Organizational change as tension management: a grounded theory

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiano Ghiringhelli ◽  
Francesco Virili
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Progressive Movement ◽  
Automatic Sorting ◽  
Tension Management

PurposeImplementing automatic sorting operations in the parcel delivery industry can dramatically improve both capacity and service quality but demands radical and complex organizational change. The present in-depth grounded theory study examined a change process of this kind within one of the few global companies in the parcel delivery sector, focusing on three European hubs where automatic sorting had recently been introduced.Design/methodology/approachGrounded theory methodology, which facilitates the gradual emergence and dialogical interpretation of empirically grounded theoretical concepts, was particularly suited to the current project's open-ended research design and the hybrid (prescriptive but also constructive) nature of the change process under study. The investigation comprised iterative cycles of data collection, open coding, selective coding and theoretical coding over a three-year period.FindingsIn keeping with the dual nature of the change underway, a set of tensions were identified between pairs of opposite poles: manual vs automated, planned vs emergent and corporate vs site. The management of these tensions, which leveraged both prescriptive and sensemaking approaches, was found to trigger knowledge production, facilitating a gradual transition from high to low uncertainty and, consequently, progressive movement along the continuum between each pair of competing poles. Within this process, the industrial engineering function acted as an agent of change with a key orchestrating role.Originality/valueAs one of the first in-depth grounded theory analyses of tension management, this study contributes to the relatively recent debate on the recognition, analysis and handling of tensions and paradoxes in organizational change, suggesting innovative criteria for successful change management and identifying promising new avenues for research. From a managerial perspective, the study outcomes suggest that explicit recognition of uncertainty and tensions in organizational change can pave the way for solutions based on agility and continuous organizational learning.

Using social networking applications to facilitate change implementation processes: insights from organizational change stakeholders

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 1979-1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Naeem
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Organizational Change ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Change Implementation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Implementation Processes ◽  
Insurance Sector

PurposeThe failure rate of change is high amongst countries and cultures where collectivism, destructive politics and resistance are high. Therefore, change leaders are more focused on exploring how they can create networking and socialization amongst major organizational stakeholders that can minimize detrimental cynicism and lobbying during change implementation. This study is an attempt to shed light on how Social Networking Applications (henceforth SNAs) can facilitate change implementation processes in the insurance sector.Design/methodology/approachThe individual reaction and interaction realities during the change process cannot be discovered once and for all as there are varied perspectives on the same subjects. Therefore, a social constructionist position was used to understand the different realties of change managers and change recipients using the context of insurance sector.FindingsThe study documented how SNAs can play an active role in addressing the concerns of employees as well as managing and protecting knowledge sharing to facilitate the change implementation process. The collaborative and interactive nature of SNAs can enhance richness in knowledge sharing and can facilitate the participation of employees. Therefore, management should monitor these platforms as a means to improve the change process and to address the concerns of employees. These networking channels which include WhatsApp and Facebook can enhance social interactions, support and acceptance at individual and organizational levels.Research limitations/implicationsSocial media has become a familiar tool for employees to use to discuss internal changes and policies within their organizations. Social media enhances the richness, reach, knowledge exchange and effective internal communication potential amongst organizational change stakeholders. Using social media, change recipients are now more empowered and connected with their leadership that ever before. It is now easier to facilitate decision making during the change formulation and implementation process.Practical implicationsSocial media applications have become necessary to ensure incremental and radical changes to the survival of dynamic businesses. The findings of this study are beneficial for change leaders and recipients of change to implement successful organizational change using social media tools. The effective and efficient use of social media applications helps organizations to foster knowledge amongst employees and they can address various critical issues, that is resistance to change, lower levels of knowledge sharing and support for change acceptance and lack of employee participation in decision making.Originality/valueThere is an inadequate understanding regarding how SNAs play a role in facilitating the change process in both public and private sector organizations. This study offers a social mchange facilitation model with the help of social learning, social networking and social behaviourism theories.

