Organizational Development and Long-Term Change

Torbjörn Stjernberg

Different lenses for understanding change

• Technical-bureaucratic perspective– Rationality, top-down– Unambigious goals– Instrumental –the organization as a tool, machine like– Power follows position

• Political Perspective– Ambigious goals, plurality of interests, conflicts– Negotiating, mobilising resources– Forming coalitions – power comes from assocciations with others

• Cultural perspective– Construction (and management) of values and beliefs– Focus people and internal organizational processes– Symbolic messages

Organizational Development – six steps:

• Identifying a need for change• Selecting an intervention technique• Gaining top-management support• Planning the change process• Overcoming resistance• Evaluating

Organizational Development – six steps:

• Identifying a need for change that has potential top management and political support

• Selecting an intervention technique that fits the culture of the relevant actors /system

• Gaining not only top-management support, by involving managers on all levels and helping them "own" the changes

• Planning the change process, i.e. not least the technical aspects and logistics of the change project

• Overcoming resistance, or using the resistance to find weaknesses in your change attempts

• Evaluating, learning, adjusting, managing the borders of the change and take new loops

Kolody's and Stjernberg's change model

Analytical, expert strategy

Learning strategy / OD ideal

Change requisites

Legitimacy

Soul - of - fire

Freedom of action Arenas

Empathy and InsightsReflection

Consultants

Different strategies to deal with coordination of develoment across a large system

Saab Automobile - The Production Way

"One team, one concept (QLE/H),

one culture – and no compromise."

Viability of organizational ideals

Viability of organizational ideals - 20 years

The Change Dilemma

Directive Approach - the change is a mean to create a more participativeorganization with democratic norms, and to make sure that this becomes the result, the manager must use his power

Supportive Approach - the change process must follow the norms intendedto be the norms in the new organization, but then the manager maynot be certain that the change process leads to the structure and norms thathe/she wishes to be the essence of the new organization.

The Learning Dilemma

Experiential Approach - emphasize the learning in the unit experiencing change- but this may contribute to the isolation of the unit and thus make it more difficult to disseminate its experience.

Diffusion Approach - emphasize the communication of the unit’s insightsto its surroundings, but this may hinder the creation of an innovative climate within the unit - and thus there may be less of innovations and experience worthy to disseminate.

Diffusion/Spreading/Translation/ Reinvention of Innovations

Diffusion/Spreading/Translation/Reinvention of Innovations

perhaps "the diffusion model"

knowledge sharing leading to translation and reinvention processes

inspirations leading to translation and reinvention processes

preassures leading to translation and reinvention processes