Specific Change Management Research Articles

Doing Meso-Level Integration: The cultural, relational, and communications practices that draw primary care closer to the broader system.

Introduction: In alignment with the conference’s first theme, this paper draws on qualitative research to address issues of change management implementation at the meso-level in integration. It uses a case study of integration efforts as they played out during the first wave of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in Alberta, Canada to identify practical ways of doing organization-to-organization integration in Primary Care (PC).
 Background: While the existing literature describes three high-level approaches to enabling the integration of health and social systems in a range of contexts, it is unclear how stakeholders in PC and health system organizations might practically operationalize these approaches. How, specifically, should those stakeholders go about: enacting a pro-integration culture; doing the relationship work required for integration; and communicating to support integration? Put differently, what are the practical change management behaviours that give life to these three key approaches and make integration real?
 Approach: A subset of semi-structured interviews with key informant stakeholders was drawn from a larger study of policy and change management implementation under pandemic conditions in Alberta, Canada. Participants in these interviews were directly involved in efforts to integrate PC into the province’s health system response to COVID-19 generally, and specifically into the response to the Omicron wave. The 10 interviews averaged 65 minutes in length and included key informants from both independent PC and central health system organizations. The Interpretive Description technique was used to analyze the interview transcripts and so identify practical enactments of pro-integration culture, relationship work for integration, and integration-supportive communication.
 Results: Key ways of enacting a pro-integration culture included: sending signals with staffing choices; making personal expressions of commitment to the values of integration; and ensuring communal commitments to those same values. Doing integration relationships involved: following through on rhetorical commitments; and persevering at proving oneself in the eyes of counterparts from other organizations. Finally, communicating in ways that supported integration involved: bidirectional communication that included listening as well as talking; the elimination of intermediaries to close the social and knowledge distance between PC and health system stakeholders; and actuating a mix of formal and informal communication channels rather than relying on purely formal committee work or informal contacts.
 
 Conclusions: Practical steps towards achieving meso-level organization involve making high-level approaches to culture, relationships, and communication real in everyday behaviour. Efforts to integrate PC into a broader pandemic response in Alberta Canada provide a window on these specific change management implementation behaviours and so how to ‘do’ integration. Doing pro-integration culture involves sending signals through staffing choices, personal, and group commitments. Doing integration relationships involves following through on commitments and persevering. Doing integration communications involves listening as well as talking, closing the distance between stakeholders, and taking advantage of formal and informal channels. Stakeholders seeking to integrate at the meso-level may wish to consider these practical action

When Companies Make Your Day

Pre-digital organizations were established before the digital and collaborative economy. Faced with this new economy, they are carrying out organizational transformation projects that involve significant changes in tasks, working conditions, and employee well-being. A positive emotional climate can support these digital transformations. Companies have therefore developed specific change management practices focusing on happiness at work to support these digital transformation programs of work practices. This research explores the role of happiness management as a change management practice for digital transformation. Using a multiple case study method, it illustrates how happiness management practices are enacted in three French pre-digital organizations from different industries. It identifies characteristics of happiness management mobilized differently by each organization. Some combinations of these characteristics and employees' control perceptions are shown to lead to a positive emotional climate which in turn affects the success of digital workplace transformations.

Diagnosis and Management of Monogenic Diabetes in Pregnancy.

Monogenic diabetes occurs in up to 3% of people with diabetes. Mutations in over 40 different genes are responsible. The most common genes affected are HNF1A, HNF4A, GCK, and HNF1B. Additionally, other types of diabetes with a genetic aetiology include neonatal diabetes and diabetes plus syndrome. Each of these genetic subtypes has a different phenotype and requires distinctive treatments. Due to the overlap of monogenic diabetes with type 1 and 2 diabetes and even gestational diabetes, they can often be misdiagnosed. During pregnancy, individual subtypes require treatment that is different from standard diabetes care, so recognition and prompt diagnosis of monogenic diabetes are important to avoid inadequate treatment. We describe the management of monogenic diabetes for the most significant subtypes, focussing on the impact on and management in pregnancy. A genetic diagnosis of diabetes can alter long-term treatment in those with diabetes. In pregnancy and the postnatal period, this can involve specific management changes determined by the gene affected and whether there is a fetal inheritance of the gene. Where inheritance of the genotype influences the outcomes, cell-free fetal testing will hopefully soon become a diagnostic tool for early recognition of fetal mutations.

