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Assessment 2

Case study

Type	Case study
Length Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper	1500-word limit excluding reference list
Submission	Turnitin
Requirements	This assessment involves the analysis of a case involving organisational change. The case scenario will be uploaded to the assessment tab on blackboard on Monday August 10th. You are required to: 1. 1) Analyse how well the organisation managed the changes for all stakeholders in the case. 2. 2) Identify three key aspects of the change process that might have been improved. 3. 3) Apply relevant evidence-based research literature from the MGMT862 course readings(P6) about: communicating with stakeholders, collaboration and engaging support, responding to resistance, organisational culture, human resource change management or leading change, negotiating conflict and change. 4. 4) Demonstrate application of APA 6th edition referencing in-text and in the reference list and provide a copy of one of your contributions to your group’s annotated bibliography.
Programme learning goals	1. Be self-aware critically reflective and ethical management professionals 2. Be effective thinkers and problem solvers 3. Be effective communicators 4. Be able to demonstrate advanced knowledge of business management professional practices.
Paper learning outcomes	1. Critically evaluate the complexity of organisational change from a range of perspectives 2. Examine and apply theories, concepts, and practices of leading and managing change in organisations 3. Analyse the role of human resource management in facilitating effective organisational change management 4. Demonstrate the importance of ethics and communication in the change process 5. Critically evaluate the outcomes of organisational change from different stakeholder perspectives.

Managing Change MGMT862

Assessment 2

Anytown Art Gallery 2020

1) You are required to draw from the course readings from MGMT862 to critically analyse the planning, process, and implementation of the changes at Anytown Art Gallery.

2) Imagine you are a change consultant while you read and analyse the Anytown Art Gallery case.

3) Analyse how well the organisation managed the changes for all stakeholders in the case.

4) Identify three key aspects of the change process that might have been improved.

5) Apply relevant evidence-based research literature from the MGMT862 course readings (Study guide p.6) about: communicating with stakeholders, collaboration and engaging support, responding to resistance, organisational culture, human resource change management, leading change, negotiating conflict and change.

6) Demonstrate application of APA 6th edition referencing in-text and in the reference list.

7) Provide a copy of one of your contributions to your group’s annotated bibliography.

This assessment aims to meet the following paper learning outcomes:

1) Critically evaluate the complexity of organisational change from a range of perspectives

2) Examine and apply theories, concepts, and practices of leading and managing change in organisations

3) Analyse the role of human resource management in facilitating effective organisational change management

4) Demonstrate the importance of ethics and communication in the change process

5) Critically evaluate the outcomes of organisational change from different stakeholder perspectives

Anytown Art Gallery 2020

There have been problems at Anytown Art Gallery. In August 2019, the Board of Anytown Art Gallery decided two new strategic goals; to increase local patronage and increase pre-tax revenue by 15%. Social media and new ticketing technology had identified low patronage from youth and mid-life permanent residents of Anytown. While tourist visits had increased residents of Anytown no longer perceived the Art Gallery as innovative. The local competitor: Anytown Centre for Arts and Technology, offered event space for conferences and was reporting increased revenue and patronage. While the Board of Anytown Art Gallery decided the strategic goals for change, the process was to be planned and implemented by management. Unfortunately, the change process was unsuccessful. Conflict spread throughout the Art Gallery community and deeply held cultural values fuelled differences between individuals and groups. The problems were dynamic. What began as organisational change escalated to employment relationship problems threats of litigation in the courts and damage to key internal and external stakeholder relationships.

BACKGROUND

Anytown has a population of approximately 2 million people. The Art Gallery is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading tourist attractions. Located in the country’s largest city on an isthmus overlooking a beautiful harbour in the Ngāti Whatua region, Anytown Art Gallery owns a world-famous collection of Maori and Pacific paintings and artefacts. But there have been problems implementing change at the Art Gallery since the appointment of a new CEO from New York, one year ago. The following chronology of events outlines the problems and issues.

July 2019
The Board of Anytown Art Gallery

held a farewell event for the retiring Chief Executive Officer

of 20yrs service

and at the event announced two new strategic goals; firstly, to increase local patronage from a younger demographic and secondly to increase pre-tax revenue by 15%. The Head Curator managed the Art Gallery in the interim until the appointment of a new Director /Chief Executive Officer.

