Change management
In change processes it is possible to detect different types of roles that organizational members occupy. Describe these.
Managers and management play key roles in change processes. What is communicated in a change process can be affected by the roles that organizational members occupy and here we have: Supporters: individuals that at an early stage approach the change process positively and are in a position to affect other attitudes towards the change. Boundary spanners: people in boundary-spanning roles are enabled to transfer information from one group to another. Important facilitators of cross-functional communication and cooperation. Often build on informal and personal networks. Chinese whisper.
Discuss what is meant with the Punctuated Equilibrium paradigm.
- Alternative way to organize change. - This model (Punctuated equilibrium model) of group development when it comes tp project management explains that groups often move forward during change after long periods without it (change). And that groups that are more similar, small or stable tend to be more cohesive than groups that are not. - The paradigm posits that most social systems exist in an extended period of stasis, which may be punctuated by sudden shifts leading to radical change. - Organizations evolve through the alternation of period of equilibrium, in which persisten "deep strucutres" only permit limited incremental change and periods of revolution, in which these depp structures are fundamentally altered. - If we have change on the y-axel and time on the x-axel. So the change-curve will go upwards as the time goes by and the change will happen between the periods of equilibrium which will be a longer amount of time in comparison to the change.
In the course we talked about four different change management levels. Describe these and discuss the difference for organizations to manage change on each level and give examples from the construction industry.
- Level 1: Fine Tuning- A gradual, lower impact change level by improving the strategy towards the organization, processes or people. Could include changes like new types of training programs for employees or adjusting processes, reward systems - Level 2: Incremental Adjustments- Also gradual and lower impact changes that are often a result of external drivers on strategy, processes and management. - Level 3: Modular transformation-Taking an entire section or part of the business and rebuilding it to possibly be more effective. This could be like implementing BIM into their working method, that changes their business process and internal/external information sharing of projects. - Level 4: Corporate transformation- Radical changes to the whole organization like changing the visions, structures, systems etc. In the construction industry this could be if a company has a vision of being the biggest most profitable company in the industry, but later does a transformation of vision that focuses more on being the most sustainable and then has to do radical changes to their strategies, processes etc.
Elaborate on three reasons why people resist change in/at a workplace
- Low tolerance for change: people might resist change when they are concerned that they will not be able to develop the new skills and behaviors that will be required of them. Many of us has heard that the construction industry is pretty slow when it comes to change. One example for low tolerance can be that people that have worked within the industry their whole life and have done their work in the same way doesn't see or understand why it would be necessary with a change since it has always been working before. - Different assessment: Another common reason why some stakeholders resist change is that they assess the situation differently from those initiating the change and see more costs than benefits and might not see why the change is necessary. - Misunderstanding and lack of trust: people often resist change because they do not understand the reason for or the implications it may have for them. They might not understand the goal of the change and thereby believe that it will cost them more than they will gain
What is the role of stakeholders for change management, discuss the role and strategies to work with particular stakeholders during a change initiative?
- One part of implementing change is to involve the stakeholders and get their interest. - A stakeholder is any individual or group who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization's objectives o Employees, shareholders, investors, customers etc. o As well as government and other communities - Stakeholders can have considerable influence over the outcome of many change initiatives thereby one need to identify the power and commitment of stakeholders for the change. Also needs to identify all those that might be affected by the change or that could affect the outcome of the proposed change - Develop a strategy for persuading influential stakeholders to support the change and this can be done by: (These strategies depends on their power and influence for the project) 1. Influencing the power of those that are opposing the change - o Winning the support by informing, involving and communicating o Reducing their power 2. Increase influence of those stakeholders who are supporting o Building a coalitions of supporting stakeholders who are prepared to work together to support the change 3. Bringing in new sponsors or champions to play o Persuasive players can gain an active part - However, it is important to remember that the interest of one stakeholder may not be compatible with another stakeholder group - Criteria for prioritizing competing demands include: o Power - a stakeholder has to affect outcomes o Urgency - of their claim - based on consequences of delay o Legitimacy of their demand
Discuss the two approaches of planned change versus emergent change, define them and discuss the difference between the two approaches.
- Planned change: a predictable phenomenon. Planned change is organizational change that moves from one fixed stage to another trough pre-planned steps. Includes the steps unfreeze-change-freeze and is explained by the change models of Lewins and Shein. Planned change however, is not flexible when it comes to major changes or a crisis. Assumption that the organization works under constant conditions. - Emergent change: More of an open-ended process. The process has different steps but not in any fixed order. For emergent change one needs strategy, good structure, people that are involved in the change. Can be explained by the models of Kotter, Katner and Luecke. Emergent change is more of a process of learning.
