1

Diagnosis for Change

Learning Objectives

On completion of this chapter you should be able to • Understand the role of diagnostic models.
• Apply a range of diagnostic instruments relevant to various aspects of the process of managing.
• Form a view on which instruments you find most attractive/helpful.

ation of the organization as a whole.

among variables and pinpoint where change is needed when things are not going well. This chapter provides a
e external environment that they will have to take into account.
iagnosis by Image"). However, the nurturer with an interest in emergent strategy may remain unconvinced as

1 k-5 , T)rr 4 , vi- r s s~

Sourcemac.-C _
nd
0
apter 7), consultants use diagnostic tools as part of their focus on helping the client by managing process (more

work," "what causes what," and so forth, within our organizations. In this sense, diagnosis exists whether or not
bout situations that we face in our organiza?tions, how we talk about those situations, and what we deem to be
f not using a model is not a real option; the choice is whether we use one that is explicit (such as those discuss
kely to be based on the limited experience of one or a few individuals; thus, their generalizability may be uncer

mplexity of a situation where thousands of different things are "going on" more manageable by reducing that sit
 3 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change 123

he specific situation that an organization confronts; that is, one that assists thought, dis?cussion, and action in

Modeling Organizations

formance. Each model represents the particular "angle"/nuance provided by its designer/author. We have inten

d hunches into a working tool that anyone can use."5 His model is based on six variables (see Figure 5.1): 1. Pu

nce apart and weather?those seeking to improve an organization must observe relationships among the boxes
 124 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change

IGURE 5.1 The Six-Box Organizational Model

Purposes: What business are we in?

pyright ? 1976 by Marvin R. Weisbord. Used by permission of the author.

Relationships: How do we manage Leadership
conflict among people?
Does Withkeep
someone the boxes in balance?
technologies?

Helpful mechanisms: Have we adequate coordinating technologies?

Rewards: Do all needed tasks have incentives?

the variables. They characterize the factors into seven categories: structure, strategy, systems, style, staff, skil
rganization; that is, how they actually behave (consultative? decisive?) when faced with the need to act. Staff re
erest [e.g., style] ... can be at least as important as strategy and structure in orchestrating major change."10 (S
 5 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change 125

FIGURE 5.2 The 7-S Framework

Structure

Source: Waterman, Peters, and Phillips, 1980:18.

Strategy Systems

Superordinate Goals

Skills

TABLE 5.1 Applying 7S to Intuit

Source: Higgins, 2005.

for being slow to make decisions, a tendency that had seen it beaten by competitors to a number of market op

ing commitment of staff to Intuit's products by emphasizing the critical role of quality/efficiency processes in m

(Continued)
 126 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change

ream for Intuit," that provided an outline of the objectives he was setting for Intuit and what would need to be d
ating profits increase 40 to 50 percent.

capability refer to the processes, either formal or informal, that coordinate activities throughout the organizati

FIGURE 5.3 The Star Model

Strategy Vision
Direction Competitive advantage

Structure Power and authority

02 by AMACON Books. Reproduced with permission of AMACON Books in the format Textbook via Copyright Clear?ance
Reporting Center?
relationships Organizational roles

Reward Systems Goals, scorecards and metrics

Processes and Lateral Capability
Values and behaviors Compensation/rewards
Networks, processes, teams, integrative roles, matrix structures
 7 :hapter 5 Diagnosis for Change 127

FIGURE 5.4
The Star Model:
Effects of Misalignment

If strategy is missing, If the structure isn't If the development of If the metrics and If people aren't unclear, or not aligned to the coordinating mechanisms rewards don't enabled and agreed upon strategy is left to chance s

4?

