Strategic Change Initiatives Research Articles

Strategy Texts as Auto-Communication: How Narrative, Language, and Visual Symbolism Exercise Discursive Control

ABSTRACT Strategy texts are an important way of communicating a strategy to a range of different stakeholders, including internal audiences as the organization communicates with itself (auto-communication). In this article, we analyze two related strategy texts that were produced for auto-communicative purposes as part of a strategic change initiative in a UK organization that employed a storytelling approach to strategic communication. Our multimodal analysis shows how narrative, visual symbolism and directive lexical choices and grammatical forms used in the two strategy texts exercise discursive control using three main mechanisms: (1) encouraging action through future-focused narrative structure; (2) strengthening emotional attachment with the organization through purposeful selection of anecdotes from a shared stock of stories; and (3) defining desired actions and behaviours through visual symbolism and directive lexical choices and grammatical forms. Moreover, the article contributes to current debates of the nature of strategic communication by demonstrating the tension between linear and dialogic communication in practice, while also providing rare empirical insights on the use of auto-communication in contemporary strategic communication.

From Building and Preserving to Eroding Trust: A Multi-level Analysis

Trust is imperative for the successful navigation of strategic change initiatives. So, we ask ourselves the question: How do perceptions of organizational trust (composed of institutional and interpersonal trust) develop over time and what are their interactions during strategic change? We answer this question through a real-time ethnographic analysis of a merger process focusing specifically on trust at multiple levels, between employees, middle and top management and how it interacts with the trust these individuals have in the informal and formal processes of the organization. We unearthed three key processes in the dynamic interplay between levels and types of trust. (Dis)trust obfuscation allowed top management to overcome negative perceptions of employees by foregrounding one figurehead with whom employees build trust whilst backgrounding the other members. Multi-level mirroring in which middle management mirrored the content and emotionality of the communication of top management amplified trust building. Third, integrative elaboration whereby middle management actively helped employees to stay the course whilst top management withdrew from actively engaging with employees. These processes resulted in the trust dynamics to go from building with employees and preserving with middle management to preservation and finally trust erosion. Our findings contribute to the study of trust as a multi-level phenomenon as well as understanding trust dynamics at multiple levels.

Employees’ experiences of change management in the implementation of a performance management system

Orientation: Success in the implementation of a performance management system in an organisation is underpinned by the way a strategic change initiative is effectively managed across all organisational levels.Research purpose: This study explored how employees experienced change management in the implementation of a performance management system.Motivation for the study: Research on the impact of change management on employees in the implementation of performance management systems in organisations is limited, particularly in the South African context, which served as motivation for this study.Research approach, design and method: A qualitative study was employed using semi-structured interviews to collect data from nine participants, selected through purposive sampling. Data were analysed by thematic analysis.Main findings: The study confirmed that the implementation of organisational change affects both employees (cognitively, emotionally and somatically) and leaders (leadership style as defence against change anxiety). Therefore, the preparation, participation and empowerment of and communication with employees, over the entire change process value chain, are crucial for effective implementation of a performance management system.Practical/managerial implications: The study highlights factors that leadership teams and change managers need to consider when introducing change initiatives.Contribution/value-add: This study adds to the knowledge base about the impact of the management of change during the implementation of a performance management system. It thereby highlights the importance of working with participants’ lived, authentic change experiences towards ensuring that change management serves as an anchor and container during system implementation.

Reinventing Hollands Kroon: Dynamics of Strategic Change and Legitimacy in Public Sector

Managers of public organizations face cutting-edge technological opportunities and management practices that may enable their organizations to provide substantially higher value to citizens. However, in the absence of financial incentives and strong institutional pressures to sustain status quo attempts for strategic change are likely to face legitimacy challenges and fail. Using a multi-year qualitative study, we show how a Dutch municipality managed to undertake a major strategic change initiative while navigating legitimacy issues that emerged in relation with internal and external stakeholders. Taking a ‘legitimacy-as-process’ - perspective we offer a temporal model that explains how strategic change can endogenously happen in a public sector organization. We describe how evolving combinations of strategy, identity and institutional work where used by senior managers to kick-start, execute and preserve the change by securing legitimacy in relation with different audiences across time. We complement the strategic change research that is often focused on for profit private organizations by incorporating the unique challenges of change in public sector organizations and propose a multi-stage process model for navigating legitimacy issues during strategic change. Rather than taking an incremental approach towards change to minimize tensions, we suggest how a multi-stage, non-linear approach may be applied that 1) initially focuses on creating acceptance for a new philosophy among local stakeholders, hence creating receptiveness towards a major change, 2) then it moves to implementation of distinctive strategic initiatives based on liminal legitimacy risking issues and backlash, and 3) curbing the scope of the change initiative to satisfy the broader institutional audience while maximally using the space that is created in the previous steps.

