SUMMARY CHANGE MANAGEMENT
An overview
Hayes, J. (2014). The theory and Hayes examines change from a process perspective (oppo
practice of change management. to the open system theory of alignment): teleolo
(purposeful), dialectical (conflicting goals), life c
(cumulative stages), and evolutionary theories (contin
cycle). Also discusses reactive and self-reinforcing sequen
Week 2
To minimize impact: change agent step back and observe
is going on, identify critical junctures and subsequent patt
and maintain an awareness of alternative courses of action.
Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading Kotter describes 8 steps of change, and how mistakes in
change. Why transformation step can be detrimental for success.
efforts fail.
Stouten et al (2018). Successful This paper identifies ten evidence-based steps in mana
organizational change: Integrating planned (top-down) organizational change based on va
the management practice and prescriptive models, along with implications. And ten princ
scholarly literatures. for best practice / recommendations. (Emergent chang
bottom-up).
Ford, J. D., Ford, L. W., & This paper redefines resistance, instead of an irrational reac
D'Amelio, A. (2008). Resistance to on the part of the recipient, it may be constructive, and it
change: The rest of the story. be enhanced by the agent. Article describes how the ch
Week 3
agent may contribute to resistance, resistance as a resource
implications of the restructuring of resistance.
Choi, M. (2011). Employees' Choi argues that conditions in which employees sup
attitudes toward organizational organizational change (readiness for change, commitmen
change: A literature review. change, openness to change, and cynicism about organizat
change) are susceptible to situational variables and may ch
over time as individuals’ experiences change. Implicat
PDM / involvement, communication, trust, explain
experience with change, benefits for employees.
Oreg, S., & van Dam, K. (2009). This article examines the role of justice perceptions in
Organisational justice in the context of organisational change. Research is reviewed
context of organisational change. main findings are summarized; how to increase perception
justice: information, participation, leadership, etc. neg
consequences of low perceived fairness: anxiety, low t
negative reactions.
Bommer et al (2005). Changing Strategies used by change implementers were operationa
Week 4
attitudes about change: as six transformational leader behaviors (TLB), and
Longitudinal effects of hypothesized to influence employees’ cynicism a
transformational leader behavior organizational change. The key finding of this study is
on employee cynicism about change implementers who engage in TLB can effect
organizational change. reduce their subordinates’ cynicism about organizat
change. The six behaviors are discussed, as well as how
enhance positive employee reactions. This paper
emphasizes the usefulness and potential usefulness
meaning of resistance.
, Venus et al (2019). Visions of Authors hypothesize that leaders that communicate vision
change as visions of continuity. change can address this resistance by assuring followers tha
essence of the organizational identity (social identity the
will remain unchanged – making their vision of change a
vision of continuity (supported).
Heyden et al (2017). Rethinking Change initiated by MMs results in highest employee sup
‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ roles and even more so, if TMs handle the change execution. T
of top and middle managers in argue that TMs and MMs have relative strengths
organizational change: weaknesses for taking on change initiation and ch
Implications for employee support. execution roles. In turn, these strengths and limitations ma
compounded or attenuated based on the specific way in w
Week 5
TMs and MMs feature in organizational change.
Mowbray et al (2015). An This paper conceptualizes the concept of voice, iden
Integrative Review of Employee similarities and differences between HRM/ER and
Voice: Identifying a Common literature. It also discusses how it emerges (opportunity), ho
Conceptualization and Research is managed voice (e.g. TFL and LMX), how it can be han
Agenda specifically (e.g. peer briefing), and its form (formal
informal).
Cameron, K., & Quinn, R.E. This chapter described the CVF, how it is developed, w
(2011). Diagnosing and Changing leadership styles suit what culture, in the light of TQM, H
Organizational Culture: Based on practices. The congruence of these various element
the Competing Values Framework. organizations is a prerequisite to high performance, and
Chapter 3: The Competing Values framework we have introduced here is useful as a guide
Framework. enhancing organizational effectiveness as well as for facilita
Week 6
culture change.