The relationship between organizational attitude and lean practices: an organizational sense-making perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 120 (9) ◽  
pp. 1715-1731
Author(s):  
Mohsin Malik ◽  
Salam Abdallah
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Customer Management ◽  
Sense Making ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Lean Management ◽  
Lean Implementation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Lean Practices

PurposePast studies of lean have failed to sufficiently address the importance of social factors for successful lean implementations. This paper aims to broaden and deepen the understanding of lean as a socio-technical paradigm by conceptualizing lean implementation as an organizational change process.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on the organizational sense-making literature to conceptualize and validate lean implementation as an organizational change process that necessitates a focus on the ability of organizational actors to construct a shared meaning of lean. This study posit that this shared understanding shapes the collective behaviour and attitudes of people towards a future desired organizational state such as a successful implementation of lean. Survey data were collected from various manufacturing and services firms to test the hypothesis derived from literature using a structural equation modelling approach.FindingsThe mutual social interactions of organizational actors contribute to an enabling lean organizational attitude that has a dominant effect on the lean practices of employee involvement, internal technical practices, supplier and customer management. This study also established boundary conditions for these relationships by identifying firm size as a moderating variable.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings establish a supportive organizational attitude as an antecedent for lean implementation, which goes beyond the current socio-technical characterization of lean management. This conceptualization draws the attention of researchers and practitioners towards the critical role of the cooperative behaviours of organizational actors in lean implementations.Originality/valueThe statistical results add a novel perspective to the discourse on the social dimension of lean implementation by conceptualizing and validating lean management as a combination of organizational attitude and the process facilitators comprising of employee empowerment, internal technical practices, supplier and customer management.

scholarly journals What ' s in it for me? A managerial perspective on the influence of the psychological contract on attitude towards change

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sjoerd van den Heuvel ◽  
René Schalk ◽  
Charissa Freese ◽  
Volken Timmerman
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Psychological Contract ◽  
Cognitive Responses ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Consultants ◽  
Change Perception ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Managerial Perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a model on how business managers perceive that an employee’s psychological contract influences his or her attitude toward an organizational change. More specifically, it aims to provide insight into the managerial views on: first, the affective, behavioral and cognitive responses of employees toward organizational change; second, the pre-change and change antecedents of these responses; and third, the role of the psychological contract as a pre-change antecedent. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from in-depth interviews with 39 human resource directors, change managers and management consultants in eight European countries. Based on detailed grounded theory-driven analyses of the qualitative data, a conceptual model was developed. Findings – Based on the grounded theory analysis, a model emerged that positions the individual change perception and individual answer to the “what’s in it for me?” question as central determinants of an employee’s attitude toward change. Moreover, the model distinguishes between “influencing” variables that shape the employees’ change perception, and “overruling” variables that can potentially reverse the change perceptions. Practical implications – A strong emphasis on managing the employment relationship by fulfilling mutual obligations and by creating trust will yield more constructive responses to organizational change than focussing on managing an organizational change as an independent event. Originality/value – As one of the first in its field, this study provides insight in the sense-making processes during organizational change, while adopting a managerial perspective. A grounded theory approach by means of interviewing, serves as a first step toward better understanding of the development of employees’ affective, behavioral and cognitive responses to organizational change.

Strengthening social innovation in higher education institutes – an organizational change process involving staff and students

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Prantl ◽  
Susanne Freund ◽  
Elisabeth Kals
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Organizational Change ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Administrative Staff ◽  
Third Mission ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Innovation Activities

Purpose In recent decades, higher education institutes (HEIs) have come under pressure to cooperate with society as a whole. This shift towards an increased focus on third mission and social innovation activities implies a substantial organizational change process for many HEIs, as they need to initiate both structural and cultural changes. This paper provides guidance for such change processes by examining the views and attitudes of academic and administrative staff, as well as students within the HEIs over a period in which the HEIs increase their focus on social innovation. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a longitudinal quantitative approach consisting of a survey of administrative and academic staff, as well as students at two German HEIs. The authors studied members’ attitudes towards third mission and social innovation activities (N = 3470). Findings Results suggest that the university members’ attitudes towards third mission and social innovation are positive but change to some extent over time. Different aspects shape the attitudes within the three groups (administrative staff, academic staff and students). Furthermore, attitudes vary among academic employees who are involved in the process and those who are not. Practical implications The findings provide useful information for university managers and anyone aiming to promote social innovation at HEIs. Originality/value The study examines how attitudes of university members change whenever social innovation takes place at HEIs. This study includes data on the participation and empowerment of all HEI members in view of the important role that HEIs can play as supporters of social innovation.

