An organizational culture and the empowerment for change in SMEs in the Hong Kong manufacturing industry

The Hong Kong manufacturing industry is at the crossroads of change. In the face of new and ever-increasing competition, in order to revitalize the industry, the organizations must change their mode of operation to manufacture of high value-added products and services. The SMEs must play an important role in helping the industry to achieve this end. However, because of the special way of management of change by the organizations, many of the change endeavours are failures. It is argued that the major reason for such failures is the over focus by the management and owners of the SMEs on the “hardware” of the change programmes while neglecting the “software” of the change process. An organizational culture that is conducive to change and employee empowerment are the important “software” ingredients of a successful change process and they are often the missing links in organizational changes that are undertaken by the SMEs. A case study is presented to illustrate the core elements in the successful implementation of a change in organizational culture for the attainment of continuous quality improvement. The benefits of employee empowerment are also discussed. It is believed that by bridging these links, the chance of success in the change endeavours by the SMEs in the Hong Kong manufacturing industry can be greatly enhanced.