STRATEGIES IMPLEMENTATION & MANAGING CHANGE

Prof.dr.dr.dr.h.c. Constantin Bratianu

Faculty of Business AdministrationAcademy of Economic Studies

Bucharest

PLANNED CHANGE

• The basic idea of this theory is that change can be planned and managed as a controlled process.

• Since change has been considered at the organization level, all research focused on Organizational Development (OD).

• Kurt Lewin founded in 1945 the Research Center for Group Dynamics, with a huge influence.

MODELS OF PLANNED CHANGE

• The action research model

• The three-steps model

• The phases of planned change model

THE ACTION RESEARCH MODEL

• Action Research has been designed to solve social and organizational problems.

• It is research on action to make that action more effective. Action refers to programs and interventions designed to solve a problem or improve a condition.

• The main idea is that effective solving of organizational problems must involve a rational, and systematic analysis of the issues in question.

THE ACTION RESEARCH (I)

• The Action research comprises 3 components:- the organization (top management)- the subject (people where change is

done)- the change agent

• The 3 entities must agree to form a group, under mutually acceptable and constructed terms of reference.

THE ACTION RESEARCH (II)

• The main difficulty is to gain the commitment of both the organization and the subject of the change.

• The strategy was to use top-down change implementation based on top managers authority.

• This approach is not working well in large organizations and where the distance to power is relatively small.

THE 3-STEP MODEL

• The basic idea was that change toward a higher level of group performance is frequently short lived. After some time, group behaviour may revert to the previous pattern.

• This indicates that it is not enough to define change as a target and to stop. It is important to include also the group performance in the new state of change.

How can you transform an ice cube into a cylinder ?

Kurt Lewin’s Change Model

Proposed by K. Lewin (1958) for implementing change in an organization through 3 stages:

Change

Unfreezing

Organizational culture

Re-freezing

Organizational culture

PHASES OF PLANNED CHANGE

• The concept of planned change implies that an organization exists in different states at different times and that planned movement can occur from one state to another.

• For planned change it is important to understand not only the change but also the states through which the organization must pass.

THE 4-PHASE MODEL

• Bullock and Batten (1985) developed an integrated four-phase model for planned change:

1.Exploration phase2.Planning phase3.Action phase4.Integration phase

EXPLORATION PHASE

• Becoming aware of the need for change

• Searching for outside assistance (a consultant/ facilitator) to assist with planning and implementing the change

• Establishing a contract with the consultant which defines each party’s responsibility

PLANNING PHASE• Analysis and diagnosis of the problem to be

solved

• Establishing change goals and designing the appropriate actions to achieve these goals

• Establishing priorities and sequence requirements for change implementation

• Allocation of tangible and intangible resources for each change sequence

ACTION PHASE• Identify all possible resistances to change and

their nature

• Evaluate the inertial forces of each resistance

• Choose adequate approaches to overcome each resistance

• Evaluate the progress of change implementation

• Perform corrections to the initial plan if necessary

INTEGRATION PHASE

• This phase begins when the changes have been successfully implemented

• It is concerned with consolidating and stabilising the changes

• Reinforcing the new behaviours through feedback and reward systems

• Diffusing the successful aspects of the change process through the organization

• Train managers and employees to monitor the changes and seek to improve upon them

LIMITATIONS (I)

• The basic hypothesis that an organization exists in different states at different times and that planned change is a transition from one state to another

• The dynamics of business environment imposes organizational change to be more a continuous and open-ended process, than a set of discrete and self-contained events

LIMITATIONS (II)

• Its emphasis on incremental change and its inability to incorporate radical, transformational change

• It assumes that one type of approach to change is suitable for all organizations, all situations and all times

• Turbulent times demand different responses in varied circumstance

THE EMERGENT CHANGE APPROACH• It is a new approach which lacks agreed methods

and techniques

• This approach stresses the developing and unpredictable nature of change

• Change is viewed as a process that unfolds through the interplay of multiple variables within the organization

• There is no single prescription for managing organizational transitions successfully

BOTTOM-UP APPROACH

• Planned change is implemented more likely through a top-down approach

• Emergent change is implemented more likely through a bottom-up approach

• The bottom-up approach requires a major change in the role played by senior managers. Instead of planning, directing and controlling change they must create adequate conditions for supporting change

IMPORTANT FEATURES

• Though the concept of universally applicable rules for change are rejected, supporters of emergent change stress 4 necessary organizational features:

- organizational structure- organizational culture- organizational learning- managerial behaviour

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE• This is seen as playing a crucial role in defining

how people relate to each other and in influencing the momentum for change

• The more flexible and flatter organizational structure to increase the responsiveness to change, by developing authority of all managers and responsibility

• Organizational structure based on teams and networks

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE• If change is developing in concordance with the

cultural values, organizational culture will support the change

• If change is developing against the cultural values, organizational culture must be changed along with change implementation

• Creating a culture for change means that change has to be part of the way we do things around here

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING

• Change is an excellent opportunity to learn new things and then to adapt the organization to the new external business environment requirements

• Organizational learning is based on the double loop model (single loop model = solving problems in a programmed way)

• Organizational learning creates a pro-active approach to change

MANAGERIAL BEHAVIOUR(I)

• The role of managers is not to plan and to control, but to create an internal environment able to accept and to support change

• The key organizational elements are:- Information gathering- Communication- Learning

MANAGERIAL BEHAVIOUR (II)

• For supporters of the emergent approach, the essence of change is to move from the known to the unknown

• In this situation, it is essential for managers to be able to tolerate risk and cope with ambiguity

• Managers must develop the skills of making decisions in situations with high levels of uncertainty

ENVIRONMENT

Stable Turbulent

Planned Emergent

APPROACHES TO CHANGE