Change Management Approach Research Articles

Environmental science and management of coastal lagoons in the Southern Mediterranean Region: key issues revealed by the MELMARINA Project

Lagoons in the heavily populated, semi-arid coastal zone of the Southern Mediterranean Region exemplify the conflict between human utilisation of water and related resources and aquatic ecosystems. Having recognised the requirement to improve understanding of the functioning of the region’s coastal wetlands, the MELMARINA Project undertook integrated hydro-ecological monitoring and modelling within lagoons in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. This article highlights some key issues regarding environmental science and management of the region’s coastal lagoons revealed during the course of the project. It stresses the importance of hydrology as a key control upon lagoon functioning and ecosystem dynamics. Hydrological modifications due to water resource management schemes are the cause of many recent changes experienced within lagoons. Linkages between water quality, water availability, human activities and biological characteristics of coastal lagoons are discussed with particular reference to the controls upon vegetation within the MELMARINA lagoons. A series of methodological advances are reviewed which have potential for wider application within coastal lagoons. It is suggested that the use of lagoon sediment for environmental reconstruction can be invaluable, especially when monitoring data are lacking. Recent advances in instrumentation technologies make long-term continuous monitoring more feasible although these approaches can be combined with more traditional site surveys to provide wider spatial coverage at the expense of temporal resolution. Wider spatial coverage can also be achieved through the use of space-borne or aerial remote sensing imagery whilst longer-term trends in site characteristics can be assessed through historical map analyses. Geographical Information Systems, which facilitate the storage and interrogation of large and varied datasets, have enormous potential. Similarly, coupled hydro-ecological models can inform understanding of lagoon functioning and can assess scenarios associated with environmental change or alternative management approaches. The application of integrated, basin-wide approaches to the management of water resources and aquatic ecosystems in the Southern Mediterranean Region is advocated. This includes the application of principles from the EU’s Water Framework Directive. Finally, the need to place management in the context of climate change and associated sea level rise is stressed. Emphasis should be placed on the development of adaptation strategies designed to minimise the effects of these changes.

Successful change requires more than change management

Change at the organizational level requires using more than one change management approach. Success calls for addressing the strategies, skills, and structures that must be aligned in order to achieve the desired outcome. A seven-step model is presente..

Change Readiness Assessment for Conversion to Electronic Medical Records

Nurse executives are challenged to translate the mission of their healthcare organizations into desired outcomes that accomplish what is best for patients. Moving from paper to an electronic clinical documentation system can be a key tool in meeting this challenge; thus, nurse executives must lead a workforce that understands and embraces technology. The authors describe the change management approach that began the organizational culture transformation from paper to an electronic clinical documentation system.

Why is medical software so hard?

Medical software is regarded as both a success and a risk factor for quality and efficiency of medical care. First, reasons are given in what respects the medical industry is special: it is highly complex and variable, exposed to risks of privacy/confidentiality but also of denied access to authorized personnel, and medical users are a highly qualified and demanding population. Then some software technology and engineering approaches are presented that partially master these challenges. They include various divide and conquer strategies, process and change management approaches and quality assurance approaches. Benchmark institutions and comprehensive solutions are also presented. Finally, some challenges are presented that call for approaches other than technical to achieve user “buy in”, handle the outer limits of complexity, variability and change. Here, methods from psychology, economics and game theory complement domain knowledge and exploratory experimentation with new technologies.

Managing Change in Asian Business – A Comparison between Chinese-Educated and English-Educated Chinese Entrepreneurs in Singapore

Abstract
 Against the background of the current rapidly changing business environment, the article examines the organizational change management behaviour of the owner-managers of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore. The analysis of survey data is aimed at ascertaining whether there are any differences between Chinese and English educated small (ethnic Chinese) businessmen in terms of Change Management (CM), a dichotomy that is of great historical and politico-cultural significance in Singapore. The survey data show that there are indeed differences between the subgroups (eg with regard to the
 initiation of a more participatory people management style) but these variations turned out to be far less pronounced than expected. Access to information and actionable managerial knowledge appears to be a key precursor to the various change management approaches used by both groups. Chinese educated businessmen in particular seem to be somewhat disadvantaged in this respect, as modern change management literature is still largely only published in English.
 Keywords: Ethnic Chinese, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), Republic of Singapore, organizational change management.