CONFUSION FRICTION GRIDLOCKINTERNAL COMPETITION

ht 2002 by AMACON Books. Reproduced with permission of AMACON Books in the format Textbook via Copyright Clear?ance Center. LOW PERFORMANCE
• Inability to mobilize • Lack of collaboration • Wrong results; diffused • Effort without results
resources
• No common direction; people pulling in different across boundaries energy
directions • Low employee
• Ineffective execution; • Long decision and • Low standards satisfaction
lost opportunity for innovation cycle times

• No criteria for competitive • Frustration and turnover • Difficult to share

decision making advantage information and leverage best practices

, skills, needs, and expec?tations of the people in the organization), formal organizational arrangements (struct
d of the environment, resources, and history. Environment refers to factors outside the organization such as the

Transformation Process

GURE 5.5 Nadler and Tushman's Congruence Model

Context Output
d by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Environment Resources
History
Organization Group
Individual

Feedback
 128 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change

Congruence Model to Organizational Problem Analysis Source: Adapted by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., U

Step
1. Identify symptoms

2. Specify input
Explanation

that suggest that there3. Identify

might output
be a problem.
s of the organization's environment, resources, history, and strategy.
4. Identify problems
n both the intended organizational output and the output that is actually occurring.
ween the intended and actual outputs and the cost of this gap in terms of organizational performance.
5. Describe the organizational components
our organizational components, but in doing so recognize that not all problems have internal causes; the proble
6. Assess congruence
e between the various components of the organization (as specified in the model).
analysis to the problem identification to identify key factors needing attention.
7. Generate hypotheses
s might remove or reduce the problem.
8. Identify action steps

on process is primarily the performance of the organization, but this is mediated via the performance of both g

onal") change and those that are more likely to be the source of change that is experienced as incremental ("tr
both directions, indicating that internal organizational factors can impact the environment and not just be on

eing able to analyze organizations from the perspective of four different "frames" or "lenses," each of which pro
 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change 129

9
FIGURE 5.6 The Burke?Litwin Model

External 'E Environment L d h'

Mission and ea ers ip

Str ategy
E: THEORY AND PRACTICE by Burke. Copyright 2002 by Sage Publications Inc., Books. Reproduced with permission Culture
of Sage nagemeru
Publication
ook via Copyright Clearance Center. to Practices w Systems
Structure
(Policies and Procedures)
t t, Work Unit E
Climate

Motivation
5?
Task Requirements t-i and Individual Skills/Abilities W Individual Needs and
Values

Individual and Organizational Performance

outputs. From this perspective, the focus is on getting the correct formal design as one would find on an organi
rties, and the reverse (where fit is lacking, both suffer).
me is that it does not present "political" as necessarily equating to "bad" or "underhand." Even where superordi
 130 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change

TABLE 5.3 Diagnosis by Image Sources Adapted from Palmer and Dunford, 1996.

a metaphor or simile such as "my organization is like a well-oiled machine" (it runs very smoothly) or "my organization is a dinosaur" (it

re familiar), what metaphor or simile would you use to describe it?

hrough this image?

......................................................... .......................................................

n. However, even where people are not intentionally "holding back," they will often find it difficult to encapsula
ges" to organizational analysis18-is to ask people to describe their organization and how it operates by provid?
s then become the focal point for discussion. Indeed, they generate discussion because a natural follow-on from

Component Analysis

in which it operates. The approaches to diagnosis in this section deal with specific components within these mo

ls), social (e.g., demographic changes), technological (e.g., development of new/substitute products), environm
 11 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change 131

e future that this implies rather than rigidly documenting the status quo. Applied in this way, it can for

mer, as they constitute the everyday reality with which they will have to deal, the simulations extend
nario is a description of some future state based on a set of assumptions about what is likely to happe

TABLE 5.4 Scenario Methodology

mistic and pessimistic scenarios focus attention on how the organization might respond should the situation dev

Schoemaker, 1993. See especially Table 2.

 132 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change

ation with which you are familiar:

e of the five "key drivers" (see Table 5.4)?
ors as the building blocks of your scenarios, construct, in 100 words Construe- or less, the outline of a realistic,

on.
cessary action to meet the set objective. A second option is to suspend taking action until a direct challenge to
uestions. Agreement on the answer to the third question may be desirable, but it is not necessary as long as th

