Leersamenvatting VM: Burke
Laura Veerman
Chapter 1: Sources for understanding organization change
The sources used are literature and models, trade literature from professionals, which
are sometimes not very scientific, and storytelling books which are mostly too simple.
Scientific articles come from different fields.
Important principles for organization change are the external environment,
expressing the need, the consequences, resistance to change, and the role of the
change leader.
Chapter 2: Rethinking organization change; Burke his personal views
The paradox of planned organization change is that you should always plan the change
(linear) but reality will be non-linear and not go according to plan. He proposes a graph
with loops; a part of the planned change is implemented, some resistance of
unforeseen consequence is met and causes a setback, and this needs to be dealt with.
After the problem is fixed, we go again on step 2 of the change. We must plan change
yet understand that things never turn out as we planned.
The capital market changes, so private organizations need to change to survive.
There can be a cultural lock-in which is the inability to change the corporate culture
even in the face of clear market threats. An organization has become inflexible.
Government organization deal with changing politics or legislation, or values in
politics/society. In former (semi)public-only areas, like education, private parties are
popping up and changing the environment. Burke argues the process of organizational
change begins and ends with the external environment.
Metaphor Organization as a organism
Open system, emphasis on survival.
Critique: organism is a material object,
organization is non-material. Organization
interacts with external environment.
Danger metaphor might become a ideology
(should be…)
Theory Open-system theory
Types of organization change Revolutionary vs Evolutionary
Transformational vs Transactional
Discontinuous vs Continuous
Organizations need both
Levels of organization change Individual, group, (business unit), total system
How organization change occurs Shift in external environment
Response is shift in mission/strategy thus shift in
culture
Content and process The what (purpose, strategy) and the how
(planning, implemented)
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, This needs different types of leadership
Organizational models Frameworks that simplify into manageable
portions, and give focus
The Burke-Litwin model
Organizational change research …should be data-based and measured (over time)
Leadership Planned change requires leadership and is central
Everyone has their own way of leading
Planned change is complex
Chapter 3: A brief history of organization change
The history of organization change has gone through several phases:
1) Scientific management (Taylor)
▪ The organization as a machine, looking at cause and effect. It is about
data gathering, worker selection and development, integrating science
and the trained worker (people should apply their skills), dividing work
(the worker works, the manager monitors).
▪ He was the first to use a systematic approach to organization change.
2) The Hawthorne studies
▪ Studying the effect of lightning brought sociological and psychological
issues to light. The importance of worker attitude was discovered. Social
relations and other psychological factors were discovered to influence
work. Autonomy, group dynamics, and more all influenced employee
attitude.
▪ The importance of the human dimension is demonstrated.
3) Industrial (and organizational) psychology
▪ Selecting and testing with psychological tests; training leaders on
structure and consideration. It was also shown that after one training,
consideration went up for a while, but then went back down again,
because the boss of the manager influenced them ‘back down’.
▪ The influence of culture was discovered. If the culture supported the
training, the training sticks. This study focused on the difference between
focusing on the individual and on contextual variables.
▪ This provided the research and theory to develop an understanding of
organizational change.
4) Survey Feedback
▪ The organizational survey feedback method was not only about
conducing a survey but even more about what the manager did with the
feedback. Often the survey results are discussed top-down, first with the
directors, then their subordinates, downward to the line managers. All
hear and discuss the survey feedback.
▪ Survey method is based on data, involves organizational members
directly, provides information about what to change, and focuses on the
larger system.
▪ It is an important tool for diagnosing and implementing organization
change.
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, 5) Sensitivity training
▪ Small group discussions in which the source of information for learning
is the behaviour of the group members themselves. Participants receive
feedback from one another on their behaviour.
▪ This is also called T-groups (training groups).
▪ It is used to learn about group dynamics and interpersonal behaviour.
6) Socio-technical systems
▪ Work consists of two interdependent systems: the technical system
(equipment, processes) and the social system (individual workers and
groups). These two systems are interdependent; a change in one will
effect the other. The work system is the basic unit. It is a set of activities
that make a whole.
▪ The work group is central, and regulation of the system is performed by
the group itself. An individual worker is complementary to the machine,
not an extension of it.
▪ Socio-technical analysis needs to be on different levels: primary work
systems, whole organization systems, and macrosocial systems.
▪ Discovered the interdependence of people and the organizational tools
with which they work.
7) Organization development
▪ Organization development is about team building, changing socio-
technical systems for more bottom-up management, and reflection. The
primary method is action research, so conducing a study with the
purpose of corrective action to a problem. It’s not about adding scientific
knowledge but about solving a problem.
▪ Data on problems is collected and action is taken based on that data.
Diagnosis, feedback, discussing, and taking the steps. This makes an
intervention.
▪ OD gives a systematic approach to organization change, with an
emphasis on the total systems and clear steps.
8) The managerial grid and organizational development
▪ Falling under OD, this grid is about leadership in two dimensions:
production and people. The more concern for production, the more
autocratic leadership, and the more concern for people, the more
permissive leadership. The best manager has high concerns for both; a
participative manager.
▪ Common barriers to change leadership are communication problems and
a lack of planning. Also important is cross-functional group work,
including cooperation and competitiveness.
▪ Although highly structured, stresses the importance of priorities in
change and change leadership.
9) Coercion and confrontation
▪ This can be disputes or protests. A common enemy or a higher goal can
prevent these.
▪ These unconventional issues can still be learned from.
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