August 2019
Dr Diva Daga

a famous installation artist from North America was appointed first woman Director and Chief Executive Officer of the. During recruitment, Dr Daga gave a presentation to staff and said, “I have a vision for outstanding curation of installations and inter-cultural collaboration with the patrons”.

September 2019
Dr Diva Daga

started work at the Art Gallery. She rarely attended curator meetings, worked in her office with the door shut and appeared particularly dis-interested in any social contact with staff except her personal assistant. She had an abrupt manner and commented that she was busy identifying efficiencies, organisational change and finding new benefactors to help fund her ideas.

November 2019
The Art Gallery was struggling to increase revenue. However, a young professional audience was beginning to patronise the Gallery, hire the newly renovated function room for weddings and corporate functions were beginning to get good social media reviews expanding the Art Gallery’s visibility in the community. Dr Daga intended to grow the young professional market. Her staff from her last position in New York wished to immigrate to New Zealand for work and help her realise her vision. However, issues emerged. Dr Daga sent all staff a formal letter saying she was restructuring their roles. The 52year old Head Curator was told verbally by Dr Daga that he would have to reapply for a position according to the new job description. He had seen an email on the office printer to Dr Daga’s former employees in North America about recruitment for new jobs at the Art Gallery beginning in December 2019. He leaked the information to the press, social media and appeared on a Sunday night television documentary denigrating the changes proposed by the new CEO. The curators’ union criticised the proposed changes, and threatened strike action. Staff morale and trust was at an all-time low. There was uncertainty, rivalry, and resentment amongst the staff about who should apply for the new roles. Blogs and social media asserted that employees who are creative critical thinkers would lose their jobs and be replaced with ‘yes people, because the new CEO is difficult authoritarian, dismissive and inflexible’.

December 21std 2019
Dr Daga

withdrew her letters to staff claiming she was unaware of the New Zealand employment law required good faith negotiation during processes for restructuring. Dr Daga said she would consult with lawyers and reconsider the changes. While jobs remained unchanged, staff were unsettled over the summer and returned to work in January 2020 unsure of Dr Daga’s true intentions for their jobs. Uncertainty about the possible restructure created stress and anxiety which was interpreted as secrecy about their future roles at the Museum.

January 2020
Dr Daga had ignored negative press, made no comment when the journalists sought her views and told staff she would not engage in negotiation about forthcoming changes through the media. Meanwhile Dr Daga had contracted leading New York architect Neuro Schmitt to design a new interior fit out for the Art Gallery. Neuro had moved to Anytown on January 1st keen to meet patrons and learn about local culture. He got on well with staff and conversed with them about how they used the exhibition spaces.

6TH February 2020
A series of planned ‘supper talks’ was launched in the Art Gallery lobby. Advertised as ‘an inspiring intelligent innovation’, the evenings began with experts speaking on visual art and community identity, art and business innovation, art history, philosophy of art, the politics of art . Music, drinks, and entertainment followed the talks with networking for patrons and potential Art Gallery benefactors. The project was very successful and widely reported in the media as an excellent initiative of the new CEO, Dr Daga. John Te Whaiti Goodwood

a sixty-year-old entrepreneur attended. He was very excited about the Art Gallery taking a contemporary approach to design and immediately struck a friendship with Neuro Schmitt. He pledged $3mil to the Art Gallery from the profits of his business ‘Kaitiakitanga Kai’ a farm to table supplier of organic ingredients for stylish meals accompanied by menus and recipes, delivered to homes weekly. The target market was time-poor professionals who worked long hours. He was planning to take the farm to table brand to New York and discussed opportunities with Neuro Schmitt.

February 14th, 2020
A special exhibition “mysteries unveiled” of European water colour landscapes opened with negative news media focussed on closure of the permanent Goldie exhibition of Maori Kaumatua and Kuia. This had been a permanent exhibition replaced with the European exhibit. Maori and Pacifica paintings and artefacts were stored away to make room for the installation of the European water colour exhibition. John Te Whaiti Goodwood sent an email of complaint stating he would not be honouring his pledge of 3mil unless they reinstated the Goldie paintings exhibition.

