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 Topic 6 Change Management
• Organisational Change
• Why do Organisations Change
• Organisations as Open Systems
• Sources of Change
• Nature of Change

2
Why does an organisation change?

What can cause organisational change?

Why is organisational change

important?
 What is Organisational Change?
• The adoption of a new idea or behaviour by an organisation (Daft,
2010: 404)

• The process by which organisations move from their present state

to some desired future state to increase their effectiveness (Jones,
2004: 301)

• ‘New ways of organising and working’. It is the process of moving

from some current state to some future state that, whether
planned or unplanned, comprises the unexpected and unforeseen
as well as the expected’ (Andriopoulos and Dawson, 2009: 14)
•  
Why do organisations change?
 All Organisations are Open Systems
• If the organisation is to survive and achieve both efficiency and
effectiveness then management must ensure alignment between the
various factors – inputs, process and outputs
 Open Systems
• Organisations are made up of interrelated parts

• If any part performs poorly, it negatively affects the performance of

the whole system

• Effectiveness requires awareness and successful interactions with

environment constituencies
Open System: Transformation
 Therefore…
• Management must ensure alignment between the various factors
– inputs, process and outputs
• Is simply surviving sufficient?
• Probably not ...

• Management have to ensure survival & ensure the organisation

thrives:
• By generating competitive advantage
• Developing efficiencies which competition does not have

• They have to ensure both viability and superior performance:

• A process which is made difficult by the fact that the external and
internal environments continually change
 Sources of change
• Sources of Change

Using the ‘open systems’ approach; we can see that change can originate
in either

• a) The external environment

• b) The internal environment

Morgan (1986):

“organisations, like organisms, are ‘open’ to their environment

and must achieve an appropriate relation with
that environment if they are to survive”
 External Environment Change
• Dawson (1992) suggests 3 sources of change in the environment:

• Changes within constituent parts

• e.g. competitor change, government policy changes etc

• Changes in patterns of interactions between parts

• e.g. e-selling, cooperation between constituent parts

• Changes to constituent parts caused by direct actions (power and

influence) of an organisation and vice versa
• e.g. large organisation lobbying the government and influencing
change
External Environmental Frameworks
Internal Environment Change
New Leaders
 Growth
Streamlining,
small-company
thinking
Large Development of teamwork
Continued
Addition of internal systems maturity
– more coordination
Crisis:
Need for Decline
S Provision of clear direction revitalization
I Crisis:
Z Need to deal
E Creativity with too much
Crisis: red tape
Need for
Crisis: delegation
Need for with control
leadership

Small 1. 2. 3. 4.
Entrepreneurial Collectivity Formalization Elaboration
Stage Stage Stage Stage

ORGANIZATION STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

Source: Quinn, R.E. and Cameron, K. (1983)

 Greiner’s Curve Model (1998)
• Evolution stages of growth
• are shown by the continuous
• line

• Revolution stages are shown

• by the red disjunctures
 Criticisms of the Life Cycle Model
• Little empirical grounding to prove the linear progression of growth in
organisations

• Absence of consensus on models of life cycle growth

• Firms do not grow equally at a regular pace, nor do they always share the same
problems at the same stages.

(Phelps, Adams and Bessant, 2007)

 Resources
• The organisation’s assets and resources are also subject to continual
change

• Physical assets depreciate and become technically obsolete

• Resources and capabilities also evolve:

 Talents and skills of individuals change

 The pattern of internal relationships and the informal organisation
change
 Networks of relationships with customers and suppliers change
 Org acquires greater / new information about the market
 Competing Values Framework for Effectiveness
• Competing Values Framework for Effectiveness
A 3-dimensional Model of Organisational Effectiveness- Quinn and
Rohrbaugh (1983)
 Why Organisations Change
• Organisations change in order to survive and be more effective

• Effectiveness can be determined in various ways and may mean

different things to different stakeholders, thus the changes required
to become more effective may not be easily agreed upon.

• Organisations change in response to their external environment. What

makes an organisation effective at one time, may not always be the
same.