has to deal: what it is seeking to achieve and how it intends to do so. Strategy and change intersect because bo
of five elements that should be mutually reinforcing (see Table 5.5). Any misalignment between elements iden
 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change 133
13
TABLE 5.5 The Elements of Strategy
Arenas: What business will we be in?
• Which product categories?
• Which market segments?
• Which geographic areas?
• Which core technologies?
• Which value-creation stages?
2. Vehicles: How will we get there?
• Internal development?
demy of Management (NY). Reproduced
• Joint with per?mission of Academy of Management (NY) in the format Textbook via Copyright Clear?ance Center.
ventures?
• Licensing/franchising?
Acquisitions?
3. Differentiators: How will we win in the marketplace?
• Image?
• Customization?
• Price?
• Styling?
• Product reliability?
4. Staging
• Speed of expansion?
• Sequence of initiatives?
5. Economic Logic
• Lowest costs through scale advantage? Lowest costs through scope and replication advantage?
• Premium prices due to unmatchable service?
• Premium prices due to proprietary product features?

oving to this stage, it is important to test the quality of the proposed strategy. Hambrick and Fredrickson provid

omplish that mission."24 These assumptions, premises, and beliefs, often formed over time through experience
 134 Chapter 5 Diagnosis Jor Change

E 5.6 'Testing the Quality of Your Strategy

Key Evaluation Criteria

1. Does your strategy fit with what's going on in the environment?
1.1 Is there a healthy profit potential where you're headed?

1.2 Does strategy align with the key success factors of your chosen environment.

2. Does your strategy exploit your key resources?

2.1 With your particular mix of resources, does this strategy give you a good head start on your competitors?
my of Management (NY). Reproduced with per?mission of Academy of Management (NY) in the format Textbook via Copyright Clear?ance
2.2 Can you pursue this strategy more economically than competitors?

3. Will your envisaged differentiators be sustainable?

3.1 Will competitors have difficulty matching you?
3.2 If not, does your strategy explicitly include a ceaseless regimen of innovation and opportunity creation?
4. Are the elements of your strategy internally consistent?
4.1 Have you made choices of arenas, vehicles, differentiators, staging, and economic logic?
4.2 Do they all fit and mutually reinforce each other?
5. Do you have enough resources to pursue this strategy?
5.1 Do you have the money, managerial time and talent, and other capabilities to do all you envision?
5.2 Are you sure you're not spreading your resources too thinly, only to be left with a collection of weak positions?
6. Is your strategy implementable?
6.1 Will your key constituencies allow you to pursue this strategy? 6.2 Can your organization make it through the transiti
6.3 Are you and your management team able and willing to lead the required changes?

drift."25
le?ments of the business environment. It also assists in identifying whether the strategy of the organization ma
?sus on assumptions. Where consensus is found, the emphasis should move to its indepen?dent validation. Whe
 15
Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change 135 TABLE 5.7 The Im
Source: Picken and Dess, 1998.

echnology, which was expected to provide performance competitive with the lower end of the business jet mark

uel, which meant more weight, which necessitated redesign, and on and on. Eventually, the Starship made it to

OT analysis is that it very easily becomes a listing not of strengths but "believed strengths," not of weaknesses

ion, some diagnostic models can be too abstract; something that makes the issues very concrete achieves a cl

rovide a characterization of organizational culture, including Robert Quinn's "competing values model" 26 and th
 136 Chapter 5 Diagnosis Jor Change

TABLE 5.8 The Strategic Inventory

Source: Picken and Dess, 1998, Exhibit I.

• What are the key factors of production? Who are the suppliers? Are we dependent on a limited number of so
• What are the bases for competition in our industry? What are the key success factors? How do we measure u
market?
• WhatWhat products-services
trends doexternal
and factors in the we provide?
environment are important to our industry? How are they likely to ch
the difference between them?
• Are we able, in assessing our knowledge and assumptions, to clearly separate fact from assumption?
makes one firm a competitor and the other not?
Is our assumption set internally consistent?
dustry? Where
• For each pairisofthe value added?
assumptions, can we answer "yes" to the question: "If assumption A is true, does assumptio
Do we understand the relative importance of each of our assumptions?
hat customer?
• In terms of How does heimpact
its potential or she on
perceive us? What kind of relationships do we have?
performance?
tant
• In to this end
terms user?
of our levelHow does he orin
of confidence sheitsperceive
validity? us? What kind of relationship do we have?
nesses? Howofdo
• In terms they
the perceive
likelihood us?expectation
and What can we learn from change?
of near-term them?
ges
• Ininterms
the environment or their
of its strategic behavior would make them competitors?
impact?
hat is the cost structure? How does our firm compare? How about our competitors?
Are our key assumptions broadly understood?
hnologies? Production technologies? Delivery and service technologies? How does our firm compare? How abou
• Have we documented and communicated our key assumptions? To our key managers? To the boundary-spanners? To other key employe
Do we have a process for reviewing and validating our key assumptions and premises?
• Is there a process in place? Are responsibilities assigned? Are periodic reviews planned and scheduled?
 17 Chapter 5 Diagnosis.for- Change 137

