Ch 4 Foundations of Organizational Change

Social Constructionist perspective

- Approaches question those "components" as outcomes of our own language and meaning. -Explain change in interpretive mechanisms, conversations, communication, meaning, and cognitive schema. - Concepts are created and infused with meaning by organizational members through communication. -Interested in what the change means to people, recognizing that this meaning may shift and adapt at various points in time -"New conversation can encourage greater learning and achieve change." -Each of these conversations is in some ways implicated in effective change. -Sees organization as they emerge and unfold in communication patterns. -See change as a continuous process rather than a specific project.

The Dialogic Approach

- Reflects a growing belief in the effectiveness of a social construction approach to change (starts with common aspirations, shared vision) - Reframe conversations through questions; reframe the existing meanings, narratives, and stories that underlie why people choose the actions they choose in the first place so that they will choose new behaviors themselves. -Changes in an organization can be continuous and emergent, they are based in the narratives and changing conversations of organizational members.

Burke-Litwin Model of Organizational Performance and Change

-Empirically tested - System theory model was developed as a causal model that could be empirically tested, that would specify the variables that would be affected by a given change, and that would take into account transactional (first-order change) and transformational (second-order) change

Inputs (Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model)

-Environment -Resources -History

System theory

-Examines relationships between components of organization. -Tries to understand how the subparts related to one another -All parts are interdependent so that changes in one part of the system will result in changes in other parts of the system. -Consists of seeing the interrelationships of structures and components rather than simple and linear cause-effect chains.

Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model

-Model is useful for organizational change -This model greatest emphasis on transformational process and in particular reflects the critical system property of interdependence. -Views organizations as made up of components or parts, which interact with each other. -Different parts of an organization can fit well together and thus function effectively, or "fit" poorly, thus leading to problems, dysfunctions, or performance below potential.

Outputs

-Organizational performance -Group performance -Individual performance

System thinking is about analyzing the organization on these levels:

1- Events - single occurrence of an episode 2- Patterns - multiple and repetitive "archetypes" that allow events to happen in the same way time after time 3- Structure - these patterns exist in structures that support and reinforce them

(Burke-Litwin Model) Factors most influential in transformational changes are due to environmental causes, so the top four boxes have the greatest influence on performance:

1- External environment 2- Mission and strategy 3- Leadership 4- Organization culture

Kurt Lewin Organization Change - What are the forces that work together to maintain equilibrium in an organization

1- Forces promoting a change 2- Forces promoting the status quo (or resisting the change)

Common models of organizational behavior and change consistent with a systems theory perspective are

1- Lewin's three-phase model of Change and Force Field Analysis 2- Nadler-Tushman Congruence model 3- Burke-Litman model of Organizational Performance and Change 4- Weisbord Six-Box Model

Forms of dialogic OD practices

1- Structured approach 2- Process consultation approach

Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model - "Transformation Processes" have been expanded in the congruence model to include Four Important Elements that relate to one another:

1- Task 2-Individual 3- Formal organizational arrangements 4- Informal organization *Together these four elements are define as the primary components of the organization.

Kurt Lewin Three-Phase Model of Organizational Change

1- unfreezing 2-change (moving) 3- Refreeze

(Burke-Litwin Model) During transactional change, the other boxes below are the major factors of interest:

5- Structure 6- Management practices 7- Systems 8- Climate 9- Task requirement and individual skills/abilities 10- Individual needs and values 11- Motivation 12- Individual and organization performance

Social Construction Approach (Short definition version)

Assumes that change occurs when there is a change in meaning in the organization, and thus conversation.

Wiesbord Six-Box Model - negative aspect of this model

Attends less to elements of the external environment and issues such as scarce resources or demands of external stakeholders -Gives less insight into which gaps may be more serious than others -By placing "leadership" in the center of the model, it may be overemphasize the role of leadership and understate the role of individual employees in the functioning of the organization.

