Academic literature on the topic 'Organizational change. Organizational behavior'

<p> The field of Organizational Change has seen a proliferation of publications of all sorts over the past two decades. In view of the emerging breadth of the field, it is becoming increasingly difficult for practitioners and researchers alike to separate the wheat from the chaff. At the same time, research suggests the majority of Organizational Change efforts are not successful. It is therefore my intent to map the nomological structure of the field of Organizational Change, determine the most dominating concepts, and identify any patterns or trends.</p><p> For that purpose I have collected bibliometric data from 1948 to 2016 and conduct a network analysis based on co-occurrence of keywords of Organizational Change.</p><p> My network analysis suggests five major findings. First, the field of Organizational Change has reached a level of maturity, which reduces the likelihood of breakthrough innovations. Second, only five concepts are dominating the field of Organizational Change today, which I label the &ldquo;Top Five&rdquo;: Change management, leadership, organizational culture, organizational learning, and innovation. Third, we are barking up the wrong tree, which means there is an inherent inconsistency between the topicality of the field, i.e. the dominance of very few topics, and the low success rate of Organizational Change projects. Fourth, it is still unclear how to exactly define and reliably measure change. Finally fifth, there seems to be too much focus on the paradigm that change is always preferably over an equilibrium.</p><p> I therefore propose three suggestions for further research. First, look beyond the Top Five concepts and create more dissonant discussion within the field, including a critical review of established paradigms. Second, revisit the established definitions and measurements of change, which includes questioning the widespread assumption that the majority of change efforts are failing. Finally third, conduct a network analysis based on a network of social actors of the field of organizational change, i.e. authors of organizational change.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative, single case study was to understand leadership behaviors that motivate internal stakeholders to trust a leader&rsquo;s vision, embrace change, facilitate employee willingness to passionately implement actions needed for an organizational change initiative and willingly sustain a change initiative. A sample of 20 internal stakeholders was studied, five leaders and 15 followers within an organization of 800+ employees, located in the southwestern region of the United States, which is currently undergoing a change initiative. The research questions were based upon Kurt Lewin&rsquo;s three-step model of change: unfreezing, transitioning, and refreezing. This research asked how leadership behaviors facilitated employee willingness to trust a leader&rsquo;s vision and embrace change, passionately implement actions needed for a change, and sustain a change initiative, making an implemented initiative the new normal for the organization. Three themes emerged to address the research questions: 1) know your audience and walk your talk; 2) communication, vision, trust, and buy-in; and 3) residual passion and perseverance. Findings suggested that leadership behaviors influence internal stakeholders in relation to a change initiative and that leaders who are hands-on, consistent, and demonstrate a clear vision increased the possibility of gleaning passion and trust to increase the potential for success during an organizational change initiative. </p><p>

Understanding organizational behavior (OB) has profoundly influenced organizational performance and how people behave in organizations. Researchers have suggested various micro and macro organizational behaviors to be the impetus for high-performing organizations. Through a policy capturing approach this study builds on these findings by specifically examining the perceptions of micro and macro organizational behaviors in an organizational setting. The participants (n =181) completed a Micro and Macro Organizational Behavior Perceptions Questionnaire. Results showed perception differences exist between subordinates and supervisors. Additionally, participants perceived job satisfaction to be the most important micro organizational behavior, whereas organizational design was perceived to be the most important macro organizational behavior. However when comparing hierarchal positions in the organization, supervisors weighted leadership as the most important and subordinates weighted job satisfaction as the most important organizational behavior. While these findings only scratch the surface as to how organizational behavior is perceived, the implications challenge leaders to close the OB perception gap. Correspondingly, organizational behavior thinking may result in improving individual and organizational performance.

<p> Organizational agility represents a new field of organizational study that is not well examined. In the past organizations had an unmatched competitive advantage due to low competition and higher barriers to entry into their markets. As a result, many organizations dominated their industries. However, in the era of globalization, individuals with an internet connection and the right skills can start new organizations that can compete on a global level. Consequently, organizations now are facing more competition that they experienced in the past. Another reason for increase competition is new technology. Technology is improving increasingly faster than any time in history. Therefore, organizations that are not agile could not survive in the current environment. </p><p> Agile entities realize that they have to become flexible and nimble to withstand competition. Accordingly, the researcher in this study proposes an organizational agility model and this proposed model is the focus of the study. The proposed model significant arises from the fact that currently there are limited numbers of models that help organizations in becoming agile entities. The characteristics in this study were based on Worley and Lawler (2010) &ldquo;Agility and Organization Design: A Diagnostic Framework&rdquo;. The study conducted a survey utilizing an instrument developed by Dr. Worley and Dr. Lawler that contains 15 agility characteristics. The survey uses all 15 characteristics to determine if the organization is agile. In addition, the study utilizes three of the 15 agility characteristics to determent if a relationship occurs between the study variables. </p><p> This quantitative study examined the relationship between change capability, learning capability, shared leadership and organizational agility. Moreover, understanding these relationships could assist scholars and practitioners in producing change programs that emphasize certain behaviors that make an organization agile. The study surveyed 116 participants and found that focusing on change capability, learning capability and shared leadership could contribute in creating agile organizations. Consequently, after evaluating the study results, a new agility model emerged. This model shows that organizations can achieve agility by developing change capability, learning capability, shared leadership, shared purpose and flexible resources. Ultimately, achieving agility could help organizations compete and endure now and the future.</p>

