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Organizational Change Themes

Jason D. Brown
Organizational Change Themes

Organizational Change Themes

This paper discusses four themes in the course on Organizational Change and Leadership.

I chose these themes because s I could relate to them through a past experience, or felt that in the

future they would impact a change that I would be involved in and wanted to better understand

how to be prepared.

Although rather intuitive once explained, the comparison of organizations to living

organisms sets the stage for understanding organizational theory and is important in

understanding the similarity between the organizational change models discussed by Burke.

Next, this paper will cover the different levels of organizational change and how the individual

level is the most critical. This is followed by a brief example of how my company fails by trying

to change culture by starting with the hardest item to change first. Finally, the steps of change

will be quickly reviewed and how these relate to both real world examples and the recent

Lakeview Hospital simulation.

Discussion Points

An Organization Lives

The comparison of an organization to a living organism is a fundamental metaphor and

concept when it comes to trying to understand how successful organizations operate, and

provides the foundation for understanding organizational change. Although Warner Burke

suggests that Gareth Morgan proposed the idea of using the metaphor of a living organism to

describe an organization, it is the follow-up work done by others such as Katz and Kahn (1978)

and Capra (1996) that expanded and defined this metaphor resulting in an Open-System theory

(Burke, 2014). In essence, Open-System theory indicates that organizations survive following a
Organizational Change Themes

circle of external input, processing of the input, and a resulting output (Burke, 2014). This

concept of an open system is the foundation for many of the models used in explaining

organizational change, such as the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model, Tichys TPC (Technical,

Political, Cultural) Framework, and the Burke-Litwin Model of Organizational Performance and

Change. The wide use by other professionals studying organizational behavior and change

indicates that there is substantial validity in comparing organizations to living organisms.

The transformational change of British Airways to a public sector company also

demonstrates how the lifecycle fits into organizational change. The external environment

changed when Margret Thatcher required British Airways to become a public company. This

change was processed internally through changes in the company structure, management

practices, leadership, and procedural systems. The resulting outcome of this processing was a

company that went through a dramatic shift and became a public company. The example of

British Airways is a large scale example of the process. In other organizations, the external

environment may be customer feedback, or even internal company divisions and splits. All of

these inputs effect the organization and must be processed to provide an outcome for the

organization to survive.

Levels of Change

There are three levels of change, with the first two individual and group, which result in

the final group of large group organizational change. The individual change relates to items at an

individual or personal level like recruitment, selection, training and development; while the

group level relates how a group of individuals works together (Burke, 2014). Although both are

important, I feel that the individual level is the most important when it comes to overall impact

on organizational change. In the article The Real Reason People Wont Change the authors
Organizational Change Themes

discuss how individuals can stifle or block the change and provides a case study for spending

time with employees to better understand their resistance to change, which the authors labeled

competing commitments (Kegan & Lahey, 2001). Burke provides an entire section on gathering

feedback through surveys and the case study on British Airways has positive remarks towards

individual training for customer relations.

Although I support that the individual level change is the most important, it also takes

groups working together to make change. Change leaders need to be aware that there are also

negative influences such as group resistance that needs to be addressed for successful change.

Lets Change the Culture

A third valuable theme that was present in the discussions, Burkes book, and the HBR

readers is the changing of a culture. Burke provides a useful quote You dont change culture

by trying to change the culture when discussing how cultural change occurs (Burke, 2014). I

work for a company in the offshore oil and gas exploration market and in there is continual speak

of changing the culture. I have spent more then 10 years listening to the monthly mantra of We

need to change the culture, or This unit [reference to a drilling rig] doesnt have the right

culture, it needs to change. They, the corporate leaders and management, speak as if culture is

something that can be changed quickly, and set about trying to change the culture by stating what

they want the culture to be like and attempting to adjust the values of the employees.

Using a recent example of a demand to change the safety culture, additional resources

(safety advisors), were assigned to assist in changing the safety culture. Burke outlines the order

in which culture change should be attempted starting with behavior, then attitudes and finally

values. These additional safety personnel attempt to change the culture by focusing on changing

peoples values first. In line with Burkes beliefs, the culture change never occurs, because the
Organizational Change Themes

order is wrong. A better approach would be to follow John Kotters idea and get managers to

realize that transformation is a process, and not an event (Kotter, 1995). There is a lot more to

changing a culture then just wanting too, there needs to be a process in place that starts with

adjusting the behaviors of people, which will then affect their attitudes, and finally the values.

Steps to Change

The last theme to discuss is the 4 phases that that are required for successful change;

these 4 phases are: Pre-launch, launch, post launch, and sustaining the change (Burke, 2014).

Within each of these phases there are sub-phases, or tasks, such as establishing a need for

change, communicating the change, repeating the message, and choosing a successor that should

be completed (Burke, 2014). In the context of Burkes book on Organization Change Theory and

Practice these phases were linked specifically to leadership; however, I feel that they apply

equally as well to the change process and provide an easy to follow framework for making

change.

For the Lakeview Hospital simulation we were provided a change model that included 7

steps for change (Understand, Enlist, Envisage, Motivate, Communicate, Act, Consolidate) that

fit within the 4 phases that Burke identifies. My simulation debrief supports Burkes claim that

all 4 phases are necessary and that skipping one, or falling short on one may yield a high buy-in

on the change, but the change may not stick. In addition, executing the phases in the wrong

order also has negative affects on generating change that can be sustained.

It is worth noting that the simulation provides an opportunity for closeout, but is more

focused on leading and making the process changes and does lack somewhat on the final phase,

sustaining. It is necessary to make the assumption that the tasks of handing over to a different

management group that the changes will remain. In reality, this sustaining part has equal
Organizational Change Themes

importance and weight in preventing the organization from reverting back to the old ways once

the change leader or change team has left, such as the failed change at the A.K. Rice Institute

which provides supporting evidence on how difficult sustaining the change can be.

Conclusion

With the 4 topics presented in this paper, the idea of organizational change can be de-

mystified and help leaders focus on what is truly needed for organizational change. First,

recognize that organizations are living systems and changes in external environments need to be

reviewed and acted on for an organization to survey. Second, understand that there are 3 levels

of change and focusing on individual first may assist in changing a group and later an

organization. Third, changing culture is complex, time consuming, and requires changing beliefs

before all else. Finally, follow the steps of organizational change and choose a successor to

sustain the organizational change is critical for overall success.


Organizational Change Themes

References

Burke, W. W. (2014). Organization Change Theory and Practice (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA,
USA: Sage.

Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2001, November). The Real Reason People Won't Change. Harvard
Business Review.

Kotter, J. P. (1995, March). Leading Change: Why Transoformation Efforts Fail. Harvard
Business Review.

Roberto, D. A. (2005, February). Change Through Persusuasion. Harvard Business Review .

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