Cameron, K., & Quinn, R.E. In this chapter, we provide a useful methodology for identif
(2011). Diagnosing and Changing what needs to change in an organization’s culture and
Organizational Culture: Based on developing a strategy to initiate change in key element
the Competing Values Framework. identifies six steps for initiating organizational culture cha
Chapter 5: Using the Framework Reach consensus on the current culture Reach consensu
to Diagnose and Change the desired future culture Determine what the changes
Organizational Culture. and will not mean Identify illustrative stories Devel
strategic action plan Develop an implementation plan.
Week 2 Organizational change and change management
Hayes, J. (2014). The theory and practice of change management
Open systems theory provides a framework for thinking about organizations (and parts of
organizations) as a system of interrelated components that are embedded in, and strongly
influenced by, a larger system. In this state theory, the key to success is the quality of
alignment.
Opposing this state theory (what), Miles and Snow (1984) argue that it is more productive to
think of it as a process that involves a quest for the best possible fit between the organization
,and its environment and between the various internal components of the organization (how).
Effective leaders are those who set a direction for change and influence others to improve
internal and external alignment.
Four types that provide views of the change process:
Teleological theories: organizations are purposeful and adaptive, and present change
as an unfolding cycle of goal formulation, implementation, evaluation, and learning.
However, not necessarily in this order.
o Goals, and the steps taken to achieve goals, can be changed at the will of those
involved in the process.
o Members of a system have considerable freedom to construct change
trajectories.
Dialectical theories: focus on conflicting goals between different interest groups and
explain stability and change in terms of confrontation and the balance of power.
Political perspective to change: confrontation versus agreement between opposing
entities.
o Often reactive sequences: conflicting goals lead subsequent events to
challenge earlier events. This emphasises the importance of setting a viable
direction and align those who are involved.
In theory, both teleological and dialectical theories suggest that members of a system have
considerable freedom to construct change trajectories and assert that it is possible for them to
break away from established routines. However, in practice is not easy to achieve. Due to
self-reinforcing sequences it may be difficult to break away from established routines and
intentionally move the system towards redefined goals.
Reactive sequence: subsequent events challenge/oppose previous events. An unexpected
event leads to a separation of two paths (detour). Measures can bring the process back on
track. Most likely when different parties pursue their own interest (e.g. a strike or resistant
decisions, i.e. dialectical theories!).
Minimize impact: by scanning their environment for threats and anticipating
resistance or responding quickly when others fail to support their actions. Anticipate
, how those affected by a change might react to events (i.e. stakeholder analysis). Also,
set a clear direction and align all members to support the change.
Self-reinforcing sequences (positive feedback supports the direction of change) occur when
a decision or action produces positive feedback that reinforces earlier events and supports the
direction of change. It undermines change managers’ flexibility and their ability to adapt to
changing circumstances). Self-reinforcing sequences may be beneficial in the short term but
change managers need to be alert to the possibility that they may draw them into a path that
will deliver suboptimal outcomes over the longer term. 3 pitfalls:
1. Increasing returns: a company stick with winning formula for too long and fails to
respond to opportunities and threats, e.g. Nokia.
2. Psychological commitment to past decisions: escalation of commitment and sunk
cost fallacy caused by change agent’s need to demonstrate capability and pressure for
consistency, e.g. Direct Banking.
3. Cognitive biases: confirmation bias and groupthink. For example, Expectations
effects (self-fulfilling prophecies) and self-serving attribution divert attention from
important factors to resistance (e.g. unexpected problems are blamed on resistance).
See Ford.
Early steps in a particular direction can produce further movement in the same direction
(organizational path dependence: preformation path formation lock in, i.e. the
options narrow down). This process can constrain change leaders’ freedom to construct and
manage an effective change trajectory. Self-reinforcing sequences can undermine change
managers’ flexibility and their ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
Minimize impact: For both reactive and self-reinforcing sequences: Change agent
should step back and observe what is going on, including their own and others’
behaviour, identify critical junctures and subsequent patterns and maintain an
awareness of and the freedom to adopt alternative courses of action.
Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading change. Why transformation efforts fail
Successful change processes go through certain steps that may be lengthy but skipping steps
will create only an illusion of speed. Also, critical mistakes in any phase may be detrimental: