Introduction: Why Does Change Fail, and What Can We Do About It?

Scratching beneath the surface: How organisational culture influences curricular reform

INTRODUCTION

Curricular reform is often proposed as the means to improve medical education and training. However, reform itself may not lead to noticeable change, possibly because the influence of organisational culture on change is given insufficient attention. We used a national reform of early-years surgical training as a natural opportunity to examine the interplay between organisational culture and change in surgical education. Our specific research question was: in what ways did organisational culture influence the implementation of Improving Surgical Training (IST)?

METHODS

This is a qualitative study underpinned by social constructivism. Interviews were conducted with core surgical trainees (n = 46) and their supervising consultants (n = 25) across Scotland in 2020-2021. Data coding and analysis were initially inductive. The themes indicated the importance of many cultural factors as barriers or enablers to IST implementation. We therefore carried out a deductive, secondary data analysis using Johnson's (1988) cultural web model to identify and examine the different elements of organisational culture and their impact on IST.

RESULTS

The cultural web enabled a detailed understanding of how organisational culture influenced IST implementation as per Johnson's six elements-Rituals and Routines (e.g. departmental rotas), Stories (e.g. historical training norms and culture), Symbols (e.g. feedback mechanisms, visibility and value placed on education), Power Structures (e.g. who has the power in local contexts), Organisational Structures (e.g. relationships and accountability) and the Control System (e.g. consultant job plans and service targets)-and how these interact. However, it did not shed light on the influence of exogenous events on change.

CONCLUSION

Our data reveal cultural reasons why this curricular reform met with varying degrees of success across different hospital sites, reinforcing that curricular reform is not simply about putting recommendations into practice. Many different aspects of context must be considered when planning and evaluating change in medical education and training.

Transformational Change and Digitalization-The Case of the Swedish Road and Transport Administration

BACKGROUND

Digitalization is one of the drivers of change in both public and private organizations. It is therefore relevant to understand how a government agency like the Swedish Transport Administration manage and experience change.

METHODS

In this qualitative study, interviews (n = 15) with respondents with insight and connection to digitalization and change highlight factors related to digitalization and change-capacity within the agency.

RESULTS

The results of the interviews are presented in a thematic analysis. Five themes were identified: Digitalization, management control, stability requirements, organizational culture, and lack of a comprehensive view. The research literature in the field of change creates a fund for a discussion about the Administration's situation regarding digitalization, development, and transformational change.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that the Transport Administration still has a long way to travel in terms of organizational readiness for change. To address this issue, the Transport Administration should prioritize the development and implementation of a comprehensive change management strategy including clear communication, active engagement, and participation from all employees, and a focus on building a culture of adaptability and continuous improvement.

The Influence of Change-Related Organizational and Job Resources on Employee Change Engagement

Employee attitudes to change are key predictors of organizational change success. In this article, change engagement is defined as the extent to which employees are enthusiastic about change, and willing to actively involve themselves in ongoing organizational change. A model is tested showing how change-related organizational resources (e.g., senior leader support for change and organizational change climate) influence change engagement, in part through their influence on change-related job resources. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equations Modeling (SEM) results yielded good fit to the data in two independent samples: 225 Australian working professionals, and 201 employees from a Prolific sample. As proposed, change-related organizational resources (modeled as a higher order construct) were positively associated with higher order change-related job resources. Change-related job resources were positively associated with change engagement. In contrast to expectations, organizational resources were not directly associated with change engagement. Instead, change-related job resources fully mediated the relationship. Overall, the study provides empirical support for new measures of organizational change resources and employee change engagement. By drawing from well-established models in the change and engagement literatures, the study provides a promising research direction for those interested in further understanding positive employee attitudes to organizational change. Practical implications and future research opportunities are discussed.

