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Organisational change management: A critical review

Abstract It can be argued that the successful management of change is crucial to any organisation in order to survive and succeed in the present highly competitive and continuously evolving business environment. However, theories and approaches to change management currently available to academics and practitioners are often contradictory, mostly lacking empirical evidence and supported by unchallenged hypotheses concerning the nature of contemporary organisational change management. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to provide a critical review of some of the main theories and approaches to organisational change management as an important first step towards constructing a new framework for managing change. The article concludes with recommendations for further research.It can be argued that the successful management of change is crucial to any organisation in order to survive and succeed in the present highly competitive and continuously evolving business environment. However, theories and approaches to change management currently available to academics and practitioners are often contradictory, mostly lacking empirical evidence and supported by unchallenged hypotheses concerning the nature of contemporary organisational change management. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to provide a critical review of some of the main theories and approaches to organisational change management as an important first step towards constructing a new framework for managing change. The article concludes with recommendations for further research.

Towards a model of human resource solutions for achieving intergenerational interaction in organisations

Purpose – Achieving intergenerational interaction and avoiding conflict is becoming increasingly difficult in a workplace populated by three generations – Baby Boomers, Generation X‐ers and Generation Y‐ers. This paper presents a model and proposes HR solutions towards achieving co‐operative generational interaction.Design/methodology/approach – This paper adapts Parks theory of race relations to explain the distinctiveness of generational work groups and the challenges and opportunities that these groups present when interacting in organisations. Rashford and Coghlans cycle of organisational change, based on the Kubler‐Ross grief cycle, is then mapped onto Parks race relations cycle in order to link generational interaction to emotional reactions to change over time.Findings – The paper sets out a research agenda for examining how generations interact in the workplace. It acknowledges the limitations of using Parks theory of race relations, in particular the criticisms levelled at assimilationist app...

Getting Organizational Change Right in Public Services: The Case of European Higher Education

Abstract The purpose of this article is to instigate further debate on why organizational change is currently being initiated and how it is being managed in European Higher Education. It provides suggestions on how to avoid major downsides that come with managerialism and how to enable managers and academics in the sector to concentrate on what Higher Education should be all about: to contribute to the further development of society through knowledge generation and transfer. The article is based on observations of the current developments triggered by the rise of the audit culture and adoption of managerialism. It suggests that not all change currently initiated in Higher Education is required – or indeed in the best interest of the sector or wider society – but rather, based on personal interests resulting in less efficiency and a waste of resources. Furthermore, the article argues that the audit culture and managerialism have created an environment that encourages opportunistic behaviour such as cronyism, rent-seeking and the rise of organizational psychopaths. This development will arguably not only lead to a waste of resources, change for the sake of change, further centralization, formalization and bureaucratization but, also, to a disheartened and exploited workforce, and political and short-term decision-making. The article proposes ways of managing organizational change in Higher Education successfully by providing a new conceptual change management model and a decision-makers change manifesto.

The limitations of dispositional resistance in relation to organizational change

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to test the moderating role of dispositional resistance in achieving sustainable organisational change.Design/methodology/approach – Four studies were conducted in the period 2005‐2007. Each study included the participation of individuals experiencing ongoing organisational changes at the time, and was repeated with an independent sample in order to strengthen the meaning of the findings.Findings – The studies confirmed the assumed positive relationship between benefit of change and commitment to change. Furthermore, two studies confirmed the assumed negative relationship between extent of change and commitment to change, while the other two studies, in contrast to the hypothesis presented, found a positive relationship. Despite the assumptions, with the exception of one study it was not possible to show moderating effects of resistance to change.Research limitations/implications – The study casts doubt about resistance to change defined as a disposition and its s...

Change Management: Leadership, Values and Ethics

On behalf of all Associate Editors, Editorial Advisory Board and Editorial Board members: welcome to the 12th volume of Routledges Journal of Change Management (JCM). First, let us take this oppor...

Change Management: The Road Ahead.

