Internal Change Agents Research Articles

Integrating technology with work practices in primary care: challenges to sustainable organizing “from within”

PurposeThis paper aims to generate a better understanding of how challenges and opportunities for sustainable change during digitalization relate to the organizing work of change agents mandated to facilitate technology adoption from within local work organizations.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines the work of welfare technology coordinators, health-care professionals who are mandated to facilitate the use of technologies in home-based services in a Norwegian city. Data comprise ethnographic observations of meetings and work practices, interviews and documents collected over one year. A practice-based approach was applied to analyze how the welfare technology coordinators go about integrating technologies with the work practices, and the forms of negotiations this work implies in their work community.FindingsThe analysis identified four sets of practices in the coordinators’ work: exploring and integrating new technologies into work practices, legitimizing aims and values, formalizing routines and responsibilities and critically considering existing and envisioned service practices. Through these practices, emerging problems and disconnections in the service organization were attended to in a continuous manner.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature by examining the work of internal change agents mandated to facilitate multiple and simultaneous technology adoption and demonstrates the importance of recognizing the continuous efforts and negotiations of these agents as significant to sustainable organizing.

Peran Penyuluh sebagai Agent of Change dalam Adopsi Inovasi Padi Rojolele Srinuk

Introducing Rojolele Srinuk rice variety, an innovation from the Klaten Regency Government, and Delanggu Village is one of the villages targeted for developing these varieties. It is inseparable from the role of agricultural extension workers as agents of change in the process of adoption by farmers. As someone on behalf of the government, the agricultural extension worker is obligated to influence the decision-making process to restore Rojolele's existence in Delanggu Village. This study aimed to analyze the role of agricultural extension workers as agents of change and identify internal agents of change who play a role in adopting the Rojolele Srinuk rice innovation in Delanggu Village. The research method used in this research is a descriptive qualitative method—data collection technique with in-depth interviews with 12 informants, observation, and document study. The results showed that: 1) the role of an extension worker as the agent of change in the adoption of Rojolele Srinuk rice innovations includes: a) developing awareness of the target that needs change; b) establishing an information exchange relationship; c) to diagnose target problems; d) to create an intent to change in the target; f) to create an intent into action; g) to stabilize adoption and prevent discontinuance; h) to achieving change targets and ending dependency relationships. 2) The role of agricultural extension workers as agents of change has been good and quite good in establishing an information exchange relationship. 3) There are internal change agents in the social system who have a more significant effort in adopting Rojolele Srinuk rice innovations in persuasion and marketing.

Feminist Emergence in a Traditionally Male Industry: Case from Jordan—The Jordanian Banking Industry

Purpose: This research explored the role of female managers as change agents and the “problem of making women visible,” specifically in top management positions in in Jordanian banking industry. Methods: This research design is built on the basis of qualitative research, analyzing the perceptions in the mind of research subjects. Interviews were conducted with 32 participants from the Jordanian banking industry. Findings: Our research has revealed different and important insights into the changing role of Jordanian female workers, not only in such a male-dominant industry but also more broadly in Jordan’s wider society, in which the Arab masculine culture has been dominant. The positive impact of increased acceptance of females’ roles is significantly evident in our research, and we support the assertion that women can survive and prosper in the face of Arab or Eastern culture traditions. In addition, we asserted that females’ managers are deemed to be internal change agents through their knowledge, experience, and leadership traits and behavior. Conclusions: We shed the light on emancipation, in which females have had the opportunity to cross previous social and taken-for-granted boundaries, and which has eroded gender-biased boundaries and behavior as a response to the situational demands.

The Entrepreneur as Internal Change Agent: A Cognitive Perspective

Our study aims to clarify the role of the entrepreneur in developing cognitive redefinition by purposefully changing attitudes towards a change - in essence, acting as a change agent for their firm. By adopting this position, the entrepreneur plays a central role in reassuring their firm that it will survive change. Our qualitative study shows the critical events that trigger the initial cognitive behaviour of founders in the international expansion of their management consulting firms highlighting how survival anxiety - the feeling that if we do not change, we will fail to meet our needs or fail to achieve some goals or ideals that we have set for ourselves - must dominate.

