chapter 12 organizational change change is hard. why change? change is demanded by clientele...
TRANSCRIPT
Chapter 12 Organizational Change
change is hard
Why change?
change is demanded by clientele citizens and customers
technology is moving so quickly that today's work practices may become outdated almost overnight
change is difficult for most people Either in our personal or in our work lives
Psychological Impacts of Change
that which is well-known and comfortable will be seen as giving way to something that is less clear
this can be scary
people can experience personal and psychological loss
Lessening the Stress of Change
change agents need to clarify and communicate problems in the current situation
financial crises or crises in public confidence make the problems understandable
managers should involve people throughout the organization in the change process
Lessening the Stress of Change
those who are part of the change process usually feel more comfortable with the process
change often leads to feelings of stress and insecurity
these problems must be addressed before the organization can move on
Types of Change
change can be incremental or discontinuous incremental change results from tinkering or
fine-tuning ongoing operations discontinuous change is a complete break with
the past and a major reconstruction of the organizations work
discontinuous change is far more difficult and can “shock the system”
people have to unlearn old approaches
Types of Change
strategic change refers to those choices made by executives, managers, consultants, and others who may be involved in planning activities leading to changes that are both broad range and long-term
strategic changes are often developed in the course of the strategic planning process that considers the mission, vision, and values of the organization and those forces acting upon the organization
Types of Change
grass-roots changes on the other hand are those take place at the local street level and involve middle level and supervisory level managers as well as workers in the front line of the organization
to be truly effective organizational change must be both strategic and grass-roots based
Classic approaches
social psychologist Kurt Lewin group life is never without change, there is
merely differences in the amount of type of change that exists
in any given field of human endeavor, there are both forces trying to bring about change in forces trying to resist change
the football analogy driving and restraining forces
force field analysis
list in one column the driving forces at play list in another the restraining forces at play
for change to occur there must be a shift in the balance of forces at play in any given organizational field
forces providing change must be increased or those forces restricting change must be lessened
often is easier to reduce the restricting forces
force field analysis
the first step is unfreezing the existing situation
disrupting the current condition of equilibrium
the second step is to introduce the change the third step is to refreeze the situation
refreezing the situation includes institutionalizing the change and developing a new reward system
Organizational Culture
culture is generally taken to embrace the norms, policies, and values expressed by members of a particular culture and manifested in their typical behaviors and artifacts they produce
there are artifacts and creations of the culture physical layout technological preferences language operating routines
values of the organization
ideas about the way in which organization ought to be
ideal culture and real cultureespoused beliefs and real beliefs
basic underlying assumptions
values of the organization
Ott 1989 elements of organizational culture
related to societal culture made up of values, beliefs, assumptions,
perceptions, behavioral norms, artifacts, and patterns of behavior
socially constructed, unseen, and unobservable force behind organizational activities
values of the organization
functions as an organizational control mechanism, informally approving or prohibiting behaviors
Organizational Culture
the societal culture influences public organizations and the development of their organizational culture
cultures of public organizations are likely to be affected by the founding legislation
political sentiment concerning the work public interpretation in the imprint of early in important leaders
Organizational Socialization
Socialization is achieved and transmitted overtly to members to the process of: hiring orientation performance appraisal promotion informal processes mentoring
Cultural Norms
the culture of the organization will shape the values in attitudes and actions of organization members
changing the culture may be a key step in changing the behavior of the organizations employees
developing a culture of innovation?
Cultural Norms
altering and organizations culture is far from simple and they are disagreements in the literature on change about how to be successful cultural norms are deep-seated and may be quite
resistant to change successful changes and organizations culture
typically occur over a long period -- -- 5 to 15 years
manipulating the norms and values of organizations may be unethical
Organizational learning
Peter Senge's the fifth discipline personal mastery mental models shared vision team learning systems thinking
Organizational learning
for public organizations undertaking change there is consensus that managers need: a commitment to values serving the public empowerment shared leadership pragmatic incrementalism dedication to public service
Approaches to bring about change
change by management action or reorganization historically most organizational changes have
been brought about by fairly unilateral action on the part of managers
organizational systems have been similar to the military in their hierarchical structure managers are assumed to have the
prerogative to basically tell others what to do
Approaches to bring about change
commands are expected to flow downward through the hierarchy and the expectation is that they will be obeyed
many managers continue to use this approach especially in situations where tasks are somewhat routine, highly structured, and easily programmed
Early Thinking
early writers and public administration were preoccupied with questions organizational design such as:
steps to forming a new public office the job to be carried out selecting the director determining the nature number of units required establishing a structure of authority so that the
coordinator can control the activities of the unit (1937)
Contemporary Thinking
Mechanistic and organic organizations many organizations are becoming flatter
they have fewer levels from top to bottom
there's an effort to break down the silos that are represented by parallel agencies
organizational development
this approach is based on the behavioral sciences is aimed at system wide improvements in the
functioning of the organization is conducted primarily the focus on personal
capabilities especially process skills it focuses on how things are done as opposed to what
is being done a consultant may be hired to provide expertise to the
organization
organizational development
The consultant tells a manager what should be done in a doctor-patient like relationship
or there may be a process consultation
the interventionist role in organizational development
valid and useful information identifying real problems in the client systems
free choice decision-making stays within the client systems
internal commitment high degree of ownership among the clients
Organizational Development
organizational development represents a particular philosophy at odds with traditional top-down tendencies -- it is:
mutually accessible and open values experimentation collaborative concept of authority creation of the mutual helping relationship authenticity in interpersonal relationships biased clearly towards Democratic tendencies as opposed
authoritarian
Organizational Development Techniques
T-groups process consultation third party interventions survey feedback quality of work life team building
the management of change
many people are hired specifically to fix existing agencies new legislative mandates public crisis of confidence dramatic changes in the environment a feeling that things can be working better
the steps in organizational transformations
assess the organizations environments need for change plan for change both strategically and grassroots build support implement specific changes institutionalized changes diagnosis clarification coalition building action consolidation and refinement sustainability
the steps in organizational transformations
managers often overestimate their own influence in organizations and underestimate how difficult it is to get people to change
without a sense of urgency people won't give extra effort that is often essential
some suggest—radically—to allow things to blow up instead of being corrected to create a sense of urgency
The most important and pressing problems come across agencies and jurisdictional boundaries
Change is needed to tackle them to fashion effective agencies change is necessary
the steps in organizational transformations
nearly every move that managers make has political implications
all barriers to effective agency performance started out as reforms political history is important to consider
any change-oriented public manager needs to consider how proposed changes will be viewed by officials, citizens, and others
creativity is a key in creating organizational change norms about experimentation and innovation
organizations -- like people -- are risk-averse they place high value on not rocking about
Ways of Acting
consider carefully the emotional and psychological component of resistance to change
both your own and of others
try to clarify and communicate throughout the organization the problems associated with the current way of operating
what benefits might accrue from trying something else?
try to incorporate people throughout the organization in change process
think about the forces are driving change and those that are resisting change