Book flashcards

Question 1

What are the three main approaches to planned change

Answer 1

• Group dynamics: Targets the group level, assuming that individual’s behavior is governed by group norms, roles, and values. Lewin is a great name here
• organisational development
  Initiative is usually taken by top managerial levels. It is like a cascading model, assuming that change will drip down hierarchal. Change is linear and evolutionary.
• Open systems schools
  Importance to see the organization in its entirety instead of just in groups. Sees the organizations as set of interconnected sub-systems that together form the whole organization. Aligning the sub-systems together will create harmony in the whole organization.

Question 2

What are the key differences between radical/revolutionary change and incremental/evolutionary change?

Answer 2

Radical changes affect multiple dimensions simultaneously, evolutionary changes affect part of the organization operationally

Question 3

how to define planned change?

Answer 3

managerial ambitions and plans are central, a stepped approach with ‘episodes’ guiding the transition.

Question 4

How to define emergent change?

Answer 4

acknowledges the contextual and messy character of change, sees the significance of organizational members outside of management. Change rather than stability is the natural state

Question 5

how do define process change?

Answer 5

seeing organizations as an open, continuous and unpredictable process. No clear beginning or ending. When plans come into being, they blend with organizational circumstances and complexity

Question 6

What are the two models for how change plans can move through an organization described by Latour?

Answer 6

Diffusion model where change has inner force, translation model where people engage and make sense of change

Question 7

What are some of the problems with a purely technocratic approach to change?

Answer 7

Strong managerialism, big quick fixes, limited expressiveness, emphasis on planning over process

Question 8

What are the differences between target culture, hyperculture, and experienced/anthropological culture?

Answer 8

Target is idealized representation, hyperculture mixes claims of present and future, experienced is employee views, anthropological is theoretical/research view

Question 9

What are five “traps” concerned with doing change work

Answer 9

Hyperculture, symbolic anorexia, limited value of values, working with culture as an “it” not “we”, limited knowledge

Question 10

How to define the technocratic approach?

Answer 10

A technocratic approach assumes that culture can be managed like a technical problem, where people are seen as “transporters” who will carry out the change plans developed by managers.

Question 11

What were some of the problems that arose in implementing the cultural change design?

Answer 11

Lack of involvement from employees, other priorities took precedence, change consultants left little room for translation to organizational context

Question 12

What is a “hyperculture” ?

Answer 12

An idealized representation of culture that mixes claims of present and future states and is decoupled from everyday practices

Question 13

What are three concepts of organizational culture presented in Chapter 9?

Answer 13

Hyperculture
experienced culture
anthropological culture

Question 14

How did the change program potentially reinforce the existing culture at TC according to Chapter 9?

Answer 14

By the managers not embodying the ideals well and approaching it in a non-emotional way

Question 15

What is an example of “unintentional consequences” ?

Answer 15

It strengthened distrust in top managers and the existing culture

Question 16

What are some of the problems cited with using standardized values in a change program?

Answer 16

They can sound good but not be meaningful to change or connected to reality

Question 17

how to define hyper culture?

Answer 17

• An idealized representation of culture that is decoupled from everyday practices and realities
• Mixes claims of what currently exists and ambitious future targets
• Bears the imprints of consultants and key managers rather than employees
• Refers to culture in ceremonial/ritualistic ways rather than as a lived experience

Question 18

how to define experienced/everyday culture?

Answer 18

• What organizational members tend to think and feel about the values and practices they associate with the corporate culture based on their direct experiences
• The ideas employees have about the reality of the organizational cultural context

Question 19

how to define anthropological organisational culture?

Answer 19

• A theoretical and researcher-driven view used to describe deeper, tacit aspects of culture
• Provides a “thick description” of the cultural aspects that may not be directly registered or considered important by organizational members themselves
• Aims to capture aspects beyond surface-level expressions of culture

Question 20

What was a key emphasis of the change program at TC according to the critique?

Answer 20

A strong focus on changing top managerial behavior rather than a multi-level approach

Question 21

What were some of the unintended consequences of the change program?

Answer 21

It strengthened distrust, people disassociated from the program, goals were downplayed

Question 22

What is one shortcoming of using values in a change program?

Answer 22

They can be interpreted differently and don’t reflect on the organization itself

Question 23

What are two meanings of “culture” identified as problematic?

Answer 23

Culture as something packaged and culture as fantasies about the future