Fortune
A date five years in the future
YOURCORP Enters the List of America's Ten Most Admired Companies
ost admired companies. The list rep?resents the results of a survey of the CEOs and CFOs of America's 1,000 largest companies. The big

cording to three key indicators: ................................................................................

2 ................................................................................

1..................................................
2..................................................
3 ???????????..???????.................................................................................

kable position? When interviewed, CEO Jessie White said, "This is something that we have been working towards for the past five years.
.....................
2 ................................................................................

2..................................................

3..................................................

ntifying the key changes in the business environment. These were used as a basis for generating a strategic dialogue within the compan

??????????????..
?????????????????.

rough this dialogue, YOURCORP had produced a clear sense of what its strategic objectives had to be over the five year period. These o

1...............................................................................

2..................................................

3..................................................

(continued)
 138 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change

TABLE 5.9 Newsflash-(concluded)

om one long-standing YOURCORP customer said, "We're with them for the long haul." He pointed to the aspects of the company's mode
.....
..................................................
2................................................................................................................................
3.................................................................................

anies. "However," she said, "as soon as I joined YOURCORP, I really noticed the difference. The place felt like a leading-edge company." W
..................................................
2................................................................................................................................
3..............................................................................

..................................................

or managers in YOURCORP. Each was asked to identify the one thing that, more than anything else, made the company stand out from

...............................................................................
..................................................

viewed several staff who had been with YOURCORP for five years or more. What was it that had made them stay? A consistent set of res
..................................................
.......................................................
2 ................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

Gerry Johnson describes the culture of an organization using the concept of the "cul?tural web" (see Fi
The web comprises seven elements:28

set of assumptions commonly held throughout the organization in regard to basic elements of the business such as what business we're
tines (in regard to how organizational members treat each other and, perhaps even more importantly, associated beliefs as to what is
 19 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change 139

FIGURE 5.7 The Cultural Web

Source: Adapted by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.

ganization members that, as a form of oral history, communicate and reinforce core elements of the culture.
os, office design, dress style, and language use that convey aspects of the culture.
ch, through what they measure and reward, communicate what is valued by the organization.
ich refer to the most influential management groupings in the organization.
ure, which refers to the nature of the formal and informal differ?entiation and integration of tasks within the organization.

mapping" the culture of an organization is described by Gerry Johnson: 29

ich is taken for granted can be a useful way of questioning what is nor?mally rarely questioned. If no one ever questions what is taken f
ts of organizational culture it may be possible to see where barriers to change exist.
sible to see where there are linkages in the aspects of organizational culture which are especially resistant to change.
tional culture can also provide a basis for examining the changes that need to occur to deliver a new strategy.
e used to consider whether such changes can be managed. In this way practical ideas for implementing strategic change can be develop
 140 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change

hout easy answers." 31 Bolman and Deal identify six such dilemmas.32
he product or service experienced by the customer.
y or by default through ambiguity in instructions, the situation can easily become one where there is wasted effort and/or conflict.

. However, if job descriptions are very specific and either rigidly enforced or rigidly followed, a major source of organizational flexibility

ake into account a "shifting paradigm for organizational success" that positions speed, flexibility, integration, and innovation as the "new
ierar?chies of organizations; horizontal boundaries exist between organizational units (e.g.,
 21 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change 141

TABLE 5.10 Diagnosing Structural Dilemmas

Source: Created from Bolman and Deal, 2003:69-72.

..............6.......................... 7 Roles are not clear enough Roles are too narrowly defined

ies are those between the organization and the "outside world" (e.g., customers and suppliers); and geographic boundaries are those b
stic instrument for testing the current state of "boundary?lessness" of an organization across all four boundaries, while Table 5.12 looks

Diagnosing Readiness to Change

 142 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change

TABLE 5.11 How Boundaryless Is Your Organization?