Think about the four different theoretical models for change management of van de Ven and Poole, 1995. Which theories have a predetermined direction of change and which ones have constructed trajectory.Explain the differences between predetermined and constructed trajectories.
- The four different theoretical models are o Teleological theories and dialectical theories, both of these are constructed trajectory o Life cycle theories and evolutionary theories and both these are predetermined direction - Predetermined direction o Predetermined direction is a change that is a process that evolves over time but in a pre-specified direction o Involves incremental adapting organizational forms in predictable ways o The process is affected by external factors, for example seeing how the society is changing, like digitalization. - Constructed trajectory o The line of change/development is viewed as they are constructed, where the pre-set goals can be changed of those involved in the process. o Goals, and the steps taken to achieve goals can be changed at the will of those involved in the process o Those leading the change have the power to intervene and act in ways that can make a difference § Highlight role of human agency § Asserts that change agents can act to affect change in ways that will either promote or undermine organizational effectiveness
In the lecture on communication and change we raised the aspect of organizational silence. What are the implications from organizational silence on change? Why do some managers create a climate of silence?
- The implications from organizational silence is that contrasting viewpoint and alternative perspectives get missing which can affect the creativity. - Since managers cannot detect and correct errors the organizational learning is hindered. - It can also affect the employees in a way that they might feel unvalued and thereby affect their commitment. The employees can also feel that they don't have control over their work and thereby feel stressed. Some managers might create a climate of silence because they fear negative feedback, silence can also be a way of getting people's attention. However, if the employees feel that every time they make a suggestion or try to get their voice heard and are reacted this can also create employee silence.
During the lecture on motivation and resistance we talked a lot about the humanistic approach, and internal motivation. What is that?
- There has been different ideas on how (work) motivation functioned and how people got motivated, one of these are theory Y: people seek independence, self-development and creativity which also is called internal/intrinsic motivation. The behavior that is driven by internal rewards, and the motivation arises from within the individual and it is naturally satisfying you. The opposite is external motivation, where the behavior is motivated by external rewards or to avoid punishment, and the person needs to be controlled. - The humanistic approach is about the personal worth of one individual. This includes the human values, creativity and our nature. This can be a problem since many articles regarding change argues that the reason people resist change is due to the fact that they "see their own interest before the organization".
In his lecture, Henrik Eriksson presented 5 Quality Management principles. Describe these principles and argue why these are important.
1. We are driven by need and purpose o Necessary to talk what the values of the organization are and the purpose. o Have in mind the customers already existing and future needs. 2. We have value-creating processes and networks o We have different ways of working, for ex. "talkers" (meetings etc.) have a high culture but low structure, might not be so effective. "organizaers" that works with schemes etc. have both a high culture and high structure. "Fumlers" have both low culture and low structure, not a effective way. "mappers" low culture but high structure. So the different processes are good in different ways. 3. We lead o We need to overcome the old ways of working. The top management needs confident, delegate the responsibilities not controlling others and thereby motivate the employers which will lead to improved results. 4. We are motivated o people will be more motivated by not being controlled. A good way is to create self-organized individuals and teams. 5. We improve o Many small improvements rather than fewer bigger ones. Experiments in order to find the best solutions and always be actively driven. We improve by learning from others all the time.
Describe the different stages of the PDCA cycle for continues improvement
4 step management method of controlling and improving processes and products Plan: Set goals and processes to achieve the goals and result you strive for Do: Actually do the plan set in previous step Check: The data and result from the do phase is checked/evaluated and compared to the result that was expected in the plan phase. If changes were made in the work process that differed from the original plan, they are evaluated, in order to find out which changes work better than others. Act: The act step can also be called Adjust. The collected data from the do and check steps might have identified issues with the processes of change and are in the act step improved. This could be problems or opportunities for improvement or issues that made the result not optimal. The cause of the issues are eliminated from the modified process, and should not reoccur in the next do phase. When done with the act phase the process has better goals, standards etc.
Describe the different levels of culture as defined by Shein (1992) and discuss the difficulty to change on each level and explain why?