Perceived change uncertainty and behavioral change support: the role of positive change orientation

Purpose

Drawing from uncertainty reduction theory and uncertainty management theory, the aim of the research is to investigate the influence of positive change orientation (i.e. change self-efficacy, positive attitudes toward change, perceived control) on the perceived change uncertainty and behavioral change support (i.e. compliance, cooperation and championing) relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper hypothesizes that employees' positive change orientation partially mediates the relationship between perceived change uncertainty and behavioral change support. The research data were collected from employees and their supervisors in three sequential phases. The research model was tested with the use of Structural Equation Modeling.

Findings

The research findings suggest that employees' change self-efficacy and attitudes toward change partially mediates the negative relationship between perceived change uncertainty and behavioral change support.

Practical implications

The results support that change management practitioners will benefit significantly if they manage to influence their employees' positive change orientation as well as to decrease the perceived uncertainty to provoke change supportive behaviors. Relevant suggestions are made.

Originality/value

The originality of this study lies in the finding that employees' change self-efficacy as well as their attitudes toward change partially mediates the relationship between perceived change uncertainty and behavioral change support. Further, the research findings add to the uncertainty reduction theory and uncertainty management theory as well as other related notions.

Intellectual landscape of research on change management: a bibliometric analysis

Purpose

This study aims to illustrate an overarching picture of the knowledge base on change management, including contributing authors, institutions and countries. The study also aims to elicit the intellectual structure of the knowledge base using science mapping.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors engaged 1,457 published documents, generated from a SCOPUS search, to analyse research conducted in the area of change management. Bibliometric indicators such as authors, institutions and countries were used in the analysis. Additionally, science mapping analyses such as keyword co-occurrence and co-citation were also performed using VOSviewer.

Findings

The findings indicated that scholarly work in the field of change management is on the rise. Furthermore, while the contribution from different regions of the world was observed, the most impactful scholarly works came from the West and Asia. Finally, it was found that research on change management could be classified into four schools of thought; engineering and information and communication technology (ICT) industry, organisational aspects of change, leadership aspects of change and human aspects of change.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the knowledge base on change management by creating an intellectual landscape of the existing research. The results demonstrated that the existing literature on the topic forms four broad clusters of knowledge and that the ICT industry is the current epicentre of research in this area. These findings could benefit researchers, as well as practitioners in streamlining their actions towards the most relevant and critical areas on the topic of change management.

Valuing change: differential measurement of workplace culture shift

Purpose

Measuring the efficacy of workplace culture-shift efforts presented a substantial challenge in the author's research exploring how culture shifts during deliberate change initiatives. In response to this challenge this conceptual article proposes that the relative value participants attribute to desired culture outcomes can function as a proxy for measuring culture shift over time, providing applied researchers and practitioners with a simple way to measure efficacy of change initiatives.

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual article reviews the difficulties of defining and measuring workplace culture using widely known, contemporary models and instruments. It then builds an argument for using differential measurement of the relative value attributed to culture shift outcomes (valuing) as a proxy for workplace culture shift, followed by discussion of how to conduct measurement.

Findings

This article deductively demonstrates that parsimonious measurement of culture shift is not only simple and feasible, but that practitioners and researchers alike can use a valuing approach to determine the efficacy of efforts to shift workplace culture.

Originality/value

Used to complement existing methods and instruments, or on its own, this approach to measurement can build deeper insights into what is going on during deliberate change initiatives, while answering the reflexive questions “are we doing the right things,” and “are we doing those things the right way?”

Local governments' decade of organisational change to promote child health and wellbeing: a Western Australian qualitative study

OBJECTIVE

We aim to reflect on the introduction of risk-based approaches to public health, driven by legislation outlining the expected local government public health functions and roles by identifying factors that most influenced organisational change within the Western Australia local government sector when developing and submitting child and young people's health and social policy to an annual Awards program.

METHODS

This paper uses 10 years of data from a WA-based Local Government Policy Awards scheme to identify planned organisational change within the local government sector by applying a tangible organisational change model to develop a change narrative to describe factors that influenced local governments to address public health. Semi-structured interviews of 83 local government officers over the 10 years since implementation were used to create the narrative and identify factors that strengthened or hindered policy development and implementation at the local organisational level.

