3. Organisational change Flashcards
First order or incremental change
frequent, purposeful adjustments that are small but ongoing and cumulative in effect
Second order or transformational change
“An individual’s subjective perception that organisational change has resulted in modifications to the core systems of an organisation including traditional ways of working, values, structures and strategy.” (Rafferty and Griffin, 2006)
reactive organisational change
Reactive changes occur when forces compel organization to implement change without delay.
proactive organisational change
Proactive changes occur when some factors make the organization think over and finally decide that implementation of a particular change is necessary. Then, the change is introduced in a planned manner.
episodic organisational change
infrequent, discontinuous, and intentional. The presumption is that episodic change occurs during periods of divergence when organizations are moving away from their equilibrium conditions.
continuous organisational change
ongoing, long-term approach to improve processes, products and services. Continuous improvement occurs gradually and aims to make small incremental changes over time.
what are the targets of change?
structure, objective and goals, strategy, culture, people, technology
What is the goal of changing structure?
change how people are organised and related
What is the goal of changing Objectives and goals?
change the aims an organisation/group is trying to achieve
What is the goal of changing strategy?
change the approaches used to achieving goals
What is the goal of changing culture?
change core values
What is the goal of changing people?
change personnel or change levels/types of skills
What is the goal of changing technology?
change operating systems/practices to include new technology
what are the reasons for change?
competition, social trends/cultural change, economic shocks, politics, technology
What is the COMPETITION reason for change?
Competitors more successful or innovating more
What is the SOCIAL TRENDS/CULTURAL CHANGE reason for change?
Changing market or social preferences
What is the ECONOMIC SHOCK reason for change?
Change products, reduce output, “lean” organisations
What is the POLITICS reason for change?
Changing regulations
What is the TECHNOLOGY reason for change?
New ways of working, pursuit of efficiency, quality and effectiveness
How successful is major organisational change?
47% of Australian employees agreed or strongly agreed that change was not handled effectively in their organisation
Failure is seldom solely attributed to technical issues; it is more often considered to be a result of personnel and human characteristics (Kotter and Cohen, 2002)
Why are we interested in change?
Health/wellbeing
Huge implications for job satisfaction, production, and turnover
the potential for negative outcomes is especially high when employees experience change as occurring very frequently ,
Employees may experience ‘change fatique’
Negative employee outcomes from change are preventable
why is health/wellbeing a reason for our interest in change?
To understand
Higher job stressors and demands
Depression, anxiety, insomnia, emotional exhaustion, burnout
what is the scale of change?
fine tuning -> incremental adjustment -> modular -> transformation
What is FINE TUNING change?
Changes to details within existing targets of change
e. g., training to increase competence with existing technologies
e. g., changing reporting roles of a senior staff member
What is INCREMENTAL ADJUSTMENT change?
Environmental adaptations, with small to moderate effects on targets of change
e.g., bringing in a new technology or production process in one area
What is MODULAR change?
Large scale, radical change of part of an organization affecting many targets of change
e.g., merging two Schools within a university
What is TRANSFORMATION change?
Large scale, radical, whole of organization change affecting most or all targets of change
e.g., changing emphasis to different industry/product
Who are the agents for driving change? Who is driving the need for, and nature of change from the TOP-DOWN?
- CEO, senior managers
- Experts appointed by them
Who are the agents for driving change? Who is driving the need for, and nature of change from the BOTTOM UP?
- Employee concerns
- Employee initiatives
how is the GOVERNMENT an agent for driving change?
Through:
- laws
- regulations
- policies
how are OTHER STAKEHOLDERS agents for driving change?
Through:
- customers
- competitors
- suppliers
- retailers
i. e. through the external community
Who are CHANGE LEADERS?
People at all levels can show leadership
Types of leaders
Executive leaders (oriented to larger strategy)
Network leaders (people well-placed to influence many others)
Local leaders (e.g. frontline supervisors)
What is Kurt Lewin’s approach to change?
the force field approach
Phase 1: Unfreezing
Create need for change
Overcome resistance
Phase 2: Changing
Work towards desired future: people, tasks, structure, technology
Phase 3: Refreezing
Reinforce new behaviours
Fine-tuning new processes
What is Kotter’s approach to change?
8-step model of change -
- establish a sense of urgency
- form a coalition
- create a vision
- communicate the vision
- Remove the obstavles
- Create small wins
- Don’t quit prematurelly
- Anchor changes in corporate culture
Why do people resist change?
habit, ineria, security, economic threat, social threat
Habit
ingrained patterns of behaviour
Inertia
norms support existing ways of working
people have worked out how to get things done
Security
can threaten feelings of job security
Economic threat
new roles or functions may affect pay negatively
Social threat
some people and groups lose power and status
what are the dimensions of resistance to change?