According to Edgar Schein there is three different levels of organizational culture: a. Artifacts: Visual Organizational structures and elements, could be something like dress code, volume when speaking, posters on the wall in the organization. Artifacts make the first impression for outsiders, so if the employees are for example lazy, sloppy dressed etc can ruin the image of the company. The difficulty to change here are that people might be comfortable and it is more convenient to ex. wear your everyday-clothes and if then the organization chooses to introduce dress code the resistance can lead to bad ambitions from the employees. b. Espoused Values and norms: Strategies, missions, goals, rules and philosophies. Unspoken assumptions revealed in everyday interactions. Reveals what employees care about the most. The difficulty here is to change the way the way people do their every-day work (strategies etc.) that is being followed and that people might resist due to not wanting to change their work-routine that they have followed for x antal years. c. Basic assumptions and values: The source of values and actions which are thoughts, perceptions, beliefs that are on a large unconscious level which means that they are hard to distinguish. They form the key to understanding why things happen the way they do. Basic assumptions and values are formed by things like the nature of humans, reality, truth, human relationships etc. Because of basic assumptions being on an unconscious level they are hard to change, and need to be addressed at the "core" asking why a person thinks those things etc.
It is said that communication is paramount in change processes. From a power perspective explain and discuss why?
Communication can be defined as: the exchange of ideas, emotions, messages, stories and information through different means. It is paramount since "one cannot not communicate". Managing change is closely intertwined with communication since we use communication to involve people and to manage resistance. To get out thoughts heard. Communication is always in the driver's seat of change and in the act of changing. From a power perspective: if you can manage communication, you can have control of the agenda, resources and tasks. You have the control to let the "right" people talk about the "right" issues and silence the "wrong" ones. You can also use that power to select networks, channels and disseminating a message.
According to the paper: Reframing Resistance to Organizational Change, literature have had two major ways of describing resistance for change. What are these?In the article it is also argued that it is problematic to view resistance in only these ways, why?
Demonizing resistance to change Employees resist change is one of the most baffling and recalcitrant of the problems. There is a messiness of change which needs to be overcome. Reasons for resisting change are individuals attitudes, emotions or behaviours. People tend to have a paochnical self-interest where they see their own best interests and not those of the total organization. Viewing resistance as a problematic obstruction is a dominant view in both management practice and theory where it views resistance in negative terms or as a sign of failure. Celebrating resistance Resistance can, despite challenging change agents, lead to a better change and consequently, is to be encouraged, even celebrated. Subordinates resist by making a counter offer "a move in a conversation made by someone who is willing and receptive to the request yet is seeking some accommodation. In this way different positions and the values that inform them are resolved, not through conflict, but through the negotiation of mutually sensible meaning. Both of these ways of conceptualizing resistance fail to deal adequately with the issue of power and in so doing give rise to a series of practical, ethical and theoretical issues. It is the change agent who decides what constitutes resistance, who can be resistant and how resistance should be dealt with. The conceptualization by Thomas and Hardy offers a number of benefits compared to the dominant approaches where the individuals are labeled as either against or for change. However, their idea about demonizing and celebrating assume organizational change to be top down and episodic. Change is viewed as a clearly defined episode that occurs "within" an organization. They do look at the both power and resistance which is necessary. But one cannot look at them individually since they operate together in a web of relations in which power never complete and possibilities for resistance always exist. The conceptualization of power and resistance shifts the focus away from questions of who resists organizational change, why and when, to a question of how relations of power and resistance operate together in producing change, and in what ways.
What does the activity of diagnosing change entail and why is it relevant in a change process?
Diagnosing what needs to be changed involved a few different things: - Reviewing where the organization is today and where it will be in the future. o Reviewing present state: § Identifying required change by diagnosing the cause of problems § Establish a baseline wo it is clear what is changing § Define the future state o Identifying the future direction § Necessary to have a vision, what do you wish for? - Analyzing and gathering information about how the organization is functioning Organizational diagnosis is a process of research into the functioning of an organization that leads to recommendations for improvement - Using conceptual models for diagnosis - Clarifying information requirements - Gathering information - Analysis - Interpretation of the data - Multiple models and methods can be applied for the diagnosis o Qualitive approaches (interview, observations, workshops) o Quantitative approaches (survey) The diagnosing is done by either senior managers, consultants or those making the change work. It is relevant in the change process since it is an important first-step when it comes to planning and preparing for change. If one hasn't diagnosed what they want in the future one won't know what to change. Thereby it is also important to diagnose the present state, what needs to be changed?
Why is context important in change processes? What main characteristics does the context of a construction company have that affects change processes?