Leading strategic change

Most strategic change initiatives are never implemented. While one cannot guarantee a strategic result, two steps are essential for reducing risk and improving outcomes in Leading Strategic Change: firstly, adapting a strategic mindset that is open to more than just incremental change; secondly, execute, execute, execute. In the author’s experience, most strategic initiatives fail not for their poor strategic choices but for being unable to expand on prior mental models and for poor execution. This paper examines four common mental model pitfalls and proposes means of overcoming them, from frame narrowness to confirmation bias, groupthink and finally attribution bias. Execution depends on clear priorities; understanding stakeholder needs; and clear, simple, consistent communication.

Project, program and portfolio management as modes of organizing: Theorising at the intersection between mergers and acquisitions and project studies

Although the management of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and of projects are connected in practice, they remain disjoined in academia. In this paper, we conceptually bridge the literature on projects and M&As to discuss the transitory nature of organisations by mobilising the concepts of project, programme, and portfolio as alternative modes of organising M&As. As a project, the managerial effort in M&A focuses on completion on time and budget. As a programme, M&As are managed as complex processes of convergence between organisations. As a portfolio, M&A management is part of the ongoing integration efforts within organisations that have grown via M&As. Our contribution to project studies is to position projects, programmes, and portfolios as modes of organising, hence, not as phenomena but as managerial choices used to shape strategic change initiatives, such as M&As. We conclude with implications beyond project studies, thereby drafting a project-based theory of the firm.

Strategic Change Management Practices on Performance of Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies in Kiambu County, Kenya

Achieving success in performance is a key objective in all organizations globally. Performance is crucial since it determines the future sustainability of the business. However, Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations (SACCOs) are experiencing performance challenges while operating under an unpredictable environment. In the year 2019, 86% of the SACCOs in Kenya registered a decline of 12% and 15% in their cashflows and profitability, respectively. In addition, 37% of the loss making SACCOs have witnessed panic withdrawals leading to cashflow crunches and collapse. As a response to this scenario, SACCOs have implemented strategic change management practices to increase the chance of successful performance in an unpredictable operating environment. This study therefore sought to establish the impact of strategic change management practices on performance. The study’s general objective was to assess the influence of strategic change management practices on performance of SACCOs in Kiambu County, Kenya. The specific objectives were to determine the influence of corporate communication, strategic supervision, strategic target-setting and strategic resource allocation on the performance of SACCOs in Kiambu County, Kenya. The study was based on the dynamic capabilities theory which was complemented by Kotters theory, nudge theory, and resource-based view theory. The study utilized descriptive research design. The unit of analysis was the 14 DT-SACCOs with their head offices registered in Kiambu County. The unit of observation were five departmental managers involved in strategic change initiatives in each of the 14 SACCOs which translated to 70 respondents. The population of study was not sampled due to the small number of respondents. Primary data was collected through structured questionnaires. Secondary data was collected through a data collection sheet. To minimize ambiguities in the questionnaire, the study tested for validity using criterion predictive validity model. The reliability for the study was attained by computing the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Pilot study was conducted using seven respondents from Mhasibu SACCO in Nairobi County which neighbors Kiambu County. The administration and collection of data was conducted through drop-and-pick-later method. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive and inferential statistics. The presentation of data took various forms including comparative tables, percentages, frequencies, and charts. The study found that there is a positive and significant relationship between corporate communication, strategic supervision, strategic target setting, strategic resource allocation and organizational performance. The study recommends that SACCOs top leadership adopts and trains its employees on effective resource management. This would ensure that resource allocation is done in a manner that is strategic and keeps on improving the performance of the SACCOs. It’s also recommended that measures be put in place to enable employees to set strategic targets that are realistic and achievable to enable the SACCOs to realize improvement in performance.