Do top management teams’ expectations and support drive management innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises?

This paper examines the influences of top management teams (TMTs) on the adoption of management innovation (MI) at the employee level in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By conceptualising TMT influences as composed of the two dimensions of perceived TMT expectations and TMT support, we examine how they may influence MI in SMEs, both directly and indirectly, through the mediation of employee knowledge sharing (EKS). We argue that TMT expectations generate intangible cultural resources that provide the foundation for employees to internalise MI values and norms and that TMT support offers tangible resources to help employees implement MI. We further argue that perceived TMT expectations and support influence SME MI indirectly by encouraging and enabling EKS. Empirical data from China support our conceptual model. The paper advances our knowledge of the roles of TMT and employees as two key internal change agents in driving the adoption of MI in SMEs.

Creating and Implementing Standardized Management Innovation in a Large Organization

Management innovation represents one of the most important and sustainable sources of competitive advantage due to its context-specific nature. Still, current academic literature on management innovation and standardization is slightly limited. This intensive case study explores management innovation in a large European telecommunications company with the focus on standardization in managerial practices. The research data were gathered through interviews with managers from different levels of the case company. The results show that highly standardized management innovation is effective for reaching a standard level of management in a large company; it is also a prerequisite for further systematic development. Research questions: The purpose of this study is to gain insight into how standardization emerges in management innovation in a large organization by studying the construction and conduction of a managerial toolkit in a European telecommunications company. Links to theory: The theoretical framework is based on a study of management innovations and related processes by Birkinshaw et al. (2008) and a standardization study by Wright, Wylie & Sturdy (2012) in which the tasks of an internal change agent were divided into “ standardizing agendas” and “ standardizing methods”. Phenomenon studied: Adoption process of a standardized management innovation in a large company. Case context: The case company is a large European telecommunications company which operates in a highly competitive market where organizational excellence is extremely beneficial. The case study focuses on the case company management innovation process for creating a “toolkit” for day-to-day management in the retail sales channel. Research findings: The research findings gathered through systematic combining approach show that standardized management innovation is an effective tool for implementing managerial best practices from management fashions into organizational standards. Through adapting these learnings systematically to managers’ individual work, the good “standard” level of managing can be achieved in a large-size company. Reaching these standards also appears as a prerequisite for a further systematic managerial development in the organization. Discussion: This study contributes to management innovation research by highlighting planning and coordination in introduction and successful adoption of standardized management innovation. Planning communications, setting achievable timeframes and choosing the right implementers are important aspects of implementation. Clear guidelines help employees understand the ideological background of management innovation, and close interaction between change agents and store managers promotes the adoption of management innovation. A standardized management toolkit is an effective tool for putting external leadership ideologies, known as management fashions, into practice in a large organization. However, practical implementation requires comprehensive communication and preferably internal recruitment of change agents.

How do apprentices moderate the influence of organizational innovation on the technological innovation process?

This paper contributes to the literature on non-monetary benefits of Vocational Education and Training (VET) by investigating its influence on a firm’s innovation process. While an increasing number of studies finds positive effects of VET on innovation in firms, the role that apprentices play in this mechanism has largely been unexplored. To analyze this role, we use the distinction between technological and organizational innovation, two complementary forms of innovation. When investigating the initiators of organizational innovation, to date, research has primarily focused on internal and external change agents at upper echelons. We conceptualize apprentices as hybrid (a combination of internal and external) change agents at lower echelons. We examine how apprentices in the Swiss VET system are key to integrating external knowledge (through school-based education) with internal knowledge (through on-the-job training) and moderating the influence of organizational innovation on technological innovation. Drawing on a sample of 1240 firms from a representative Swiss Innovation Survey, we show that apprentices leverage the positive association between innovations in a firm’s business processes and organization of work with incremental innovations. With the description of a new mechanism that shows the significant role of apprentices on firms’ technological innovation activities and evidence for supportive associations between key variables, we contribute to the understanding of the influence of VET on innovation in firms.

