chapter 18 organizational change and development
TRANSCRIPT
Learning Goals
• Discuss the pressures on managers to change their organizations
• Describe different types of organizational change
• Explain the phases and targets of planned organizational change
Learning Goals (Cont.)
• List some reasons for resistance to change in organizations
• Describe the organizational development techniques managers can use to change their organizations
• Understand some international aspects of organizational change and development
Chapter Overview
• Introduction
• Forces For and Against Change
• Unplanned and Planned Organizational Change
• Targets of Organizational Change
• Planned Organizational Change
• Resistance to Change
Chapter Overview (Cont.)
• Organizational Development
• International Aspects of Organizational Change and Development
• Ethical Issues About Organizational Change and Development
Introduction
• Organizational change involves movement from the present state of the organization to some future or target state
• Future state can include a new strategy, new technology, or changes in the organization’s culture
Introduction (Cont.)
TimeA A’
Organizational change: moving from thepresent state of the organization to some
future or target state.
Introduction (Cont.)
• Many sources of pressure on managers to change their organizations exist and will continue in the future
• Identify the pressures on organizations and their managers to change
• Want to know the probable effects on you as a member of a changing system
Introduction (Cont.)
• Know how to deliberately change an organization
• Understand the sources of resistance to change
• Learn how to manage the change process to reduce resistance
Forces For and Against Change
• External forces for change– Competitors and markets– Acquisition threats– International: global markets– Workforce diversity– Quality management
Forces For and Against Change (Cont.)
• Internal forces for change– High dissatisfaction– Felt stress– Loss of control of processes– Dysfunctionally high conflict– Slow decision making– High turnover and absenteeism– Communication dysfunctions
Forces For and Against Change (Cont.)
• Forces against change– Internal: resistance to change from individuals
and groups– External: special interest groups such as
consumer groups and unions
View the forces for and against change asa force field working on the organization
Forces For and Against Change (Cont.)
Present state ofthe organization
Desired state ofthe organization
A A’Time
Forces forchange
Forces againstchange
A Force Field
Text book Figure 18.1
Unplanned and PlannedOrganizational Change
• Unplanned organizational change: forces for change overwhelm resistance to change
• Planned organizational change: A deliberate, systematic change effort
Unplanned and PlannedOrganizational Change (Cont.)
• Unplanned organizational change– Forces for change overwhelm resistance to
change– Usually unexpected– Chaotic, uncontrolled change effects– Example: economic changes leading to
reductions in workforce
Unplanned and PlannedOrganizational Change (Cont.)
• Planned organizational change – A deliberate, systematic change effort– Change organizational design, information
systems, job design, and people’s behavior– Although managers try to follow a plan, the
change does not always move smoothly– The change effort often hits blockages, causing
managers to rethink their goals and plan
Unplanned and PlannedOrganizational Change (Cont.)
• Planned organizational change (cont.)– Phases
• Define the desired future state of the organization• Diagnose the present state of the organization• Move the organization to the desired future state
– A change agent helps managers to bring about planned change. An external or internal consultant
Targets of PlannedOrganizational Change
• Organizational culture
• Decision processes
• Communication processes
• Job design
• Organizational design
Targets of PlannedOrganizational Change (Cont.)
• Technology
• Strategy
Managers should choose the target only after careful assessment of the current state of the organization
and the need for change.
Targets of PlannedOrganizational Change (Cont.)
Externalenvironment Strategy
Targets
CultureTechnology
Organizational designJob design
Mission
A model for thinking about planned organizational change
Planned Organizational Change
• Reasons for planned organizational change– Managers react to environmental shifts– They anticipate the future state of the external
environment– Often a difficult task. As noted by an
organizational change scholar, “planned organization change is messy and never as clear as we have written in our books and articles”
Planned Organizational Change (Cont.)
• Models of planned organizational change– Evolutionary model
• Incremental change
• Example: changing the organization’s pay scale to stay market competitive
– Revolutionary model• Change many parts of an organization
• Example: strategic shift
Planned Organizational Change (Cont.)
• Evolutionary model of organizational change– Three phases with no distinct boundaries. Each
phase blends into the next phase• A manager or other change agent develops a need
for change among those affected• The change agent then tries to move the
organization or part of it toward the changed state• The change agent tries to stabilize the change and
make it a part of the organization
Planned Organizational Change (Cont.)
