Researching the Roles of Internal-change Agents in the Management of Organizational Change

There has been relatively little empirical research on the roles played by internal-change agents in the processes of developing and managing organizational and cultural change, or on their learning needs. There is a particular dearth of research on these issues in the public-service sector. This paper discusses an innovative methodology for studying the work of internal-change agents within local government. It describes an action-research project, the learning laboratory, which the authors piloted with a small group of senior managers involved in developing programmes of corporate organizational and/or cultural change in their own local authorities. Using a variety of action-research and action-learning techniques within the laboratory, together with before and after interviews with the participants and their line managers in their authorities, the project was able to explore the roles, perceptions and learning needs of these internal-change agents. The research makes a contribution to the study of internal-change agents in their organizational context, and draws attention in particular to the implications for change agents of the political context of public-service organizations. The value of the learning-laboratory methodology for assessing the learning needs of internal-change agents is also assessed.     

Clinical reengineering. Integrating medical and operational management

In the continuing push for cost containment in health care, many organizations have turned to cost reduction methods that fundamentally change the way care is delivered. As health care organizations continue to make financially-driven staffing changes that impact patient care, medical leadership must take on greater responsibility for operational management. Physician executives are uniquely qualified to take on leadership roles in work redesign, and must do so to ensure excellent and fiscally-responsible patient care. This article presents a proven methodology for work redesign that helps physician executives apply their clinical skills to operational management in designing new health care delivery models.     

Managing Strategic Change; The Role of Symbolic Action

As our understanding of processes of strategic management develop, it is clear that the problems of managing major shifts in strategy, which organizations face on occasions, are of a different order to the typically incremental strategy development they follow. It is also recognized that these problems are closely linked to cognitive and cultural dimensions of organizations. Research on the management processes associated with more fundamental strategic change is still sparse, but suggests that it requires substantial cognitive shifts in which intervention, often by new corporate leaders, and political and symbolic, as well as more substantial action, is likely. This paper draws together the author's and other research in related fields, to formalize explanatory models, which link organizational inertia of strategy, more fundamental strategic change, and in particular the symbolic management activities of corporate leaders as strategic change agents.     

Elements and strategies of an effective provider integration strategy

Regardless of the outcome of the debate in our nation's capitol, a health care revolution is sweeping the nation. In fact, if the debate lasts much longer, policy makers will be playing catch-up and responding to policies already in place in the trenches. Everywhere we turn as health care leaders, there is evidence of major change on the horizon. Reimbursement methodologies are undergoing radical alteration, traditionally stable institutions are being challenged, new organizational models are evolving, the types and roles of providers best suited to provide care are being questioned, and consumer expectations are being heightened. One of the basic strategies that is receiving attention throughout the country as a response to all this change relates to the development of integrated delivery organizations (IDO), integrated delivery systems (IDS), or integrated delivery networks (lDN). This article discusses these emerging systems in terms of health care reform, describes the rationale for their creation, and provides some strategies for their successful development.     

Change agent's contribution to recipients' resistance to change: A two-sided story

In the change management literature, most studies on recipients' resistance to change include only the views of agents or of recipients, thereby ignoring that these parties may have different perceptions. In this quantitative study, we include the perceptions of both parties in studying the recipients' resistance and the impact of the agent's leadership behavior. In a sample of 117 agent-recipients groupings, covering 110 different change projects in 90 organizations, we found that agents perceive higher levels of recipients' resistance than do the recipients themselves. Additionally, we found that agents who create space to enable recipients to think and act differently (by employing creating behavior) report higher levels of recipients' resistance, whereas recipients perceive their resistance to be lowered when agents facilitate an emotional connection to the change (framing behavior). The depth of the change appeared to moderate the relationship between agent's leadership behavior and recipients' resistance, indicating that agents and recipients differ in which change leadership behaviors they perceive as increasing or decreasing resistance at different levels of change depth. These findings imply to reconsider the relationship between agent and recipients and we propose some promising avenues for future studies in resistance research.     

Individual and organizational strategies for coping with organizational change

During times of significant change to organizations in strategies and structures, employees can experience high levels of stress as their jobs, areas of responsibility and roles also change. Yet research is curiously silent about how people react to organizational change, especially towards promoting healthy responses to change. As a first step to outlining areas for future research this paper considers a range of individual and organizational strategies that may be effective in reducing employee stress and related problems. Prior to the implementation of these strategies, however, organizations must empower employees to adopt the role of change agent and encourage them to take action to solve the problems that stress them. At the individual level, employees can respond to the stress created by organizational change by using problem- and emotion-focused strategies. Also important in coping with change are the personal resources of employees, including a sense of hardiness, beliefs about having control over their work environment, and the availability of social supports within and outside the organization. Although few organizations fully acknowledge their role in helping employees cope with change, there are a number of initiatives that organizations can pursue. Several strategies are discussed in relation to communication, leadership, job-related tasks and stress management programmes.     