RESULTS

Participant interviews highlighted that the Policy Award Scheme contributed to steps outlined in the Pettigrew et al. (1992) stepped model of organisational change theory to support policy development. Implications for public health: Few studies have explored these elements in their own right. We argue that advocacy for structured policy development is continually needed to support and promote internal policy prioritisation and implementation in practice.

The role of dispositional mindfulness in employee readiness for change during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has forced organisations to change the way they work to maintain viability, even though change is not always successfully implemented. Multiple scholars have identified employees' readiness for change as an important factor of successful organisational change, but research focussed on psychological factors that facilitate change readiness is scarce. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether employee dispositional mindfulness contributes to readiness for change.

Design/methodology/approach

Employees (n = 301) from various industries in New Zealand participated in an online survey shortly after the local COVID-19 lockdown ended. The employees' levels of mindfulness, readiness for change, well-being and distress were assessed using well-validated psychometric scales. Multiple regression analyses tested the effect of mindfulness on readiness for change, with well-being and distress as moderating variables.

Findings

The results show that the effect of mindfulness on readiness for change is moderated by both well-being and distress. Mindfulness has a positive, significant effect on readiness for change when levels of well-being are high and levels of distress are low.

Practical implications

These findings have important implications for organisations who aim to promote readiness for change in their employees. Even though mindfulness has been shown to be beneficial, organisations also have to consider the mental states of their employees when managing change.

Originality/value

This study provides empirical evidence that dispositional mindfulness may facilitate the employees' readiness for change, but only when levels of well-being are high and distress are low.

Red tape and change-supportive intention: an extension of the theory of planned behavior

Purpose

This paper builds on and extends the theory of planned behavior (TPB) by examining empirically the underlying mechanism through which red tape is associated with employee change-supportive intention (CSI). It investigates red tape as an antecedent of CSI and examines the mediation role of change-related attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control (PBC) in the relationship between red tape and CSI.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the study's hypotheses, cross-sectional data were collected from 183 employees working at a public organization in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq that was going through a major change. Regression analyses and the PROCESS macro for SPSS were used.

Findings

Consistent with our expectations, the results indicate that red tape negatively predicts CSI. Red tape also predicts change-related attitude, subjective norm and PBC, which consequently predict CSI. The results also reveal that the relationship between red tape and CSI is mediated by change-related attitude and subjective norm.

Research limitations/implications

The study is limited in using cross-sectional data at a point in time and in investigating intention only, rather than actual behavior.

Originality/value

While prior work shows that red tape is a relevant factor that may affect employee responses to change in public sector, the psychological processes on which this relationship is based are still not fully explained. Therefore, this is the first study that aims to shed some light on this relationship.

Improving evidence quality for organisational change management through open science

Purpose

Popular contingency approaches to organisational change management imply that it is known what and when practices are most appropriate and effective to manage change. The current work aims to question this assumption.

Design/methodology/approach

The current work critically reviews the quality of current evidence supporting organisational change management and considers the role of open science practices for the field.

Findings

First, evidence informing organisational change management is poor, heavily reliant upon unquestioned theoretical models and low-quality cross-sectional or case-study designs. Greater adoption of an evidence-based approach to practice could facilitate organisational change management, but only once a higher quality of evidence is available to inform more robust practical guidance. Second, open science practices look well placed to drive a higher quality of evidence suitable for informing future change management.

Originality/value

The current work highlights the problematic nature of the quality and application of current evidence to inform organisational change and raises a number of recommendations to support future evidence development using an open science approach.

Reframing organizational change from a processual perspective

Purpose

This article aims at reframing organizational change from a processual perspective to transcend the polarized tensions between planned and emergent approaches to change and to better align with the lived reality of practitioners. It informs the field of learning and development with fresh insights on how to broaden sensemaking repertoires of managers and employees in realizing organizational change.

Design/methodology/approach

To understand how change agents conceptualize organizational change at a conceptual level, this article relies on Heidegger’s three modes of being-in-the-world to identify three dominant conceptualizations of organizational change and subsequently theorizes on corresponding phenomenological qualities of sensemaking.

