Become a Guru

To become a guru you have to learn the basics of change management. These basics are explained in ‘Become a master of organizational change’.

In the following model (which is simplified of course) a summary is offered of these eight chapters. The basic idea is that change management gurus should be able to choose the right strategies. Choosing the most effective strategy (blueprint model approach or dynamic capabilities approach) begins with knowledge of (1) the content of change (scope of change, speed of change) and (2) the organization’s DNA (people make the place, rules/procedures, structure, and time orientation). In short, choice of change strategy = f(content of change, organization’s DNA) .

Effectiveness of change strategy

Change strategy = ƒ(CHANGE CONTENT x ORGANIZATIONAL DNA)

Blueprint model		Dynamic capability approach

1. Content of change		1. Content of change
a. Scope/frequency:		a. Scope/frequency:
rare and episodic character infrequent		organic and continuous character frequent and incremental
b. Speed of change:		b. Speed of change:
crisis situation, short time span to implement — fast		evolutionary, stepwise, bottom-up driven — slow
2. DNA		2. DNA
a. People make the place:		a. People make the place:
leaders: autocratic approach, no participation from subordinates, crisis manager subordinates: obedient followers, no initiative-taking whatsoever		leaders: charismatic, collaborative, facilitators of change, level 5 leaders, transformational leadership subordinates: initiators of change, intrapreneurs, change champions, versatilists
b. Structure:		b. Structure:
more vertical, mechanistic focus on technical efficiency (bureaucracy), formal control mechanisms, limited voice given to employees, top-down communication		more flat, horizontal, semi-structures, participative culture, strong horizontal and vertical communication
c. Rules and procedures:		c. Rules and procedures:
strongly formalized politicking and forming of coalitions can be effective to push forward change extrinsic reward mechanisms hiring of specialists		low formalization and standardization openness and sharing of knowledge among all organizational members intrinsic reward mechanisms, empowerment hiring of versatilists
d. Time orientation:		d. Time orientation:
short-term focus (e.g., turnaround strategy) restoring economic parameters often reactive, fixing emergency situations		long-term focus (i.e., continuous learning) establishing conditions for learning organizations change unfolds according to principles of self-organization

Works well for revolutionary change that impacts entire organization. sense of urgency is often high due to crisis situation in case of low sense of urgency, create burning platform to overcome resistance		Works well for evolutionary change (continuous change is almost synonymous to learning). no need to create a sense of urgency because readiness for change is inherent to the system

Apart from this reference model I regularly will post some of my own research. The next article discusses how interpersonal justice, social interaction and relational conflict play a pivotal role in shaping employees’ commitment to change. This study involved a large-scale restructuring.

Download applied-psychology-paper.pdf