Management of Change

Teacher: AA

Lecture 03

Forms of Change
Levin’s Theory of Change
Organization Development

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 Levin's Force-Field Theory of
Change
 Theory of change which argues that
two sets of opposing forces within an
organization determine how change
will take place
 Forces for change and forces making
organizations resistant to change
 When forces for and against change are
equal, the organization is in a state of
inertia
 To change an organization, managers
must increase forces for change and
decrease forces resisting change
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Levin's Force-Field Theory of
Change

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Evolutionary and Revolutionary
Change in Organizations
 Evolutionary change: change that
is gradual, incremental, and narrowly
focused
 Revolutionary change: change
that is sudden, drastic, and broadly
focused

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Developments in Evolutionary
Change
 Sociotechnical systems theory: a
theory that proposes the importance of
changing role and task or technical
relationships to increase organizational
effectiveness
 Managers must fit or “jointly optimize” the
workings of an organization’s technical
and social systems
 Managers need to be sensitive to the fact
that the way they structure the work
process affects the way people and
groups behave
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Developments in Evolutionary
Change (cont.)
 Total quality management (TQM):
an ongoing and constant effort by all
of an organization’s functions to find
new ways to improve the quality of the
organization’s goods and services
 Quality circles: groups of workers who
meet regularly to discuss the way work is
performed in order to find new ways to
increase performance
 Changing cross-functional relationships is
very important to TQM
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Developments in Evolutionary
Change (cont.)
 Flexible workers: employees who
have acquired and developed the skills
to perform any of the tasks necessary
for assembling a range of finished
goods
 Compensation frequently tied to the
number of different tasks that a person
can perform
 Workers can substitute for one another

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Developments in Evolutionary
Change (cont.)
 Flexible work teams: a group of
workers who assume responsibility for
performing all the operations
necessary for completing a specified
stage in the manufacturing process
 Team members jointly assign tasks and
transfer workers from one task to another
 Manager’s role is to facilitate the team’s
activities

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Use of Flexible Work Teams to
Assemble Cars

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 Developments in
Revolutionary Change
 Reengineering: involves rethinking
and redesigning business processes to
increase organizational effectiveness
 Instead of focusing on an organization’s
functions, the managers of a
reengineered organization focus on
business processes
 Business process: any activity that cuts
across functional boundaries and which is
vital to the quick delivery of goods and
services, or that promotes high quality or low
costs

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Developments in
Revolutionary Change (cont.)
 Reengineering (cont.)
 Deliberately ignores the existing
arrangement of tasks, roles, and work
activities
 Guidelines for performing reengineering
successfully include:
 Organize around outcomes, not tasks
 Have those who use the output of the
process perform the process
 Decentralize decision making to the point
where the decision is made
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Improving Integration in
Functional Structure

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 Developments in
Revolutionary Change (cont.)
 E-engineering: refers to companies’ attempts to
use information systems to improve their
performance
 Restructuring: changing task and authority
relationships and redesigning organizational
structure and culture to improve organizational
effectiveness
 Downsizing: the process of streamlining the
organizational hierarchy and laying off managers
and workers to reduce bureaucratic costs
 Rightsizing: Matching workforce requirement
to the available workload and tasks.

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Developments in
Revolutionary Change (cont.)
 Innovation: the process by which
organizations use their skills and
resources to:
 Create new technologies
 Develop new goods and services
 Better respond to the needs of their
customers

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Managing Change: Action
Research
 Action research: a strategy
(developed by Kurt Lewin) for
generating and acquiring knowledge
that managers can use to define an
organization’s desired future state
 Used to plan a change program that
allows the organization to reach that
state

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Managing Change: Action
Research
Lewin's description of the process of
change involves three steps :
• "Unfreezing": Faced with a dilemma or
disconfirmation, the individual or group
becomes aware of a need to change.
• "Changing": The situation is diagnosed
and new models of behavior are explored
and tested.
• "Refreezing": Application of new behavior
is evaluated, and if reinforcing, adopted.

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Levin's Three-Step Change
Process

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Action research is depicted as a cyclical process of
change. The cycle begins with a series of planning
actions initiated by the client and the change agent
working together.

In the language of systems theory, this is the input

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The second stage of action research is the action, or
transformation, phase.
As shown in Figure , feedback at this stage would move via
Feedback Loop A and would have the effect of altering
previous planning to bring the learning activities of the client
system into better alignment with change objectives.
Included in this stage is action-planning activity carried out
jointly by the consultant and members of the client system.
Following the workshop or learning sessions, these action
steps are carried out on the job as part of the
transformation stage.

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The third stage of action research is the output, or
results, phase.
Data are again gathered from the client system so
that progress can be determined and necessary
adjustments in learning activities can be made.
Minor adjustments of this nature can be made in
learning activities via Feedback Loop B . Major
adjustments and reevaluations, via Feedback Loop C,
would return the OD project to the first, or planning,
stage for basic changes in the program. 

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Steps in Action Research

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Managing Change: Action
Research (cont.)
 Steps in action research
1. Diagnosing the organization
 Recognize problems and need to solve
problems
 Gap perceived between actual and desired
performance
 A complex process to distinguish
between symptoms and causes
2. Determining the desired future state
 A difficult planning process

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Managing Change: Action
Research (cont.)
 Steps in action research (cont.)
3. Implementing action
 Identify impediments to change
 Decide who will be responsible for
making the changes and controlling the
change process
 External change agents: people who are
outside consultants who are experts in
managing change
 Internal change agents: managers from
within the organization who are
knowledgeable about the situation to be
changed
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Managing Change: Action
Research (cont.)
 Steps in action research (cont.)
3. Implementing action (cont.)
 Decide which specific change strategy
will most effectively unfreeze, change,
and refreeze the organization
 Top-down change: change that is
implemented by managers at a high level
in the organization
 Bottom-up change: change that is
implemented by employees at low levels in
the organization and gradually rises until it
is felt throughout the organization
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Managing Change: Action
Research
 Steps in action research (cont.)
4. Evaluating the action
 Evaluating the action that has been taken and
assessing the degree to which the changes
have accomplished the desired objectives
5. Institutionalizing action research (Make the
change stick)
 Necessary at all levels of management
 Members at all levels must be rewarded for
their efforts

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