Findings

This article develops a theoretical scaffolding that posits the emergence of organizational change as dialectic process of three different conceptualizations of change, i.e. wayfinding logic, managerialistic logic and reflexive logic, that translate into three different phenomenological qualities of sensemaking, i.e. absorbed sensemaking, detached sensemaking and mindful sensemaking, respectively.

Practical implications

A processual reframing of organizational change informs learning and development scholars and practitioners in at least three ways: raising awareness of and probing underlying managerial assumptions of what change is and how change should be managed, training managers and employees to deal with sensemaking processes to effectively realize organizational change, and actively assist in developing a broader sensemaking repertoire to deal with the equivocality associated organizational change.

Originality/value

This processual reframing contributes to the sensemaking literature on organizational change by reframing change as a dialectic process of different underlying assumptions of change agents, and different qualities of sensemaking of change. It pinpoints to concrete actions that learning and development professionals can initiate to contribute to more effective change management practices.

The future trip: a story of transformational change

Purpose

The study of successful transformational change processes in organizations has been limited. The purpose of this paper is to understand a change process and the type of change that occurred in a pharmaceutical company in Sweden 2005–2014.

Design/methodology/approach

An interactive research design was used, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 individuals, asking about their views on the change journey. Meetings and dialogue with leaders from the organization also took place. Observations from feedback meetings with leaders were included in the analysis. The results were analysed using a time-ordered display identifying key events, interpreted by a theoretical lens determining the type of change over a period of 10 years.

Findings

This was a transformational change caused by external pressure, supported by visionary and transparent leadership, collaborative methods aiming at broad involvement and systemic understanding. The results indicated a 40 per cent increase in productivity and altered organizational design and culture. Sense-making activities, persistent adoption of quality improvement tools, dispersed power and sequential change activities underpinned the success.

Practical implications

The results provide insight into the processes of transformational change. Change leaders were provided with knowledge, inspiration and insight when facing transformations.

Social implications

Increased prevalence of transformational change calls for new organizational competencies and altered roles for leaders and employees. There is a need for new ways of developing competence and new recruitment policies for leaders.

Originality/value

This case presents unique empirical evidence of a successful cultural transformation led by a leader using post-conventional principles.

Office design and organizational change

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compare different employee perceptions of the success of one change: a move to new offices and an open-plan design.

Design/methodology/approach

In sum, 25 interviews were carried out in a New Zealand law firm that six months earlier had moved to new premises.

Findings

Contrary to academic and practitioner reports that open-plan offices are disliked, participants appreciated the new office space. A well-planned and highly participative program of change management led to positive perceptions of aesthetic design, open communication, collegiality, egalitarianism and inclusiveness.

Research limitations/implications

Given the small sample used in one organization, the study highlights the need for more research into the processes and outcomes of office space changes.

Originality/value

The roles of communication and culture, in particular, collegiality and egalitarianism, were salient factors in a complex web of causes and consequences in this context of change.

Transformational change by a post-conventional leader

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine people’s experience of a change process and if and how post-conventional leadership principles are expressed in the change process.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used a retrospective exploratory qualitative design. In total, 19 semi-structured interviews and 4 workshops were conducted and analyzed in accordance with a thematic qualitative analysis.

Findings

The post-conventional leadership appears to have facilitated an organizational transformation where explorative work methods aimed at innovation and improvement as well as holistic understanding was used. Dispersed power and mandate to employees, within set frames and with clear goals, created new ways of organizing and working. The leader showed personal consideration, acknowledged the importance of the emotionally demanding aspects of change and admitted the leader’s own vulnerability. Balance between challenge and support created courage to take on new roles and responsibilities. Most employees thrived and grew with the possibilities given, but some felt lack of support and clear directions.

Practical implications

Inspiration from this case on work methods and involvement of employees can be used on other change efforts.

Social implications

This study provides knowledge on leadership capabilities needed for facilitation of transformational change.

Originality/value

Few transformational change processes by post-conventional leaders are thoroughly described, and this study provides in-depth descriptions of post-conventional leadership in transformational change.