Trends towards an improved disease state in rheumatoid arthritis over time: influence of new therapies and changes in management approach: analysis of the EMECAR cohort

IntroductionThe disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis has improved during the past decade. The availability of new drugs and also a better assessment of the disease have been proposed to be responsible for this improvement. In the present work we estimate the effect of these factors on disease activity and function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis at the beginning of the new century.MethodsThe Estudio de la Morbilidad y Expresión Clínica de la Artritis Reumatoide (EMECAR) cohort was assembled in 2000 from the random sampling of rheumatoid arthritis patients registered in 34 centers. The cohort was composed of 789 patients who underwent a baseline assessment plus four annual follow-up visits in which functional ability (Health Assessment Questionnaire score), the disease activity score obtained from 28-joint count with three parameters (DAS28-3) and radiological progression (Larsen score) were recorded. The effect of the calendar year on the DAS28-3, the Health Assessment Questionnaire score, and the Larsen score was obtained from adjusted models in which all treatments were included as dummy variables.ResultsThe effect of time as the β coefficient (95% confidence interval) for 2004, taking 2000 as a reference year, was -0.43 (-0.58 to -0.28) for the DAS28-3, 0.15 (0.07 to 0.22) for the Health Assessment Questionnaire score, and 4.4 (2.68 to 6.12) for the Larsen score. Treatment with new therapies, either leflunomide or TNF antagonists, increased in frequency from 1.1% (n = 8) in 2000 to 30.9% (n = 144) in 2004. Treatment with TNF antagonists (-0.28 (-0.5 to -0.05)) and with gold salts (-0.21 (-0.38 to -0.04)) was independently associated with a decrease in the DAS28-3 over time, whereas cyclosporin A treatment (0.45 (0.13 to 0.76)) was associated with an increase in disease activity.ConclusionsThe mean disease activity of rheumatoid arthritis has improved from 2000 to 2004. An explanation is the introduction of new therapies, but not solely. Other factors related to the calendar year, plausibly a better management of available drugs, show a greater effect on improvement than the drugs used.

A change management, systems thinking, or organizational development approach to the No Child Left Behind act

Problems with implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) can be assessed in light of change management theory. Viewing stakeholders collectively as a corporate entity supports employing change management strategies to make the NCLB work. Examining ways that organizational controls and change management can work together points to possible reasons for the problems NCLB has encountered. Finally, strategies are suggested that may facilitate education reform and also have broad application for human performance technology practice.

Change decisions in product development projects

In dynamic business environments, product development projects rarely proceed according to the original plan. It is likely that some changes must be made and plans or goals be redefined to adapt to changes in the business environment. Which changes should the project approve and implement, which ones to reject, and why? Earlier product development literature has largely covered planned decisions and go/no-go decision criteria in line with a phased product development process. Project management literature, in turn, suggests change management processes and practices during the project. Earlier research has not sufficiently covered criteria for change decisions that are needed between product development gates, nor a holistic approach for making such decisions in complex product development projects.This paper explores decision criteria and change management in complex product development projects. In a qualitative, multiple-case setting we characterize change management practices, decision criteria, and managers’ experiences with change management in seven complex product development projects within one firm. The results report multiple parallel change management approaches differing in terms of business context maturity, type of change, and IT system use. Operative criteria dominated in the change decisions of the case projects, as opposed to more long-term oriented strategic criteria. The paper concludes with propositions concerning more holistic change management frameworks that would account for contextual contingencies.