What’s organization knowledge management strategy for successful change implementation?

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1097-1117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Kashif Imran ◽  
Chaudhry Abdul Rehman ◽  
Usman Aslam ◽  
Ahmad Raza Bilal
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Change Readiness ◽  
Readiness For Change ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Learning And Change

Purpose In recent times, progression of technology and growing demands of customers have substantially influenced the services sector to introduce fast real-time mechanisms for providing up-to-mark services. To meet these requirements, organizations are going to change their end-user operating systems but success rate of change is very low. The purpose of this paper is to address one of the practitioners’ complaint “no one tells us how to do it” and uncovers the indirect effects of knowledge management (KM) strategies: personalization and codification, toward organizational change via organizational learning and change readiness. The current study also highlights how organizational learning and change readiness are helpful to reduce the detrimental effects of organizational change cynicism toward success of a change process. Design/methodology/approach Temporal research design is used to get the appropriate responses from the targeted population in two stages such as pre-change (Time-1) and post-change (Time-2). In cumulative, 206 responses have been obtained from the banking sector of Pakistan. Findings The results of the current study are very promising as it has been stated that KM strategies have an indirect effect on successful organizational change through organizational learning and change readiness. Moreover, change cynicism has a weakening effect on a change process and can be managed through effective learning orientation of employees and developing readiness for change in organizations. Research limitations/implications Change agents have to use an optimal mix of personalization and codification strategies to develop learning environment and readiness for change in organizations that are beneficial for implementing a change successfully. Moreover, change readiness and organizational learning in the context of change are equally beneficial to reduce organizational change cynicism as well. Originality/value This study is introducing a unique model to initiate a change with the help of KM strategies, organizational learning and readiness for change.

Renewal of Fijian post and telecommunications: challenging the organizational change option

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Umesh Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Subject Area ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Telecommunication Services ◽  
Corporate Entity ◽  
Set Up

Subject area Organizational change. Study level/applicability Undergraduate and Masters level management programmes, particularly in management accounting, public sector accounting or organizational change. Case overview This case study reflects organizational changes when Fijian Post and Telecom Company (FPTL) made a transition from a government department to a corporate entity. The focus of this case study is to examine some of the intra-organizational or micro-level changes that took place at the company. While the impetus for change may have originated in the Fiji Government's policies of public sector reform, the objective here is to outline the often slow pace of intra-organizational change within FPTL. Expected learning outcomes FPTL is a sole provider of postal and telecommunication services in Fiji. The organizational actors faced tensions and initially resisted the change to private business routines. However, with wider education and training on the change process, the resistance was reduced. At FPTL, a management team was set up to introduce commercial norms which were subsequently stabilized by the team through the ongoing process of educating employees on the benefits of changes and routinisation of new practices.The learning outcomes are to understand the difficulty of the change process and be aware of some of the resistance that may persist owing to cultural and political circumstance of a specific country. Supplementary materials Teaching note.

scholarly journals Democratization of organizational change process through deliberation

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (7) ◽  
pp. 791-802
Author(s):  
Mikko Värttö
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Deliberative Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Change Facilitator ◽  
Shared Meanings ◽  
Important Addition

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine deliberation in the context of organizational change and introduce an organizational jury as a change facilitator. Design/methodology/approach The research is based on an empirical study of four organizational juries that were organized by a non-profit organization in Finland. The main data of the study consist of a survey that the juries’ participants filled in. The data are triangulated with observations of jury meetings and relevant documents including pre-jury information package, jury presentations and juries’ proposals. In the analysis, the paper adopts deliberative democracy criteria to assess the inclusiveness, authenticity and consequentiality of the deliberative process. Findings The research findings suggest that the juries increased the inclusiveness of decision making and the quality of deliberation about the changes among the employees. The results indicate that juries facilitated the change process by providing a means for information sharing and building a shared understanding among the stakeholders. The main weakness of the juries was their low consequentiality. Originality/value Deliberative jury method provides a participative way to build and preserve socially shared meanings in an organizational change context. However, the studies on the use of deliberative forums in the organizational context are still scarce. Thus, the study provides an important addition to the existing research literature.