Source: Ashkenas et at.. 1995:28-29. Copyright ?? 1995 Jossey-Bass. Reprinted with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc

16 statements describe the behavior of boundaryless organizations. Assess the extent to which each statement characterizes your curr

true at all) to 5 (very true).

Innovation Total Score

Speed
Vertical Most decisions are Boundary made on the spot
by those closest to
Flexibility Managers at all levels routinely take on frontline responsibilities as well as broad stra?tegic assignments. 1 2 3 4
the work, and they
are acted on in
hours rather than New ideas are screened and decided on without fancy overheads and multiple
weeks. 12345
12345

Horizontal New products or Boundary Ad hoc

services areteams
get? -representing various
ting
Integration to market at an stakeholders spontaneously form to explore new ideas.
increasingly
Key problems 1 2 3 4whose
are tackled by multi?level teams 5 members operate with little regard to formal rank in the organiz
1Resources
2 3fast quickly, frequently, and effortlessly shift between centers of expertise and operating units.
4 5 pace.
1 2 13 24 35 4 5

Routine work gets done through end?to-end process teams; other work is handled by proj?ect teams drawn from share
12345

Supplier and customer reps are key players in teams tackling strategic
initiatives.
External
1 2 3 4 5Customer requests, Boundary complaints,
and needs are
There areanticipated and
standard Strategic resources and key
responded to
product platforms, common in Suppliers and customers are regular prolific contributors of new product
managers are often "on loan" to customers and suppliers.
practices,real
andtime.
shared centers
12345 of experience 1 2 3
across 4 5
countries.
1 2 3 4 51 2 3 4 5
Business
Geographic Best practices leaders rotate
are Boundary regularly between
disseminated country operations.
andideas
12345 New product are evaluated for viability beyond the country where
leveraged quickly 12345
across country
operations.
12345

d outcome usually being successful implementation). As a result, a prechange audit of the readiness o

1. Rate each statement.

column.
ore of 12 or less for any "success factor" or boundary measurement suggests that that particular factor needs attention; a score of 16+

Too often

Sometimes
 1. Slow response time
1
2
3
23 4
Chapter 5 Diagnosis /or Change 143

5
TABLE 5.12 How Healthy6 Is Your Organization's Hierarchy?
1.7Hierarchy
Speed
Healthy
Source: Ashkenas et al., 1995:59-60. Copyright n 1995 Jossey-Bass. Reprinted with permission of John Wiley & Sons. Inc.
High
8
Medium
9
Part 1: Success Factors Traditional Hierarchy
Low
10 closely held at top.
Information
Instructions: Determine how critical the four new 2.2.paradigm
Flexibility
Rigidity to success
change factors are in your organization, circling High, Medium, or Low fo
1
High
1
2
Medium
2
3
Low
3
4
3.4 Integration
5
High
5
6
Medium
6
7
Part 2: Red Flags Low
7
8
Instructions: Evaluate how often the 4.
8 Innovation
following five danger signs appear in your organization, circling a number from 1 (too often) to 10 (se
9
High
9
10
Medium
10 widely shared.
Information
Low
3. Underground activity
Authority to make decisions
centralized 1 at top.
2
3
1 4
2 5
3 6
4 7
5 8
6 9
7 10
8 4. Internal employee frustration
9 1
of Vertical Boundaries 10 2
ssess where your company stands today on Authority the four3dimensions
to make decisions distributed
of information, to wherever
authority, appropriate.
competence, and rewards, circling a number
4
Competence 5 specialized and
focused;6people do one job.
7
1 8
2 9
3 10
4 5. Customer alienation
5 1
6 2
7 3
8 4
a company's managers complete the questionnaire (individually), 5 they should hold a group forum to discuss the following questions:
9
ization's success that we loosen our vertical10 6
boundaries? In other words, do we really need to operate faster and more flexibly?
7
current? Which ones are most worrisome? Competence widespread; people do multiple tasks as needed.
8
rtical profile dragging us down and causing us problems? 9
archy, which dimensions are strongest? Where Rewards
do we10 based on position.
most need to change in order to be more successful?
1
rtical boundaries? Where would we like to be on each of the four dimensions in the next year or two; that is, what profile do we need to
2
3
4
5
'Ashkenas et al., 1995:61.
6
7
8
9
10
Rewards based on skills and
accomplishments.
 144 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change