• Organisations change in response to changes in their internal

environment and can be driven by new leadership, new resources/
capabilities and can also be driven through growth.
 The Nature of Change
• Internal and external changes affect the organisation in different ways:

 Some are barely noticed

 Some are a little disruptive
 Some fundamentally change past practices overnight

 Therefore organisational change is not one dimensional and there are many
different types of change described in the literature
Types of change
Incremental Predictable Adaptation

Planned Emergent Evolutionary

Radical Revolutionary Episodic

Frame Breaking Transformational Fine Tuning

Types of Change (Grundy 1993)
 The Scale of Change
• Burke (2008) labels these:

 Evolutionary change (incremental)

 Revolutionary change (discontinuous)

• Revolutionary change is also sometimes known as ‘radical’ change

• Incremental change can be highly significant over time, but it is

gradual in nature

• Discontinuous change is typically more dramatic and demanding

• (Holbeche, 2006)
 The Scale of Change
• Industries/Organisations characterised by:

• ‘Periods of incremental change or convergence, punctuated by

discontinuous change’
• (Dunphy and Stace, 1993)
The Span of Change
Timing of Change
 Planned and Emergent Change
• Planned Change

• ‘Describes a situation where a change agent takes deliberate actions

with the aim of moving the organisation or part of one from one
state to another’. (Senior and Swailes, 2010, p. 43)

• Emergent Change

• Arises out of ongoing activities. Emergent Change is much less as

a one-off exercise and more a continuous process whereby
organizations seek to align and re-align themselves to an
unpredictable, many-faceted and rapidly-changing environment
(Burnes, 1996)
 Planned Change Process
• The literature to consider:

• Lewin’s Force Field Analysis & 3 Step Model (1951)

• Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model (1995)

• Judson’s 5 Phase Model (1991)

• Bullock & Batten’s 4 Phase Model (1985)

 Lewin (1951) • The nature & pace of change
depend on the balance of:

• Driving Forces and

Driving
forces
• Restraining Forces in relation
Promote Change Restraining
forces to a particular change
Maintain Status
Quo • Force Field Analysis is a technique
for assessing these factors

• Viability of the change can be

assessed

• Action to alter the balance of forces

can be identified
Lewin (1951)
3 Step Model of Planned Change

UNFREEZE CHANGE REFREEZE

Unfreezing The Freeze or
the current transition stabilise the
state of into a new changes
affairs, state made
including Change to Anchor the
attitudes, the new new norms
beliefs & behaviour and culture
values
Kotter (1995)
8 Step Change Model
ANCHOR
THE
BUILD ON CHANGES IN
CHANGE CULTURE
CREATE
SHORT TERM
EMPOWER EARLY WINS
PEOPLE &
DISCUSS REMOVE
THE VISION OBSTACLES
CREATE A
VISION FOR
FORM A CHANGE
POWERFUL
CREATE COALITION
URGENCY
Leading Change: Establish a Sense of Urgency
The Biggest Mistake I See: Strategy First,
Urgency Second
How to Create a Powerful Vision for Change
 Summary of Planned Change
• Planned change is described in terms of two major dimensions;
change phases and change processes (Bullock and Batten, 1985)

• Planned approaches have been described as process models and

systemic models

• Planned approaches have also been described as ‘rational-linear’

recipe givers that reflect the emphasis placed on the development of
a staged series of interventions (Miles, 1997)

• Planned change is broadly applicable to most situations (Cummings

& Huse, 1989), however it assumes that their exists an optimal
solution to organisational issues and therefore a focus on conditions
necessary for success and effectives of implementing change
 Can Change Be planned in Reality?
• There is much evidence in the literature to show the success of
planned change in delivering incremental change (Lee and Teo,
2005; Worley and Lawler III, 2006) however its ability to deliver
radical change is questioned.

