Managing Organizational Change

A Multiple Perspective Approach

Third Edition

Chapter 2
Images of
Change
Management

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 Learning Objectives

• Images of Managing Change

• Images of Change Outcomes
• Images of Change Managers:
- Director
- Coach
- Navigator
- Interpreter
- Caretaker
- Nurturer
• Three Core Uses of the Images

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The use that different authors make of the
terms change agent, change manager, and
change leader
• Some commentators argue that the distinction
between change managers and change leaders is
clear and significant.
• We have argued that in practice these two roles
are closely intertwined. This is a semantic
squabble that is not worth arguing about.
• The term change agent traditionally refers to an
external consultant or adviser, and that role is
still common.t
• he term today is used more loosely, to refer to
internal as well as external change agents.

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The importance of organizational
images and mental models
• The images or mental models that we all have provide us
with ways of understanding the world around us.
• While these images are useful, we have to appreciate that
“ways of seeing” are also “ways of not seeing.”
• Focusing on specific attributes of a situation of necessity
means overlooking other attributes—which may sometimes
be important.
• Change managers approach their task with an image of the
organization, an image of the change process, and an
image of their role in change.
• These mental models—our “images-in-use”—have
profound implications for change management practice.

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 Images of Managing Change

• Controlling…
– Top-down view of management
– Fayol’s theory of management: planning,
organizing, commanding, coordinating and
controlling.
• Shaping…
– Participative style of management
– Improving the capabilities of people within the
organization
– people are encouraged to be involved in
decisions and to help identify how things can
be done better
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 Images of Change Outcomes
• Intended Change:
– Change is a result of planned action
– This can be achieved through three broad strategies: empirical
rational strategies, normative-re-educative strategies, and
power coercive strategies.
• Partially Intended Change:
– a discrepancy between the change that is planned and that
which occurred. some, but not all, change intentions are
achievable
– Change may need to be re-modified after it is initially
implemented
• Unintended Change:
– Forces beyond the control of the change manager
– influence the outcomes of change and these can impede any
attempts to achieve intended change
– internal or external factors that prevail over the impact of the
change
Copyright manager
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Images of Change Managers (1 of 6)

Images of Images of
Managing Managing
Controlling . . Shaping . . .
. (activities) (capabilities)
Images of
Change Intended DIRECTOR COACH
Outcomes
Images of
Change Partially
NAVIGATOR INTERPRETER
Outcomes Intended

Images of
Change Unintended CARETAKER NURTURER
Outcomes

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Images of Change Managers (2 of 6)

• Director
– Based on an image of management as control
and of change outcomes as being achievable.
– It is up to the change manager to direct the
organization in particular ways in order to
produce the required change
– Assumption – change is a strategic choice
– An optimistic view that intentional change can
be achieved– as long as the change manager
follows the correct steps that need to be taken
– Supported by the n-step models and
contingency theory.
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Images of Change Managers (2 of 6)

• Coach
– The assumption is that change managers are
able to intentionally shape the organization’s
capabilities in particular ways
– Relies upon building in the right set of values,
skills and “drills” that are deemed to be the
best ones to be drawn upon in order to achieve
desired organizational outcomes.
– Traditional organizational development (OD)
theory reinforces the manager as coach image.

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Images of Change Managers (3 of 6)

• Navigator
– Control is the heart of management action, although a
variety of external factors mean that managers may
achieve some intended change outcomes and others will
occur over which they have little control.
– Outcomes are at least partially emergent/controllable
– The change unfolds differently over time and according
to the context in which the organization finds itself
– Change managers are urged to incorporate bottom-up
involvement of staff in their approach
– Supported by the contextualist and processual theories
of change.

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Images of Change Managers (4 of 6)

• Interpreter
– The manager creates meaning for other organizational
members, helping them to make sense of various
organizational events and actions.
– Only some of these meanings are realized as change
outcomes.
– Managers “need to be able to provide legitimate
arguments and reasons for why their actions fit within
the situation and should be viewed as legitimate”
– Better change managers are those who are able to
dominate stories and understandings about the meaning
of a specific change
– Supported by the sense-making theory of organizational
change
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Images of Change Managers (5 of 6)

• Caretaker
– The ideal image of management is still one of
control
– The manager’s control is severely impeded by a
variety of internal and external forces beyond
their scope. The caretaker shepherds their
organizations along as best they can.
– Supported by life-cycle, population-ecology and
institutional theories.

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Images of Change Managers (6 of 6)

• Nurturer
– Even small changes may have a large impact on
organizations and managers are not able to control the
outcome of these changes but may nurture their
organizations.
– Manager facilitates organizational qualities that enable
positive self-organizing to occur.
– Specific change outcomes cannot be controlled but
rather they are shaped and emerge by the organizational
qualities and capabilities
– change is non-linear, fundamental rather than
incremental, and does not necessarily entail growth
– Related to chaos and Confucian/ Taoist theories.

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Three Core Uses of the Images

These six images of change managers have three core

uses:
– Surfacing Our Assumptions about Change:
They highlight a variety of assumptions that
change managers make about change and
increase the awareness of different interpretations
of change.
– Assessing Dominant Images of
Change:They draw attention to the dominant
images of change within an organization.
– Using Multiple Images and Perspectives
of Change:They highlight a range of
perspectives available to change managers.
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Three Core Uses of the Images

• There are no “right” and “wrong” images of

change management.
• It is valuable to be able to interpret problems
and solutions in general, and change processes
in particular, from different standpoints.
• This “multiple perspectives” approach can help
generate fresh thinking and creative solutions.

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