TABLE 5.13 Readiness for Change

Source: Stewart, 1994:106-10. Copyright ?C) 1994 Time, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sponsorship. The sponsor of change is not necessarily its day-to-day leader; he or she is

the visionary, chief cheerleader, and bill payer-the person with the power to help the team
confident of our skills here."); two for a medium score ("We're spotty here; we could use improvement or more experience."); and one p
change when it meets resistance. Give three points-change will be easier-if sponsorship

comes at a senior level; for example, CEO, COO, or the head of an autonomous business

unit. Weakest sponsors: midlevel executives or staff officers.

Leadership. This means the day-to-day leadership-the people who call the meetings, set
Low = 1
the goals, work until midnight. Successful change is more likely if leadership is high level, has
Category
Score
"ownership" (that is, direct responsibility for what's to be changed), and has clear business

results in mind. Low-level leadership, or leadership that is not well-connected throughout the

organization (across departments) or that comes from the staff, is less likely to succeed and

should be scored low.

Motivation. High points for a strong sense of urgency from senior management, which is

shared by the rest of the company, and for a corporate culture that already emphasizes

continuous improvement. Negative: tradition-bound managers and workers, many of whom

have been in their jobs for more than 15 years; a conservative culture that discourages risk

taking.

Direction. Does senior management strongly believe that the future should look different from

the present? How clear is management's picture of the future? Can management mobilize all

relevant parties-employees, the board, customers, etc.-for action? High points for positive

answers to those questions. If senior management thinks only minor change is needed, the

likely outcome is no change at all; score yourself low.

Measurements. Or in consultant-speak, "metrics." Three points if you already use

performance measures of the sort encouraged by total quality management (defect rates,

time to market, etc.) and if these express the economics of the business. Two points if some

measures exist, but compensation and reward systems do not explicitly reinforce them. If you
(continued)
don't have measures in place or don't know what we're talking about, one point.

Organizational context. How does the change effort connect to other major goings-on in

the organization? (For example: Does it dovetail with a continuing total quality management

process? Does it fit with strategic actions such as acquisitions or new product lines?) Trouble

lies ahead for a change effort that is isolated or if there are multiple change efforts whose

relationships are not linked strategically.

 25 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change 145

TABLE 5.13 Readiness for Change-(continued)

s purchasing, accounts payable, or marketing. If functional executives are rigidly turf conscious, change will be difficult. Give yourself m

(continued)
 146 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change

estions; it is clear where decisions are made. Give yourself a low grade if decisions come slowly and are made by a mysterious "them";

us resources on lagging factors (your ones

you have low scores in the first seven readiness dimensions. Bring those up to speed before attempting to implement large-scale chang
hout a precipitating catastrophe. Focus instead on (1) building change readiness in the dimensions above and (2) effecting change throu
hey seem highI
27 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change 147
2. History of change (Does the organization have a good track record handling change?)
TABLE 5.14 Support for Change Questionnaire
Source: Maurer, 1996:104-105. 1
2
3
4 Total
3. Cooperation and trust (Do they seem high throughout
Score the organization)
5
6
7 1
Low 2
3
4
4. Culture (is it one that supports risk taking and change?)
5
6
71
HighLow
2
3
5. Resilience (Can people 4 handle more)
5
6
17
High
2Low
3
4
5
6
1 7
2 Low
High
gurability" (see Table 5.16).37 3
the individual's beliefs in regard to four factors are central: (1) their own capability
4 to implement the proposed change, (2) the appropria
5
6
7
LowHigh
2 3 4

Low High 8. Status quo (Will this change be seen as mild?)

