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Notes de cours Organisational Development and Change (HMA70a)
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Summary of the MBA course at KUL Brussels, Organisational Development and Change. Prof. S. Grieten
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Cleenewerck de Crayencour Alix KULeuven – MBA 2022/2023 ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & CHANGEORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE
Class 1 – Organisational Learning and Change Management
Organisation psychology focus
Study of mind and behaviour in teams and organizations :
Well-being, Motivation, Change resistance, Psychology safety, Commitment and ownership, Relation building, Helping and
Leading…
à Embedded in organisational context ; Focus on the role of teams, culture, context...
(Psychological training resulted with more positive effects than the conventional training on businesses.)
Psychology = Studying mental diseases and therapy – Science of mind and behaviour used in different branches of research.
Organizational behaviour – 3 Levels
1. Individual level
o Personality, perception, expectations, feelings, motivation, stress, burnout, well-being
o Knowledge and skills (outside)
2. Group level
o Communication, trust, problem-solving, decision-making
o Leadership, group effectiveness
3. Organization and system level
o Structure and culture
o Inter-organization cooperation/competition/CSR
o Organizational learning, Organizational development, Change management
à You can’t study change without the group or individual component. Neither can you study the individual features separate
from the organization. (All have an impact on each other’s.)
Organizations today
VUCA World
= Volatility and uncertainty because of continuous changes (extern & intern),
Complexity and ambiguity because of any stakeholders are/want to be involved.
Ex. of organizational learning and change
- *New ways of working : Flex-office, Activity-based office
- Culture change : From specialised to collective, From traditional to innovative
- Restructuring & reorganization
- Merger & acquisition
- Co-creative leadership and implementing self-steering teams
- Implementing new software
*New ways of working - 4 components : Independent of time and place,
steering on results, free access of knowledge and information, flexible
working relations. à
Change
Focus of course : QUALITY OF INTERACTIONS AND RELATION-BUILDING.
ð The studies agree that it’s not about the what of the change, but the how of the change. This requires a new focus: what
really works during change under which circumstances and why? It is all about the manner in which change is produced
together. Quality of the change depends on quality of interactions and relations.
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, - The HOW of the change
Cleenewerck de Crayencour Alix KULeuven – MBA 2022/2023 ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & CHANGE
- Ways to INVOLVE people in DECISION-MAKING
Types of change & change approaches - CO-CREATION of the future
- Learning teams
70% failure rate : most managers blame ‘circumstances’ - Overcoming resistance
or ‘individual features’, not the process of change itself. - Group interventions and process consultancy
- People oriented leadership
à Reasons mostly attributed to low success ratio : - Dealing w/ large groups and systems.
Unclear policy, Hierarchical structure, People want to keep power,
People are change resistant and want to keep their identity, Existing culture impedes change.
Boonstra’s viewpoint
“70% fails because the dominant change approaches don’t fit in todays dynamic and ambiguous environment.”
à Not in the circumstances but in the process of the change itself.
3 Types of change/learning
Several authors (Argyris, Cummings & Worley, Boonstra) point 3 types of change/learning.
1. First order change/learning context – No Reflection :
o Stable and predictable situations
o Technical/instrumental problems are solved in an existing context.
o Logical adjustments without changing values/culture.
2. Second order change/learning context – Reflection :
o Problems are vague, several perspectives on problems/solutions.
o Replacing current values and assumptions.
o Transition phase from A to B is needed.
3. Third order change/learning context – Reflection-On-Reflection :
o Turbulent, complex, ambiguous situations.
o Learning depends on multiple stakeholders (& multiple contexts).
o Recognizing and reconsidering own assumptions.
A. Approach 1 – ‘Planned change approach’
‘IMPROVING’, metaphor of remodelling a house.
- Organisation as adaptive to market demands, ‘economic’ model
- Top-down steering, managers using power or persuasion
- Consultants are knowledge experts
- Single linear process within a culture/structure that stays the same
- Structured, uniform, ‘techniques’
When ? 1st Order change/learning :
Stable and predictable, Clear problems, Technical and structural solutions.
à 80% of all change processes follow the planned change approach, while 70% of all change efforts fail ?!
à Result : CASCADE OF CHANGE ATTEMPTS :
o Confusion and insecurity
o Unclear direction
o Loss of motivation
à Co-workers show behaviour which management calls : ‘RESISTANCE TO CHANGE’.
B. Approach 2 – ‘Organisation development approach’
‘CHANGING’, metaphor of moving to another house.
- Organisation as “effectiveness” x “quality of working life”
- Using knowledge and insight of co-workers
- Consultants are process-consultants to help building a transition to point B
- Based on existing situations and problems
2
,Cleenewerck de Crayencour Alix KULeuven – MBA 2022/2023 ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & CHANGE
- Collaborative process, commitment
When ? 2nd Order change/learning :
From a ‘known’ unwanted situation towards a ‘new’ wanted situation, reflection w/ co-workers, change managers and process
consultants guide the change.
