Co-evolution of process and content in organizational change : explaining the dynamics of start and fizzle

Abstract

Essay One: Explaining the Start and Fizzle of Organizational Change: Co-evolving Process and Content The theme that sustaining efforts to change is difficult appears in many guises throughout the organizations. The tendency for change processes to run out of energy and momentum is widely recognized. In this essay, I offer an inductive study of the dynamics of organizational change that describes situated human interactions to explain the observed trajectory of organizational behavior. As a window through which to view change, I study a manufacturer adopting production practices based on concepts of lean manufacturing and the so-called Toyota Production System (TPS). I develop a grounded theory based on extensive fieldwork observing a change effort that began with temporary improvement but subsequently entered a phase of decline, the characteristic start and fizzle of change. I examine how the actions of various groups interact with each other and with characteristics of the workplace. I then induce a model that characterizes the dynamics of participatory change. The model draws on a close examination of how people do the work of process improvement to identify a set of mechanisms through which process and content interact to constitute the patterns of organizing that result. I find that front-line participation led workers to generate ideas, but the work of implementing those ideas placed demands on key support personnel such as manufacturing engineers. The support personnel quickly become overwhelmed, facing a growing backlog of ideas to implement. As the support personnel modified their work practices to address the mounting workload, the change process evolved and so did the content of the changes it produced.

(cont.) Essay Two: Sustaining Organizational Change: Simulation Analysis of the Tipping Point in the Dynamics of Process Improvement Organizations often adopt improvement programs driven by involvement from front-line workers who generate improvement ideas. These ideas create demands for support personnel (e.g., engineers, skilled tradespeople, and managers) with limited availability. This paper explores how implicit and explicit policies governing how implementation tasks get done influence dynamic patterns of implementation over time. The study is grounded in participant observation at a manufacturer implementing lean manufacturing improvements. Workers generate improvement ideas more quickly than they get implemented, creating an increasing backlog of tasks for support personnel. Support personnel can accomplish tasks through working collaboratively with workers, or alternatively, they can perform the work on their own. This essay uses a system dynamics model to explore the dynamic consequences of the two means of implementing ideas. The collaborative approach fosters learning among workers that builds understanding of work processes and skill about collaborating effectively, which leads to benefits in subsequent collaborative efforts. The essay is organized as follows ... Essay three: The right shock to initiate change : a sensemaking perspective ...