‘Change is Our Continuity’: Chinese Managers’ Construction of Post-Merger Identification After an Acquisition in Europe

ABSTRACT This article examines organizational identification construction in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The majority of existing studies have focused on antecedents and outcomes of post-merger identification (PMI) in Western contexts. While more and more Chinese cross-border M&As are taking place, how Chinese employees construct PMI remains underexplored. We adopted a qualitative case study approach to investigate how Chinese managers construct PMI after acquiring a European company. As the main contribution, we introduce the concept of agile organizational identity (AOI), wherein agility is a central, enduring and distinctive characteristic of an organization, i.e. ‘who we are and who we want to be’. Our findings reveal that AOI is leveraged by Chinese managers to deal with their perceived inferior status, help them cope with the change and contribute to the construction of a strong PMI. We believe that our study provides a new perspective on how employees can effectively cope with organizational change while maintaining a sense of identity continuity. MAD statement This article examines organizational identification construction in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). We provide novel insights by introducing the agile organizational identity (AOI) concept, wherein the agility is a central, enduring and distinctive characteristic of an organization, i.e. ‘who we are and who we want to be’. To maintain such a pre-merger identity after M&As, people strive to continue changing as change is the continuity. Thus, psychological bonds between an employee and the employing organization do not become weaker. As agility is incorporated in the organizational identity, AOI helps employees to cope with the low status of their organization, accept organizational changes, and identify with the post-merger organization. Organizational leaders might want to foster AOI in order to successfully conduct strategic change initiatives.

A longitudinal investigation into multilevel agile & ambidextrous strategic dualities in an information technology high performing EMNE

By applying a combined theoretical lens to high-performance work systems (HPWSs), organisational development (OD), and socio-technical systems (STS), this paper examines their impact in creating an agile and ambidextrous context for the management of strategic dualities, especially in times of uncertainty. Using a qualitative case study of an emerging market multinational enterprise (EMNE) from the Indian information technology-business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry, this paper presents a longitudinal and processual analysis of how, during challenging times of uncertainty in global competition, the sample EMNE had shifted from a purely managerialistic to a more humanistic set of values through OD interventions and investments in digital assets. We identified and discussed critical interventions for the management of various strategic dualities at multiple organisational levels over time. We contribute to the literature by providing exciting insights into an essential yet under-researched issue: namely, how an MNE can balance pressures for local responsiveness and global integration through the effective creation of dual headquarters, especially before and during global financial crises. Due to global pressures, EMNEs face numerous critical dualities when implementing strategic change initiatives aimed at pursuing firm growth. Some of such dualities include the simultaneous pursuit of exploratory and exploitative learning, local responsiveness and global integration, flexibility vs. efficiency, and formal vs. informal organisational structures. Our choice of a ‘critical’ and exemplar EMNE case analysis and our presentation of future research propositions help identify how and why diverse strategies lead to success through agility ambidexterity during challenging and uncertain periods.

Authentic Leadership and Openness to Change in Pakistani Service Industry: The Mediating Role of Trust and Transparent Communication

Organizations to engage in strategic change initiatives to remain competitive. Leadership is the top determinant of successful change. This study investigated the factor affecting the employee’s openness to change during process of change and how leadership affects that. We proposed a theoretical framework, modifying (Yue, Men, & Ferguson, 2019) by incorporating Authentic in place of transformational Leadership. We hypothesized that authentic leadership affect organisational trust during change both directly, as well as by inducing transparent communication. Trust would in turn positively affect openness to change. Authentic leadership included 1. Self-Awareness, 2. Relational Transparency, 3. Balanced Processing, and 4. Internalized Moral Perspective, dimensions. Whereas, transparent communication consisted of 1. Participation, 2. Substantiality, 3. Accountability, Factors. Empirical validity was established by conducting a survey using close ended questionnaire. Data was collected from 310 employees working across different service industry in Karachi, and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structured equation modeling. The finding revealed that transparent communication and authentic leadership have significance direct and indirect relationship with employees’ openness to change. Organizational trust has significant relationship with employees’ openness to change during change process. However Authentic leader has weak direct relation with transparent communication and there is no significance relationship between authentic leadership and trust with mediating role of transparent communication. However, trust significantly mediate all the factors of authentic leadership except Self-Awareness, and Openness to Change. Similarly, trust also mediated Substantiality, and Accountability factors of communication, and openness. Lastly, substantiality also offered a partial mediatory role between authentic leadership and trust.