Making change last: leadership is the key

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-41
Author(s):  
Lesley Page ◽  
Jacquie Schoder
Keyword(s):  
Transformational Leadership ◽  
Organizational Change ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
First Century ◽  
Multiple Models ◽  
Critical Component ◽  
Transformational Leader ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Multiple models of organizational change provide guidance, goals and strategic steps for organizations to complete initiatives effectively. The purpose of this paper was to discuss the impact of transformational leadership as it relates to organizational change in the twenty-first century and propose a consolidated approach to planned organizational change useful for practitioners. Design/methodology/approach Practitioners and researchers can benefit by a strategy to apply models of change to organizational initiatives. It is proposed that models by Kotter (2012), Bridges (2017) and Lewin (1951) can be consolidated into a comprehensive approach to achieve successful organizational change. Transformational leadership is a critical component which bonds such models together and guides the leader’s role in the process. Findings Kotter, Bridges and Lewin’s approaches all share similar beliefs about the effectiveness of a transformational leader. First, people and process aspects of change take center stage. Second, urgency needs to unsettle or awaken the need for change. Third, people want to be part of the change process. By involving others, engagement, empowerment and buy-in all increase. Fourth, change will only last if it is embedded into the structures and systems which make up the organization’s culture. Originality/value The value of the consolidated approach to change proposed in this paper is that it meets leaders at their level of skill and experience, as it offers options depending on the needs of the organization and extent (depth) of the change required.

scholarly journals Quick and dirty or rapid and informative? Exploring a participatory method to facilitate implementation research and organizational change

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrica von Thiele Schwarz ◽  
Kin Andersson ◽  
Carina Loeb
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Knowledge Use ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Participatory Workshop ◽  
Report Data ◽  
Additional Support ◽  
Improve Service Quality

PurposeThe purpose is explore an approach to acquire, analyze and report data concerning an organizational change initiative that combines knowledge generation and knowledge use, and contrast that with a method where knowledge generation and use is separated. More specifically, the authors contrast a participatory group workshop with individual interviews analyzed with thematic analysis, focusing on information about the change process and its perceived practical relevance and usefulness.Design/methodology/approachParticipants were managers responsible for implementing a broad organizational change aiming to improve service quality (e.g. access and equity) and reduce costs in a mental health service organization in Sweden. Individual interviews were conducted at two points, six months apart (i1: n = 15; i2: n = 18). Between the interviews, a 3.5-h participatory group workshop was conducted, during which participants (n = 15) both generated and analyzed data through a structured process that mixed individual-, small- and whole-group activities.FindingsBoth approaches elicited substantive information about the content, purpose and process of change. While the content and purpose findings were similar across the two data sources, the interviews described how to lead a change process, whereas the workshop yielded concrete information about what to do. Benefits of interviews included personal insights about leading change while the workshop provided an opportunity for collective sense-making.Originality/valueWhen organizational stakeholders work through the change process through a participatory workshop, they may get on the same page, but require additional support to take action.

scholarly journals Concerns about change and employee wellbeing: the moderating role of social support

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 216-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gloria Guidetti ◽  
Daniela Converso ◽  
Barbara Loera ◽  
Sara Viotti
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Organizational Change ◽  
Work Engagement ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Human Resources Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Self Reporting Questionnaire ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Concerns about change, a measure of the perception about future losses owing to organizational change, have received scarce attention within the organizational change literature. This study aims to address some relevant questions still unexplored regarding, the relationship between concerns about change and employees’ burnout and work engagement. Moreover, it evaluates the buffering role of social support namely, that of colleagues and superiors, during the anticipation stage of an organizational change process. Design/methodology/approach Six hundred and thirty-two employees of an administrative public sector filled out a self-reporting questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using hierarchical moderated regression to show direct and moderating effects. Findings Results suggest that concerns about change, measured during the anticipation stage of an organizational change process, relate to higher burnout and lower work engagement. Social support significantly affects the relationship between concerns and outcomes. Originality/value Overall, the study shows the role exerted from concerns about change in affecting employees’ wellbeing as the early stage of the organizational change process, providing scholars and practitioners in human resources management with new insight regarding the importance of support from colleagues and supervisor to sustain successful change implementation and employees’ wellbeing.

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