B. Images of Change Management (Palmer) – Flashcards

management as shaping vs management as control

-(image of management) -most dominant image of management linked to activities like panning, supervising, organizing, directing, reporting, budgeting and coordinating -resources are allocated to departments and staff have refined roles organization seen as a machine

-(image of management) -focuses more on participative management where people are involved in decisions as they have an understanding of the way things can be improved -> being closer to the action there is a better understanding of the way things operate -employees will be more committed if they are involved in the change design -organization is seen as a living organism

intentional, partly intentional, and not intentional

-image of change outcome -dominant assumption is that change outcomes can be acheived as planned

-empirical rational strategies, normative re educative strategies, and power coercive strategies

-assume that people are rational and pursue their own interest -intentional change is achieved when everyone is satisfied with the result and when the result matches the interest of the group

-people replace their traditional orientations and commit to new ways of thinking -intentional change comes from attitudes and values instead of information and knowledge

-assumes the intentional change is achieved by those who have greater power by gaining compliance from those with lesser power -power can stem from legitimate authority or less legit coercive measures

-some but not all intentions are accomplished -processes, power, interests, and different skills of managers influence producing intended outcomes -during the process the intentional change can be adjusted so outcome and initial intent are not the same

implies that it is not easy for managers to obtain their initial change outcomes, may be impossible to achieve intended outcome

internal and external

can be established by working practices, interdepartmental politics, or some deep seated values and perceptions

can be diverse factors in industrial relation, legislative requirements or industry related trends

director, navigator, coach, caretaker, nurturer, and interpreter

-management of control image/ intentional change outcomes -the director is responsible for steering the organization towards the desired outcomes -if it is out of alignment with its external environment new systems can be implemented leading to the survival and well be of the organization -n-step model provides the steps that change manager must take to achieve successful change

-management as control/ partial intentionality -navigator navigates the process to an outcome as close as possible to the intentional outcome -unlike the director, the navigator has no clear roadmap -change here is seen as the process that unfolds due to several factors... context, competing interests, and consultation within the organization -example: manager decides to create new teams. departments to have production that is more efficient but the ability to maximise the effectiveness would depend on a number of factors -navigates process by examing various options ... new information should be processed and the options should be reevalauted -directing not viable option as there is no simple method for managing transitions successfully

-care as control/management of a non-intentional outcome -there are factors that make it impossible to reach the intentional outcome it is the job of the change manager to keep the org alive

life cycle theory, population ecology theory, and institutional theory

there is a natural development going on within the organization on which the change manager has little influence... caretaker helps the organization gradually through the different stages

-applies biology by focusing on how the environment selects organizations for survival or extinction -follows cycle of variation, selection, and retention -variation: due to a random chance -selection of organizations that best suit the conditions -preservation of different organizational forms -managers have some influence on these factors through interaction with other organizations in order to mitigate the theimpact of environmental factors -general assumption with this theory assumes that managers do not have much influence on the change while the population of the organization will continuously experience the external factos

argues that change managers make broadly similar decisions about different populations of the organizations due to pressures of interconnections within the industry

coercive, mimetic, and normative

compulsiveness for example by the government or culture

imitating other organizations that are successful

changes in the professionalism of work, so that managers from different organizations can adopt the same values in actions and decisions

-management through shaping/ reaching intended outcomes -coach has the ability to implement values and skills instead of dictating actions like the director -theory associated with this is called traditional organizational development theory

-image gives the change manager the opportunity to make people within the organization aware of the events and actions that the organization is undertaking -the interpreter translates the organizational actions and decisions thus creating meaning so the employees understand them -organizations are made of groups with different interests and concepts there are often competing interpretations and not all changes are accepted and realized -intended change only partially realized due to different interpretations

sense making theory of Karl Weick

-Karl Weick -argues that organizations are in an ongoing process with new adjustments in order to react to changing circumstances as well as possible

animation: people stay in action to address problems and may experiment by direction: the action must be direct towards a purpose or goal by paying attention and updated: updating knowledge due to context and rewriting the organizational requirements through respectful candid interaction: people need to be able to share their views openly in a clime of mutual trust and respect

-assumes that small changes can have a big impact on the organization -managers cannot control these changes the results are nurtured or shaped but the outcome will probably not be as was originally intended -nurturer focuses on facilitating organizational qualities and values that allow the organization to transition properly

chaos theory and Confucian/Taoist theory

organizational change is not linear but fundamental and does not necessarily imply that there is growth -looks at how organizations continuously regenerate through adaptive learning and structural change.. called self-organizing -the manager has small role to indicate the direction but no influence on spontaneous new developments

has some resemblance to yin and yang changes are a cyclical process in which there is always balance

surfacing our assumptions about change, assessing dominant images of change, and using different images and perspectives of change

helps understanding organizational change and helps recall the relevance of the mental models, images, and assumptions we hold about it -the awareness of different models allows for understanding the change and allows managers to analyze the assumptions that are made by others in the organization

-encourages managers to reflect on whether they are dominated by certain images and on the limitations of that perspective -managers can experience stress if their change image differs from the dominating change image in the organization

take a broad look at the images and the manager gets a greater understand of changes and can adapt t different change images depending on the situation

-used image depends on the type of change: coach for a mental change and transition, navigator for transformation -used image depends on context of change: coach or interpreter when the organization is not quite ready for the change, caretaker or navigator when resistance is expected, and director if change is necessary for survival used image depends on the stage of change: caretaker for a situation where an unexpected external factor has an influence, and interpreter when the change has already developed in the process used image depends on simultaneous involvement in several changes: caretaker when a change is coming from outside the organization and director when the change comes from within