the notebook
MNG2202 ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY AND BEHAVIOUR
SEMESTER II 2013/2014 LECTURER: HECTOR EDWARS
LECTURE NOTES
CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONS
All managers today recognize the inevitability of change, that the only constant is change itself. Organizations have always experienced change-evolutionary, incremental change. The changes surrounding us are not mere trends but the workings of large, unruly forces: the globalization of markets; the spread of information technology and computer networks; the dismantling of hierarchy, the structure that has essentially organized work since the mid-19th century. Growing up around these is a new, information-age economy, whose fundamental sources of wealth are knowledge and communication rather than natural resources and physical labour.
The modern approach to the management of change and the development of human resources is called organization development. Organization development is a long-range effort to improve an organization’s problem-solving and renewal processes, particularly through a more effective and collaborative management of organization culture – with special emphasis on the culture of formal work teams – with the assistance of a change agent, or catalyst, and the use of the theory and technology of applied behaviour science, including action research.
Researchers have suggested that theoretical models and research findings have three key implications for the actual practice of organisation development:
Change agents should focus on systematic change in work settings as the starting point in change and on individual behaviour change as a key mediator associated with organizational outcome change.
The results for technology interventions indicate that negative behaviour change does not necessarily lead to negative organizational outcome change. In some cases, the organization can wait out the negative behaviour change until individuals move up the learning curve or successfully adapt to the
SEMESTER II 2013/2014 LECTURER: HECTOR EDWARS
LECTURE NOTES
CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONS
All managers today recognize the inevitability of change, that the only constant is change itself. Organizations have always experienced change-evolutionary, incremental change. The changes surrounding us are not mere trends but the workings of large, unruly forces: the globalization of markets; the spread of information technology and computer networks; the dismantling of hierarchy, the structure that has essentially organized work since the mid-19th century. Growing up around these is a new, information-age economy, whose fundamental sources of wealth are knowledge and communication rather than natural resources and physical labour.
The modern approach to the management of change and the development of human resources is called organization development. Organization development is a long-range effort to improve an organization’s problem-solving and renewal processes, particularly through a more effective and collaborative management of organization culture – with special emphasis on the culture of formal work teams – with the assistance of a change agent, or catalyst, and the use of the theory and technology of applied behaviour science, including action research.
Researchers have suggested that theoretical models and research findings have three key implications for the actual practice of organisation development:
Change agents should focus on systematic change in work settings as the starting point in change and on individual behaviour change as a key mediator associated with organizational outcome change.
The results for technology interventions indicate that negative behaviour change does not necessarily lead to negative organizational outcome change. In some cases, the organization can wait out the negative behaviour change until individuals move up the learning curve or successfully adapt to the