/
High 6

are those individuals or groups, inside or outside the organization, who have the capacity to influence, directly or indirectly, the success

e over the organization.

hange in question. 2. Assess each stakeholder's capacity to influence the particular change being proposed
tions, are reported. While attitudes are worth(e.g., rate as high,
knowing?and maymedium,
alert thelow).
change team to a potential problem-those expressing support
3. Check each stakeholder's "track record," particularly in regard to comparable issues.
 148 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change

TABLE 5.15 Working with the Support for Change Questionnaire

Source: Maurer, 1996.

organization about the degree of support that exists for the change.

duct the meeting in a nonthreatening atmosphere and encourage people to explain why they scored the way they did.
and the subsequent discussion, consider the implications for the proposed change; for example, do you need to do more (and if so what

akeholder interest against stakeholder power (see Figure 5.8). In this model, specific action is advocated based on the categorization of
ons be addressed:40

ation to change the balance? • Can any oppositional stakeholders be encouraged to leave?
ers be increased?
ders be decreased?

meets concerns without undermining the change?

uld the proposal be revisited?
anager to be much better informed as to the likely reception to the change among key stakeholders and, on this basis, steps can be tak

Item
1
2
3
4
LEVEL OF INTEREST
Low 5 High
FIGURE 5.8 The Power?Interest
Active Matrix
Leadership

A
Source: Adapted by Low permission of Pearson B
Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. Minimal effort
Keep informed
C
ThePOWER
executive team believes that organization
D
design is a source of
Keep satisfied
Key players

High

competitive advantage.

When strategy discussions are held, organization design is considered

one of your strategic elements.

 29 Chapter 5 Diagnosis /or Change 149

components is aligned with the strategy.

TABLE 5.16 How Reconfigurable Is Your Organization?

Source: DESIGNING DYNAMIC ORGANIZATIONS by Galbraith. Copyright 2002 by AMACON Books. Reproduced with permission of AMACON Books in the format Textbook via Copyright C

Knowledge Management
nds to change. This tool is for use with an executive team.
ve leadership, knowledge management, learning, flexibility, integration, employee commitment, and change readiness. Each of these

e statement. Then, total your scores. Strongly Disagree

People have easy access to all the information they need to make
Strongly Agree

decisions on behalf of customers.

Technology and HR practices allow for rapid collection and dissemi-

Item
1
2
nation of information. 3
4
5
Integration

The organization has mechanisms in place for converting information

Assignments and career paths for high performers are designed to

into useable knowledge for innovation, best practices, and organiza-

promote cross-functional skills, broaden interpersonal networks, and

tional learning.

provide exposure to senior management.

(continued)
Learning

Specialists are available to the entire organization through either

People are selected for their learning aptitude.

special assignment or career paths.

Performance metrics and feedback allow employees to measure their

Managers are moved between organizational units, not just upward

 performance against internal and external standards and share in the

in their own unit, for promotions and development.

150 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change

TABLE 5.16 Howresponsibility for increasing

Reconfigurable their own capabilities.
Is Your Organization?-(concluded)

Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree

Employee Commitment

The organization uses a wide variety of methods in addition to train-

Employees are provided with the opportunity to develop job-related

ing to support learning.

skills and are rewarded for developing skills that increase their value

Flexibility

to the organization.

Employees are skilled at working in teams.

Employees have the tools, systems, information, and skills to deliver

excellence to internal and external customers.

Employees actively recommend the company as a good place to

imilarly, higher numbers are strengths you can build on going forward. Continue to use this tool when questions arise as to how flexibly
work.

Change Readiness

Em loyees understand the strategy and goals of the organization.

Employees understand the rationale for the current organization

 31 Chapter 5 Diagnosis for Change 151
Your overall organizational culture, vision, and values support

organizational change and innovation.

hose work?ing against the change are restraining forces.

e Figure 5.9).
trength of each factor by using a consistent format (e.g., numbers, as in Figure 5.9, or thickness of the arrow).

uc?cessfully implemented?) and the sources of greatest restraint (useful to know if on bal?ance the change looks like it is not succeedin

RESTRAINING
FIGURE 5.9 Force-Field Diagram
FORCES

PROGRESS

DRIVING
002 by Sage Publications Inc. Reproduced with permission of Sage FORCES
Publication Inc. Books in the format Textbook via Copyright Clear?ance Center.

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FORCES

Implement curnc ism *A e al and tp• eCo fif

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