PPT6 Change Management

MGMT6162
Change Management
Week 6 – Session 10
Change Management: Fundamental Questions for

Organizations & Planned change and organization
development (OD)
Learning Outcome
 LO2: Describe the concept of strategy development and

change management.
 LO3: Apply the model of change management and challenge of
change.
©Copyright Burnes, Bernard. (2014). Managing Change. 06. Pearson Education. Harlow.
ISBN: 9780273778967
Chapter Outline
 Change management: fundamental questions for

organizations
– Why do organizations change?
– Individuals, groups, and open systems
– Resistance, Commitment and Readiness
– The change agent
– The frequency and magnitude of organizational change
 Planned change and organization development (OD)
– The Planned approach: from Lewin to Organization Development (OD)
– Phases of planned change
– The origins of OD
ISBN: 9780273778967
Change management:
Fundamentals questions for
organizations
Introduction
 The ability to manage change effectively is seen by leading

organizations as one of their most important forms of
competitive advantage.
 This chapter will focus on understanding change and
categorizing the main approaches to planning and
implementing the changes required to achieve, or shape,
strategic objectives.
ISBN: 9780273778967
Introduction
 In order to create the conditions for successful change,

organizations have to address five fundamental sets of
questions:
1. Why do we want to change?
2. Should we focus on individual, group, or system change?
3. Will there be resistance and, if so, where form? How can we gain
employee commitment? Are we ready for change?
4. Who will manage the change process? Do they have the appropriate
skills?
5. What are the frequency and magnitude of the changes required in order
for us to survive?
ISBN: 9780273778967
Change management: fundamental
questions for organizations
Why do organizations change?

Why do organizations
change?
 Burnes (1998a) and Sowa et all (2004) support Handy’s view,

arguing that organizational effectiveness stems from the
approach that organizations adopt towards how they are
structured and run.
 The effectiveness in meeting customers’ needs and so remaining
successful came from its unique alignment of ‘processes, people,
and organizations culture’ and not from the goals it set for itself.
 Therefore, the achievement of an organization’s goals is
dependent on the appropriateness of the way it is structured
and run. This means that, as Cameron (2005:293) observes,
‘organizational effectiveness lies at the center of all theories of
organizations’.
ISBN: 9780273778967
Individuals, groups, and open systems

Individuals, groups, and
open systems
 The theory and practice of change management draw on a

number of social science disciplines and traditions.
 Senge (1990) saw the interconnectedness of organizational life
as being the most important factor and, therefore, change has
to start from this perspective.
 There is 3 schools of thought that form the central planks on
which change management theory is built:
– The Individual Perspective School
– The Group Dynamics School
– The Open Systems School
ISBN: 9780273778967
The Individual Perspective
School
 The supporters of this school are split into two camps: the
Behaviorist and the Gestalt-Field psychologist, notably Kurt
Lewin.
 In Behaviorist theory, all behavior is learned, the individual is
the passive recipient of external and objective data.
 For Gestalt-Field theorists, change is a process of gaining or
amending insights, outlooks, expectations, or thought
patterns. In explaining an individual’s behavior, this group
takes into account not only a person’s actions and the
responses these elicit, but also the interpretation the individual
places on these.
ISBN: 9780273778967
The Group Dynamics School
 To bring about change, therefore, it is useless to concentrate

on changing behavior of individuals, according to the Group
Dynamics School. The focus of change must be at the group
level and should concentrate on influencing and changing the
group’s norms, roles and values.
 Norms are rules or standards that define what people should
do, think or feel in a given situation.
 Roles are patterns of behavior to which individuals and groups
are expected to conform.
 Values are idea and beliefs that individuals and groups hold
about what is right and wrong.
ISBN: 9780273778967
The Open Systems School
 The Open System School sees organizations as composed of a

number of interconnected sub systems.
 This school does not just see organizations as systems in
isolation; instead it views them as ‘open’ system.
 Organizations are seen as open in two respects.
– First, they are open to and interact with, their external
environment.
– Second, they are open internally; the various sub-systems
interact with each other.
ISBN: 9780273778967
Miller (1967) argues that there are four principal organizational sub systems:
1. The organizational goals and values sub systems. This comprises the
organization’s stated objectives and the values it wishes to promote in
order to attain them.
2. The technical sub system. This is the specific combination of knowledge,
techniques and technologies which an organization requires in order to
function.
3. The psychosocial sub-system. This is also variously referred to as
organizational climate and organizational culture.
4. The managerial sub-system. It is responsible for relating an organization
to its environment, setting goals, determining values, developing
comprehensive strategic and operational plans, designing structure and
establishing control processes.
ISBN: 9780273778967
 The Open Systems school is concerned with understanding