• Evolutionary model of organizational change– Sees change happening in small bits that add to
a total amount of change– Unexpected events can occur along the way,
forcing a return to an earlier phase
Planned Organizational Change (Cont.)
• Revolutionary model of organizational change– Organizational change unfolds over long periods
of stability followed by bursts of major change activities
– Uses three concepts• Equilibrium period: organization moves steadily
toward its mission and goals• Revolutionary period: a major change in the
strategic direction of the organization• Deep structures: enduring features of the
organization that let it succeed
Planned Organizational Change (Cont.)
• Revolutionary model of organizational change (cont.)– Two events trigger a revolutionary period
• Dissatisfaction with the organization's performance
• Strong feelings among organization members that it is time for change
Planned Organizational Change (Cont.)
• Revolutionary model of organizational change (cont.)– Dissatisfaction with the organization's
performance• Misfit between the organization’s deep structure and
its current environment
• Follows a clear organizational failure or when many believe failure is imminent
Planned Organizational Change (Cont.)
• Revolutionary model of organizational change (cont.)– Strong feelings among organization members
that it is time for change• Organization members feel uneasy with the current
equilibrium period
• Develop feelings of little forward movement
• Characterizes organizations that must shift direction
Resistance to Change
• No matter what the target, changes affect the social system of an organization
• People develop long-standing, familiar patterns of social interaction
• Strong resistance develops when organizational change affects these social networks
Resistance to Change (Cont.)
• Resistance can take many forms– Lack of cooperation with the change effort– Sabotage of the change effort– Dysfunctionally high conflict levels
Resistance to Change (Cont.)
• Reasons for resistance to change– Perceive the loss of something valued such as
social status– Misunderstand the goal of the change– Distrust the change agent– No common perception of the value of the
change– Low tolerance for change
Resistance to Change (Cont.)
• Manager’s orientation to resistance to change– Problem to overcome
• Forcefully reduce resistance• Can increase resistance
– Signal to get more information• Affected targets may have valuable insights about the
change’s effects• Change agent can involve the targets in diagnosing
the reasons for the resistance
Resistance to Change (Cont.)
• Manager’s orientation to resistance to change (cont.)– Absence of resistance
• Also a signal to get more information• Low commitment to the change can make the
change less effective• Resisters can focus the change agents on potentially
dysfunctional aspects of a proposed change
Resistance to Change (Cont.)
• Managing the change process to reduce resistance– Use change agents with characteristics similar
to the change target– Use dramatic ceremonies and symbols to signal
disengagement from the past– Widely communicate information about the
change
Resistance to Change (Cont.)
• Managing the change process to reduce resistance (cont.)– Involve those affected by the change– Commit enough resources
– Negotiation may be necessary, when a powerful person or group is a potential source of resistance
Resistance to Change (Cont.)
• Managing the change process to reduce resistance (cont.)– Cooptation: a political tactic that aims to gain
endorsement of the change from important individuals or groups
– Sometimes no choice other than to force change onto the target system
Organizational Development
• Organizational development is a long-term, systematic, and prescriptive approach to planned organizational change
• Although it uses a system-wide view, it can focus on single subsystems of an organization
• Applies the theories and concepts of the social and behavioral sciences to organizational change
Organizational Development (Cont.)
• Tries to develop an organization’s self-renewing capacity
• Tries to create an organization that can continuously improve
• Views conflict as an inevitable part of organizational life
Phases of Organizational Development (Cont.)
• Organizational development unfolds in a series of phases
• These are phases, not steps, because no clear boundaries exist between them
• Phases can repeat. For example, during the evaluation phase, managers may discover a need for more data from the diagnosis stage
See text book Figure 18.2
Phases of Organizational Development (Cont.)
• Entry– First contact of the consultant with the client– Usually client initiates contact– Building a client-consultant relationship– Mutual evaluation of each other– Decide they can develop a compatible working
relationship
Phases of Organizational Development (Cont.)
• Contracting– Develop an agreement between the consultant
and client– Can range from an oral agreement to a legally
binding agreement– Describes mutual expectations and each party’s
duties– Not static. Subject to renegotiation as the
organizational development program unfolds
Phases of Organizational Development (Cont.)
