ch 2 images of managing change

Chapter 2 Images of Managing Change

• Understand the importance of organizational images and mental models.

• Identify different images of managing and of change outcomes.

• Outline six different images of managing change.

• Identify the theoretical underpinnings of these six change management images.

• Understand the practical implications of the six images and how to use them.

Learning Objectives

Images of Managing Change

Controlling…◦Top-down view of management◦Fayol’s theory of management:

planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling.

Shaping…◦Participative style of management◦Improving the capabilities of people

within the organization

Images of ManagingChange

Images of Change Outcomes

Images of Change Managers:- Director- Coach- Navigator- Interpreter- Caretaker- Nurturer

Three Core Uses of the Images


Intended Change:◦Change is a result of planned action

Partially Intended Change:◦Change may need to be re-modified

after it is initially implementedUnintended Change:

◦Forces beyond the control of the change manager





Images of Managing

Controlling . . . (activities)

Shaping . . .(capabilities)

Images of Change

Outcomes

Intended DIRECTOR COACH

PartiallyIntended

NAVIGATOR INTERPRETER

Unintended CARETAKER NURTURER





Images of Change Managers





Director Based on an

image of management as control and of change outcomes as being achievable.

Supported by the n-step models and contingency theory.

Coach Relies upon building

in the right set of values, skills and “drills” that are deemed to be the best ones to be drawn upon in order to achieve desired organizational outcomes.

Related to OD approaches.






Navigator Control is the heart of

management action, although a variety of external factors mean that managers may achieve some intended change outcomes and others will occur over which they have little control.

Supported by the contextualist and processual theories of change.

Interpreter The manager

creates meaning for other organizational members, helping them to make sense of various organizational events and actions.

Supported by the sense-making theory of organizational change


Images of Change ManagersImages of ManagingChange




Caretaker The manager’s control

is severely impeded by a variety of internal and external forces beyond their scope. The caretaker shepherds their organizations along as best they can.

Supported by life-cycle, population-ecology and institutional theories.

Nurturer Even small changes may

have a large impact on organizations and managers are not able to control the outcome of these changes but may nurture their organizations. This facilitates organizational qualities that enable positive self-organizing to occur.

Related to chaos and Confucian/ Taoist theories.


These six images of change managers have three core uses:1) They highlight a variety of assumptions

that change managers make about change and increase the awareness of different interpretations of change.

2) They draw attention to the dominant images of change within an organization.

3) They highlight a range of perspectives available to change managers.





Table 2.5Chapter Reflections for the Practicing Change Manager

Chapter 3 Why Organizations Change

Why Change?

Change is a risky activity – many organizational changes fail or do not realize their intended outcomes. This raises the question: why is change so prevalent?

Pressure to change comes from:◦External, environmental pressures◦Internal, organizational pressures

Why Change?

External Pressures- Fashion- Mandated- Geopolitical- Market decline- Hyper-

competition- Reputation &

credibility

Role of the Environment

Internal Pressures- Growth- Integration &

collaboration- Identity- New broom- Power &

political

Environmental Pressures

Pressure Examples Description

Fashionpressures

Boeing Co.

Neo-institutionalism: mimetic isomorphism. Managers imitate practices associated with successful organizations

Mandated pressures

Chevron Texaco

Neo-institutionalism: coercive isomorphism. An organization changes through formally or informally mandated requirements.

Geopolitical pressures

3M

Macroeconomic changes (or crises) place pressure on organizations to

change the way they operate.

Why Change?



credibility




political

Environmental Pressures


Market decline

pressures

AOL Time Warner

When current markets begin to decline there is pressure to find newer, more viable markets.

Hyper-competition pressures

Gateway

The highly intensified rate of business – including shortened product life cycles and rapid responses by competitors – produces pressure for change at the organizational level.

Reputation and credibility

pressures

Walt Disney Company

In light of recent corporate governance scandals, the pressure to maintain a good reputation and high level of credibility has increased.