organizations in their entirety; it attempts to take a holistic
rather than a particularistic perspective. This is reflected in the
fact that it sees change from an organizational rather than an
individual, group, or sub-system perspective.
ISBN: 9780273778967
Individuals, groups, and open
systems
 In looking at the three schools that form the central planks of
change management theory, four major points stand out:
 With the exception of the Behaviorists, these three schools of thought stand,
generally, in sharp contrast to the mechanistic approach of Classical school
towards organizations and people.
 The three theoretical perspectives focus on different types of change –
individual, group and system.
 Though each school can be seen as an independent and distinct approach
to change, they are not necessarily in conflict or competition.
 the Open Systems perspective has a valid point in claiming that change at
one level or in one area should take into account the effect it will have
elsewhere in the organisation, and vice versa.
ISBN: 9780273778967
Resistance, Commitment and

Readiness
Resistance, Commitment
and Readiness
 4 theories which are fundamental to the resistance debate:

 Theory 1 – Dispositional resistance
 Theory 2 – The depth of intervention
 Theory 3 – Cognitive dissonance
 Theory 4 – The psychological contract
ISBN: 9780273778967
The change agent

The change agent
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The frequency and magnitude of

organizational change
The Frequency and Magnitude
of Organizational Change
 Obviously, an understanding of whether organizational change

is to be a continuing feature or a one-off event, whether it is on
a small or large scale, and whether change is fast or slow, plays
a key role in judging the appropriateness of particular
approaches to managing change.
 It is, therefore, important to examine the models of
organizational change that are currently being promoted and,
also, to recognize that there are strong disagreements about
the nature and pace of change that organizations experience.
 In this respect, there are three current models that are
prominent in the literature.
ISBN: 9780273778967
The Frequency and Magnitude of
Organizational Change - The
Incremental model of change
ISBN: 9780273778967
Organizational Change – The
Incremental model of change
 Advocates of this view (Figure 8.1) above see change as being a

process whereby individual parts of an organization deal
incrementally and separately with one problem and one goal
at the time. By managers responding to pressures in their local
internal and external environments in this way, over time, their
organizations become transformed.
 Miller and Friesen (1984:22) explain that: the increment list

perspective on change has been around a relatively, long time.
Quinns (1980b and 1982) argues that strategic change is best
viewed as “muddling through with purpose” using a continues,
evolving and consensus building approach.
ISBN: 9780273778967
Organizational Change – The Punctuated
equilibrium model of organizational
transformations
ISBN: 9780273778967
Organizational Change – The Punctuated
equilibrium model of organizational
transformations
 Orlikowski (1996:64) notes that: punctuated discontinuities are

typically triggered by modifications in environmental or
internal conditions, for example, new technology, process
redesign, or industry deregulation.
 Just as the incremental model is criticized for assuming that
organizations operate in or go through periods of stability, so
too is the punctuated model. The assumption of both is that
stability is the natural or preferred state for organizations
(Orlikowski, 1996).
 However, there are some who believe that continuous change
is or should be the norm and this had led them to reject both
the incremental and punctuated models of change (Brown and
Eisenhardt, 1997)
ISBN: 9780273778967
Organizational Change – The continuous
transformation model of change
ISBN: 9780273778967
Organizational Change - The
continuous transformation model of
change
 The argument put forward by proponents of this

model is that, in order to survive, organizations
must develop the ability to change themselves
continuously in a fundamental manner.
 From this perspective, Weick and Quinns (1999:366)
argue: change is a pattern of endless modifications
in work process and social practice. It is driven by
organizational instability and alert reactions to daily
contingencies. Numerous small accommodations
accumulate and amplify.
ISBN: 9780273778967
Planned change and
organization development
(OD)
Planned change and organization
development (OD)
The Planned approach: from Lewin to

