Organisational culture and management of change (CULMA): CulMa summary report

The aim of the CulMa (Organisational culture and management of change) -project (2003-2006) is to enhance the understanding of the effects of organisational culture, organisational changes and the organising of work on the safety of nuclear power production. The goal is to develop methods and models for taking organisational culture into account in a manner that all the criteria for an effective organisation (safety, productivity and health) are fulfilled. Contextual Assessment of Organisational Culture (CAOC) methodology has been developed to promote this. CAOC aims at assessing the elements of the organisation guiding the daily practices and decision making, and identifying development targets. Case studies in Finnish and Swedish NPPs have focused on three themes: forms of organising work, organisational assessment, and management of change. The power plants have to tackle with these issues in their daily practices. This has been demanding for numerous reasons including the lack of behavioral science expertise at the companies. CulMa project has aimed at providing the NPPs with sound scientific knowledge of work and organisational behavior, e.g. the relation of organisational climate on human performance or the challenge of coping with the demanding aspects of work. Especially the maintenance function has previously received little attention regarding the psychological issues.