The Relevance of Agile Change Management in a Dynamic Business Environment

2022 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Elena Grocholski

Conventional change management approaches are increasingly reaching their limits in a business environment characterised by volatility, dynamics and complexity. In other contexts, attempts are often made to counter these aspects with agile approaches. The extent to which this also makes sense in the field of change management has not been frequently investigated to date. The aim of this paper is therefore to examine the extent to which agile change management contributes to the successful handling of changes in a dynamic business environment. For this purpose, 30 interviews were conducted with change management and organisational development experts from various small, medium-sized, and large companies in Germany. The data obtained was primarily analysed qualitatively, using a structuring content analysis according to Mayring (2015). The results of the research show that change management can strongly benefit from agility. In particular, this is the case with respect to self-organisation, iteration, and experimentation. Agile change management makes sense even in more conventional, hierarchical organisations. However, there are indeed organisation-, project- or context-specific characteristics that speak particularly in favour of the use of agile change management approaches or make more conventional change management approaches seem more reasonable. Often, it is even advisable to use a clever mixture of both.

2008 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 50-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Menkhoff ◽  
Ulrike Badibanga ◽  
Chay Yue Wah

Abstract Against the background of the current rapidly changing business environment, the article examines the organizational change management behaviour of the owner-managers of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore. The analysis of survey data is aimed at ascertaining whether there are any differences between Chinese and English educated small (ethnic Chinese) businessmen in terms of Change Management (CM), a dichotomy that is of great historical and politico-cultural significance in Singapore. The survey data show that there are indeed differences between the subgroups (eg with regard to the initiation of a more participatory people management style) but these variations turned out to be far less pronounced than expected. Access to information and actionable managerial knowledge appears to be a key precursor to the various change management approaches used by both groups. Chinese educated businessmen in particular seem to be somewhat disadvantaged in this respect, as modern change management literature is still largely only published in English. Keywords: Ethnic Chinese, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), Republic of Singapore, organizational change management.


Author(s):  
Nan-Hua Nadja Yang ◽  
Ana Carolina Bertassini ◽  
Jéssica Alves Justo Mendes ◽  
Mateus Cecílio Gerolamo

AbstractFor the transition towards a circular economy (CE), organisations have to be prepared to adapt to major changes. Thus, the concept and implementation of change management (CM) will be essential to an organisation’s success during this transformative period. Studies have shown that organisational CE barriers were more significant than individual CE barriers. To overcome such obstacles, the most appropriate set of managerial practices should be carefully considered. These barriers also have the potential to influence the agricultural sector, which seeks to adopt more sustainable ways of production. The goal of this paper is to propose a solution framework based on CM strategies to overcome organisational challenges posed by a CE, especially for agribusinesses. To accomplish this objectively, a systematic literature review and a content analysis were conducted. The common errors in CM within the implementation process and the main CE barriers were identified and classified. An in-depth analysis of the issue’s roots led to a solid understanding of how to tackle such CM problems. This paper presents an overview of organisational CE barriers verified in the agricultural context, the common errors in CM, and the correlation between these findings. The two areas were then combined in a matrix that shows the connection between common errors in CM errors and CE barriers. Based on this result, a solution framework called 3CE2CE was developed that provides a step-by-step guide on how organisations can successfully undergo transformation processes towards a CE with the principles of CM.


2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Elo ◽  
Leo-Paul Dana

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how entrepreneurship traditions evolve in diaspora. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative multiple case study examining the role of diaspora embeddedness, extended family, ethno-religious-, cultural- and social ties and relevant structures shaping diaspora entrepreneurship. Findings The authors found that social ties and diaspora embeddedness create dynamism fostering entrepreneurial identity as a part of the Bukharian culture, and as a preferred career option in the context of Bukharian Jews in diaspora. Diasporic family businesses are products of culture and tradition that migrate to new locations with families and communities, not as disconnected business entities. Research limitations/implications The ways in which families nurture a highly entrepreneurial culture that transfers across generations and contexts are context-specific and not per se generalizable to other diasporas. Practical implications Diasporans often continue their traditions and become again entrepreneurs after their settlement, or they may generate hybrid, circular solutions that allow them to employ their competences in the new contexts or connecting various contexts. This calls for transnational entrepreneurship-policymaking. Social implications Time changes diasporas. A long-term commitment to the business environment evolves and reduces the mobility of the individual diasporan; typically the children of these migrants become more integrated and develop divergent career paths. Hence, their plans are not necessarily including family entrepreneurship creating a challenge for continuation of the original culture of entrepreneurship. Originality/value Despite a notable tradition in Jewish studies, there is limited research on Jewish entrepreneurial diaspora and its contemporary entrepreneurial identity and tradition. Furthermore, the population of Bukharian Jews is an unknown and under-explored highly entrepreneurial group that may offer instrumental views to larger diasporic audiences being concerned about maintaining notions of ethnic heritage and identity.


