Showing papers in "The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science in 1999"

Challenging “Resistance to Change”

Abstract: This article examines the origins of one of the most widely accepted mental models that drives organizational behavior: the idea that there is resistance to change and that managers must overcome it. This mental model, held by employees at all levels, interferes with successful change implementation. The authors trace the emergence of the term resistance to change and show how it became received truth. Kurt Lewin introduced the term as a systems concept, as a force affecting managers and employees equally. Because the terminology, but not the context, was carried forward, later uses increasingly cast the problem as a psychological concept, personalizing the issue as employees versus managers. Acceptance of this model confuses an understanding of change dynamics. Letting go of the term—and the model it has come to embody—will make way for more useful models of change dynamics. The authors conclude with a discussion of alternatives to resistance to change.

Entrepreneurial Risk and Strategic Decision Making It’s a Matter of Perspective

Abstract: Risk taking has long been a central theme of the entrepreneurship literature. However, research on the risk propensity of entrepreneurs has met with virtually no empirical support even though entre...

Corporate Environmental Responsiveness Strategies: The Importance of Issue Interpretation and Organizational Context

Abstract: This article analyzes the environmental responsiveness strategies of seven companies in the Canadian oil industry over a 15-year period, during which environmental issues gained increasing public and regulatory attention. These within-industry corporate case comparisons serve as the basis for developing an understanding of corporate environmental responsiveness that centers on the relationships between issue interpretations and strategic responses as well as the role of antecedent organizational context elements.

From Organizational Development to Change Management: The Emergence of a New Profession

Abstract: This article describes the emergence of change management as a service offering of major consulting firms. The authors compare change management with traditional organizational development (OD) in ...

Employee Participation and Assessment of an Organizational Change Intervention A Three-Wave Study of Total Quality Management

Abstract: Amid the debates on total quality management (TQM), empirical investigations of the process of change have been largely neglected. This article examines the process of change involved in implementing TQM and employees’experience of participation, and it evaluates the impact of employee participation in TQM on their commitment to the organization. The research design involved a survey of employees in a U.K. manufacturing setting, with three measurement occasions: 6 months prior to and 9 months and 32 months after the introduction of TQM. The findings suggest that supervisory participative style is positively related to employee participation. The extent of employee participation is positively related to the assessment of the benefits of TQM. Furthermore, how employees assess the beneficial impact of TQM is more important in predicting subsequent participation in TQM than is their initial participation. Finally, no relationship is found between employee participation in TQM and organizational commitment.

Defining and Measuring Employee Empowerment

Abstract: The study had three objectives: to define employee empowerment, to develop a measure of the concept, and to examine the measure’s validity. A working definition was specified and a 140-item measure...

Watching Whale Watching: Exploring the Discursive Foundations of Collaborative Relationships

Abstract: In this article, the authors develop a discourse analytic framework for examining the antecedents, dynamics, and outcomes of interorganizational collaboration. They argue that a framework based on a discursive understanding of collaboration can provide a coherent basis for understanding the dynamics of collaboration, the relation of collaboration to its broader institutional context, and the management and facilitation of collaborative activity as a communicative process. The authors base this framework on a study of the fabric of collaborative relationships that characterize one organizational field—the Pacific Northwest whale-watching industry. The theoretical framework they have developed frames collaboration as the discursive negotiation of the issues to be addressed by the collaboration, the interests relevant to the collaboration, and the actors who should represent these legitimate interests.

Action Learning, Fragmentation, and the Interaction of Single-, Double-, and Triple-Loop Change: A Case of Gay and Lesbian Workplace Advocacy

Abstract: The action-learning framework is traditionally used to summarize complex change efforts as one of three methods: single-, double-, or triple-loop. Although this summary is quite useful for some kinds of organizational analysis, it can oversimplify and thus ignore the fragmented, contradictory nature of change. This summary also implies that actionlearning methods are autonomous or even mutually exclusive: The characterization of a change effort as double-loop suggests that single- and triple-loop change did not happen. We propose an elaborated action-learning framework that decomposes action-learning method into three components: argument, practice, and outcome. This approach enables action-learning theory to illuminate the multiple facets of change and to analyze the interaction of the three methods in significant change processes. We apply this new framework to a case of gay and lesbian workplace advocacy and illustrate how different action-learning methods are woven together to create change.

