An Instrument to Assess Organizational Change Capabilities for E-Business Transformation
Master’s Thesis
AN INSTRUMENT TO ASSESS ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE CAPABILITIES FOR e-BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION By Michael Sullivan A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty Of the WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science In Manufacturing Management
December 2000 APPROVED: Dr. Chickery J. Kasouf, Thesis Advisor Francis Noonan, Faculty Advisor Edward M. Gonsalves
Abstract
This thesis investigates organizational change strategies for e-business transformation. It proposes an instrument to measure the strength of a company’s organizational change capabilities to make this transformation. Most “brick and mortar” business in the year 2000 are faced with a massive wave of change associated with the Internet. It is impacting the fundamental rules of business and changing their relationship with customers, suppliers and how work gets done. Firms that successfully make an e-business transformation will be rewarded with growth and strong returns. Many of those who are unable to change will not survive in the long run. A fundamental issue in e-business transformation is disruptive organizational change. A review of the academic literature identifies ten dimensions of organizational change capability that can increase the probability that a company can make a successful disruptive organizational change. These include: emotional unifying vision; use of symbols; enabling the free flow of emotions; providing a transition to the past; creating a playful environment; change infrastructure; first line supervisor buy-in; project management; training; and the reward system. An expert panel was surveyed to get their opinion on the dimensions. Dimensions were added and altered based on these opinions. An instrument was proposed to uncover these dimensions. It was reviewed by an expert panel, and then was then edited based on their feedback. It was found that the opinions of the expert panel were highly correlated with
AN INSTRUMENT TO ASSESS ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE CAPABILITIES FOR e-BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION By Michael Sullivan A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty Of the WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science In Manufacturing Management
December 2000 APPROVED: Dr. Chickery J. Kasouf, Thesis Advisor Francis Noonan, Faculty Advisor Edward M. Gonsalves
Abstract
This thesis investigates organizational change strategies for e-business transformation. It proposes an instrument to measure the strength of a company’s organizational change capabilities to make this transformation. Most “brick and mortar” business in the year 2000 are faced with a massive wave of change associated with the Internet. It is impacting the fundamental rules of business and changing their relationship with customers, suppliers and how work gets done. Firms that successfully make an e-business transformation will be rewarded with growth and strong returns. Many of those who are unable to change will not survive in the long run. A fundamental issue in e-business transformation is disruptive organizational change. A review of the academic literature identifies ten dimensions of organizational change capability that can increase the probability that a company can make a successful disruptive organizational change. These include: emotional unifying vision; use of symbols; enabling the free flow of emotions; providing a transition to the past; creating a playful environment; change infrastructure; first line supervisor buy-in; project management; training; and the reward system. An expert panel was surveyed to get their opinion on the dimensions. Dimensions were added and altered based on these opinions. An instrument was proposed to uncover these dimensions. It was reviewed by an expert panel, and then was then edited based on their feedback. It was found that the opinions of the expert panel were highly correlated with
References: Lawler, 2000 Zingheim & Schuster, 2000 Aquino, 1994 Figure 21: Correlation of literature with reward system dimension identified by expert panel