (2011), "Top‐down change in a public sector bank: lessons from employees' lived‐in experiences", Journal of Indian Business Research, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 43-62. https://doi.org/10.1108/17554191111112460