Integrating the change program with the parent organization

Abstract

Many organizational change programs have problems or even fail in reaching their goals because they cannot sufficiently engage the personnel of the parent organization in the change. Project management literature has traditionally examined projects and programs as isolated entities, whereas recent research draws attention to the contextual embeddedness of change programs. This paper investigates the integration of change programs with their parent organization. Drawing evidence on two complex organizational change programs, we examine how change programs are integrated with their parent organization, and how boundary management and contextual factors are associated with program–parent integration. This paper reports the unique nature of program–parent integration in the two case programs, and develops a situated and dynamic framework on program–parent integration.