Individual and organizational strategies for coping with organizational change

Abstract

During times of significant change to organizations in strategies and structures, employees can experience high levels of stress as their jobs, areas of responsibility and roles also change. Yet research is curiously silent about how people react to organizational change, especially towards promoting healthy responses to change. As a first step to outlining areas for future research this paper considers a range of individual and organizational strategies that may be effective in reducing employee stress and related problems. Prior to the implementation of these strategies, however, organizations must empower employees to adopt the role of change agent and encourage them to take action to solve the problems that stress them. At the individual level, employees can respond to the stress created by organizational change by using problem- and emotion-focused strategies. Also important in coping with change are the personal resources of employees, including a sense of hardiness, beliefs about having control over their work environment, and the availability of social supports within and outside the organization. Although few organizations fully acknowledge their role in helping employees cope with change, there are a number of initiatives that organizations can pursue. Several strategies are discussed in relation to communication, leadership, job-related tasks and stress management programmes.     

The 13 errors.

The reality is that most change efforts fail. McKinsey & Company carried out a fascinating research project on change to "crack the code" on creating and managing change in large organizations. One of the questions they asked--and answered--is why most organizations fail in their efforts to manage change. They found that 80 percent of these failures could be traced to 13 common errors. They are: (1) No winning strategy; (2) failure to make a compelling and urgent case for change; (3) failure to distinguish between decision-driven and behavior-dependent change; (4) over-reliance on structure and systems to change behavior; (5) lack of skills and resources; (6) failure to experiment; (7) leaders' inability or unwillingness to confront how they and their roles must change; (8) failure to mobilize and engage pivotal groups; (9) failure to understand and shape the informal organization; (10) inability to integrate and align all the initiatives; (11) no performance focus; (12) excessively open-ended process; and (13) failure to make the whole process transparent and meaningful to individuals.     

Managing Change Across Boundaries: Boundary‐Shaking Practices1

To date, boundary spanning has primarily been conceived of as an activity relating an organization to its environment, including other organizations with which it cooperates and competes. In contrast, this study focuses on the boundary spanning practices of individuals acting as change agents to implement boundary‐shaking change initiatives across intra‐organizational boundaries. These boundary‐shaking individuals all work for blue‐chip organizations in sectors as diverse as pharmaceuticals, consultancy and automotive. The change initiatives are equally diverse, including post‐merger integration, exploitation of across‐business synergies and implementing more integrative structures. Through our examination of boundary‐shakers we are able to extend what we know about internal change agency and change agent skills and practices. Our starting point is that organizations are comprised of networks of people with a degree of common interest. Our research shows our research subjects to be active movers and shakers in these networks, using their knowledge of the organizational political context and the motivations of others to create new networks (or new meanings within old networks), which then enables them to pursue their change objectives.     

From managing access to managing care: the impact of primary care on health care delivery organizations.

Professional "revenge of the nerds" is currently taking place, as managed care evolves generalist physicians into new professional prominence. Primary care physicians are finding themselves at the center of health care market reform as health plans, insurers, and other financing organizations turn to them as the key to cost control. In short supply, they are prospering financially from the demand. As the source of patients, they are gaining in prestige from specialists and hospitals who once demeaned them. But these newfound roles are only the initial steps in the transformation of the primary care practitioner. The change that the generalists are experiencing is essentially managing access to care, not truly managing care itself. There are large and crucial differences between managing access to care and actually managing care. These differences are, in many ways, a higher calling for primary care practitioners as they refocus attention on patient outcomes, which will in itself result in a lower resource utilization above and beyond the crude controlling of access. What those differences are, what new roles they require, and what impact they will have on organizations that either house or contract with primary care physicians will be the focus of this article.     

Preparing for business model change: the “pre-stage” finding

The purpose of this paper is to investigate managers’ initiatives in the context of an emergent technology and their effect on the business models of firms. Building on four case studies of organizations interested in using an emergent technology for commercial purposes, this study applies a process-based framework of business model change. The main finding is that managers’ initiatives occur in the context of a “pre-stage” of potential business model change, which includes processes of experimenting and learning. The pre-stage finding gives a better understanding of when change initiatives affect a business model and when they do not, allowing managers to adopt a more proactive behaviour and guide their organizations towards effective business model change. The main contribution of this paper is to suggest the inclusion of the pre-stage idea in research and practice, since it is an intermediary step in the process of business model change that has been overlooked.     

Board size and corporate performance: the missing role of board leadership structure

Different arguments have been introduced in the literature both for and against large and small board sizes. In this context, empirical evidence regarding the impact of board size on corporate performance is less conclusive, which means that further study is needed. Contrary to previous work, it is hypothesized in this study that the relationship between board size and corporate performance is more likely to be confounded by board leadership structure. Econometric analysis provided strong evidence for the applicability of this hypothesis and demonstrated that board size positively affects corporate performance in the presence of CEO non-duality (board leadership structure that is split between the roles of the CEO and the roles of the chairman). Furthermore, board size is shown to have a negative influence on corporate performance in the presence of CEO duality (board leadership structure that assigns the roles of both CEO and chairman to the same person). This conclusion is robust to the use of different measures of corporate performance, control variables and econometric models. Thus, these findings cast doubt on most of the existing evidence that posits that either large or small board size is always the best alternative to be followed in all organizations.     