Why Change?



credibility




political

Debate: Role of the Environment

Organizational learning vs. threat-rigidity◦ whether external pressures facilitate or inhibit the process of change.

Environment as an objective entity vs. environment as a cognitive construction◦ The former treats the environment as an objective entity to which

managers must respond. The latter emphasizes the centrality of managers’ interpretations of environmental conditions as the key determinant of behavior.

Forces for change vs. forces for stability: ◦ External forces can vary; they either promote change or promote stability.

Bridging (adapting) vs buffering (shielding):◦ These represent either strategies that can maintain effectiveness by

adapting parts of the organization to changes happening in the outside environment (bridging) or focusing on efficiency by avoiding change through shielding parts of it from the effects of the environment (buffering).

Why Change?



credibility




political

Internal Pressures


Growth pressures

Microsoft

Existing systems and processes in an organization may no longer be applicable when the size of the organization increases.

Integration and

collaboration pressures

EDS

Integration and creating economies of scale can lead to pressure for change in organizations.

Identity pressures

ForteHotel

A common organizational identity and the unified commitment of staff in different areas/departments of an organization can be difficult to manage and may encourage change.

Why Change?



credibility




political

Internal Pressures


New broom

pressures

Bank of America

Change at the senior management level – particularly of CEO - can often be a catalyst for significant changes in an organization.

Power and political

pressures

Morgan Stanley

Power relationships and politicking can change internal processes and decision making.

Why Change?



credibility




political

Exercise 3.2Public Change Rationales

More on the why of change…

• Life cycle theories: linear and irreversible sequence of prescribed change• Organizations go through different stages: birth,

youth, midlife, maturity,…. When reached maturity, revitalization is needed.

• Teleological theories: recurrent and discontinuous sequence of goal setting, implementation, and adaptation

• Dialectic theories: recurrent and discontinuous sequence of confrontation, conflict, and synthesis

• Evolutionary theories: recurrent, cumulative and probabilistic sequence of variation, selection, and retention

Theories of Organizational Change

• globalization: Deregulation, opening of national economies

• Unpredictable and Rapidly changing markets

• Service and knowledge base business• profitability based on machine power to

profitability based on intelligence and skills

Economic Pressures

• Flexible working arrangements• Women in management• Educated workforce/society• Demographics• Immigrations• People more independent, questioning• Lack of loyalty between the workers and

companies

Social Pressures

• Information and Communication Technology• High performance work systems• Integrated information systems• Access to information• Global networking• New media

• Shortening product life cycles• High quality

Technological Pressures

SD Elements:Social

1. Employee Well-Being2. Quality of Life3. Business Ethics

Economic4. Shareholder Value Creation5. Economic Development

Environmental 6. Environmental Impact Minimization7. Natural Resource Protection

Sustainable Development Pressures

• Challenging old assumptions• Understanding the new rules of competition• Capturing the potential of new paradigms

by rethinking business processes• Constant innovation • Improving continually as part of normal

functioning• Transforming while keeping purpose and

direction

Continuous learning

Organizational Self-renewal

• continual new and unfamiliar problems cannot be broken down and distributed among the existing specialists roles

• continual adjustment and redefinition of individual tasks is needed

• Interactions and communication may occur at any level as required by the process

• organization charts are not always useful

Organic type of organizations, adopted to unstable conditions

• Industrial mindset:• Invalidity of the internal reality of

human consciousness• Scarcity of resources• Separate parts• Discrete events

• emerging mindset:• Consciousness is causative• Abundance• Relationships and Wholeness• Continuous Process

parts are connected and they are connected to the whole,change is a continuous process, andthe internal and external dynamics are both important.

Emerging Mindset

ch 2 images of managing change

Business

unintended change

practicing change manager

different images

sixchange management

caretaker control

external forces managers

navigator forces

organizational pressures