strategy doctoral ppt 4

04/10/2023 Akshay S Bhat, XLRI Jamshedpur 1

CHANGE AGENTS, NETWORKS, AND

INSTITUTIONS:A CONTINGENCY

THEORY OF ORGANIZATIONAL

CHANGE

Paper Review by Akshay S. Bhat, XLRI

Academy of Management Journal2012, Vol. 55, No. 2, 381–398.


Abstract

Development of a contingency theory for how structural

closure in a network

terms of the extent to which an actor’s network contacts are connected to

one another,

affects the initiation and adoption of

change in organizations

68 organizational change initiatives undertaken in the United Kingdom’s National Health

Service were analyzed

Structural holes aid more divergent changes, Hinder Less divergent


Introduction

Political Nature of Organizations

Organizational Changes require premeditated changes

Change Implementation Social Influence Exercise

Change : attitude/behaviour of one due to acts of another

Studied : challenges of Change Implementation

Not Studied : Characteristics of Change Implementation affectIn Organizations


Organizational Change - DOC• One dimension of variation : Extent to which they break with existing

institutions• Existing Institutions are defined as patterns that taken for granted actors

perceive them as the only possible ways of acting and organizing• Divergent Organizational Changes : Move away from the status quo (very

challenging)• Iconoclastic

“They require change agents to distance themselves from their existing institutions and persuade other organization members to adopt practices that not only are new, but also break with the norms of their institutional environnent (Battilana, Leca, & Boxenbaum,2009; Greenwood & Hinings, 1996; Kellogg,2011)”


Article Need

• Examinations of conditions• Change agents are able to influence other organization

members• For adoptions of changes with different degrees of

divergence from the institutional status quo• Key resource : Informal Network

“we focus on how change agents’ positions in such networks affect their success in initiating and implementing organizational change”


Network Research

• Structural Closure (degree to which an actors network contacts are connected to on another)

• SC has important implications for– Generating Novel Ideas– Exercising Social Influence

• High SC : More cohesiveness• Low SC : Creation of structural holes and brokerage

potential• Higher Structural Holes more novel ideas• But studies contradict : Whether High or Low network

closure favour change adoption


Illustration


Motivation

• Reconcile findings by developing a contingency theory

• Will examine the role of network closure in the initiation and adoption of Organizational Change


Network Closure and Divergent Organizational Change

• In order to survive, organizations must convince the public of their legitimacy (Meyer & Rowan, 1977) by conforming, at least in appearance, to the prevailing institutions that define how things are done in their environment

• Forces them to adopt a set of practices• Organizations facing same institutional pressures tend to adopt similar

practices• Motivation exists to adopt changes that do not affect the organizations

alignment with existing institutions• Not all changes will be convergent with the status quo• The variability in the degree of divergence of organizational changes poses

two questions: (1) what accounts for the likelihood that an organization member will initiate a change that diverges from the institutional status quo and (2) what explains the ability of a change agent to persuade other organization members to adopt such a change.



Studies have focused on the change agents formal position in the initiation of divergent change

And position in the social networks

Network Positions should affect the ability of the individual

to

• Initiate divergent changes

• Persuade others



• Divergent Schools of thought promulgate the there exists a –ve influence between network closure and generation of new ideas

• Occupying a hole rich network : non redundant information, more creative ideas

“creativity is more likely to be engendered by exposure to non-redundant than to repetitious information. As for normative pressure, network cohesion not only limits the amount of novel information that reaches actors, but also pressures them to conform to the modus operandi and norms of the social groups in which they are embedded”


And therefore Hypothesis 1



• Degree of closure affects the adoption of organizational changes• Brokerage opportunities may aid adaptive implementation : Ability to carry out

projects and take advantage of opportunities from the ability to detect opportunities• But it may help change initiation (incoming benefits) rather than change adoption

(outgoing benefits) #Structural Holes• Benefits can then be classified as structural reach and tailoring• Reach concerns a change agent’s social contact with the constituencies that a change

project would affect, information about the needs and wants of these constituencies, and information about how best to communicate how the project will benefit them.

• Tailoring refers to a change agent’s control over when and how to use available information to persuade diverse audiences to mobilize their resources in support of a change project.

• Being the only connection among otherwise disconnected others, brokers can tailor their use of information and their image in accordance with each network contact’s preferences and requirements



• Refer page 383 ~ 384 (Last para to first para)• Organizations are political arenas• Not only imp to decide who but when and

how are also important aspects concerning involvement


Hypothesis 2. The more a change diverges fromthe institutional status quo, the more closure in

a change agent’s network of contacts diminishesthe likelihood of change adoption.


Methodology

• Quantitative and Qualitative Study• 68 Change initiatives in UK’s NHS• 600 Organizations – Administrative Units– Primary Care Service– Secondary Care Service

• Aim of NHS was to provide free health care

• NHS was highly institutionalized• Professional groups role division


Sample

• Focal point of study was variability in divergence and adoption of organizational change initiatives, population germane to the study was self appointed change agents

• Self driven and motivated actors• 68 clinical managers who initiated and attempted to

implement change initiatives out of 95 (27 chose not to respond)

• 35~65 yr old, mid to top management positions• Unpaired t tests were to control for potential non

response bias


Procedure

• Longitudinal study for 12 months which focused on collecting demographic characteristics, formal positions, professional trajectories and social networks of change agents

• 20~40 mins taken twice, gap 12 months• Peer verification


Dependent and Independent Variables

• Will be explained on the blackboard


Results

• Will be explained on the blackboard


Contributions

• Degree of variation from the status quo has impacts on adoption of change initiatives

• Synthesis of the two anti-theism schools of thought

• Articulated properly• Advanced body of work on social networks


Drawbacks

• Ego network• Time structure• Kotter not included• Transformation of organizations is not covered

strategy doctoral ppt 4

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