Strategic Change InterventionsChapters 18, 19, & 20

Tami Bennett-Tait, Patrice Howard,

Nerita Hughes, & Rebecca Stuart

EDD 855 Organization Development

Strategic Change Interventions

Strategic Change

Interventions are whole

system interventions

Interventions include:

★ transformational

★ continuous

★ transorganizational

Click on this video link Resistance to

Change in an Organization (3:46 minutes)

Transformational Change InterventionsCharacteristics (Cummings & Worley, 2015,

p. 530-33)

● triggered by environmental &

internal disruption

● initiated by senior executives &

line manager

● involves multiple stakeholders

● systemic & revolutionary

● involve significant learning & a

new paradigm

Watch Sustainability creates culture (2:46 minutes)

Interventions Include:

● Organization Design

● Integrated Strategy

● Culture Change

Organization Design

Organization design

is “the process of

constructing and

adjusting an

organization’s

structure to achieve

its business strategy

and goals” (Nelson

and Quick, 2011).

Configures the

organization’s structure,

work designs, human

resource practices,

management and

information systems to

guide members behaviors

in strategic direction.

(Cummings and Worley,

2015).

Key Characteristics -

*Congruence* *Alignment*

*Strategic Fit*

“Among elements”

1. Strategic organization (strategy and

organization design)

2. Creating a strategic plan, gaining

support, plan implementation and

execute

3. Individuals and groups throughout the

organization are integrated into analysis,

plan and implementation process

Three Key Features

Strategic Plan Strategy Implementation

Example of ISC Process: Implementation of Google

Apps, i.e. Google Mail, Google Drive, etc.

Checkout this video, Larimer County benefitting

from Google strategy, click on video to view (3.21

minutes)

Culture Change

● It starts with a clear vision which include shared values and beliefs

● It must be managed from the top of the organization

● Communicate the culture through their own actions

● Supporting organization structure, human resources, and management resources

● This is especially important and key in leadership positions

Culture Change

Values

• Deeper level of awareness and

include beliefs about the

organization

Norms

• This refers to how people behave

and interact with each other

Artifacts

• Symbols of deeper levels of

culture such as: clothing and

language, etc..

Culture Change

• Each piece represents the means

to assessing the fit and describing

a comprehensive approach to

transformational change through

organizational culture

Culture Change

• The relationships show how work

is performed and evaluated.

• The relationships show the

correlation between individual

work and group or collective

work.

• The relationships show the

connection between culture and

the systems from which they are

organized.

Culture Change

• Implementing the culture of change

process through four quadrants from

the internal and external focus

• These quadrants represent how

things are shared and often respond

to the following questions:

1)what really matters around here?

2) how do we do things around

here? And

3) what we do when a problem

arises? (Cummings & Worley,

p.557-58)

Continuous Change InterventionsCharacteristics (Cummings & Worley, 2015)

● Organizations that are in

continuous change include

biotechnology, high technology,

and entertainment and fashion.

● The organization’s focus is on

learning, changing, and adapting.

● Adapting to a rapidly shifting

environment, organizations need

dynamic capabilities to renew

forms of competitive advantage.

Interventions Include:

● Dynamic Strategy

● Self-designing Organization

● Learning Organization

● Built-to-Change Organization

Watch Microsoft 2020 (1:54 minutes)

Dynamic Strategy Making

Watch Whitbread PLC continuous change (1:44 minutes)

Characteristics (Cummings & Worley, 2015)

● coordinated realignments between organization and the

environment

● intended to improve performance and effectiveness over time

● criteria include speed over delay, flexibility over rigidity,

simplicity over complexity, empowerment over autocracy, unity

over fragmentation, and breadth over narrowness

● framework is ongoing and built into the organization and

includes data collection and assessment that is continuous

Dynamic Strategy Making

Application Stages

1. Choose relevant stakeholders

2. Hold the first retreat➢ in large group, understand data

➢ in small groups, formulate goals and competitive logic

➢ prepare for organizational involvement

3. Engage stakeholders between retreats (ask questions of the draft)

4. Hold the second retreat➢ question priorities, resources needed, and who will do what, when, &

where

5. Implement actions➢ leaders model the behavior and enact strategy effectively

Self-Designing Organizations

Application Stages1. Clarify the strategy

2. Lay the foundation➢ valuing

➢ acquiring knowledge

➢ diagnosing

3. Create the design criteria

4. Designing

5. Implementing and Assessing

Note: incorporating all steps increases the

quality of learning and change effectiveness

Characteristics (Cummings & Worley,

2015)