The "Waze" of Inequity Reduction Frameworks for Organizations: a Scoping Review

BACKGROUND

Different conceptual frameworks guide how an organization can change its policies and practices to make care and outcomes more equitable for patients, and how the organization itself can become more equitable. Nonetheless, healthcare organizations often struggle with implementing these frameworks.

OBJECTIVE

To assess what guidance frameworks for health equity provide for organizations implementing interventions to make care and outcomes more equitable.

STUDY DESIGN

Fourteen inequity frameworks from scoping literature review 2000-2017 that provided models for improving disparities in quality of care or outcomes were assessed. We analyzed how frameworks addressed key implementation factors: (1) outer and inner organizational contexts; (2) process of translating and implementing equity interventions throughout organizations; (3) organizational and patient outcomes; and (4) sustainability of change over time.

PARTICIPANTS

We conducted member check interviews with framework authors to verify our assessments.

KEY RESULTS

Frameworks stressed assessing the organization's outer context, such as population served, for tailoring change strategies. Inner context, such as existing organizational culture or readiness for change, was often not addressed. Most frameworks did not provide guidance on translation of equity across multiple organizational departments and levels. Recommended evaluation metrics focused mainly on patient outcomes, leaving organizational measures unassessed. Sustainability was not addressed by most frameworks.

CONCLUSIONS

Existing equity intervention frameworks often lack specific guidance for implementing organizational change. Future frameworks should assess inner organizational context to guide translation of programs across different organizational departments and levels and provide specific guidelines on institutionalization and sustainability of interventions.

Beyond Power Struggles: A Multilevel Perspective on Incongruences at the Interface of Practice, Knowledge, and Identity in Radical Organizational Change

Previous approaches to describing challenges inherent in radical organizational change have mainly focused on power struggles. A complementary but less researched view proposes that many problems occur because radical change causes certain incongruences within an organization. In line with the latter perspective, this article suggests that radical change leads to incongruences between “what they do” (practice), “what they know” (knowledge), and “who they are” (identity) as an organization; to achieve the change, these incongruences need to be accommodated by the organization’s individual members. The article takes a multilevel perspective and describes how in radical change organizational goals may interfere with individual characteristics at the intersections of practice, knowledge, and identity. This enables a fine-grained analysis of reasons why radical change efforts may fail, beyond power struggles. The model is concrete enough to help change managers foresee many practical problems, such as member disidentification, routine breakdowns, or knowledge gaps.

Listening to the organization: change evaluation with discourse analysis

Purpose

Change is continuous and leaves many digital traces in contemporary organizations, while research on change usually lacks such continuity. The purpose of this paper is to test and explore the claim that change can be monitored through employee discourse. In doing so, the authors introduce basic text mining methods to detect prevailing keywords and their changes over time. Such monitoring of content and its change promises a continuous feedback and improvement for change management efforts.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use a mixed research design, combining an ethnographic approach with digital methods. The quantitative element of the method involves applying text mining techniques to a document corpus that is representative of people in organizations, and is originally collected as part of a relatively common performance management system. The findings about discursive categories and their change patterns through time are then combined with observations and secondary information about change management for interpretation.

Findings

By combining these measurements with additional information about the change program in focus, the authors develop an interpretation of the dynamics of organizational change. Results showed that even in a successfully implied change effort that realize the planned targets, change does not occur directly and fully, with some elements of discourse being more persistent than others.

Research limitations/implications

Method of the research presents a new way of monitoring discursive change. Its incorporation into practice potentially allows for timely correction of change efforts and increasing possibility of success.

Originality/value

This research provides a framework for understanding how, and to what extent, planned change efforts effect organizations. Furthermore, the method developed in this research presents an innovative approach to monitor discursive change and timely managerial intervention.

Planned organisational change management

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the development of planned organisational change models (POCMs) since Lewin’s three-step model and to highlight key linkages between them.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 13 commonly used POCMs were identified and connections with Lewin’s three-step framework and associated process attributes were made, reflecting the connections between these models and Lewin.