• Concerns:
• Their deterministic assumptions about the nature of change
(Dawson,1996)
• Their failure to consider the influence of beliefs, values, power and
interpretation within the organisation (Dawson,1991)
• Failure to see the organisation as a collection of diverse interests
(Dawson, 1981)
• How they deal with resistance to change (Agocs,1997)
 Concerns
• Once change becomes discontinuous, the process becomes more complex ...
• Conger (2000) argues that in such circumstances the 3 stage model ceases to
work:
o the leader has little connection with, or control over, many of the employees
o with the result that planned change often becomes a top-down process of
structural and process change
• Burnes (2009) therefore argues that planned change is most applicable to
incremental change:
o leaders plan small changes, analyse outcomes...
o and try to gain commitment to further change through continual small scale
change
• This process is known as ‘logical incrementalism’ (Quinn, 1980) (eg when banks
first introduced ATMs)
 Planned Change Summary
• Having said all that, most managers do still plan for
change, but recognise limitations to the approach.

• Johnson (1993):

o managers pursue a planned, incremental approach, but

recognise that everything isn’t known – so constantly
reassess
 Emergent Change
• Based on assumption that organisations operate in complex and
dynamic environments likened to open systems perspective of
organisations:

• Continuous Improvement, Organisational Learning.

• There is a ‘readiness’ to change.
• Driven bottom – up rather than top-down.
• Involves the interplay of multiple variables (context, political
processes and consultation).
• Mainly achieved through small incremental changes that
overtime create a major re-configuration of the organisation.
Emergent Change
Organisations take part in a process that is described as one of
permanent transition.

There are 3 perspectives on emergent change:

1. Readiness for change

2. Renewal
3. Complexity Theory
 1. Readiness for Change
• Following the emergent change model requires that organisations
build capacity and agility to cope with continual change

• Boxall and Purcell (2008) identify a need for:

• Short-run responsiveness:

• Long run agility:

• Management skills required to ensure ‘readiness’

 2. Renewal
• Hurst (2002) uses the metaphor of an ecosystem to describe
emergent change:

• the system constantly evolves, sometimes in a smooth and

continuous manner…
• sometimes in a rapid and discontinuous way…
• and sometimes the system is destroyed / requires destruction

• Argues that when at the point of decline an org has to ‘destroy’

itself:

• create a crisis to shatter current constraints…

• allowing for fundamental second-order change
• at this point the org has to be bold and creative, rather than
‘planful’
 3. Complexity Theory
• Stacey (2011); Griffen (2002):

• An organisation is an ‘ongoing self-referencing process of

gestures and responses between people. People are constantly
engaged in interactions with each other, from which overall
behaviour patterns emerge’.

• So, managers have to understand / try to identify:

• patterns of interaction between members – ‘self-organization

and emergence’
• patterns of power
• how to ‘disturb’ existing patterns as a way of encouraging new
thinking
• the role of leadership in the organisation – how do employees
react to leadership?
 Emergent Change Summary
• Some of its key ideas are useful in:

• understanding change as an unpredictable, continuous process of

experimentation and adaptation
• thinking of human interaction and sensemaking as central to the
creation of change
• recognising the impact of culture and internal politics on what
happens
• moving to thinking of individuals as ‘interdependent’ rather than
autonomous
• seeing the leader’s role as one of shaping a general direction and
facilitating its development, rather than imposing it
 Key Points
• Organisational Change can be categorised according to the pace,
scope and scale of the change.

• Organisational change can come about in a planned and /or

emergent manner

• Change interventions will often fail if the situation is not fully

understood
• It is important to consider the forces for and the forces restraining
change.
Prochaska et al. (2001)

Deloitte and Touche survey of 400 organizations indicated resistance to

change as the number one reason for failures of organisational change
initiatives.

So why do people resist change?

 Kotter and Schlesinger 1979
• Parochial Self Interest
• People believe they will lose something of value. People focus on
their own interests as opposed to the interests of the overall
organisation.

• Misunderstanding and lack of trust

• Communication problems, lack of information. People perceive the
change will cost them much more than they will gain.

• Different Assessments
• People see more costs than benefits for themselves as well as for
the organisation. Disagreement with managers.

