Change ManagementChange Management

Lecture 2Lecture 2

Images of Managing ChangeImages of Managing Change

Images of ManagingImages of Managing

• 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

Images of Change OutcomesImages of Change Outcomes

• Intended Change: Change is a result of planned action

• Partially Intended Change: Change may need to be re-modified

after it is initially implemented

• Unintended Change: Forces beyond the control of the change

manager

Images of Change ManagersImages of Change Managers

Images of Managing

Controlling . . . (activities)

Shaping . . .(capabilities)

Images of Change

Outcomes

Intended DIRECTOR COACH

Partially Intended NAVIGATOR INTERPRETER

Unintended CARETAKER NURTURER

Images of Change ManagersImages of Change Managers

Director• Based on an image of

management as control and of change outcomes as being achievable.

• Supported by the n-step models and contingency theory.

Coach• Relies upon building in

the right set of values, skills and “drills” that are deemed to be the best ones that organizational members will be able to draw on in order to achieve desired organizational outcomes.

• Related to organizational development approaches.

Images of Change ManagersImages of Change ManagersNavigator• Control is still seen to be at

the heart of management action, although a variety of factors external to managers mean that while they may achieve some intended change outcomes, others will occur over which they have little control.

• Supported by the contextualist and processual theories of change.

Interpreter• The manager creates

meaning for other organizational members, helping them to make sense of various organizational events and actions.

• Supported by the sense-making theory of organizational change and concept of ‘enactment’

Images of Change ManagersImages of Change ManagersCaretaker• The change manager’s

ability to control is severely impeded by a variety of internal and external forces beyond the scope of the manager. The caretaker is seen as shepherding their organizations along as best they can.

• Supported by life-cycle, population-ecology and institutional theories.

Nurturer• Even small changes may

have a large impact on organizations and managers are not able to control the outcome of these changes. However, they may nurture their organizations, facilitating organizational qualities that enable positive self-organizing to occur.

• Related to chaos and Confucian/Taoist theories.

QuestionsQuestions• To what extent are you more comfortable with one or

other of the six images? Why is this the case?

• What are the strengths and limitations of the images that you have identified as most relevant to you?

• What skills do you think are associated with each image? Are there areas of personal skill development that are needed

for you to feel more comfortable in using other images?• Have you ever been in an organization that was

dominated by particular images? What barriers to alternative images existed in this

organization? What strategies could overcome these barriers?

Key Uses of Multiple ImagesKey Uses of Multiple Images

• Surfacing our assumptions about change Images simplify & illuminate but also obscure

• Assessing dominant images of change To what degree are some images seen as natural

and not open to negotiation in certain organizations• Using multiple images in change

Image-in-use might depend on the type of change Image-in-use might depend on the context Image-in-use might depend on the phase of change Multiple change images can also co-exist

• Skilled change managers are able to swap images or even manage multiple images simultaneously

SuccessSuccess• Typical questions about change:

Was it managed well? What went right? What went wrong? Did we get the outcome we were after?

• Do these questions assume a certain image of change?

• How does each image assess success? Which images have “non-traditional” success

measures? “Judgments of success are conditional on who is doing

the assessment and when the judgments are made” Is this true?

Group ExerciseGroup Exercise

• Take your group’s stories from last session Which images of change did you come

across? How did these images affect the way the

various actors approached change? Do the images used vary by the type, context,

or phase of change? What broad conclusions can you form?

Green Mountain CaseGreen Mountain Case• Questions:

Which of the six change images were held by:• Gunter?• The hospitality literature?• The consultant?

How did these assumptions influence prescriptions for dealing with “the turnover problem”

What does it mean to say the problem was ‘dis-solved’?

Choose another change image and apply it to “the turnover problem” What new insights arise?

Does considering different images of change help us (I hesitate to add ‘solve the problem’)?