KPMG: Revitalising Culture through Values

The global accounting and consulting firm KPMG relies for much of its earnings on advising other companies on how to change. What happens when such anorganisation needs to change itself? A key element of KPMG’s globalisation process over the last two years has been an intense programme of culture change. Unusually, no special project team or steering group was set up to work on the culture change, and no separate Board or local meetings were held. Instead, one person, Jan Thornbury, was made responsible for designing and leading the process and it was fully integrated into the existing organisational programme. In this article, she describes the thinking behind the process and how it was introduced and implemented. She also discusses the culture model and the range of techniques used, emphasising the need for change agents to be sensitive to the dynamics of the organisation and to be creative in their approach. She appeals for pragmatism in culture change, identifying practical steps in implementation – the phase which many organisations find most difficult.She concludes by assessing what has been achieved in KPMG so far and theimplications for other organisations.