Temporal Tensions in Human Space Flight: NASA’s Practices for Managing Long-term Strategic Change

Frequent strategic change in industries with long research and development as well as implementation timelines can negatively impact organizational performance, since products may never reach their maturity phase and enter the market. Through an in-depth case study of NASA’s long-term human exploration activities, which frequently face uncertainty and strategic change, we reveal how the Johnson Space Center built a new capability for managing temporal tensions over a 60 year timeframe. Building on this, we develop a process model that shows how temporal practices in settings of long-term strategic change initiatives are subject to temporal and strategic fit assessments that determine whether the outcomes of these initiatives are facilitated or inhibited. Implications for the literature on strategic management and time are discussed.

Towards a confluence: disability inclusion and organizational change

PurposeDespite increased attention towards workplace disability in global and local development agenda, mainstream inclusion of persons with disability continues to be a challenge for most organizations. This paper aims to explore how organizations can be facilitated for adapting to the need and responsibility for change, towards evolving into disability inclusive workplaces.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses an inter-domain approach by linking organization change and development models to Indian indigenous disability management literature.FindingsThis review indicates that in comparison with the other dimensions of diversity, disability brings unique challenges that need a differentiated management approach. Further, it finds a strong base for organizations to approach disability management as a strategic and transformative change initiative, aligning with some of the proven change and organization development (OD) interventions.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper draws implications for disability management and highlights the need for a practice perspective towards disability management and OD.Originality/valueThis paper provides an integrated view of critical factors influencing workplace disability management and OD.

Transformational shifts through digital servitization

Manufacturers increasingly look to digitalization to drive service growth. However, success is far from guaranteed, and many firms focus too much on technology. Adopting a discovery-oriented, theories-in-use approach, this study examines the strategic organizational shifts that underpin digital servitization. Notwithstanding strong managerial and academic interest, this link between digitalization and servitization is still under-investigated. Depth interviews with senior executives and managers from a global market leader revealed that to achieve digital service-led growth, a firm and its network need to make three interconnected shifts: (1) from planning to discovery, (2) from scarcity to abundance, and (3) from hierarchy to partnership. Organizational identity, dematerialization, and collaboration play a key role in this transformation. For managers, the study identifies a comprehensive set of strategic change initiatives needed to ensure successful digital servitization.

Authentic Leadership and Openness to Change in Pakistani Service Industry: The Mediating Role of Trust and Transparent Communication

Organizations to engage in strategic change initiatives to remain competitive. Leadership is the top determinant of successful change. This study investigated the factor affecting the employee’s openness to change during the process of change and how leadership affects that. We proposed a theoretical framework, modifying Yue et. al. (2019) by incorporating Authentic in place of transformational Leadership. We hypothesized that authentic leadership affects organizational trust during change both directly, as well as by inducing transparent communication. Trust would in turn positively affect openness to change. Authentic leadership included 1. Self-Awareness, 2. Relational Transparency, 3. Balanced Processing, and 4. Internalized Moral Perspective, dimensions. Whereas, transparent communication consisted of 1. Participation, 2. Substantiality, 3. Accountability, Factors. Empirical validity was established by conducting a survey using a close-ended questionnaire. Data was collected from 310 employees working across different service industries in Karachi and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structured equation modeling. The finding revealed that transparent communication and authentic leadership have significant direct and indirect relationships with employees’ openness to change. Organizational trust has a significant relationship with employees’ openness to change during the change process. However Authentic leader has a weak direct relation with transparent communication and there is no significant relationship between authentic leadership and trust with the mediating role of transparent communication. However, trust significantly mediate all the factors of authentic leadership except Self-Awareness, and Openness to Change. Similarly, trust also mediated Substantiality, and Accountability factors of communication, and openness. Lastly, substantiality also offered a partial mediatory role between authentic leadership and trust.