Sanding down the Edges Paradoxical Impediments to Organizational Change

Abstract: In contrast to population ecology and new institutionalist approaches that cite the external environment as the culprit for inertia, this article steps inside the organization to show how internal processes render change ineffective. It is argued that the very same processes described in the literature as prerequisites for success are paradoxically those that make change less likely to occur. Detailed examples of failed organizational change from a Fortune 50 corporation and a metropolitan teaching hospital illustrate the ways in which the organizational system not only sands down the sharp edges of ambitious change agendas, but also uses the change process itself as fuel for perpetuating the status quo. The final section relates these basic paradoxes to deeper roots of change in social systems and suggests ways of changing the way we change in light of the resiliency and resistance of the organizational system.

Deliverance, Denial, and the Death Zone A Study of Narcissism and Regression in the May 1996 Everest Climbing Disaster

Abstract: Building on previous disaster research, this article presents and analyzes the May 1996 Mount Everest climbing disaster. Using a blend of psychodynamic and structuralist theory, the article demonstrates how historical changes in the field of high-altitude climbing fostered the emergence of pathologically narcissistic, competitive, and regressive dynamics that ultimately contributed to numerous climbing deaths.

The Effectiveness of Collective Retrospection as a Mechanism of Organizational Learning

Abstract: Retrospective reviews of projects have been proposed as mechanisms for organizational learning, and there is the possibility that in a collective setting some of the cognitive limitations associated with individuals’ retrospections can be mitigated. In a qualitative analysis of retrospective reviews held in three design organizations, evidence emerged both of successes and failures in the extent to which reviews led to convincing explanations of events and remedies for future projects. The review processes showed that individuals could successfully correct errors in others’ beliefs and that in the organizational setting they were sensitive to hindsight bias. They also showed that simulation was an important mechanism by which remedies could be tested, and surrogate experiences added to the concrete experiences of the project under review. However, the information available to the participants often was not diagnostic, the participants’interpretation of events tended to be ahistorical, and their explanatio...

Building Bridges for Refugees: Toward a Typology of Bridging Organizations

Abstract: In this article, the authors examine the dynamics of bridging organizations in activist domains. The purpose of these organizations is to serve as a link between other organizations and individuals. Drawing on a comparative case study of three national refugee systems, they develop a typology of bridging organizations based on the degree to which each organization shares the values of other organizations in the domain: center extension, border federation, pure bridge. The center extension shares the values of center organizations, transmitting them to the border. The border federation operates much closer to the border, voicing its values and negotiating on its behalf with the center. The pure bridge is a classic bridging organization: It attempts to incorporate values from both center and border, mediating, translating, and negotiating them in an attempt to connect the two sides in a workable relationship.

Comment on “Challenging ‘Resistance to Change’”

Abstract: Intuitively, the argument put forward by Dent and Goldberg (in this issue) is compelling. The concept of resistance to change, which can be traced to Lewin’s systems approach, has been transformed over the years into a not-so-disguised way of blaming the less powerful for unsatisfactory results of change efforts. How many times, after all, have we seen organizations attempt to change without tackling the really difficult issues, whether they be issues of structure, compensation, and so on? When the magical thinking comes to a crashing disappointment, blaming the lower-downs for being resistant is a readily available explanation (perhaps a kind of mantra) that can be mobilized to account for the distressing results. Dent and Goldberg argue that this cycle has become a deeply habituated way of thinking by managers, so much so that it qualifies as the kind of assumption that goes beyond explaining events to the point of constituting them and serving as “self-fulfilling prophecies.” My struggle with this article concerns the elements of the argument that the authors put forward to demonstrate their thesis. Most important, some of the major components of their argument do not support the conclusions they ask us to draw from them, and along the way they say some things that I think are either confused or at times wrong. The following points elaborate my response: 1. The authors are trying to describe the intellectual history of the concept of “resistance to change” to illustrate both how the idea has evolved into one that places irrational blame and to demonstrate a convergence of thinking among scholars in order to underline the assumptive status of the idea. Unfortunately, they use mainstream

