ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE (4TH ED.)Barbara Senior & Stephen Swailes

Chapter 2: the nature of organizational change

LEARNING OBJECTIVESBy the end of this chapter, you will be able to: describe and discuss the multi-dimensional

nature of organizational change; analyze change situations in terms of the

different types of change experienced; explain limitations to the ‘common-sense’

approach to managing change arising from cultural, political and leadership influences;

critically evaluate the theoretical perspectives relating to the types of change that organizations experience.

TYPES OF CHANGE

PACE AND SCOPE OF CHANGE

FOUR TYPES OF CHANGE

FINE-TUNING TO CORPORATE TRANSFORMATIONDefining the scale of changeScale type 1: Fine tuningScale type 2: Incremental adjustmentScale type 3: Modular transformationScale type 4: Corporate transformation

PREDICTABLE CHANGE

A TYPICAL LIFECYCLE PATTERNIllustration 2.8

1. The entrepreneurial stage2. The collective stage3. The formalization stage4. The elaboration stage

COMPLEXITY THEORY

1. Chaos Theory2. Dissipative Theory3. Complex Adaptive Systems

Three implications of applying complexity theory to organizations:4. Need more democracy in equalization of

power5. A continuous approach based on self-

organization to improving products and process

6. Need the presence of order-generating rutles.

DIAGNOSING CHANGE SITUATIONSLooking for breakpoints: Typical indicators Competitors Customers Distributors SuppliersWhen several of these are in place, all that is needed is a player, or event, to trigger the breakpoint.

DIAGNOSING CHANGE SITUATIONSLooking for breakpoints: DivergenceDivergence is more difficult to anticipate because it is based on new offering that does not yet exist. If the following are in place, the industry is ready for a new offering that breaks with the past.Customers: restless customersNew entrants: restless customers attract new

entrantsCompetitors: experiment with new offerings or

look elsewhere for profitsSuppliers: new resources and technology a source

of divergent breakpointDistributors: lag behind because they have to

adapt to the new offering

DIAGNOSING CHANGE SITUATIONS

DIAGNOSING CHANGE SITUATIONS

DIAGNOSING CHANGE SITUATIONSHard (difficult) and soft (messy) problems

Difficulties are bounded

Messes are unbounded