<p> The purpose of the research study was to predict managerial resistance to status quo bias given the presence of dissatisfaction, vision, and a process outlined for change in the environment. According to the 79 participants surveyed in the study, dissatisfaction, vision, and a process outlined for change provided a statistically significant model for predicting manager resistance to status quo bias for the sample studied. Leaders may be able to use the results of the study to determine manager readiness for change. However, at best the study found only 45.3% of the reasons that predict managerial resistance to status quo bias, providing an opportunity for future researchers to validate empirically other factors that may predict manager resistance to status quo bias.</p>

Organizational change and development (OCD) has been studied by researchers to identify the effectiveness of change initiatives. Because of the broad scope of interventions in OCD, these studies have covered a range of areas including multiple interventions and the methodological rigor used by researchers. However, few have looked at organizational versus individual change within an organization, to examine whether individual change is more effective than organizational change. The purpose of this study is to determine if organizational change occurs in a top down or bottom up manner. A meta-analysis was conducted using 238 field experiments. Each study was coded for intervention and organizational outcome and for individual or organizational level variables. Effect sizes were calculated for each study, each level, and each level by intervention and outcome measure. Results indicate that while OCD interventions overall had a moderate effect size, the level of intervention or outcome was not a moderating variable.

A review of literature indicates limited effort to understand and explain employees' acclimation to, and adoption of, new behaviors required by organization change initiatives. Psychological theories of individual behavior change have, in restricted instances, been applied into organizational environments. The transtheoretical model of change (TTM) offers a comprehensive explanation of behavior change uniting multiple theories of individual change. TTM describes change as a series of stages that individual progress through before arriving at the decision to implement a change in behavior. Movement through the stages is facilitated by processes which increase the probability of a behavior change effort's success. The present research investigated the potential applicability of TTM for explaining individual level change within a new context, specifically, an organizational environment. To examine if individual change in the context of an organization occurs in the fashion described by TTM, measures of core TTM constructs were delivered to employees in a water department of a city in the American southwest. The water department was immersed in an organization change initiative necessitating individual behavior change by its employees. Results of TTM core construct measures and their relationships with each other and the stages of change were examined. Initial findings are indicative of TTM's potential applicability as a description of behavior change within an organizational context. Implications of these findings, potential applications, imitations of the current research, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

While many studies have been carried out on organizational culture, leadership, conflict and change, mostly from an instrumentalist perspective, studies have left unanswered the question of how they are related. This thesis employs narrative theory and especially that of Ricoeur together with the social theory of Bourdieu. By considering organization culture (and its sub cultures) as being configured by multiple narratives; leaders as enacting or developing narratives; conflict as the attempt by one or more persons to impose their narratives on others as the correct interpretation of a given situation; and change as the adoption of new narratives it has been possible to impart new understandings to these concepts. Extensions are offered of the narrative theory of Ricoeur and the social theory of Bourdieu (which has strong implications for culture and the operation of power). They are then combined and applied to a narrative presentation of empirical data. This new or extended theory has powerful explanatory value with regard to the relationship between the chosen organisational aspects. Emphasis is given to the dynamic interplay which prevails between the individual (habitus) and the organisation (field).

<p> After 12 years of negotiation, Saudi Arabia joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2005. The impact of joining the WTO has caused many Saudi organizations to change some of their old ways to keep up with competition from all around the world. Foreign investments created a healthy competition that encouraged Saudi Arabian organizations to change, adapt, and thrive in the market. With the need for change, Saudi Arabian organizations are facing employees&rsquo; resistance for unknown reasons. The purpose of this study was to analyze the reasons behind resistance to change in Saudi Arabian organizations and suggest approaches to minimize resistance and facilitate successful organizational change. Many researchers have found a relationship between organizational justice and employees&rsquo; behavior, especially during organizational change. Additionally, Saudi Arabian culture influences employees&rsquo; behavior towards change. Therefore, this correlational study examine the relationship between resistance to change and organizational justice, as well as the relationship between resistance to change and demographic measures in one Saudi Arabian organization. The scales that were used in this study are pre-existing and have been tested for validity and reliability. To measure resistance to change, the researcher used Oreg&rsquo;s (2003) Resistance to Change Scale, which divides resistance to change into four factors (routine seeking, emotional reaction, short-term focus, and cognitive rigidity), and Colquitt&rsquo;s (2001) Organizational Justice Scale, which divides organizational into four dimensions (distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational). A total of 55 completed surveys were collected with 76.4% male respondents, and 85.5% under the age of 40 years old, which showed how young and male dominant the workforce is in Saudi Arabia. The study concluded that the organizational justice dimensions of procedural and interpersonal justice have a negative significant relationship with employees&rsquo; resistance, especially the short-term focus factor. Moreover, from the demographic measures, the age factor also had a significant negative relationship with resistance to change, mostly with the short-term focus factor.</p>