The managerialistic ideology of organisational change management

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to shed some light on the reasons and circumstances why strategic change initiatives based on new public management and managerialism go wrong. In particular, how such change initiatives are being justified, communicated, perceived, and implemented within organisational discourses and politics. It reveals personal and group interests behind ideologies, and what change management of this type is really about.Design/methodology/approachA strategic change initiative at a large Western‐European university (“International University” – IU) had been investigated between 2004 and 2005 based on qualitative empirical research. Data were gained primarily through semi‐structured in‐depths interviews with IU's senior managers. The findings were triangulated by referring to internal documents and academic literature.FindingsThe case study reveals a whole set of typical characteristics of managerialistic change management approach and how it is communicated. The paper provides insights into the narratives, organisational politics and ideology of change management processes. It draws the attention to the downsides of top‐down change management approaches, to ideologies and interests behind such initiatives as well as intended and unintended consequences.Research limitations/implicationsAcademics and practitioners might be motivated to concentrate (more) on the values, ideologies, and interests which are behind “rational” management recipes, to see management and organisational behaviour more differentiated and from a critical perspective.Originality/valueOrganisational change management is usually described on the basis of traditional strategy approaches and concentrates on “technical issues”. By drawing the attention to senior managers' perceptions and interests, and how they pursuit change management objectives on the basis of ideologies, it becomes clearer that allegedly “rational” and “objective” strategic solutions are contested terrain and objects of organisational politics.

A change management approach to evaluating ICT investment initiatives

PurposeDespite the availability of methods and techniques designed to assist with predictive and retrospective evaluation of ICT initiatives, management continues to struggle to perform meaningful evaluations, and the measurement of ICT investment payoff remains a challenge. A recurring problem associated with failed ICT‐based investment is poor change management. This paper aims to focus on the value of understanding the change management aspects of ICT investments.Design/methodology/approachA framework was developed from a study of the change management literature. An empirical investigation involving a qualitative case study approach was then conducted in order to assess the efficacy of the framework during the evaluation process.FindingsBusiness benefit from ICT is likely only when ICT investment is accompanied by appropriate change management skills. The study highlights the particular importance of communication, championing and change agency, resources, and the project timescale.Research limitations/implicationsResults were generated from a single case study. It is also acknowledged that it is unclear what impact (if any) a parallel project had on the project under investigation.Practical implicationsThe paper highlights the value of effective change management, placing particular emphasis on effective communication during all stages of a project.Originality/valueThe paper explicitly employs change management techniques in order to identify potential problem areas. It recommends longitudinal research be conducted in order to employ the framework during both ex ante and ex post evaluation for a single initiative.

Integrated analysis of landscape management scenarios using state and transition models in the upper Grande Ronde River Subbasin, Oregon, USA

We modeled the integrated effects of natural disturbances and management activities for three disturbance scenarios on a 178,000 ha landscape in the upper Grande Ronde Subbasin of northeast Oregon. The landscape included three forest environments (warm-dry, cool-moist, and cold) as well as a mixture of publicly and privately owned lands. Our models were state and transition formulations that treat vegetation change as probabilistic transitions among structure and cover types. We simulated background natural disturbance (i.e., historical), active fuel treatment, and fire suppression only disturbance scenarios for 200 or 500 years, depending on scenario. Several interesting landscape hypotheses emerge from our scenario simulations: (1) changes in management approach in landscapes the size of our study area may take decades to play out owing to the time required to grow large trees and the feedback loops among disturbances, (2) the current landscape is considerably different from that which might exist under a natural disturbance regime, (3) fire suppression alone does not mimic background natural disturbances and does not produce abundant large tree structure, and (4) dense, multi-layered large tree forests may be particularly difficult to maintain in abundance in this and similar landscapes owing to wildfire and insect disturbances.

Challenging the code of change: Part 2. Crossing the rubicon: Extending the integration of change

It has been argued that the two most common approaches to change management adopted by organizations, Theory E and Theory O, represent an inefficient dichotomy and integrating elements of both into any change initiative has been proposed. The dichotomy in a Theory E approach, incorporating practices driven by an economic imperative and a Theory O approach, incorporating practices for improving organizational capability are questioned by this research. By comparing the integrated model identified by Beer and Nohria (2000) with 18 other change management approaches, the limitations of their model are exposed. Considerable similarities are observed between change management models and this leads to the conclusion that a more comprehensive integrated model should be developed and tested. This includes the importance of identifying the context for change as a prerequisite to change design. Initial research validated the use of an extended list of critical success factors, the utility of a new model for initiating change and reinforced the importance of a contingency paradigm.