Importance: · The knowledge of context is crucial since every change process is embedded in its own context · Every organization has its history and the implementation of change is bound to differ · The process and activities that the management chooses to implement are always determined by the context · However, context is also subject to change over time due to external and internal forces Main characteristics: - A construction project or company have a set of traditional and highly institutional roles such as strong hierarchical position and experience levels. When doing a project it brings firms together with different cultural recipes and employment regimes. - It's also a industry with diverse and fragmented activities that can vary a lot between simple housing to more complex infrastructure and that is often constrained by cost and time. Due to changing environment and increased complexity one can see that: - The organizational logic of the construction industry is being challenged due to increased need for new types of competences, technology etc. New specialist functions thereby define and populate a new space in the industry with new rules. - In the industry the workers are creators, carriers and executors which give them an important role in shaping the pace and direction of the industry. - But, when it comes to change these new practices and functions are dependent on how they are received and established.
Institutional theory is often used to explain organizational change on an organizational field level, however, recently theories have been developed to address a practice perspective. Two of these were addressed in the lecture on institutional change, name and describe them.
Institutional logics: described the result of 'shared beliefs and values in a community of individuals' and the institutional logics can help explain both conformity and heterogeneity. It also explains that several institutional logics can co-exist in parallel where the change often originates in conflicts between the different institutional logics. Institutional work: the institutional work studies institutional dynamics from an agent and practice-oriented perspective. Studies how interaction between actors, structures and artifacts shapes institutional practices and roles in a specific organizational setting. This concept includes and highlights the practices and purposive actions of individuals and collective actors in institutional change, professions as institutions in themselves and professionals as agents in creating (reconfiguring rules/boundaries, reconfiguring actor's belief systems or reconfiguring shared meaning systems), maintaining (creating rules that support the institution) and disrupting institutions (disconnecting sanctions and rewards, undermining assumptions and beliefs).
Mention two external and two internal triggers/drivers of change and discuss possible implications for the construction industry for each type of driver/trigger?Also discuss the potential stakeholders involved related to these drivers/triggers of change you have mentioned.
Internal drivers Internal change could be adapting new technologies, for instance more automation in production nowadays and less manual work, to be more productive, less errors which could increase profit. This could be the future implementation of 3D-printing building parts, which could increase productivity and lean construction thinking. Stakeholders involved could be the employees that will have a change in the way they work and might be less work for them in a bad way, but also shareholders that are invested in the success of the company in mind. Implication: Increased need for coordination/Behavioral or cultural change External drivers External drivers could be changing the market, like for example in today's market we could see all kinds of different options to the same type of product which put pressure on the organizations to deliver the best product for the best price to keep their customers. Or the influence of digitalization of the market, like nowadays people shop more online and not as much in actual stores which the organization has to adapt to if they want to keep selling products and being available for their customers. Implication: crisis, competiveness etc
How might institutional isomorphism explain corporate change?
Isomorphism will make organizations less distinctive and more alike, successful and survive. According to institutional isomorphism organizations do not change because they strive for efficiency, instead they change because of different institutional pressures from their field, like regulations, members of the field etc. Through one or more of three specific mechanisms (coercive, mimetic or normative isomorphism), the template becomes widely adopted There are three different types of isomorphism: coercive, mimetic and normative. - Coercive means that organizations are compelled to implement a policy by either, government mandate, political pressure, legislations or adjustment to new technology. - Mimetic means that organizations try to look more like other organizations. This can be because they want to imitate another more successful organization in the field or due to uncertainty. - Normative means that a phenomena become widespread because they are socially seen as positive, can be either professionalization, by employing professionals with the same education.
How can companies sustain change, what would they need to think of for sustaining change?
It is common that change is short-lived and when it comes to sustaining change it involved refreezing behavior at a new level for as long as possible. A change can be seen as the "new state" when: - New ways of working and improved outcomes has become the new norm. - The thinking and attitude behind them are fundamentally altered and the systems surrounding them are transformed in support. When reinforcing the change/new behavior there should be reward or other types of encouragement in order to stay focused. There are also two types of sustaining change: - Stickability - The extent to which gains achieved in a particular part of the organization are held and build on - Spreadiability - the extent to which new methods and processes which led to these gains are applied elsewhere When it comes to factors that affects sustaining change it can be affected by: - How the change is managed from the outset (how it is handled from the beginning) - What change managers do to promote sustainability after implementation. - One can say that sustaining change is a stage in an extended and interlinked process that begins with the implementation of the change and then follows up with improvements.
Under what circumstances might an organizational culture be more open for change, referring to the levels of culture, discuss why?