Understanding Factors Influencing Quality Improvement Capacity Among Ambulatory Care Practices Across the MidSouth Region: An Exploratory Qualitative Study.

Success in choosing and implementing quality metrics, necessary in a value-based care model, depends on quality improvement (QI) capacity-the shared knowledge, understanding, and commitment to continuous improvement. We set out to explore factors influencing QI capacity among ambulatory care practices in the MidSouth Practice Transformation Network. As part of network participation, 82 practices submitted a plan for implementing self-selected quality metrics. This plan asked practices to identify factors that would assist or impede successful implementation of interventions to meet metric targets. We used a qualitative thematic analysis approach to explore barriers and facilitators to developing QI capacity among ambulatory care practices. Recurrent facilitators included external change agents, protected time for QI, a framework for improvement, and infrastructure including electronic health record (EHR) capabilities. Frequent barriers included lack of QI knowledge, lack of time, frequent staff turnover, inadequate EHR capabilities, lack of an internal change agent, and a belief that performance was outside of the practice's control. These findings provide insight into factors influencing the adoption and implementation of QI metrics across a diverse group of ambulatory care practices and suggest that targeting the Inner Setting of practices may be an appropriate approach for developing practice-level QI capacity, which is necessary for success in a value-based care model.

Transforming corporate headquarters: a case study of a collaborative journey

Transforming the organizational structure of a headquarters in order to decentralize authority and decrease its size remains a huge challenge for international corporations looking for agility. One of the main issues is how to overcome the inertia of corporate headquarters (CHQ). This paper examines a CHQ transformation at an industrial multinational that has developed its own participative method with strong reliance on internal resources and an intensive pace of change. It outlines how internal change agents orchestrate and implement this change at the level of CHQ—but not without some tradeoffs. While the approach adopted has helped CHQ and the organization to develop news skills and ways of working, at the same time some tradeoffs—such as the pace of change and the exclusion of managers from the consultative process—may have had effects on the implementation of change.

Flipping the Diffusion of Innovations Paradigm: Embracing the Positive Deviance Approach to Social Change

The classical diffusion of the innovations paradigm has faced criticism for reifying outside-in, expert-driven approaches to solving problems and for overlooking and rejecting local solutions. In this article, we argue that diffusion scholars should pay more attention to approaches such as positive deviance (PD) that enable communities to discover the wisdom they already have and then to act on it. PD is an asset-based approach that identifies what is going right in a community to amplify it, as opposed to focusing on what is going wrong in a community and fixing it with outside expertise. In the PD approach, the change is led by internal change agents who, with access to no special resources, present the social behavioural proof to their peers that problems can be solved. Given that the solutions are generated locally, they are more likely to sustain and be owned by potential adopters.

Strengthening Managerial Innovation Behavior in the SMEs

Managerial innovation as an internal change agent plays a central role in coping with the speed of today’s fast-paced customer demand and highly competitive market, yet previous studies paid less attention to the potential measures of strengthening managerial innovation behavior within organizations. Drawing from transformational leadership theory, the current study shed new light on this issue by examining the role of CEO transformational leadership (TFL), innovation culture (IC) and cross-functional integration (CFI) in advancing managerial innovation behavior in SMEs. A cross-sectional study with a sample of 434 respondents from 24 SMEs operating in Rwanda was conducted. To genuinely analyze the relationship between the variables hypothesized in this study, we used structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping technique using Amos 23 and SPSS 24. The overall findings revealed that the relationship proposed in the model were significantly supported. However, our new mechanism implying innovation culture and cross-functional integration in the relationship between CEO transformational leadership and managerial innovation behavior, provide a substantial contribution to management literature.