An actor‐dependency technique for analyzing and modeling early‐phase requirements of organizational change management due to information systems adoption

PurposeBecause of the competitive economy, organizations today seek to rationalize, innovate and adapt to changing environments and circumstances as part of business process reengineering (BPR) efforts. Irrespective of the process reengineering program selected and the technique used to model it, BPR brings with it the issues of organizational and process changes, which involves managing organizational changes (also called “change management”). Change management is non‐trivial, as organizational changes are difficult to accomplish. Though some attempt has been made to model change management in enterprise information systems using conventional conceptual modeling techniques, they have just addressed “what” a change process is like, and they do not address “why” the process is the way it is.Design/methodology/approachThe approach presents an actor‐dependency‐based technique for analyzing and modeling early‐phase requirements of organizational change management that provides the motivations, intents, and rationales behind the entities and activities.FindingsA case study illustrates this approach.Originality/valueThis approach is novel in the sense that there is no similar intentional modeling approach for change management to the best of our knowledge. The approach is expected to be valuable because using this approach one can reason about the opportunities and changes that are associated with BPR and can incorporate prominently the issues related to change in the process of system analysis and design.

System dynamics approach for change management in new product development

PurposeNew product development (NPD) project is an organizational competitiveness strategic weapon. Yet, many NPDs projects fail due to the dynamic nature of critical success factors such as time, cost, quality, and scope. Scope and change management (CM) are crucial factors and have a direct bearing on the other three factors. Thus, there is a need for effective CM in NPD projects to sustain the competitiveness and focusing on scope. This study aims to examine this issue.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the principles of cybernetics and system dynamics (SD) methodology have been used in developing causal loop diagrams, flow diagrams, and the governing equations. The SD model thus developed has been used to analyze the factors such as change in scope due to the development of new technology.FindingsThe dynamic simulation of the SD model was carried out; the results indicate that effective knowledge management (KM) constitutes the main controlling factor that has a significant control over project dynamics. Accordingly, suggestions have been made to improve on the KM aspects in the manufacturing sector, based on which the model has been developed.Practical implicationsThe model developed in this research gives an in‐depth study of the influence of “change in scope” on competence loss, competence development, and competence absorption of the knowledge workers. The results lay special emphasis on efficient KM in the manufacturing sector. Accordingly, suggestions on KM implementation include the processes of knowledge creation, storage, distributions, validation, and application.Originality/valueThis paper is unique in the sense that it develops a model with in‐depth structures, which helps the strategic managers in better understanding of the dynamics of NPD when change in scope occurs.

Challenging the code of change: Part 1. Praxis does not make perfect

It has been argued that the two most common approaches to change management adopted by organizations, Theory E and Theory O, represent an inefficient dichotomy and, thus, integrating elements of both into any change initiative has been proposed. The dichotomy presented by a Theory E approach, incorporating practices driven by an economic imperative and a Theory O approach, incorporating practices to improve organizational capability, are questioned by this research. By comparing the integrated model identified by Beer and Nohria (2000) with 18 other change management approaches, the limitations of their model are exposed. The considerable similarities observed between change management models leads to the conclusion that a more comprehensive integrated model should be developed and tested. This includes the importance of identifying the context for change as a prerequisite for change design. Initial research validated the use of an extended list of critical success factors and the utility of a new model for initiating change and reinforced the importance of a contingency paradigm.

Managing Change in the Context of a Community Health Organisation

Change management has been recognised as a complex, dynamic process during which unanticipated events and behaviour may emerge. This is particularly the case for community health care organisations where the combination of a number of typical features serves to complicate change efforts. Change in complex organisations such as community health services is unlikely to be a straightforward process and is likely to require more than one approach. This review examines the various change management approaches in the literature, with a view to assessing their relevance to a community health organisational context. Debate around the strengths and limitations are reported along with the key elements of responsive change management processes.

