Change processes

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Change processes

• Peter Kvistgaard
• Tourism Studies Programme
• Spring 2008

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Based on Leavitt there are three different
approaches to change

• Technological changes

• Structural changes

• People changes (the actor approach)
• (Leavitts fourth component Goals is not
  included in the approaches)

Based on Kenneth Mølbjerg Jørgensen, AAU, in
Børsen Ledelseshåndbøger No. 2/2002
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Change is

• seen as knowledge and learning.
• Change is driven (or not) by the individual actor
  in an organisation.
• Change is about values, subjective
  interpretations and social practices.
• Organisational change is then about changes in
  the actors values, subjective interpretations
  and social practices.

Based on Kenneth Mølbjerg Jørgensen, AAU, in
Børsen Ledelseshåndbøger No. 2/2002
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Knowledge and organisation
Procedures Techniques Tools Systems
Environment
Based on Kenneth Mølbjerg Jørgensen, AAU, in
Børsen Ledelseshåndbøger No. 2/2002
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Four change models
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Why change the organisation?

• Internal and external impulses for initiating
  change processes
• Technological changes
• Financial and market based changes in
  surroundings
• Political changes in surroundings
• Cognitive and normative changes in surroundings
  (interpretations of surroundings social
  constructivism men and women in the workplace
  cultures in and arround the organisation

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How to change the organisation

• Choise of change process is dependent on the
  necessity for change and the type of change
  necessary (core activities versus peripheral
  activities adaptation or re-orientation)

• Analytical and rational phase model
• Problem definition and description
• Diagnosis
• Strategy considerations and choise of strategy
• Implementation
• Evaluation/what can be learned from the process

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Introducing the change agent

• The change agent can be the management, but also
  a consultant can be a change agent. But the
  change is about people so all actors in an
  organisation can be change agents.

Kurt Lewin 1951
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Resistance to change

• The change agent must acknowledge that there will
  be resistance in connection with organisational
  changes
• Habits keep things as they are
• The wish for job security and payroll
• Insecurity towards new management
• Insecurity towards new assignments
• Fear of loosing influence
• Insecurity of necessary competences
• Threats concerning resource allocation
• Group pressure through other peoples insecurity

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Equilibrium - disequilibrium

• Unfreezing equals an end to a period of some sort
  of equilibrium or punctuated equilibrium
• Changing is disequilibrium
• Refreezing can be seen as the beginning of a new
  period of equilibrium different from the first
  period

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Creation of psychological safety

• The true artistry of change management lies in
  the various kinds of tactics that change agents
  employ to create psychological safety.

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Assignment 1

• How would you characterize good and not so good
  change processes?
• What is your perception of the leadership role in
  change processes?
• What is you own personal attitude towards change
  in connection with the ongoing Innovation Process?

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Assignment 2

• What methods would you use in order to initiate
  and carry through a change process in a tourism
  enterprise with 35 employees?
• The enterprise is a typical hotel at the seaside.
  It has both holiday and conference guests, and it
  also has leisure guests from the neighbourhood.
  The hotel can be traced back to 1880, and many of
  the staff have been employed at the hotel in many
  years.
• The main problem The hotel has serious quality
  problems, and the guests often complain about
  food, room and service quality.