Hydrologic and Nutrient Fluxes in a Small Watershed with Changing Agricultural Practices

Nonpoint-source nutrients contribute to eutrophication of surface waters. While effects of particular management actions are difficult to identify at the watershed scale, assessing nutrient fluxes over time can illuminate the net impact of trends in land use and management. We investigated nutrient fluxes in upper Kamm Creek in northwest Washington State to determine if historical changes in land management, responding to economic and regulatory shifts, had impacted nutrient export. We compared current (October 2015 to September 2018) nitrogen and phosphorus fluxes in Kamm Creek to data from a previous study (1993 to 1998). We found significantly higher current fluxes of nitrate, and significantly lower current fluxes of orthophosphate (P) and total phosphorus (TP), compared to the historical sampling period. The increased annual nitrate flux resulted from slightly higher average discharge and significantly higher nitrate concentrations throughout the year. In contrast, current P and TP concentrations were significantly lower throughout the year than previously. The Nooksack River, which receives water from the study stream, showed similar patterns for P and TP, but not nitrate. Kamm Creek had reduced phosphorus fluxes and increased nitrate fluxes between the 1993 to1998 and 2015 to 2018 time periods. The watershed experienced several concurrent land-use changes, including reductions in hay and corn acreage, increases in berry crop acreage, legislation to reduce manure application, and altered use of nitrate-enriched groundwater. We cannot currently distinguish among these. Further understanding relationships between specific management changes and nutrient fluxes will help to maintain local agricultural productivity and improve water quality.

A content analysis of change management strategies used in technological transitions in higher education institutions from the lens of a strategic alignment framework

Technology innovations have the potential to significantly strengthen the ability of higher education institutions to deliver on their core educational mission with greater quality, efficiency, and effectiveness. Not surprisingly, managing technological changes is among the chief concerns for institutional leaders, and yet there is a dearth of research that provides concrete frameworks for managing this type of change in a higher education context. Using Guerra-López and Hicks’s Learning and Development Strategic Alignment (LDSA) framework, this qualitative study used a directed content analysis approach to develop a contextualized framework for planning and managing technology change in higher education institutions. The findings suggest that there is a meaningful fit between specific change management strategies found in the learning management systems (LMS) transition research literature and the LDSA framework. The various strategies were synthesized and grouped around LDSA dimensions and core functions, resulting in a technological change management framework contextualized for higher education.

Institutionalising intra-organisational change for responsible management education

ABSTRACT Higher education institutions are attempting to incorporate responsible management education (RME) into both their philosophies and their curricula. This phenomenon is most pertinent to and most prevalent in business schools. This paper proposes a six-stage model, derived from relevant change management and institutionalisation models and literature, which business schools could adopt to institutionalise RME as an intra-organisational practice. It identifies various endogenous and exogenous factors which influence RME institutionalisation and proposes specific change management practices which could be adopted by business schools to overcome challenges, including resistance, to such change efforts. The model acknowledges the complex and diverse nature of RME itself, which has made it difficult for business schools to adopt a unified approach to its institutionalisation. The need for such a model stems from the ever-increasing salience of RME, resulting from a number of drivers, including the pervasiveness of corporate scandals over time, which has led to growing calls to develop ‘ethical’ business managers. Our proposed model extends our understanding of RME institutionalisation within business schools by adopting a change management approach. It also provides a practical way forward for business schools to change their institutional DNA, through the adoption of a six-stage systematic solution for RME institutionalisation.

Change management practices for adopting new technologies in the design and construction industry

The architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry has often been accused of being slow to adopt change. Yet the breadth of available technology solutions in the modern AEC industry continues to grow. Companies therefore must be adept at organizational change management; otherwise, the full benefits of technology solutions may never be realized when a company fails to achieve successful change adoption. The objective of this study was to identify the relationships between specific change management practices and organizational adoption of new technology solutions. An industry-wide approach was taken, wherein an online survey methodology was used to collect 167 cases of organization-wide change from AEC firms across the United States and Canada. The method of analysis included a correlation analysis between change management practices and change adoption. Reliability testing and principal components analysis were used to extract a single construct measure of change adoption. Rank-based nonparametric testing investigated if there are statistically significant differences between different groups of participants and technologies. Results include a rank-order of specific change management practices most associated with successful technology adoption. Change-agent effectiveness, measured benchmarks, realistic timeframe, and communicated benefits are the four change management practices that had the strongest association strength with successful change adoption. The discussion addresses how these leading change management practices compare with previous literature. Also, it was found that organization type and job position were correlated with the levels of change-adoption success compared to other listed factors. This study contributes an industry-wide view of change management practices within the context of technology-based change adoption and may assist practitioners to better manage technology adoptions in their organizations.

