Psychological Safety for Organisational Culture Change: An Exploratory Study Among Medium Sized Organisations in Kuala Lumpur

Any organisation faces a monumental challenge whenever it attempts to introduce cultural changes, which is not only difficult to accomplish but also difficult to implement due to different factors influencing its success. The fundamental purpose of this research was to expose the organisational settings contributing to psychological safety, which may support cultural change in the organization. This study also explored the organisational conditions that lead to psychological safety stimulating organisational cultural change. The study utilized a qualitative method with phenomenology as its design. 10 participants were recruited from a minimum of four different medium-level organisations in Kuala Lumpur holding different positions as non-leading employees, lower-level managers, and middle-level managers for semi-structured interview session. Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was conducted to provide in-depth information in a relatively short period of time. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used and themes were generated from the three research questions. The findings from coding indicated employees from different positions developed a better sense of psychological safety, facilitated by the presence of a pleasant atmosphere among coworkers, a high degree of trust, supportive leader behaviours, and methods that encourage efficient knowledge and information exchange. The results indicated that psychological safety was not always sufficient to promote the development and maintenance of a productive and healthy work culture. The study implied employees’ psychological safety enhances the quality of organization for its cultural change.