• Diagnosis– Consultant gets information about the client
system and diagnoses its current state• Observe the client’s behavior and reactions
• Observe physical characteristics of system
• Systematic data collection using surveys, interviews, and company records
– Consultant summarizes this phase’s results for feedback to the client system
Phases of Organizational Development (Cont.)
• Feedback– Consultant has a series of feedback meetings
with client system members– The number of meetings varies according to the
scope of the organizational development program
– Several steps: (1) consultant’s analysis; (2) discussion; (3) consultant’s preliminary diagnosis; and (4) actively work with members of client system to arrive at collaborative diagnosis
Phases of Organizational Development (Cont.)
• Planning the change– A collaborative activity between the consultant
and client system– Identify alternative courses of action and the
effects of each– Lay out the steps in the change program– Client decides the nature of the change
program--not the consultant
Phases of Organizational Development (Cont.)
• Intervention– Collaborative intervention to move the client
system to the desired future state– Includes job and organizational design changes,
conflict reduction program, and the like. See the “Organizational Development Interventions” section of the chapter
– Consultant’s role: help the intervention and forecast dysfunctional results
– Earlier client involvement helps reduce resistance to change in the intervention phase
Phases of Organizational Development (Cont.)
• Evaluation– Focuses on whether the organizational
development effort had the desired effect– Ranges from simply asking how the client feels
to a well-designed research effort– Done independently of the consultant– Should also give the client system information
about the next steps to take
Phases of Organizational Development (Cont.)
• Termination– Ends at some point
• Client terminates consultant• As the client system changes and develops, the
external consultant reduces involvement
– Internal consultants are part of the organization and can continue contact
– The goal is independence of the client system from the consultant. Build client system self-reliance
Organizational Development Interventions
• Many interventions exist for organizational development programs
• Systematic techniques drawn from the behavioral sciences
• Earlier chapters have detailed descriptions of the interventions summarized here
Organizational Development Interventions (Cont.)
• Human process interventions– Focus on interpersonal, intra-group, and
intergroup processes– Includes conflict, communication and decision
making– Goal: improve human processes to get more
effective organizational functioning
Organizational Development Interventions (Cont.)
• Structural and technological interventions– Focus on organizational design, job design, and
the addition of new technology– New technology focuses on improving
organizational processes– Goal: improve human productivity and
organizational effectiveness
Organizational Development Interventions (Cont.)
• Human resource management interventions– Draws on the human resource management or
personnel practices of an organization– Includes motivation and rewards, career planning
and development, and stress management– Goal: change individual behavior and
performance to get improved organizational effectiveness
Organizational Development Interventions (Cont.)
• Strategy interventions– Changes in an organization’s strategic position
to better align it with the external environment– Includes changes in the organization’s culture
to create values and beliefs more congruent with the new environment
– Goal: strategic shifts to gain competitive advantage
Organizational Development Interventions (Cont.)
• Multiple interventions have the strongest effects
• Structural/technological interventions and human resource management interventions had the strongest effects
• Effects stronger in small organizations than in large organizations
• Survey feedback has weaker effects than other interventions
International Aspects of Organizational Development
• Intellectual roots of organizational development are mainly in the United States, England, northern Europe, and Scandinavia
• Values and assumptions of organizational development consultants likely reflect these cultural values
• Nature of interventions also reflect these cultural values
International Aspects of Organizational Development (Cont.)
• Cultural differences and effect of organizational development approaches– Latin American workers often accept a
directive management style– France and Italy: view organizations as
hierarchical systems that use power and political behavior
– Sweden and the United States: view organizations as less hierarchical
International Aspects of Organizational Development
(Cont.)• Cultural differences and effect of
organizational development approaches (cont.)– Conflict management approaches vary
depending on tolerance of uncertainty– Tend to use nonconfrontational approaches to
conflict reduction
Ethical Issues AboutOrganizational Development
• Ethical dilemmas that can undermine an organizational development effort– Misrepresentation of consultant’s capabilities,
skills, or experience– Misrepresentation of client’s problems– Data confidentiality and voluntarism in
providing data– Full awareness of and consent to the behavioral
changes asked of participants