Most often attempts to impose cultural change result in resistance. But there are some circumstances where the organizational culture is more open for change: - Environmental crisis or crisis caused by top management - Business opportunities - External revolution, eg. Mergers, or internal revolutions, eg. Top management If the organization sees business opportunities they might be willing to change all of the levels of culture (artifacts, espoused values and norms, basic assumptions and values) since they can see that the organization will earn from it. If there is some sort of environmental crisis they might feel that they need to change, no one wants to hire a company that is making the environmental situation worse.
What is the role of stories in managing resistance?
Stories have proven useful when dealing with rapid change and stories are a good way of delivering complex ideas. Reasons that stories are useful are that they can help to motivate others, inspire and promoting trust and compassion. A story can also share experiences from previous changes and it is the deliver of the stories than can shape it and thereby use it in order to make people believe that the change is both good and necessary. The story can also shape the reason for change to one self and ones own values but also others. Stories can prove useful for counteracting talk aimed at promoting resignation and complacency
Discuss the congruence model of Nadler and Tushman (1997)
The model is looking at factors that are influencing the success of change processes and is a tool for the ones using it to understand the dynamic of what happened in an organization after the change is performed. The model is based on that organizations can be seen as sets of interacting subsystems that can scan and sense changes in the external environment. These subsystems are: - The work: day-to-day activities - The people - The formal organization - The informal organization An important part of the model is that it analyzes the change processes in a way that does not provide exact answers but instead stimulates thoughts about what needs to happen in a specific organizational context. The model also draws on sociotechnical view of organizations such as strategic, technical and social aspects, which all relies on each other.
Discuss two leadership issues that can affect sustaining change in the organization and what should the organization do about this?
There are several leadership issues that can affect sustaining change, but I have chosen to discuss: "Those who initiate the change move on". The organization should design reward policies in order to motivate and retain the key change agents so they continue to be motivated. "change managers declare victory to soon". The organization should celebrate the smaller goals as well and use early wins to encourage to continue with the change, this also so that everyone stays motivated.
What boundary spanning roles and what type of power sources may a change agent deploy in a change process? Give examples from the construction industry.
There is something called change agents that is someone who per definition is seeking or supporting some kind of change. This person is the facilitator of the change and acts as data gatherer, educator, coach etc. Gatekeepers: act as contact or primary client with a position to interpret and screen information. Has control and power over content and timing. Organizational boundary as barrier. Brokers: a person that facilities knowledge exchange or sharing between and among various stakeholders. Brining organizational boundaries. Partners: a person that act as "contract" but also collaborates close with external consultant. Obscures organizational boundaries. Power sources: 1. Derived Power- Obtained from top management who see the need for change 2. Status power- The ability to create a conversational space around the change 3. Expert power- The ability to gather and be in charge of valuable information relating to diagnosis and the conduct of change
What characterize change in complex environments and what skills do leaders need to have to lead trough uncertainty?
These are changes that involve so many individuals, layers of activity, areas of focus and so many factors that cannot be pre-though out that there will be a need for people to struggle and argue and work their way through to an unpredictable outcome. The characteristics are: - There is no control - There is an inherent underlying structure within the system - There is feedback in the system - There is nonlinearity - the things do not happen in a cause-and-effect manner - Emergence is an outcome of the system - happens without planned intent - The system is non-reducible. This means that you cannot understand the system's behavior by looking at one part. It is necessary to instead look at a representative slice of all of the parts. The skills that are needed are: Presence and deep listening, being alert, aware and truly listening. Means that the leader has to be open to going beyond preconceptions and how the situation has been making sense before, historically. This means that the leader has to let go of the need to control and old identities, which are the hard things to do in times of change. Framing: Leadership characteristics of guiding more than leading change, when leading through uncertainty this is good because it sets a clear context of the change but lets others "fill in the gaps" . The skills of framing also embraces ability to communicate goals and visions, and let's all the involved know how the change is evolving. Capacity to contain: in uncertain changes the leaders can experience highly stressful situations, and the skill of containment means that the leaders need to be calm and confident in challenging situations and make such things as hard discussions okay. The leader needs to have good ways of processes anxiety, ideas and doubts etc. It is also of importance to be able to have good quality dialogue skills. Negative Capability: the ability to support team members to continue think and struggle in these types of situations, which helps the creative process have its own rythm and will not end beforehand. Practicing Self Care: These uncertain changes can be long and very stressful for leaders that could lead to burn-out etc. this means that the leader has to engage in self-caring to manage levels of anxiety and stress etc.
