Chapter 12 Organizational Change. Why change? Psychological Impacts of Change. change is hard

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1 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is demanded by clientele citizens and customers technology is moving so quickly that today's work practices may become outdated almost overnight change is difficult for most people Either in our personal or in our work lives Psychological Impacts of Change that which is well-known and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 1

2 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 2

3 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 3

4 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 4

5 values of the organization ideas about the way in which organization ought to be ideal culture and real culture espoused 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 5

6 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? 6

7 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 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 7

8 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) 8

9 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 9

10 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 topdown 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 10

11 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 11

12 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 12