Organization Development (OD)
The Planned Approach: from
Lewin to Organizational
Development (OD)
 ‘Planned’ means that the organization pro-actively identifies an

area where it believes change is required and undertakes a
process to evaluate and, if necessary, bring about change.
 Lewin’s Autocracy-Democracy study had shown the
effectiveness of participative-democratic management in
managing and changing group behavior under experimental
conditions.
ISBN: 9780273778967
Planned Change
 Lewin saw these four elements as a unified whole with each

element supporting and reinforcing the others, and all of them
necessary to understand and bring about Planned change,
whether it be at the level of the individual, group, organization
or even society states that: All of his concepts, whatever root-
metaphor they employ, comprise a single well-integrated
system.
 Lewin concepts can be seen from examining these four
elements of his work in turn:
 Field Theory
 Group Dynamics
 Action Research
 Three Step Model
ISBN: 9780273778967
Field Theory
Figure 9.1 Field with person and goal
ISBN: 9780273778967
Field Theory
ISBN: 9780273778967
Group Dynamics
 Group Dynamics stresses that group behavior, rather than that

of individuals, should be the main focus of change.
 Lewin was perhaps the first to recognize the need to study and
understand the internal dynamics of a group – the different
roles people play and how groups need to change over time.
However, for him, this understanding was not sufficient by
itself to bring about change. Lewin also recognized the need to
provide a process whereby group members could be engaged
in and committed to changing their behavior.
ISBN: 9780273778967
Action Research
ISBN: 9780273778967
Three Step Model
ISBN: 9780273778967
Three Step Model
Carnall (2003) draws on these various models of change to

develop the Coping Cycle which shows how people react and
adjust when faced with change.
The Coping Cycle comprises five stages:

Stage 1 – Denial
Stage 2 – Defense
Stage 3 – Discarding
Stage 4 – Adaptation
Stage 5 – Internalization
ISBN: 9780273778967
Three Step Model
ISBN: 9780273778967
Three Step Model
ISBN: 9780273778967
development (OD)
Phases of planned change

Phases of
planned
change
ISBN: 9780273778967
development (OD)
The origins of OD
The origins of OD
 As Cummings and Worley (2005) observe, OD evolved from five main
developments:
1. The growth of the National Training Laboratory (NTL)
2. Action Research/Survey Feedbacks
3. Participating Management
4. Quality of Working Life
5. Strategic Change
 In a survey of OD practitioners, Hurley et al (1992) found these values
were clearly reflected in the five main approaches they used in their
work:
1. Empowering employees to act
2. Creating openness in communications
3. Facilitating ownership of the change process and its outcomes
4. The promotion of a culture of collaboration
5. The promotion of©Copyright
continues learning
Burnes, Bernard. (2014). Managing Change. 06. Pearson Education. Harlow.
ISBN: 9780273778967
The origins of OD
Idea and Perspective 9.3

French and Bell’s core assumptions and values of OD
 The needs and aspirations of human beings provide the prime reasons for
the existence of organizations within society.
 OD places a high value on trust and mutual learning.
 Change agents are committed to improving organizational effectiveness.
 OD is most effective in situations where organizations are committed to
cooperative, participative change, and pursue win-win outcomes.
Source: French and Bell (1973)
ISBN: 9780273778967
The
changing
nature of
OD
ISBN: 9780273778967
Planned Change and OD:
summary and criticisms
ISBN: 9780273778967
Reference
• These Slides has been adopted from Book of Burnes, Bernard.

(2014). Managing Change. 06. Pearson Education. Harlow. ISBN:
9780273778967
ISBN: 9780273778967
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MGMT6162

Change Management: Fundamental Questions for

 LO2: Describe the concept of strategy development and

 Change management: fundamental questions for

 The ability to manage change effectively is seen by leading

 In order to create the conditions for successful change,

Why do organizations change?

 Burnes (1998a) and Sowa et all (2004) support Handy’s view,

Individuals, groups, and open systems

 The theory and practice of change management draw on a

 To bring about change, therefore, it is useless to concentrate

 The Open System School sees organizations as composed of a

 The Open Systems school is concerned with understanding

Resistance, Commitment and

 4 theories which are fundamental to the resistance debate:

The change agent

The frequency and magnitude of

 Obviously, an understanding of whether organizational change

 Advocates of this view (Figure 8.1) above see change as being a

 Miller and Friesen (1984:22) explain that: the increment list

 Orlikowski (1996:64) notes that: punctuated discontinuities are

 The argument put forward by proponents of this

The Planned approach: from Lewin to

 ‘Planned’ means that the organization pro-actively identiﬁes an

 Lewin saw these four elements as a uniﬁed whole with each

Figure 9.1 Field with person and goal

 Group Dynamics stresses that group behavior, rather than that

Carnall (2003) draws on these various models of change to

The Coping Cycle comprises five stages:

Phases of planned change

Idea and Perspective 9.3

Source: French and Bell (1973)

• These Slides has been adopted from Book of Burnes, Bernard.

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