! Still a certain amount of predictability here ; Point B is rather clear and not (so much) for discussion
! You could still see it as a type of planned change but now commitment and communication is installed, often lead by change
agents, coaches, consultants. (Change agents and process consultants become the social engineers who guide the change and
seduce people to participate.)
à Effective for a whole range or change processes, but danger for paternalism and manipulation.
WHAT APPROACH 1 & 2 SHARE : (More or less the approaches that Lewin and Kotter present in their famous change models.)
- Organization is viewed as “entities”.
- Adaptation to environment, from A to B.
- Clear distinction between “people” and “organisation”.
- Clear distinction between “change agents” and “employees”.
C. Approach 3 – ‘Continuous changing/learning approach’
‘CONTINUOUS RENEWAL’, metaphor of going on adventure.
- Organizing as ongoing relational process and sensemaking
- Employees, leaders and consultants work together
- Changing is continuous process of endless modifications
- Multiple realities create new possibilities
- Collaborative process, stakeholder involvement, ‘everybody is expert’
- ‘Relational perspective’ or social constructionist view
- Focus on self-steering, cocreating new meanings, creativity
When ? 3rd Order Change/learning :
Interactions in organizational networks, Reflecting & learning & co-working w/ multiple stakeholders, Context of complexity and
ambiguity, Dialogue and ‘inquiring’ attitude of the ‘helper’.
! VUCA World & 3rd Order change/learning context require this approach.
ð Overuse by managers of the planned change approach, even in contexts that ask for the other approaches.
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, Cleenewerck de Crayencour Alix KULeuven – MBA 2022/2023 ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & CHANGE
Class 2 – Five Change Theories
The ‘how’ or ‘process’ of change – 5 change theories
Relational perspective as framework, paradigm
1. UnFreezing-change-freezing model (Lewin, 1947)
2. Eight steps to transformation (Kotter,1996)
3. Change triangle (Bouwen & Fry, 1988) and pathways to innovation (Bouwen & Fry, 1991)
4. Theorie E and O (Beer & Nohria, 2000)
5. Theories of positive change (Cooperrider&Fry,2012)
Why these theories ?
1. Lewin because it’s a pioneering theory on which Kotter’s model is partially based.
2. Kotter’s eight steps : one of the most known change models (doesn’t mean it’s the best theory).
3. Bouwen & Fry’s models are older models that are still very appealing and actual today.
4. E & O gives a ‘macro’ – perspective of two types of change, useful distinction (but it doesn’t reveal much about relational
quality).
5. Positive change : new direction of change theories, more or less opposite of the more urgency-based theories from Lewin
and Kotter.
1. Unfreeze-change-freeze model – LEWIN, 1958
According to Lewin, the first step in the process of changing behavior is to unfreeze the existing situation.
Only then can change, or movement, occur. Finally, to make the new behaviors stick, a third, refreezing step is necessary.
à 1947 ; context was different.
à Not yet in the VUCA-world ; Focus is more on the first two change approaches (and types of change/learning) by Boonstra.
Unfreeze
- Unfreezing the belief that old way of working is adequate, questioning “old” values.
- Making people aware of the (urgent) need for change.
o ‘Motivation for change must be generated before change can occur. One muste be helped to re-examine many
cherished assumptions about oneself and one’s relations to others.’
o Pro’s > Contra’s
- Unfreezing creates a (controlled) “crisis”.
- Result : Strong reactions but they are necessary to create a strong motivation to find new equilibrium.
- “No unfreezing, no buy-in or participation.”
Key : Developing a compelling message showing why the existing way of doing things cannot continue.
à Easiest to frame when you can point to declining sales figures, poor financial results, worrying customer satisfaction surveys, or such like : These show that things have to
change in a way that everyone can understand. (Concrete examples !)
To prepare the organization successfully, you need to start at its core – you need to challenge the beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors that currently define it. Using the
analogy of a building, you must examine and be prepared to change the existing foundations as they might not support add-on story’s ; unless this is done, the whole
building may risk collapse.
First part of the change process à the most difficult and stressful.
When you start cutting down the "way things are done", you put everyone and everything off balance. You may evoke strong reactions in people, and that's exactly what
needs to done.
By forcing the organization to re-examine its core, you effectively create a (controlled) crisis, à strong motivation to seek out a new equilibrium. Without this motivation,
you won't get the buy-in and participation necessary to effect any meaningful change.
Change
- Make people truly understand how change helps them.
- Offering training and support.
- Time & a lot of communication are crucial.
- Background : a lot of people prefer status-quo!
o Change is perceived as “damaging”.
o Change <-> Identity.
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