Which system theory model was developed as a causal model that could be empirically tested, that would specify the variables that would be affected by a given change, and that would take into account transactional and transformational change

Burke-Litwin Model

Kurt Lewin Organization Change (Key point)

Change can only occur when forces of change are greater than forces maintaining the status quo (or resisting the change) -Change will not occur if the training, cost, and resistance are greater than the benefits that the system offers

Changes (moving) - Lewin Three Phase Model of Change

Cognitive restructuring -Begin to see another point of view -Helping people to see the alternative and the way forward -Take steps (interventions) to help things move; design an alternative

Unfreezing - Lewin Three Phase Model of Change

Creating motivation and readiness for change -Create disconfirmation; "burning platform"; dissatisfaction with the way things are

Dialogic Process consultation

Does not attempt to offer programmatic and predictable processes and outcomes. -Practitioners can intervene into an outgoing team conversation, to point the implications of dominant metaphor being used by the team e.g., jumping into the flow of the conversations, asking questions, actively participating, sharing insights and alternative.

Weisbord's Six-Box Model

Each of the boxes has both formal (espoused and official) and informal (how things work in practice) components, and a complete diagnosis must attend to both. 1- Purpose 2- Structure 3- Rewards 4- Relationships 5- Helpful mechanisms 6- Leadership (is in the center; most emphasis on)

Task component

Encompasses the work to be done, but also the skills and knowledge required to do it and the degree of interdependence or judgement required.

Formal organizational arrangement

Explicitly defined processes and organizational structures, job definition, metrics, the physical layout and environment, an other officially specified aspect of the work.

OD most concern with this type of change

First-order change

Wiesbord Six-Box Model - positive aspect of this model

Gives us great insight into the internal functioning of a system.

Individual component

Includes employees' knowledge and skills, engagement and motivation, preferences and attitudes, and other influences on the individual behavior.

First-order change

Incremental modification that make sense within an established framework or method of operating -Alteration to existing practices rather than a rethinking or reinvention of the practices

Informal organization

Less explicitly defined and tacit understandings, processes, methods, and norms that comprise how work is actually done.

Which systems theory model of organizational behavior and change discusses the concepts of unfreezing, moving and refreezing?

Lewin's three-phase model

Second-order change

Modifications in the framework themselves -Rethinking the entire organization

Dialogic approach

New paradigms in OD

Refreeze - Lewin Three Phase Model of Change

Once they change, the need to be refrozen as newly adapted regular practices -Helping clients integrate the changes

Planned Change with Emergent Changes

Ongoing accommodations, adaptations, and alterations that produce fundamental change without a priori intentions to do so

OD has moved more toward (blank) because practitioners are more frequently asked to consult on organizationwide changes

Organization effectiveness

Planned Change

Organizational members can be conscious and intentional about the changes they want to make

Sensemaking

Placement of items into frameworks, comprehending, redressing surprises, constructing meaning, interacting in pursuit of mutual understanding, and patterning. -It is an ongoing process, not something with a defined beginning or ending.

When organization members are conscious and intentional about the changes to be made, this is (blank) change

Planned

Weisbord's Six-Box Model

Popular diagnostic model to illustrate elements of a system that are out of syn with other parts of the system, in particular to explore how formal and informal systems are often misaligned or contradictory. -Refer to as the "Radar Screen" depicting the interrelationships among six common problem areas in an organization and helps to illustrate how systems can be seen in a systemic light.

Structured Dialogic Approach

Practitioners work with leaders or sponsors to design events that are conducive to open dialogues about the future.

Unplanned Change

Response to an immediate threat or crisis

Congruence Hypothesis

The idea that the better the "fit" between the components, the more effective the organization. - If the task's demand required skills and knowledge that individuals do not possess, then there will be a congruence gap (or low "fit") between task and individual. -Organization effectiveness can be achieved only if the fit is increased.

First-order change can be

Tranactional change -

Second-order change can be

Transformational change

A (blank) is defined as "an enduring belief that specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence"

Value