Welcome to the 11th volume of Routledge’s Journal of Change Management (JCM). 2010, our 10th anniversary, was a great year for JCM as we continued to attract and publish high-quality contributions in the specific field of change management, and in the wider fields of organizational studies and behaviour. JCM is committed to publishing peer-reviewed, high-quality empirical and conceptual research, and to become the journal of choice in its field. JCM will clearly establish itself as the journal which spans the entire field of organizational change, ranging from mainstream and established viewpoints to innovative unorthodox, critical and challenging contributions. As such, it will be essential reading for all academics, students and practitioners of change management. The inclusion of JCM in the ABS journal rankings during 2010 offers external corroboration and acknowledgement of the work we are undertaking as a community of scholars and the high-quality of articles published. This is the first step towards securing three ABS stars and inclusion in Thomson Reuters’ Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). Our strategy for achieving these aims is both rigorous and proactive – something that is reflected in a high rejection rate, timely decision-making process (the average turnaround from manuscript submission to receiving a decision was four weeks in 2010), and the impressive composition of our Editorial Board. In fact, we have been quite overwhelmed by the support provided by the leaders in our field, as well as that shown by up and coming academic talent. This augurs well for the prospects for creating and establishing a world-leading academic journal. Thank you to the Editorial Board members, reviewers, submitting authors, readers, subscribing libraries and the Routledge editorial and production team Journal of Change Management Vol. 11, No. 1, 1–6, March 2011

Creating a Leading Journal and Maintaining Academic Freedom

On behalf of the Journal of Change Management (JCM) Editorial and Advisory Boards we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who is contributing to the exciting journey towards becoming a world-leading academic journal. Especially, we would like to thank all our submitting authors, our guest editors, reviewers, readers and ambassadors – being colleagues referring to work published in JCM or librarians subscribing to the title. We would also like to thank everyone at Routledge who are supporting us with world-class services and production. THANK YOU! In the year gone by JCM was represented at several conferences. At EGOS, in sunny Helsinki, we ran an Editorial Board meeting and played an active role in the overwhelmingly overcrowded ‘Meet the Editors’ session together with colleagues representing the world-leading journals Organization Studies, Organization Science and Organization. At AOM, in always welcoming Boston, we ran another Editorial Board meeting, and we contributed to the Organization Development & Change (ODC) Doctoral Student Consortium and the ODC Professional Development Workshop (PDW) focusing on change resistance. These activities were followed up by a JCM/Routledge drinks reception. Looking back on 2012 we can be proud about our success of working towards creating a global and inclusive community centre for all scholars with an interest in organizational change and its management. We published three exciting and very different special issues: Changing Identity and the Identity of Change (guest edited by Deborah Price and Rolf van Dick); The Globalizing City Journal of Change Management, 2013 Vol. 13, No. 1, 1–8, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2013.768439

Looking Back and Looking Forward: Some Reflections on Journal Developments and Trends in Organizational Change Discourse

On behalf of the Editorial Board, we thank you all for your invaluable and continuous support of Routledge’s Journal of Change Management (JCM) – your journal. In this annual editorial piece, we wish to do two things. First, we want to reflect upon the progress made by JCM in working towards becoming a world leading academic journal. Second, we take the opportunity to explore some macro-level trends in the discourse on organizational change. As caretakers of JCM, the Editorial Board does not only have a great responsibility. We also have a unique opportunity to make a difference. A difference to the development of the multitude of disciplines aligned to organizational change, and a difference to those studying and working within these fields. Operating within an academic reality where rankings and impact factors are increasingly playing an influential role with regard to status and standing of schools and institutions as well as to the careers of individual academics, we have identified JCM’s inclusion in Thomson Reuters’ Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and an improved position in the Association of Business School’s (ABS) 2014 ‘Guide to Academic Journal Quality’ as essential to our further development and future success. In order to succeed with our strategy, we need each and every one of you to read and refer to the work published by JCM in preparation of your own article Journal of Change Management, 2014 Vol. 14, No. 1, 1–7, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2014.886871

Change Leadership: Oxymoron and Myths

Welcome to a new year with Journal of Change Management. The journey of creating the worlds leading Journal on organizational change continues, and 2016 looks to become another exciting year follo...

Reimagining Organisational Change Leadership

Reimagining organisational change leadership requires revisiting the seminal work of Kurt Lewin and James M Burns. Being the 20th century’s most influential organisational change and leadership scholars, both radically reimagined their respective fields. However, often misinterpreted, misunderstood and even misrepresented, their true recommendations were largely ignored. In this article, we discuss why this is so. Despite three decades of transformation and organisational change leadership discourse, leadership is still in crisis. Working towards an alternative to the current orthodoxy, we reimagine organisational change leadership as a utilitarian consequentialist process.