The Open and the Closed Corporation as Conflicting forms of Organization

Abstract: Organizational change is discussed in the context of a conceptual model resting on philosophical, sociological, and anthropological foundations. Distinguishing between an open and a closed form of organization, the authors focus on two theses. The first is that organizations as societal systems are marked by the simultaneous existence of two forms of organization that are mutually exclusive in part, with the resulting combinations or mixes of the two forms having the character of a compromise. The second thesis is that these combinations or mixes of open and closed organizational elements tend to be in flux, giving organizational change a partly cyclical structure. The authors’goal is to draw on these two theses to develop the theory of organizational change and elaborate the implications that this interpretation has for organizational change in daily practice.

Consistent and Inconsistent Impacts of a Teacher-Led Empowerment Initiative in a Federation of Schools:

Abstract: This study explores the impacts of a teacher-led empowerment initiative in a federation of independent schools The authors used survey and archival data as well as a conceptual basis in consistency models to examine the relationship between participation in this organizational change initiative, individual behavioral changes pertinent to it, and ratings of its effectiveness Results indicated that behavioral changes were strong predictors of individual ratings of the effectiveness of the initiative and partially mediated the relationship between participation and effectiveness ratings Some results supported a consistency framework; others did not Based on these results, the authors suggest implications for research and practice regarding empowerment-oriented and other types of organizational change initiatives

Cause or Control?: The Temporal Dimension in Failure Sense-Making

Abstract: Studies of individual response to failure outcomes have focused on the cognitive processing of proximal experiences This study examines reactions to failure experiences recalled from memory, emplo

General medical and complementary practitioners working together: the epistemological demands of collaboration

Abstract: A developmental framework is used to explore the process of collaboration between general and complementary medical practitioners in the British National Health Service, using conversations from a ...

Generating Reflexivity from Partnership Formation: A Phenomenological Reasoning on the Partnership between a Japanese Pharmaceutical Corporation and Western Laboratories

Abstract: This study aims to incorporate a reasoning generated from phenomenology and the sociology of knowledge into the analysis of business partnership. The core conceptions in this study are the control of knowledge and reflexivity. This study applied these concepts to the advancement of practitioners’reasoning capability, for institutional change. In-depth interview data taken from a pharmaceutical corporation with laboratories located in the Tokyo area provide enrichment to bridge the gap between theoretical argument and practitioners’ experiences.

Letting “The System” Do the Work The Promise and Perils of Computerization

Abstract: Review of a multiyear computerization project at a government agency reveals the ways in which technological changes both empower and vitiate the people and processes they are designed to improve. ...

The Leveling of Organizational Culture Egalitarianism in Critical Postmodern Organization Theory

Abstract: Critical postmodern organization theory posits the increasing rationalization of organizational life as a threat to individual choice and well-being. Organizational knowledge is seen as a carrier o...

Organizational Reflections: Parallel Processes at Work in a Dual Consultation

Abstract: This article explores the lessons extracted from the parallel processes enacted in the relationship between two consultant groups hired by Eastern (a large financial institution) to kick off a majo...

Peer Ratings versus Peer Nominations during Training as Predictors of Actual Performance Criteria

Abstract: Two types of peer evaluations, ratings and nominations during training, were compared to examine their unique contribution in explaining actual performance evaluations. A sample of 133 female soldiers who had participated in a platoon leader-training program completed a rating and nomination form on their peers. These forms served as predictors for actual performance as platoon leaders. Performance criteria included a general evaluation, specific assessments for suitability to various ranks with increasing military responsibility, and a global rank criterion measure. Factor analyses supported the hypothesis that traits would be conceptualized as more distinct with the nomination method rather than with the rating method. The former yielded two distinct factors (professional and social), whereas the latter yielded only one. Hierarchical regressions and examination of the disattenuated correlations indicated an advantage for the nomination method in predicting various criteria. Discussion focuses on explain...