Long-term management of horses with atopic dermatitis in southeastern England: a retrospective questionnaire study of owners' perceptions.

Allergic pruritus and urticaria in the horse are challenging for veterinarians and owners; little is known about their long-term management. To summarize intradermal allergen test results (IDT), and to assess owners' perceptions of skin disease and the effects of medical treatment and management changes in their atopic horses over time. Eighty two horses with atopic dermatitis in southeastern England between 2006 and 2011. The IDT results were reviewed retrospectively. Owners completed telephone questionnaires on skin changes, medication, effect of allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT) and management. Sixty one owners (74.4%) could be contacted, an average of 5.9 years (range 28-88 months) after IDT; of those, three could not be enrolled. Of the 58 remaining horses, eleven (19%) were deceased at the time of owner interview, including four (6.9%) euthanized due to uncontrollable skin disease. The remaining 47 owners reported that the signs of skin disease had not been seen for at least two years in 18 horses (38.3%), including two that only flared with known triggers. Twenty nine horses (61.7%) still required medication to control skin disease although 25 (53.2%) required less since testing. Owners reported benefit from ASIT in nine of 14 horses (64.3%) from glucocorticoids in 33 of 35 (94.3%) and from antihistamines in 17 of 28 (60.7%). Specific management changes were implemented for 22 horses and reported as beneficial in nine of 22 (40.9%). Equine atopic dermatitis may not always be chronic, but severe cases appear difficult to control. IDT may help to formulate ASIT and can help to guide management changes.

Successful implementation of self-managing teams

PurposeFollowing health-care organisations, many mental health-care organisations nowadays consider starting to work with self-managing teams as their organisation structure. Although the concept could be effective, the way of implementing self-managing teams in an organisation is crucial to achieve sustainable results. Therefore, this paper aims to examine how working with self-managing teams can be implemented successfully in the mental health-care sector where various factors for the successful implementation are distinguished.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative case study is executed by analysing 18 interviews within two self-managing teams in a mental health-care organisation located in the Netherlands. A coding process is executed in two steps. The first step is open coding, to make small summarising notes within each interview section. The second step is refocused coding, where the open codes were collected, categorised and summarised by searching for recurrence and significance. The coding process is made visible within a code tree. This code tree formed the basis for writing the findings.FindingsSuccess factors for the implementation of a self-managing team that resulted from this research are a clear task portfolio division, good relationships within the team and a coaching trajectory with attention for a possible negative past.Originality/valueBy having used a specific change management model, the Change Competence Model, it can be concluded that a high change capacity will positively influence the success of a self-managing team in the context of a mental health-care organisation.

Exploring stakeholder perceptions of marine management in Bermuda

Given competing objectives vying for space in the marine environment, the island of Bermuda may be an ideal candidate for comprehensive marine spatial planning (MSP). However, faced with other pressing issues, ocean management reform has not yet received significant traction from the government, a pattern seen in many locations. Spatial planning processes often struggle during the proposal, planning, or implementation phases due to stakeholder opposition and/or government wariness to change. Conflict among stakeholders about management reform has also proven to be a deterrent to MSP application in many locations. With these obstacles in mind, a detailed stakeholder survey was conducted in Bermuda to determine awareness, attitudes and perceptions regarding ocean health, threats to ocean environments, the effectiveness of current ocean management, and possible future changes to management. How perceptions vary for different types of stakeholders and how attitudes about specific concerns relate to attitudes about management changes were examined. Overall, the results indicate a high degree of support for spatial planning and ocean zoning and a high level of concordance even among stakeholder groups that are typically assumed to have conflicting agendas. However, attitudes were not entirely homogeneous, particularly when delving into details about specific management changes. For example, commercial fishers were generally less in favor, relative to other stakeholder groups, of increasing regulations on ocean uses with the notable exception of regulations for recreational fishing. Given the results of this survey, public support is likely to be high for government action focused on ocean management reform in Bermuda.

Drivers of Organizational Change within the AEC Industry: Linking Change Management Practices with Successful Change Adoption

In today’s rapidly evolving market, effective organizational change adoption has become a core competency of architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms to maintain their competitive advantage. Firms that more effectively manage organizational change adoption can position themselves as early adopters and are able to expend fewer resources in making the transition. The objective of this study was to collect a global sample of organizational change initiatives across the AEC industry to identify whether specific change management practices have a direct relationship with successful change adoption. On the basis of a data sample of 237 organization-level change initiatives, the results of this study establish that there are definitive—and learnable—change management practices that AEC firms can implement to increase the success of their change initiatives. The global data sample presented in this study is a meaningful contribution to the AEC literature, which consists primarily of case-based studies limited to a single type of organizational change event. Furthermore, this study contributes practical action steps for industry professionals to manage the adoption of new technologies, management strategies, and business practices within their organizations more effectively.