Findings

The findings show that first Lewin’s three-step model represents a framework for planned change; however, these steps could not be viewed in isolation of other interrelated processes, including action research, group dynamics, and force field analysis. These process steps underpin the iterative aspects of his model. Second, all 13 POCMs have clearly identified linkages to Lewin, suggesting that the ongoing development of POCMs is more of an exercise in developing ongoing procedural steps to support change within the existing framework of the three-step model.

Research limitations/implications

The authors recognise that the inclusion of additional POCMs would help strengthen linkages to Lewin. The findings from this paper refocus attention on the three-step model, suggesting its ongoing centrality in planned organisational change rather than it being dismissed as an historical approach from which more recently developed models have become more relevant.

Practical implications

This paper presents opportunities for organisational change management researchers to challenge their thinking with regard to the ongoing search for model refinement, and for practitioners in the design and structure of POCM.

Originality/value

An analysis of the ongoing relevance of Lewin and his linkage with modern POCMs assist in rationalising the broadening, and often confusing literature on change. This paper therefore not only contributes to filtering such literature, but also helps clarify the myriad of POCMs and their use.

Emergent programme theories of a national quality register - a longitudinal study in Swedish elderly care

RATIONALE, AIM, AND OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore programme theories of a national quality register. A programme theory is a bundle of assumptions underpinning how and why an improvement initiative functions. The purpose was to examine and establish programme theories of a national quality register widely used in Sweden: Senior alert. The paper reports on how programme theories among change recipients emerge in relation to the established programme theory of the initiator.

METHODS

A qualitative approach and a longitudinal research design were used. To develop programme theories among change recipients, individual semistructured interviews were conducted. Three sets of interviews were conducted in the period of 2011 to 2013, totalling 22 interviews. In addition, 4 participant observations were made. To develop the initiator's programme theory, an iterative multistage collaboration process between the researchers and the initiator was used. A directed content analysis was used to analyse data.

FINDINGS

The initiator and change recipients described similar programme logics, but differing programme theories. With time, change recipients' programme theories emerged. Their programme theories converged and became more like the programme theory of the initiator.

CONCLUSIONS

This study has demonstrated the importance of making both the initiator's and change recipients' programme theories explicit. To learn about conditions for improvement initiatives, comparisons between their programme theories are valuable. Differences in programme theories provide information on how initiators can customize support for their improvement initiatives. Similar programme logics can be underpinned by different programme theories, which can be deceptive. Programme theories emerge over time and need to be understood as dynamic phenomena.

Toward a Chance Management View of Organizational Change

Chance serves as the gate to organizational change. Based on a relational view of chance, we propose that in an organizational context, the chance to change is affected by the perceptions of change agents and the affordance of situational momentum, and that different time points of change are associated with different degrees of chance favorability. We develop a theoretical model to represent how change agents can assess the favorability of current and future momentum and how they can benefit from identifying a perceived chance by employing chance grasping, entraining, creating, or riding strategy to promote organizational change. We generate theoretical propositions to illustrate the four timing strategies of chance management. The overall contribution of this study is a chance management view of organizational change that considers change agents and situational momentum as two interdependent factors in the process of managing the chance to change.

Examining the Role of Leadership in an Undergraduate Biology Institutional Reform Initiative

Undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education reform continues to be a national priority. We studied a reform process in undergraduate biology at a research-intensive university to explore what leadership issues arose in implementation of the initiative when characterized with a descriptive case study method. The data were drawn from transcripts of meetings that occurred over the first 2 years of the reform process. Two literature-based models of change were used as lenses through which to view the data. We find that easing the burden of an undergraduate education reform initiative on faculty through articulating clear outcomes, developing shared vision across stakeholders on how to achieve those outcomes, providing appropriate reward systems, and ensuring faculty have ample opportunity to influence the initiative all appear to increase the success of reform. The two literature-based models were assessed, and an extended model of change is presented that moves from change in STEM instructional strategies to STEM organizational change strategies. These lessons may be transferable to other institutions engaging in education reform.