Building a culture of impact in an international agricultural research organization: Process and reflective learning

Most agricultural research organizations strive to address societal challenges and contribute to positive societal impacts. Fulfilling this ambition involves embedding a culture of impact in organizational culture, which, in our view, entails three main elements: understanding the role of the research community in contributing to impacts over the long term within the systems in which it operates; equipping researchers to support positive change; and implementing strategies that allow the culture of impact to percolate at various levels of the organization. To build just such a culture, in the past 8 years, Cirad, the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development, embarked on a transformational process, from which we draw key lessons. Building a culture of impact requires fostering transdisciplinary dialogue on the multiple roles of researchers, on their contribution to societal impacts, and on the relevance of this reflection. This involves adapting from pre-existing visions, interactions, and practices. Formalization in the organization's strategy and the action of leading change agents foster its institutionalization. Strengthening capacity to build shared visions of change and collective processes in research design, implementation, and evaluation while respecting the diversity of profiles and approaches in the organization favors appropriation. This requires adequate funding at the project, institutional and funding bodies level, and targeted communication to ensure buy-in by internal and external change agents. We argue that a culture of impact is a reflective culture and long-term dynamics that aims to overcome the dichotomy between research and development and bring agricultural research closer to societal needs.

The generation process of internal-driven management innovation in companies in transitional economies

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze how internal-driven management innovation (IDMI) takes shape, which highlights the objective-oriented and problem-oriented property of the innovation.Design/methodology/approachBased on a case study of a new practice called 11X integration strategy in Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited, a Chinese pharmaceutical group in Guangdong province, through applying Grounded Theory the authors get a concise systematic framework of generation process that is more practical and more understandable than the counterparts in current literature.FindingsFirst, this paper uncovers five stages and two parallel sub processes in the generation process of IDMI. The sub processes involves practical exploration process (i.e. primary activities) carried out by the internal change agents and theoretical support process (i.e. support activities) carried out by the external change agents. Second, by adopting a process perspective the authors are able to demonstrate how the different activities in both types of processes are combined over time in an intertwined way.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the case the authors studied is embedded in the context of China’s transitional economy, and the single case study limits us to make comparisons of the generation process of management innovation between different market economies. Second, the external-driven management innovation is still a field untouched. Third, in the research the authors explore the issues of how new management innovation is generated and implemented, but the authors do not systematically research on why different companies exhibit different levels of management innovativeness.Practical implicationsFirst, the findings suggest that firms should consciously and systematically invest in IDMI to create sustainable competitive advantage. Second, the process framework provides a clear guidance to the managers in Chinese state-owned enterprises who are engaged in developing or adopting management innovation. Third, the study indicates the managers in Chinese company should be aware of the importance of external change agents to IDMI. Fourth, this study could facilitate the enterprises to develop or adopt management innovation based on their real needs rather than just “jumping on the bandwagon” when adopting certain new management skills.Originality/valueThis study offers a new generation framework by identifying possible facilitators of IDMI that does not yet exist in extant literatures, and the two sub processes – the practical exploration process and the theoretical support process – deepen the understanding of the generation mechanisms of IDMI. Furthermore, the study contributes to reaching a better understanding of management innovation in the context of transitional economy such as China.

With a little help from a stranger: The impact of external change agents on corporate sustainability investments

AbstractWe investigate the role external change agents (e.g., consultants), play in stimulating corporate sustainability investments. Using data on more than 5,300 energy efficiency investment decisions by 462 firms, we find that firms that draw more strongly on external change agents seize significantly more sustainable investment opportunities. We show that external change agents are more effective in stimulating investments if they broadly search for investment opportunities and are more strongly involved in the implementation of change initiatives. Moreover, surprisingly, we do not find that using internal change agents in parallel with external agents enhances the effectiveness of external change agents. Our findings have important implications for the literature on corporate sustainability as they point to external change agents as an important means of steering firms onto more sustainable pathways. Additionally, we shed light on the conditions under which external change agents can be used to most effectively overcome organizational path dependencies.

Empowering Issue Sellers through EDF Climate Corps

The efforts of midlevel employees to focus organizational attention on particular initiatives are central to organizational change. Accordingly, researchers have investigated the political and discursive tactics that enable such issue sellers to succeed. However, little attention has been paid to organizational structures that promote issue selling or to external actors with an interest in encouraging changes, such as social movements. Likewise, research on social movements as agents of organizational change has largely not attended to the role of internal change agents at targeted organizations. In this paper, we contribute to filling these gaps by investigating the consequences of a network spanning issue sellers and external activists on organizations’ climate change reforms. We combine survey, interview, and archival data on the EDF Climate Corps program to show that internal organizational contexts and external ties cumulatively shape the ambitions of issue sellers at participating organizations. The results strengthen research on issue selling, organizational change, and social movements, as well as contribute to the urgent problem of understanding how organizations can adapt to mitigate climate change.