March
2020 COVID-19 was spreading throughout the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As explained by the WHO Director-General, the impetus for declaring the pandemic was “the alarming levels of spread and severity, and … alarming levels of inaction”. On the evening of March 14th John Te Whaiti Goodwood returned from an overseas holiday and died suddenly in his sleep. His estate immediately formally withdrew the $3mil pledge and the children of John Te Whaiti Goodwood filed proceedings in the High Court for the immediate return of their great grandfather’s memorabilia that John had donated to the Art Gallery. The three feather cloaks and a painting of his grandfather wearing his war medals were requested for return to the family immediately. Dr Daga instructed the Head Curator not to relinquish the items. She stated they were property of the citizens of Anytown because they were bequeathed by John Te Whaiti-Goodwood long before his death. The Art Gallery Board decided to negotiate with the Estate of John Te Whaiti Goodwood for the pledge and retain the memorabilia. The Art Gallery intended to avoid the costs of lawyers and litigation in the courts. A team of consultants was appointed to lead a negotiation process to resolve all matters in dispute with the Estate of John Te Whaiti Goodwood, evaluate the problems and plan a more appropriate process for implementing change.

March 16th 2020
Diva Daga, the Head Curator and the chair of the Friends of the Art Gallery engaged in a heated conversation in front of patrons
.
The Head Curator challenged Dr Daga in the Art Gallery lobby asking why she had caused all the problems by interfering with relationships including local Iwi by disregarding the importance of the Maori installation. Dr Daga screamed back at him in front of Art Gallery visitors, Neuro Schmitt the chair of the Friends of the Art Gallery and other staff asserting “you and your unions are just a bunch of bullies; I am sick and tired of the threats from you and your union mates. I will consider locking you all out of the workplace and replacing you with new international staff on contract.
After reflecting on the incident Dr Daga wrote a formal complaint to the Board asserting, she was stressed and anxious. Consultants were immediately contracted to evaluate and plan for change and resolution of the problems. The Board aimed to act fairly to retain and strengthen relationships with customers, the Estate of John Te Whaiti Goodwood, Dr Daga, and current staff.

March 24th 2020 at mid night
New Zealand moved to level 4 lockdown, anticipated to last four weeks to eradicate the disease from New Zealand by preventing community transmission of COVID 19. The Art Gallery was closed and new initiatives would be needed to retain patronage on reopening. That four weeks was an opportunity to reflect on evidence-based processes and practises for organisational development and how best to manage change at Anytown Art Gallery.

Week 9
This week we ask how can organisational change be embedded into organisations through Interest Based Negotiation (IBN)?
The Union Perspective
Case study Air New Zealand
*

Wk 1 -How sound are the underlying theories, methods and ideas on change, that managers and consultants adhere to?
Wk2 -Why is it necessary to consider complex contexts and cross-cultural dimensions in organisations during change?
Wk 3 -Why and how do employees’ experiences of participation influence their perceptions and response to change, the effectiveness of organisational change and the success of the change?
Wk 4 -How, do we make sense of change and how do we respond to organisational change across the dimensions of cognition, affect and behaviour?
Wk 5-Why is it important to include perspectives of those people (stakeholders) who might be affected by the decision in the process of planning design and implementation of change?
Wk 6-How can a third-party change agent draw on a range of processes to facilitate collaborative change and embed a collaborative culture? The heatnetwork case
Wk 7 To What Extent Is Culture Change Possible Through Coaching and Mentoring?
Wk 8 What are the leadership and negotiation factors contributing to organisational change success or failure?
Wk 9 How can organisational change be embedded into organisations through an Interest Based Negotiation (IBN) approach to internal and union relationships ?

Outline

What is interest based negotiation?
Conflict
Thinking about our own negotiations
Stories from the front line growing union membership
Air New Zealand
Assessment discussion

Mary Parker Follett’s integrative or Negotiation also known as IBN

A problem-solving approach
Focus on commonalties rather than differences
Address needs and interests, not positions
Commit to meeting the needs of all involved parties
Exchange information and ideas
Invent options for mutual gain
Use objective criteria to set standards
3-*
Integrative or IBN Negotiation

Comparing IBN v competitive distributive Bargaining Process
(Fisher, Ury & Patton, 1999)
TRADITIONAL BARGAINING
Stated experience competitively
Identify Issues
Develop Positions
Develop Proposals
Meet to Negotiate
Argue and Justify
Demolish their Proposals
Compromise Power
Settle on Win/Lose
INTEREST BASED Negotiation Experience shared collaboratively
Identify Issues
Identify Interests
Develop Interest Statements
Meet to Discuss Interests
Identify Common Interests
Develop Options
Evaluate Options
Decide Based on SMART goals Agree or Settle on Mutual Gains
Agree to the best most satisfying option that meets the needs of stakeholders