● cycles of diagnosing,

designing, implementing

activities that all members

can carry out

● help change the organization

systematically

● requires onsite innovation

and learning by doing

Watch Healthways Change (3:01 minutes)

Built-to-Change Organizations

Application Stages

1. Reframe culture as a

facilitator of change

2. Redefine organization

design components for

flexibility

3. Build an orchestration

capability

Characteristics

● from strategy to strategizing

● from design to designing

Learning Organizations

● Possible for the individual to learn

without the organization or vice

versa.

● Communication is key.

● Success relies heavily on members

having knowledge and applying it

effectively in their work.

● Modifications to behavior should

occur from new insights.

Cummings & Worley (2015) p. 582

● Aimed at helping organizations

develop and use knowledge to change

and improve themselves constantly.

● Helps organizations acquire and

develop new knowledge.

● Learning is embedded in structures,

routines, policies, and organizational

cultures.

How Organizational Learning

Affects PerformanceOrganization Learning

Knowledge

Management

From W. Snyder and T. Cummings, “Organization Learning Disorders: Conceptual Model and Intervention Hypothesis,”

Human Relations 51 (1998): 873-95.

Organization

Characteristics:

● structure

● *information

systems

● human

resources

practices

● culture

● leadership

Organization

Learning

Processes:

● discovery

● invention

● production

● generalizati

on

Organization

Knowledge:

● explicit

● tacit

Organization

Performance

Competitive

Strategy

Learning Organizations

Model 2 Learning: Based on promoting

valid information, free, informed choice,

action, and continuous improvement of

learning process.

● 4 categories of organizational

design: structure, work design,

human resource practices,

management processes

Cummings & Worley (2015) p. 588

Model 1 Learning: Unilateral control of

environments and tasks; protecting

oneself, focused only on learning that

improves the status quo.

Learning Organizations

Organizational learning process consists of four interrelated activities: discovery,

invention, production, and generalization.

● Discovery- gaps between desired and actual conditions

● Invention- devising solutions to close the gap between conditions

● Production- implementing solutions

● Generalization- drawing conclusions about effects of solutions and extending

knowledge to other relevant situations

Cummings & Worley (2015) p. 589

Applying Learning ProcessSingle-Loop Learning (adaptive

learning): improving the status quo

Double-Loop Learning (generative

learning): changing the status quo,

transformational change

Deutero-Learning: learning how to

learn

Works draws heavily from Argyris

and Schon and Senge

Peter Senge-Introduction to Systems Thinking Video

Watch

Senge-Systems

Thinking

Transorganizational Change

Whitbread History (2:18 minutes)

SUMMARY: Strategic Change Interventions

Strategic Change

Interventions are whole

system interventions

Transformational

★ Organization Design

★ Integrated Strategic

★ Culture

Continuous

★ Dynamic Strategy Making

★ Self-Designing Organization

★ Built-to-Change Organization

★ Learning Organization

Transorganizational

★ Merger & Acquisitions

★ Alliances

★ Networks

References

Cummings, T. G. & Worley, C. G. (2015).

Organization Development & Change

(10th ed). Stamford, CT: Cengage.

http://infed.org/mobi/chris-argyris-theories-of-action-

double-loop-learning-and-organizational-learning/

http://www.iff.ac.at/oe/media/documents/Paper_15_Stein

inger.pdf

Videos -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZFiN00QALE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMZgTW9Eqt8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wto6SFl13A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VnmM1P3vp0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGa8-04aq3E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXdzKBWDraM&feature=

youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMu9Yf8NTD0