Technological change and human resource development practices in Asia: a study of Singapore-based companies

Technological change is a constant phenomenon in contempo- rary organizations. How to prepare employees for technologi- cal change has increasingly become an issue for human resource development theory and practice. This study investigated the human resource development practices of organizations in Singapore, where companies are continuously responding to rapid technological changes in order to remain competitive. The results show similar patterns of responses across business sectors; however, some differences were found in the transport and communications sectors. On-the-job training was reported as the most frequently used training method to address orga- nizational change needs. The discussion and recommendations focus on the need for improved change management approaches.

Toward sustainable ecosystem services from the Aleutian Archipelago

AbstractThe new research reported in this special issue of Fisheries Oceanography expands our understanding of the Aleutian Archipelago ecosystem. Yet our knowledge remains very limited, while the use of this ecosystem for commercial activities, recreation and other purposes expands. Given this situation, how can we sustain the ecosystem services (food, fuel, fibers as well as spiritual, recreational, educational and other non‐material benefits to society) of this region? The region has a mixed history; healthy populations of many species exist, but so do species extinctions (e.g. Steller sea cow, Hydrodamalis gigas) and population depletions, including the sea otter (Enhydra lutris), Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus), whiskered auklets (Aethia pygmaea), Pacific ocean perch (Sebastes alutus), and red king crabs (Paralithodes camtschaticus), associated with human impacts. The solution to our limited knowledge in this poorly studied region is increased funding for ecosystem research, including its responses to climate change and human impacts. Knowledge is not sufficient, however; a change in management approach is also needed. We emphasize the need to maintain a broader set of ecosystem services objectives rather than the traditional narrower focus on commercial fishery yields. To do so, we recommend the development of an integrated ecosystem services management plan for the Aleutian Islands. Such a plan requires that state and federal regulatory agencies coordinate with a broad stakeholder community involving sectors of commercial and recreational fishing, subsistence, conservation, oil and gas development, coastal development, shipping, tourism, and others.

Accelerating sales performance for Visa by closing the communications gaps

This paper discusses a unique approach to the acceleration of sales using two distinct yet related techniques. The first is to close communications gaps between marketing, sales and customers by implementing active two-way communications. The second is to achieve a change in management approach by restoring the counterbalances of intuition, intelligence and initiative to the dead weight of compliance-based management style. Good communication restores the exciting, unpredictable and challenging experience that attracted most people to marketing in the first place. More importantly, feeling how products are being received and sensing the direction in which the market is going, instincts become sharper and emerging opportunities are more readily identified and exploited. The skilled implementation of good two-way communications can bring about just such changes in management style. Manifest provides a detailed case study that demonstrates how its approach accelerated and sustained sales performance of the Visa Business Card and inspired Visa Europe's management board to adopt a fresh approach to marketing communications.

A CRITICAL REVIEW OF SIX SIGMA: EXPLORING THE DICHOTOMIES

Increasing competitive pressure from global markets and technological developments has resulted in the continual demand for business improvement philosophies and methodologies in operations management to address this challenge. The Six Sigma approach to business improvement has emerged in both the practitioner and academic literature as having a significant role in this area. There are many documented case studies of organizational applications of Six Sigma, where large‐scale improvements in defect and process measures have been attributed to this approach, mainly in the mass‐manufacturing sector. Moreover, there are claims, less well documented, that Six Sigma can be used as a change management approach at a strategic level and thus it can be applied to other sectors such as service industries. It is contended that there is a paucity of critical reviews of the Six Sigma literature, beyond that of descriptive accounts. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to critically review the literature of Six Sigma in relation to its effect on organizations and those that work in them. A broad theoretical perspective is used to guide the review process. The paper structure is based on the dichotomies within the Six Sigma literature, namely, what is Six Sigma — strategic change or operational methods; is Six Sigma a TQM appendage, or something new; will workers in a Six Sigma environment have more empowerment or be more controlled and is Six Sigma applicable to the service sector or only for that of the manufacturing sector?