Economic figures in herd health programmes as motivation factors for farmers

Veterinarians often express frustrations when farmers do not implement their advice, and farmers sometimes shake their heads when they receive veterinary advice which is practically unfeasible. This is the background for the development of a focused 3 page economic report created in cooperation between veterinarians, farmers, advisers and researchers. Based on herd specific key-figures for management, the report presents the short- and long-term economic effects of changes in 15 management areas. Simulations are performed by the dairy herd simulation model “SimHerd”. The aim is to assist the veterinarian in identifying the economically most favorable and feasible management improvements and thereby provide more relevant and prioritised advice to the farmer.In the developing process, a prototype of the advisory tool was tested by 15 veterinarians on 55 farms. After the test period, a selection of farmers were asked to take part in a qualitative evaluation questioning them whether they had implemented the action plans suggested on basis of the advisory tool and making them explain what made them agree or disagree on the results from this new advisory tool. The aim of this process was to evaluate the farmers’ receptiveness to advice based on these economic analyses. We found that the analysed advisory tool (the report) can be seen as a valuable help and support for some farmers when deciding whether to implement the action plans. However, certain reservations were recognised. The trustworthiness of the tool depends on whether the veterinarians are able to suggest to the farmer which specific management changes are needed to obtain the estimated effects and what the related expenses might be (costs). Without transparency of expenses, time-limits, work hours and so on, farmers may not be convinced by the tool.

Applying Grounded Theory to Investigating Change Management in the Nonprofit Sector

Grounded theory is well supported as a qualitative research method that historically responded to the epistemological challenges of defining knowledge and determining how it has been acquired. While its historical and unique methodological underpinnings remain consistent, its ongoing application and methods of execution continue to expand its use. The consideration of using grounded theory by researchers embodies the need to explore the methodology and thereafter seek to develop the method that reflects the researcher’s skills, the research setting, and the research aims. This article sets out a particular method of applying it to the study of change management using a rich single case study in the nonprofit sector. Key findings are that nonprofit specific change management models may need to incorporate a focus on formal reflection for change agents and change recipients, development of trust and confidence in the organization prior to the actual change, focusing on the individual experience of change, and recognizing the sequencing of events from a planning perspective.

The role of change management in the District Health Authority Consolidation (Transition and Design) project in Nova Scotia

The District Health Authority Consolidation (Transition and Design) project in Nova Scotia was initiated to consolidate the existing nine district health authorities into one provincial health authority. This article provides an overview of the internal change management approach and activities that were developed to support the various phases of the design and transition process. Three phases of work are outlined, and specific change management activities are described as are lessons learned from the overall approach.

Long-term trends of nitrogen and phosphorus mass balances on New York State dairy farms

The whole-farm nutrient mass balance (NMB) is an adaptive management tool that can be used to identify areas for improvement in nutrient management and to monitor progress over time. The objectives of this study were to (1) evaluate the trends of nitrogen and phosphorus mass balances of 27 New York State dairy farms over 6 to 10 yr, (2) identify specific management changes made by 4 case study farms that improved NMB over time by shifting NMB up or down depending on the initial NMB, and (3) evaluate the potential of key indicators to identify opportunities for improvement in NMB. During the study period, milk price fluctuated whereas costs associated with feed and fertilizer increased substantially. Of the 27 farms, 67 to 74% (depending on the nutrient) decreased NMB per hectare over time, whereas 63 to 67% decreased NMB per megagram of milk over time. In general, changes in NMB were directionally correct, with 43 to 56% of farms operating in the optimum operational zone (with both NMB per hectare and per megagram of milk below the feasible levels suggested for New York) toward the end of the study versus 22 to 26% in the first 2 yr of the assessments. The 4 case study farms improved their NMB, whole-farm nutrient use efficiencies, and feed nutrient use efficiencies while maintaining or increasing milk production per cow. The case study farmers made the largest changes in precision feed management, reducing protein and P in purchased feed by replacing concentrates with blends with lower nutrient concentrations. Total nutrient imports, feed imports, the percentage of homegrown feed and nutrients, the concentration of nutrients in the purchased feed, fertilizer imports, and overall crop yields were useful in identifying potential areas for improvement in NMB.