• Low tolerance for change

• People fear they will not be able to develop the new skills and
knowledge required of them. People prefer stability and security.
 Therefore
• Surprise
• Unannounced significant changes threaten employees’ sense of
balance in the workplace.
• Inertia
• Employees have a desire to maintain a safe, secure, and
predictable status quo.
• Misunderstanding and lack of skills
• Without introductory or remedial training, change may be perceived
negatively.
• Lack of Trust
• Promises of improvement mean nothing if employees do not trust
management.
• Fear of Failure
• Employees are intimidated by change and doubt their abilities to
meet new challenges.
Breakup of Work Group
Changes can tear apart established on-the-job social relationships.

Competing Commitments
Change can disrupt employees in their pursuit of other goals.

How can resistance to change surface?

VISABILITY WHEN FORM

• OVERT/ACTIVE • IMMEDIATE • INDIVIDUAL

• COVERT/PASSIVE • DEFFERED • COLLECTIVE
 Visibility of Resistance
• Covert/Passive Resistance
• Covert resistance is deliberate resistance to change,but done in a
manner that allows the perpetrators to appear as if they are not
resisting. This may occur, for example, through sabotage of various
kinds. Passive resistance occurs where people do not take specific
actions. At meetings, they will sit quietly and may appear to agree
with the change. Their main tool is to refuse to collaborate with the
change. In passive aggression, for example, they may agree and
then do nothing to fulfil their commitments.
• Overt/Active Resistance
• Overt resistance does not try to hide and is a result either of
someone comfortable with their power, someone for whom covert
acts are against their values, or someone who is desperate. This
may take forms such as open argument, refusal or attack. Active
resistance occurs where people are taking specific and deliberate
action to resist the change. It may be overt, with such as public
statements and acts of resistance, and it may be covert, such as
mobilizing others to create an underground resistance movement.
 Forms of Resistance
• Individual action
• Individually, a person may resist, although this is generally limited to
the extent of their personal power. For those with lower power, this
may include passive refusals and covert action. For those with more
power, it can include open challenge and criticism.

• Collective action
• When people find a common voice in organised resistance, then
their words and actions can create a significant threat to the
change, even though they are individually less powerful. Trade
Unions are a classic example of this. Organised resistance is usually
a sign of a deep divide. People will not go to the bother of
organizing unless they have serious issues with the change.
 Methods for Dealing with Resistance to Change
• Education and Communication

• Participation and Involvement

• Facilitation and Support

• Negotiation and Agreement

• Manipulation and Cooptation

• Explicit and Implicit Coercion

John Kotter - Resistance to Change
 Making Change Happen Successfully
• Embrace change—become a change-capable organization.
• Create a simple, compelling message explaining why change is
necessary.
• Communicate constantly and honestly.
• Foster as much employee participation as possible—get all
employees committed.
• Encourage employees to be flexible.
• Remove those who resist and cannot be changed.
John Kotter - The Impact of Change: The
Human Side
5 Ways to Lead in an Era of Constant Change
Change Management vs. Change Leadership
— What's the Difference?
 List of References
• Campbell, J. P. (1977) ‘On the nature of Organisational effectiveness’ in P. S. Goodman, J.M Pennings & Associates (eds) New
Perspectives on Organisational Effectiveness, pp 36 – 41, San Francisco: Jossey Bass
• Daft, R. L. (2010) Organization Theory and Design, 10th Edition, Mason, Ohio : South-Western Cengage Learning, Chpt 2.
• Greiner, L. E. (1972) ‘Evolution and Revolution as organizations grow’, Harvard Business Review, Vol 50, July-August, pp.37-
46.
• Quinn, R. E. And Rohrbaugh, J. (1983) ‘A spatial model of effectiveness criteria: towards a competing values approach to
organisational analysis’, Management Science, Vol 29, No. 3, pp 363 – 377.
• Phelps, R., Adams, R. and Bessant, J. (2007) ‘Life Cycles of Growing Organisations: A review with implications for knowledge
and learning’, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol 9, Iss 1, pp1-30.
• Robbins, S. P. And Barnwell, N. (2002) Organisation Theory: Concepts and cases, 4th Edition, London: Prentice Hall, Chpt 3.

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