A Literary Examination of Electronic Meeting System Use in Everyday Organizational Life

Abstract: This article is based on imagining the widespread daily use of electronic meeting systems (EMS) technology in organizations. Three famous meetings from popular literature—the Mad Tea Party, Twelve Angry Men, and the Last Supper—are used as case studies to illustrate dynamics common in organizational groups. The implications of technology use for the management of these dynamics is discussed, and suggestions are offered for an agenda and new metaphors to guide the next generation of EMS research.

Family Therapy Meets Self-Managing Teams: Explaining Self-Managing Team Performance through Team Member Perceptions

Abstract: This study is an exploratory examination of the usefulness of a family therapy–grounded theoretical perspective to that of the self-managing team domain. Specifically, the authors use the Beavers system model, a widely accepted clinical model of family development, as the basis for assessing various aspects of team development. Results partially support the utility of the Beavers model linking individuals’perceptions of their teams to both objective and subjective measures of performance.

Reviews of Morley Segal’s: Points of Influence

Abstract: Normally, the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science does not publish book reviews. On occasion, however, we make exceptions when specific books are unusu ally relevant to our field and when productive dialogue about a book seems possible. This issue ofJABSpresents two reviews of a book that examines the intersection between theories of personality functioning and the dynamics of organizational intervention. We have invited as commentators people whose professional work means they take on the task from different perspectives. Birge Reichard is an experienced senior organizational development consultant who is also a psychologist. Charleen Alderfer is an American Association for Marriage & Family Therapy Approved Supervisor and teacher of family therapists, who also does organizational consultation—especially with family businesses. I believe their independently prepared reviews of Points of Influenceare highly informative.

A Biography of Rolf P. Lynton

Abstract: Imagine a professional who records all work-related interactions regularly, religiously, and meticulously for half a century and uses those notes for learning, action, and developing new models. This is Rolf Lynton, a recorder of all such interactions. I have not known nor do I know of any social scientist so meticulous in keeping records; during one 5-year period, Rolf produced 4,300 typed pages of records of interactions and events! And he has used this record-keeping very well in the study of the dynamics of institution building (Lynton, 1970) and in taking a big insightful sweep of his professional journey of studying and building individuals, groups, institutions, and large social systems (Lynton, 1998). In fact, the discipline and art of recording is itself an important contribution to social science methodology (so well discussed in Lynton, 1998, chap. 3, pp. 85-111), which many have followed and benefited from. Most of Rolf’s contributions have come from his hands-on experiences; he is a reflective practitioner in the true sense. His deep involvement in action, and his daily recording of experience, especially interpersonal interaction, led to the development of theories, later buttressed with readings, for adequate explanation of the experiences. His early work on strikes in the London docks led him to realize that “the situation in the docks needs to be studied rather than the strikes” (Lynton & King, 1949). The stud ies of the London docks and the coal mines in Scotland (Scott & Lynton, 1951) were early contributions to conceptualizing sociotechnical systems and autonomous work groups and the role of incentives (Lynton, 1949). With his interest in larger systems, Rolf not only saw the strong interface of industry with community (Scott & Lynton, 1952) but felt the need to work with communities and with change agents working in the communities. He founded an institution, Aloka,

Increasing Rejection Rates for Management Journals: A Challenge to Academics of a Certain Kind

Abstract: According to our mission statement, the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science is committed to examining the “underlying values, assumptions, biases and beliefs associated with the various forms of change.” Assisted by the journal’s humor editor, who remains unidentified to protect her or his career, the journal also periodically publishes humor articles. The current article purportedly is a humor piece designed to examine factors that explain the changing values of colleges and universities throughout the world during the past two decades. The manuscript was carefully reviewed blindly, and it received enthusiastic endorsements from members of the editorial board. As edi tor, I am aware that the topics examined are sensitive and may offend some readers. Consequently, I want to say from the outset that JABSwill publish thoughtful, wellconceived letters to the editor about the article and/or comments, if readers are moti vated to write them.