2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronica Hodgson ◽  
J. Zaaiman

Change management theory is extensive, and organisations constantly adapt to and embrace change. In post-apartheid South Africa we are building a racially integrated business environment and society, and leverage its competitive re-entry into the world business arena. Research to date has found that the majority of change initiatives fail due to resistance caused by poor conceptualisation and planning, and the lack of proper integration of the people and business dimensions of change. The model to implement a successful change program will be designed using a combination of readily available skills and techniques. Its development and testing will take place within the context of three case studies. OpsommingDie teorie van veranderingsbestuur is omvattend. Organisasies moet op konstante wyse daarby aanpas en dit integreer. In Post-Apartheid Suid-Afrika bou ons tans ’n ras geïntegreerde besigheidsomgewing en gemeenskap, en benut dit maksimaal in ons toetrede tot die mededingende wêreld besigheidsarena. Huidige navorsing het bevind dat die meeste veranderingsinitiatiewe faal weens weerstand teen verandering wat deur swak konseptualisering en beplanning, en ’n gebrek aan behoorlike integrering van mense en die besigheidsdimensies van verandering veroorsaak is. Die model om ’n suksesvolle veranderingsprogram te implementeer, sal ontwerp word met geredelik beskikbare vaardighede en tegnieke. Die ontwikkeling en toetsing sal binne die konteks van drie gevallestudies plaasvind.


2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 85-89
Author(s):  
Alexandra Horobet ◽  
Sorin Dumitrescu ◽  
Cosmin Joldes

The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of corporate risk management practices in Romanian companies, by investigating the risk management approaches Romanian companies take. Our main findings are that Romanian managers are not aware of the magnitude of exposure their companies have to various types of risk – hazard, operational, financial and strategic risks, while they are able to manage rather well all these risks, even the ones that have the lowest impact on the business. At the same time, risk management systems employed by Romanian companies are rather inarticulate and based on traditional approaches towards risk management, which might represent by itself a major source of risk, given the complexity of the business environment they face.


Author(s):  
Mourad Oubrich ◽  
Abdelati Hakmaoui ◽  
Robert Bierwolf ◽  
Mouna Haddani

This paper aims to assess the maturity level of competitive intelligence (CI) in Moroccan companies, so as to improve theirs practices, and to justify their investment in competitive intelligence. To do so, we have identified the maturity model based on a comprehensive review of recent literature. The objectives of this paper are threefold: (1) to determine the major purposes of a CI maturity model (CIMM), (2) to identify the types of CI dimensions and levels of maturity, (3) to evaluate Moroccan companies in terms of CI practice. Our approach is to develop a conceptual framework of the CI maturity model that articulates (1) dimensions of CI, and (2) maturity levels of CI. We note that little attention has been given in previous research to how CI is actually conducted in Moroccan companies. For this purpose, an empirical study was conducted. The results discuss various perspectives and insights from a competitive intelligence maturity model point of view in the Moroccan context. The results show that the majority of the Moroccan companies are in an early stage of the CI levels, where the CI practice is only to employ environment scanning and the competition in the business environment is not intense. We also note the absence of CI structure at this level. Most of these Moroccan companies are not able to cope with changes in the business environment. The CI systems and processes are released on an irregular basis. This study is the first to investigate the Competitive Intelligence Maturity Model (CIMM) in the Moroccan context. The findings of this research show that there are six CI dimensions (CI culture of an organization; CI deliverables; CI sourcing; CI cycle; CI investment in terms of resources; CI users and CI application) that should be taken into account in CI implementation with regard to the CI level (early, mid, world class).


Author(s):  
Mohini Singh

E-business is an innovation that modern day organisations cannot do without. It is based on technology, evolves with technological developments, digitises and automates business processes, is global and leads to improved competitiveness, efficiencies, increased market share, and business expansion. E-businesses models include business-to-business, business-to-consumer, government-to-government, government-to-business, government-to-consumer and numerous others that evolve with new developments. Technological developments applied to e-business results in new issues in the organisation, in dealing with business partners and customers, requires new laws and regulations and automated business processes. Conducting business electronically is a change from traditional ways of doing things, leading to large scale transformation of existing business. To attain business efficiencies from e-business, it is imperative that organisations effectively manage the e-business environment, and all associated changes to digitize and maintain the environment. This chapter discusses management paradigms essential for e-business change management.


Author(s):  
Thomas Menkhoff ◽  
Chay Yue Wah

This empirical-exploratory article sheds light on the change management approaches used by Chinese owner-managers of small firms in Singapore and their openness toward strategic learning. The paper examines widespread common-sense assumptions that ethnic Chinese adopt mostly directive-coercive (autocratic) change management approaches, which may stifle innovation. Great diversity exists amongst small firm owners in Asia with regard to their change leadership practices, and respective change implementation approaches are contingent on both demographic variables and situational forces like the urgency of change, the degree of resistance to change, and/or the dynamics of the environment in which the firms operate. Data from a SME survey in Singapore (n = 101) serves to substantiate several propositions about change management of Chinese owner-managers of SMEs in Singapore. Three hypotheses about the openness of SME owner-managers to outside sources of learning are presented to ascertain the prediction that such knowledge can give SMEs a performance headstart by helping them to work smarter.


2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 956-994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franklin Nakpodia ◽  
Philip J. Shrives ◽  
M. Karim Sorour

This article examines whether the degree of religiosity in an institutional environment can stimulate the emergence of a robust corporate governance system. This study utilizes the Nigerian business environment as its context and embraces a qualitative interpretivist research approach. This approach permitted the engagement of a qualitative content analysis (QCA) methodology to generate insights from interviewees. Findings from the study indicate that despite the high religiosity among Nigerians, religion has not stimulated the desired corporate governance system in Nigeria. The primary explanation for this outcome is the presence of rational ordering over religious preferences thus highlighting the fact that religion, as presently understood and practiced by stakeholders, is inconsistent with the principles underpinning good corporate governance.


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