A Sensemaking Study of Change Initiative: The Case of A Malaysian Multinational Enterprise

Empirical evidence has emphasized the need for more research to uncover why does change fail and what can organizations do to improve their success rate. The purpose of this article is to provide an in-depth assessment on the implementation of centre-led change initiative in a novel empirical study in a Malaysian-based multinational enterprise (MNE). This study is based on multiple embedded case studies of four subsidiaries of a Malaysian-based MNE. This study urges centre managers tasked with implementing strategic change initiatives to emphasize the behavioral aspect of those involved in change throughout the entire development stage of the change. Any negative cues from change recipients need to be addressed and attended to as quickly as possible. This study is based on a section within the larger context of the MNE which is being researched. The study contributes to the literature of organizational sensemaking in change by extending the knowledge of new sensemaking forms namely communication intensity and resolution to barriers. This study also contributes to the empirical literature in change by providing an in-depth account of a Malaysian based MNE journey in implementing centre-led change initiatives.

Achieving strategic benefits from project investments: Appoint a project owner

Even though we have gotten better at meeting the iron triangle of cost, time, and scope, many projects still do not achieve the strategic benefits—especially those that are nonmonetary—desired in most contemporary projects. Given that no one is specifically accountable for delivering these benefits, it should be no surprise that these projects are largely unsuccessful. We consider multiple possible candidates for this role of accountability—the CEO, the project manager, the sponsor, and the program manager—and find none of them acceptable, thereby necessitating the formalization of a new role: a project owner. The project owner would be accountable for delivering the strategic benefits desired from each project. In this article, we describe the responsibilities of the project owner at each phase of the project, the sources for candidates to fulfill this role, and the training needed for project owners to find success. We conclude with a case study of an organization that has taken this route and discuss the advantages and challenges that resulted from its strategic organizational change initiative.

Means and Ends: The Role of Employee Identification in Strategic Change

Strategic change remains a topic of great debate for its consequential bearing on an organization’s long-term survival. Yet, the overwhelming majority of strategic change initiatives fail. Prior li...

فاعلية المؤسسية التنظيمية من خلال القيادة التحويلية

This study aims to specify the levels of organizational structure, and transformational leadership by determine the nature of correlation and the impact between organizational structure that represented by (Responsibilities and locations, integration and stability of legislation, flexibility of coordination and communication, and strategic thinking and change initiatives) and transformational leadership represented by (Participation in decision-making, intellectual background and transparency of information, principles of modern management) collectively and individually through applied field to testing study variables along with depend on analytical descriptive approach. In order to achieve the study objectives a questionnaire has been designed and developed distributed to a sample of lecturers at Koya University that numbered (82) lecturers in order to verify the hypotheses that have been adopted in the present study. The study found that there is a positive correlation and significant impactbetween organizational structure, and transformational collectively and individually. Based on the results, a number of suggestions and recommendations have been presented.

Strategic change in the academy: controlling and/or enabling strategies

ABSTRACTThis study describes the strategic change efforts of a university in the United Kingdom which changed its form and resource deployments to focus on the production of interdisciplinary research. A problem-oriented case study method was used to chronicle and analyse the leadership strategies and tactics employed and their consequences. We found that the reliance on a vertical leadership (controlling) strategy led to external legitimization but not internal legitimacy. We also found instances these strategies created unintended consequences which inhibited the strategic change initiative. In particular, horizontal leadership (enabling) strategies that spoke to the academic heartland were muted. We concluded that in universities undertaking major strategic change efforts controlling influence actions may be necessary but they are insufficient to levers of strategic change. The study is particularly important because it contributes to an understanding of strategic change in universities at a time when most such efforts fail to meet their objectives and there is a limited empirical literature to draw upon.

Manager's Resistance to Organizational Change : Lesson from Ethiopian Commercial Banking Sector

The thinking and the practice of managing resistance to change is usually associated with change recipient’s psychological set up. In most cases, employees are either implicitly or explicitly considered as the prime source of resistance. Exploring the initiation and implementation of organizational change in Ethiopian commercial banks, this research found out that resistance to change does not have a single source – employees. Multiple cases of strategic organizational change initiatives in Ethiopian banks revealed relatively uncommon notion of “manager’s resistance” to organizational changes and different manifestations of it. In addition to resistant managers, there were also situations where organizational owners do not support change initiatives that are believed to improve organizational performance; not because they are in doubt about the need for such changes, but they simply do not care. This explorative work intends to bring the idea of reconsidering the normatively assumed source of resistance to the attention of scholars. Adding this notion to the repertoire of attributes of resistance to change in the existing body of knowledge could initiate debate on the validity of this new perspective and on the possibility of realizing less resisted changes in organizations.