Organisational Change

Organisational Change

1. Costs

   • 40% of sickness absence costs are due to MH problems
   • 70 million lost working days a year due to MH
   • £15.1 billion due to reduced productivity

2. The HSE Stress Standards- demands, control, support, relationships, role, change

3. Definitions

   • (Lewin, 1951) - unfreeze, change, refreeze
   • (Lippit, 1973) - any planned or unplanned alteration to the status quo
   • Partially Reactive- change is forced in response to some external event i.e. recession
   • Partially Anticipatory- belief that change in anticipation of future events will provide competitive advantage (Nadler & Tushman, 1990)
   • (Kleiner & Kudray, 1997) - the process of aligning an org with its marketplace

4. Negative Effects of Redundancy

   • Unemployment = hostility = increased health risk (Kivimaki et al, 2003)
   • Impact of those left in the org. (De Witte, 1999)

5. External Triggers- new technology & materials, changes in customers' requirements, legislation, competitiors

6. Internal Triggers- new products, high stress, staff turnover, new management, relocation

7. Theories of Change Management

   • Open Systems School- interconnected parts; org practices and structures need to be adapted
   • Group Dynamic School- Lewin, 1951; individuals are influenced and constrained by group pressures to conform; influence can be seen in the presence of team building activities
   • Individual Perspective School- behaviourists (Pavlov, 1927) & Gestalt-Field theory

8. Continuous Transformation Model

   • organisations need to constantly re-invent themselves to survive (Brown & Eisenhardt, 1997)
   • To work, (1) survival anxiety must be greater than learning anxiety; (2) learning anxiety must be reduced

9. (Rafferty & Griffin, 2006) - employees with supportive leaders reported less transformational change, less frequent change and reported that more planned change had occured

10. Stages of Change (Proschaska, 1994) - pre-contemplative, contemplative, planning, action, maintenance stage

11. Example- IBM

    • Recent layoffs "workforce rebalancing" of reportedly 6-8k employees; disappointing first quarter results
    • "Gloomy" mood in offices
    • Cuts affect everyone from factory workers to executives

12. Communication

    • Poorly managed change communication results in rumours and resistance to change, exaggerating the negative aspects (DiFonzo et al, 1994)
    • Purpose: to prevent or reduce resistance to change and to create a community