The meaning of ‘employee engagement’ for the values and roles of the HRM function

Employee engagement has become a dominant part of the vocabulary of human resource management (HRM), yet there has been little investigation of the implications of this for HRM in organisations. This article analyses a case study of an initiative at New Zealand Post designed to improve the engagement and performance of supervisory staff. It makes two important contributions to the development of the nascent literature. First, it suggests that effective engagement initiatives require political astuteness and commitment on the part of HR. This is because they require a clear business case focused on performance, not merely engagement itself, and an evidence-based approach to design and implementation. This potential appears to be furthered by the commonly observed restructuring of HRM into a ‘business partner’ role. Second, a purposive approach to employee engagement involves HR interrogating the employment relationship to address fundamental issues of employee voice, work design and management agency. This can introduce complications, and resistance, into the partnership with management, but it also offers a means to reconcile ‘soft’ (employee-centred) HRM values to ‘hard’ (performance) concerns around specific change management initiatives. Employee engagement thus need not constitute unitarist subterfuge, but rather something of a ‘neo-pluralist’ turn in the values and activities of HRM.

Are Change Readiness Strategies Overrated? A Commentary on Boundary Conditions

Change readiness of employees is a familiar notion about how organizations can enhance their chances for success from an organizational change initiative. At the core of readiness themes is the formation of beliefs within change recipients that engender a willingness to positively engage the change. The purpose of this article is to examine the themes of readiness models with respect to boundary conditions on change readiness theory and practice. First, the article identifies limitations that are inherent in the assumptions underlying the six readiness themes. Second, the article discusses four issues concerning change itself that may provide substitutes for readiness strategies, make readiness not necessary or make readiness strategies necessary, but not sufficient. The four issues are attributions for change, the scope and genesis of change, specific change management within the context of broader leadership practices, and individual differences that may make a focus on readiness by change agents less necessary. The main thread running through this article is a competing context for understanding change, suggesting that what is salient to individual employees is not an organizational change but rather a changing organization, which places multiple, simultaneous adaptive demands on them from many forces within the organization, many of which are not planned or intended.

Building the supply chain to enable business alignment: lessons from British American Tobacco (BAT)

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report on experiences from BAT's major supply chain reconfiguration program; it details practices, lessons learnt and do's and do nots. There is little research that reports on how to manage major supply chain reconfiguration programs, despite the fact that it is widely acknowledged that this can be challenging.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reports insights from industry, directly captured from the responsible managers in workshops and through co‐author involvement.FindingsSeven key lessons are shared, including how to use S&OP, measurement and other specific change management tactics and practices.Practical implicationsThe findings reported in this paper are “straight from the horses mouth” and are very much informed by all the experience developed inside BAT. Coupled with the focus on overall lessons, the findings will be useful for many other supply chain executives engaged in major reconfigurations.Originality/valueThis paper provieds an insight into a major supply chain design project in BAT over a six year period. This included access to senior decision makers and those actually running the change program. Case studies of this scale, scope and longitude are a rarity in supply chain strategy.

Experimenting with organisational development in Bhutan: A tool for reform and the achievement of multi‐level goals?

AbstractIn this article we present a unique study of how a nation, Bhutan, is using a specific change management approach—organisational development—as the lever for system‐level change in pursuit of a complex, multi‐level suite of goals to, ultimately, enhance Gross National Happiness (GNH). We argue that this represents one of the first attempts at using OD for wide‐scale change, something hinted at decades ago, and flagged by recent work coming out of the United Nations Development Program and civil society organisations (CSOs). Conceptually, we point to a high level of fit between the Bhutanese development philosophy and OD, and argue there is great potential for using OD in the context. However, we raise a series of issues around the practical feasibility of this approach highlighting important points of tension which pose major challenges for the Bhutanese experiment. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Lean Management Model for Construction of High-Rise Apartment Buildings

Execution of the finishing works in high-rise apartment buildings is made complex by the need to customize apartments to the varying requirements and designs of individual clients. The conventional construction planning practice of progressing upward from floor to floor breaks down in the face of the arbitrary sequence in which clients finalize their decisions. The results are long cycle times for delivery of completed apartments and corollary high levels of work in progress, budget and schedule overruns, and general dissatisfaction with the process on the part of the developer, contractor, subcontractors, and the clients. Application of lean construction principles to this problem has led to development of a management model that adopts pull scheduling, reduced batch sizes, and a degree of multiskilling. The main benefits expected are an enhanced ability to provide customized apartments, improved cash flow, and reduced apartment delivery cycle times. The model was first formulated in theory, then tested using a management simulation game and computer simulation, and subsequently, developed for practical application. This paper presents an analysis of conventional practice, the theoretical background to the lean approach, and the specific management changes proposed.