There is a:
cognitive component
Affective component
Behavioural component
cognitive component of change
negative beliefs (change isn’t needed)
Affective component of change?
negative emotions a person feels toward change (e.g., anger)
The more changes experienced in a workplace, the more negative emotions are reported on a daily basis (Kiefer, 2005)
Behavioural component of change
negative actions or intentions to act in response to change
What do change managers do?
help to minimise the productivity dip in terms of depth and time and built a platform for continuous improvement
what are the issues addressed in reason and education and involvement to eliminate resistance change?
habits, security and inertia
when is reason and education suitable for eliminating resistance change?
When there has been misinformation or a lack of information.
what are the advantages of reason and education to eliminate resistance change?
understanding can build support
what are the disadvantages of reason and education to eliminate resistance change
very time consuming
what are the issues addressed in facilitation to eliminate resistance change?
Economic/Social threats
what are the issues addressed in negotiation to eliminate resistance change?
Economic/Social threats
what are the issues addressed in manipulation to eliminate resistance change?
Security/threat
what are the issues addressed in coercion to eliminate resistance change?
Increase threat of alternatives
when is facilitation suitable for eliminating resistance change?
When resistance about resources/threats
when is negotiation suitable for eliminating resistance change?
When people will lose something
when is manipulation suitable for eliminating resistance change?
when other methods failed/impractical
when is coercion suitable for eliminating resistance change?
when have power + quick change needed
what are the advantages of facilitation for eliminating resistance change?
Focus directly on resources/threats
what are the advantages of negotiation for eliminating resistance change?
Reduce threat, build commitment
what are the advantages of manipulation for eliminating resistance change?
Quick, inexpensive
what are the advantages of coercion for eliminating resistance change?
Quick, low resistance
what are the disadvantages of coercion for eliminating resistance change?
Poor relationships/ turnover
what are the disadvantages of manipulation for eliminating resistance change?
Awareness can ↑ resistance
what are the disadvantages of negotiation for eliminating resistance change?
Expensive, “horse trading”
what are the disadvantages of facilitation for eliminating resistance change?
Time consuming, expensive
when is involvement suitable for eliminating resistance change?
When People have power to resist
what are the advantages of involvement for eliminating resistance to change?
Can build support and commitment
what are the disadvantages of involvement for eliminating resistance to change?
Very time consuming
How do social psychological approaches change organisations?
By changing conformity (to group norms) and reinforce existing norms
How does reinforcing existing norms affect organisational change?
Increase salience of social identity: make people feel more part of the group
What does the CHANGING MINDS approach to organisation change do?
Asks: How do minorities change the minds of majorities?
Consistency (of ideas across time and across people) Shared identity with majority Appearance of impartiality Resisting abuse and pressure Flexibility (in finding solutions) Persuasion
What is the significance of the PERSUASION aspect of the CHANGING MINDS approach to change?
Need to highlight the distinction between strategies that rely on SYSTEMATIC or SUPERFICIAL processing
What does SYSTEMATIC PROCESSING rely on and how does persuasion affect this?
Systematic processing relies on reason/argument, which is increased when you can get people to:
- Attend to the message: make messages attention grabbing
- Comprehend the message: keep messages simple
- React to message content: encourage elaboration (cognitive/affective reactions and evaluations)
- (Outcome) Accept the message: express their agreement (esp. publicly)
What does SUPERFICIAL PROCESSING rely on and how does persuasion affect this?
Superficial processing relies on heuristics, including:
- direct emotions
- indirect emotions
- attractiveness/liking
- familiarity
- expertise/authority
- message-length
- consistency
- scarcity
- consensus (norms)
Why is CHANGING VALUES approach difficult?
as they are typically stable individual differences
What is the most promising approach to CHANGING VALUES?
Most promising approach is the value self-confrontation method as it:
- highlight dissonance (mismatch) between people’s values and the values of people they admire
- highlight consonance (match) between people’s values and the values of people they dislike
What are the steps of the VALUE SELF-CONFRONTATION METHOD?
Step 1:
Remind people of their important values
Step 2:
Focus on an important value…
Show this value is different from values of a positive reference group
Show this value is similar to values of a negative reference group which leads to dissatisfaction
Step 3:
Person reduces self-dissatisfaction by changing importance of value
What are conservative values?
Humility
Tradition
Security
what are liberal values?
Pleasure
New experiences
Freedom