The role of internal change agent in developing the relationship between knowledge sharing and performance in virtual team

The role of internal change agent in developing the relationship between knowledge sharing and performance in virtual team

Intrapreneurship : Leveraging Competencies For Improving Quality In Higher Technical Education

Change in higher technical education is the buzzword for all academics .Only cosmetic changes are effected so far to achieve the aims. At higher technical education our credo is to make our employees i.e. faculties generate and implement innovative educational processes which includes teaching, learning and evaluations . They need to incubate new ideas, and advance a new model of education that moves beyond traditional boundaries. They should act as internal change agents, who embrace the characteristics of entrepreneurs like thinking out of the box. This enhances the value of education benefitting all the stakeholders. In this intrapreneurship will be greatly beneficial. This paper aims to examine the effects of individual competencies and characteristics linked to educational programmes that contribute to the development of competencies conducive to innovation which ensures ultimate sustainability.

Looking to Right‐hand Women: Strategies for Shaping Impactful Paths in Business

This visual ethnography explores the hypothesis that some women in business subvert traditional power relationships by using existing stereotypes and all other tools at their disposal to become “right‐hand women.” Drawing from examples of famous women in business and quotes from qualitative interviews with women from the U.S., Mexico and Colombia, “Looking to Right‐Hand Women” tells the story of how some successful, intelligent women across several countries play a behind‐the‐scenes role in business, strategically impacting and influencing men in leadership positions to directly shape decision‐making, and ultimately the path the business takes. Through the lens of navigating the highly nuanced challenges of operating as a woman in today's business world, this visual ethnography uncovers effective strategies for building trust and effecting change in the face of complex power dynamics. These strategies could potentially be applied by consultants and internal change agents at large corporations to build trust and effect change as well.

CHANGING FROM THE INSIDE OUT: LEADING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AS AN INSIDER

Purpose: This paper examines the opportunity for using auto/ethnography as a reflexive tool for managers when leading organizational change as an insider. Methodology/approach: Literature review. Originality/value: This paper explores the potential for using auto/ethnography as a method to facilitate self-reflection when leading organizational change as an internal change agent. A review of the concept of planned change and the skills required of internal change agents shows that in order to lead change the manager must assume a new identity; the internal change agent. Through her performances in the change agent role the agent and the project become engaged in a dyadic relationship wherein they are dependent upon each other for existence resulting in the agent becoming the change which she leads. This creates challenges for the internal change agent as she struggles to reconcile her new identity with her previous organizational roles. Reflexivity has been identified as a useful method to support change agents in this process but there is little to no clarity about how it should be executed. Auto/ethnography is presented in this paper as a potential method to facilitate self-reflection when leading change. The different methods of how auto/ethnography can be applied are discussed along with its benefits and risks. Future research is needed into how this method can be adapted to suit managers who are not researchers and what types of support are required to facilitate a structured reflexive process.

Practice among novice change agents in schools

The aim of the article is to understand practice as negotiation of meaning among novice and internal change agents in school organisations. The research question is as follows: What themes of participation and reification/management occur among the change agents? The study was qualitative in design using the social learning theory of community of practice, as well as organisation development theory in the analysis. Primarily, the data source comprised 36 change agents’ journals during 3 years from 2009 to 2011. Four themes of participation and reification were identified in the agents’ negotiation of meaning in their new role: (1) daily work management, (2) emotional supervision, (3) role development and (4) community development. The change agents reified or managed the problems with various micro-processes to structure the work with the teachers. Over time, more macro-processes became visible. The article concludes that the core of practice is the following question: How should the change agent’s role be developed and built upon? This is the question that nurtures the negotiation in the ongoing participation and reification process of being a change agent.