Can doctors and administrators work together?

The working relationship between physicians and health care organizations has dramatically changed since the introduction of competitive factors. Fifer suggests that future doctors may have as many as five or six economic relationships with their associated health care system, in contrast to the singular role as admitting physician of the past. The physician will continue to admit patients, but may also belong to an HMO or some other joint venture (freestanding ambulatory care center, outpatient laboratory, etc.), be salaried part time for leadership roles, be a leader in some other parallel economic venture, etc. Physicians are already assuming multiple roles as health care providers, private entrepreneurs, and joint venture partners with hospitals. Hospitals and health care systems also continue to change through vertical and horizontal integration. Traditional clinical departments are becoming blended into product line entities, and a sophisticated executive team of market-oriented specialists now augments the traditional administrative leadership. So, from a tradition of predictable roles, relationships, and authority structures, we are now attempting to thrive and prosper with many new partners in an integrated, complex, and conflict-ridden set of interrelationships.     

The emerging role of the physician in administration

Physicians often find it difficult to determine the type of training needed to prepare themselves for administrative roles in health services organizations. Without extensive knowledge about organizations and how they function and how administrators contribute to organizational performance, physicians tend to view management roles as either overwhelmingly complex, or, conversely, simply a matter of using good judgment. In an attempt to help clarify this issue, we have outlined six management problems that an entry-level physician executive should be able to deal with successfully without asking for help. If physicians find that they are unable to deal with these issues, they should seek additional training before considering a management role.     

Emotional division-of-labor: A theoretical account

Division-of-labor is an account of how individuals vary in the types of contributions they make towards collective work efforts. This paper extends the longstanding concept into the realm of emotion in organizations, by developing a theoretical account of emotional division-of-labor (EDOL). Activities that require emotional abilities permeate the roles necessary for interdependent tasks in modern organizations. As with any other form of human capital, it is not necessary to draw equally from each person. Work is structured, instead, to distribute emotion-laden roles across members of workgroups. The model emphasizes that EDOL is both engineered deliberately and also emerges organically during interdependent work. Those who tend to take on roles requiring emotional competencies are those who are capable, believe themselves to be capable, and/or are believed to be capable. Highly committed group members of any capability level can also fill gaps as problems or opportunities arise. Case studies are presented for two settings in modern organizations—police crisis management and automobile dealerships—and reveal that group members use different combinations of emotional abilities to varying degrees, use specific abilities in complementary ways, and use the same abilities to enhance each other’s efforts. EDOL can leverage diversity in skill sets, as colleagues take on roles that compensate for each other’s weaknesses. Implications for leadership and group emotional intelligence are discussed.     

Measurement of Perceived Organizational Readiness for Change in the Public Sector

Using the act frequency approach we developed and operationalized two constructs: perceived organizational readiness for change and perceived organizational unreadiness for change. Using a sample drawn from five Canadian public sector organizations, it was found that perceived readiness for change can be conceptualized with three sub-constructs: commitment of senior managers to the change, competence of change agents, and support of the immediate manager. Perceived unreadiness for change had two sub-constructs: poor communication of change and adverse impact of change on work. Using structural equation modelling techniques, the measurement scales of all these constructs were tested for reliability and validity using job stress and perceived organizational support as outcome variables.     

The female leadership advantage: An evaluation of the evidence

Journalists and authors of trade books increasingly assert a female advantage in leadership, whereby women are more likely than men to lead in a style that is effective under contemporary conditions. Contrasting our analysis of these claims with Vecchio's [Leadersh. Q. 13 (2002) 643] analysis, we show that women have some advantages in typical leadership style but suffer some disadvantages from prejudicial evaluations of their competence as leaders, especially in masculine organizational contexts. Nonetheless, more women are rising into leadership roles at all levels, including elite executive roles. We suggest reasons for this rise and argue that organizations can capture the symbols of progressive social change and modernity by appointments of women in key positions.     

网络能力、网络位置与创业绩效

创业活动的网络化组织已经成为国家或地区的一种新型创新模式,同时也受到越来越多的理论界的关注,网络能力作为企业通过构建外部关系获取各类资源的能力或技巧会对企业绩效产生影响,但其作用的过程机制并未得到进一步的解释。本文的实证研究结果显示企业通过自身的网络能力占据独特的网络位置,这种特定的位置为企业带来优势创新资源,从而提升企业的创业绩效,代表网络位置的中心度与核心度在网络能力与创业绩效之间发挥着不同的中介调节作用。     

An appraisal of key factors in the implementation of occupational stress interventions

Empirical research on stress intervention in organizations, and experience from organizational change programmes in general, indicates that obtaining intended change is often more difficult than it had been conceived to be at the outset. In order to facilitate the accomplishment of stress prevention and effective organizational change, this paper examines the importance of the social and cognitive processes influencing the implementation of any intervention. It states that if change is to be managed skilfully, it is important (1) to create a social climate of learning from failure, (2) to provide opportunities for multi-level participation and negotiation in the design of interventions, (3) to be aware of tacit behaviours that possibly undermine the objectives of interventions, and (4) to define roles and responsibilities before and during the intervention period.