Integrating Western Change Management Concepts into Voluntary Welfare Organisations in Asia

Abstract

Voluntary welfare organizations in Asia are under increasing pressure to change from its traditional ways of operations to ones that will keep pace with client needs in modernizing societies. The rapidly changing Asian economic, social, and technological environment presents both opportunities and problems. Healthcare organizations, in particular, face increasing pressures to contain costs while maintaining quality services. The increasing complexity of Asian nations necessitates organizations networking with others in related fields. This paper examines how an Asian voluntary welfare organization in Singapore adapted western management concepts about organizational primarily from Lewin (1975) and Senge (1994) to help implement a necessary development process. Senge (1994) helped to provide a strategy for change whilst Lewin (1975) helped in explicating the resisting forces and how these can be overcome. But most importantly, ongoing consultation with staff, managers and Board informed the ongoing dialectics which related theory to practice.