425.CH. 10

Managing Change
7th edition
Chapter 10
Developments in change
management
Emergence challenges
Emergent change as OD
strikes back
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Emergent change (1 of 3)
• Open-ended process
• Adjusting to changing external environment
• Bottom-up
• Unpredictable
• Cannot be pre-planned
• Learning process
• No universal rules.
Emergent change (2 of 3)
‘The recurring story is one of autonomous initiatives that
bubble up internally;
continuous emergent change; steady learning from both
failure and success;
strategy implementation that is replaced by strategy
making;
the appearance of innovations that are unplanned,
unforeseen and unexpected;
and small actions that have surprisingly large
consequences’.
(Weick, 2000: 225)
Advantages of Emergent change
1. ‘…sensitivity to local contingencies;
2. suitability for on-line real-time experimentation,
learning, and sensemaking;
3. comprehensibility and manageability;
4. likelihood of satisfying needs for autonomy, control,
and expression;
5. proneness to swift implementation;
6. resistance to unravelling; ability to exploit existing
tacit knowledge;
(Weick, 2000: 227)
Emergent change
Successful change is less dependent on detailed plans
and projections than on reaching an understanding of
the complexity of the issues concerned and identifying
the range of available options.
Pettigrew
(1997)
Pettigrew’s five guiding principles of
processual research
Source: Pettigrew (1997: 340).
Power and politics
‘In managing these transitions practitioners need to be
aware of: the importance of power politics within
organizations as a determinant of the speed, direction
and character of change;
The enabling and constraining properties of the type and
scale of change being introduced; and the influence of
the internal and external context on the pathways and
outcomes of change on new work arrangements.…’
(Dawson, 1994: 180–2)
Pugh’s four principles for understanding
change
Source: Pugh (1993: 109–10).
The role of managers (1 of 2)
• Decision-making: this includes intuition and vision, the
ability to gather and utilise information, understanding
the practical and political consequences of decisions, the
ability to overcome resistance, the skill to understand
and synthesise conflicting views and to be able to
empathise with different groups.
• Coalition-building: this comprises the skills necessary

to gain the support and resources necessary to
implement decisions.
The role of managers (2 of 2)
• Achieving action: this includes handling opposition,
motivating people, providing support and building self-
esteem.
• Maintaining momentum and effort: this involves team-

building, generating ownership, sharing information and
problems, providing feedback, trusting people and
energising staff.
(Carnall, 2003: 125–6)
Contingency (1 of 2)
‘A system has an identity that sets it apart from its environment

and is capable of preserving that identity within a given range of
environmental scenarios. Systems exist within a hierarchy of
other systems. They contain subsystems and exist within some
wider system. All are interconnected’.
(Stickland, 1998: 14)
Figure 10.2
The determinants of successful change
Managing the political dynamics of change
Source: Senior (2002).
Ten Commandments for executing change
Source: Kanter et al (1992: 382–3).
The Emergent approach (1 of 3)
Summary
• Change is not a linear process but a continuous,
open-ended and unpredictable process
• It involves experimentation, adaptation and risk
taking.
• Small- and medium-sized changes lead to
wholesale transformation.
• Change is not an analytical–rational process.
Instead, key change decisions evolve over time
and are the outcome of political and cultural
processes in organisations.
Summary
• Managers must foster a climate of learning and
experimentation.
• Managers must create a collective vision for the
organisation.
• The key organisational processes are:
– Information-gathering
– Communication
– Learning.
Criticisms
• ‘One best way’.
• It assumes all organisations are the same.
• It overfocused on power and politics.
• Culture is treated as malleable.
• It ignores managerial resistance.
• It ignores choice.
• It ignores ethical issues.
• It is strong on analysis and weak on practice.

425.CH. 10

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

425.CH. 10

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Managing Change

Source: Pettigrew (1997: 340).

Source: Pugh (1993: 109–10).

• Coalition-building: this comprises the skills necessary

• Maintaining momentum and effort: this involves team-

‘A system has an identity that sets it apart from its environment

Source: Senior (2002).

Source: Kanter et al (1992: 382–3).

You might also like