Creating & Claiming Value
Creating Value
Claiming value
Often linked to integrative mutual gains approach
Otherwise known as win/win
Find solutions where both parties achieve their goals
Find ways to meet both parties objectives
Enlarge the pie
Identify more or different resources
Gain the best deal
The lions share
Win lose
Do what ever is necessary to get the largest piece of the pie
1-*
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Competitive, win-lose goals
Misperception and bias
Emotionality
Decreased communication
Blurred issues
Rigid commitments
Magnified differences, minimized similarities
Escalation of conflict
1-*
Dysfunctions of Conflict

Makes organizational members more aware and able to cope with problems through discussion.
Promises organizational change and adaptation.
Strengthens relationships and heightens morale.
Promotes awareness of self and others.
Enhances personal development.
Encourages psychological development—it helps people become more accurate and realistic in their self-appraisals.
Can be stimulating and fun.
1-*
Functions and Benefits of Conflict

1-*
The Dual Concerns Model

11.bin

1. Contending /competing
Actors pursue own outcomes strongly, show little concern for other party obtaining their desired outcomes
2. Yielding/ capitulating
Actors show little interest in whether they attain own outcomes, but are quite interested in whether the other party attains their outcomes
3. Inaction / avoiding
Actors show little interest in whether they attain own outcomes, and little concern about whether the other party obtains their outcomes
1-*
Styles of Negotiation & Conflict Management

4. Problem solving/collaborating
Actors show high concern in obtaining own outcomes, as well as high concern for the other party obtaining their outcomes
5. Compromising 50/50 concessions sharing
Actors show moderate concern in obtaining own outcomes, as well as moderate concern for the other party obtaining their outcomes
1-*
Styles of Conflict Management

1. Identify the problem (s)
Each person tells their story uninterrupted and summarizes
the issues from their perspective
Collaboratively identify and define the overall problem
2. Identify interests and needs of each person
3. Brainstorm creative options for solution
4 Evaluate and select options
5. Record your agreements reached
3-*
Key Steps in the Integrative Negotiation Process

Define the problem in a way that is mutually acceptable to both sides “how might we>>>?”
State the problem with an eye toward practicality and comprehensiveness
State the problem as a goal and identify the obstacles in attaining this goal
Depersonalize the problem
Separate the problem definition from the search for solutions
3-*
Identify and Define
the Problem

Create a free flow of information
Attempt to understand the other negotiator’s real needs
Interests and objectives
Emphasize the commonalties between the parties and minimize the differences
Search for solutions that meet the goals and objectives of both sides
3-*
Principles of the Interest based /Integrative Negotiation Process

Interests: the underlying concerns, needs, desires, or fears that motivate a negotiator
Substantive interests relate to key issues in the negotiation
Process interests are related to the way the dispute is settled
Relationship interests indicate that one or both parties value their relationship
Interests in principle: doing what is fair, right, acceptable, ethical may be shared by the parties
3-*
Understand the Problem Fully—
Identify Interests and Needs

There is almost always more than one
Parties can have different interests at stake
Often stem from deeply rooted human needs or values
Can change
Numerous ways to surface interests
Surfacing interests is not always easy or to one’s best advantage
3-*
Observations on Interests

Invent options by redefining the problem set:
Compromise
Logroll
Modify the pie
Expand the pie
Find a bridge solution
Cut the costs for compliance
Nonspecific compensation
Subordination
Generate options to the problem as a given:
Brainstorming
Surveys
Electronic brainstorming
3-*
Generate Alternative Solutions

Narrow the range of solution options
Evaluate solutions on:
Quality
Objective standards SMART GOALS
Acceptability
Agree to evaluation criteria in advance
Be willing to justify personal preferences
Be alert to the influence of intangibles in selecting options
evaluate complex options involve neutral experts in evaluation
3-*
Evaluate and Select Alternatives

Reality check options differences in expectations and risk/time preferences
Keep decisions tentative and conditional until a final proposal is complete
Minimize formality, record keeping until final agreements are closed
3-*
Evaluate and Select
Alternatives

Build Trust in the process through honest open communication
Clear and accurate communication
Learn and understand of the dynamics of integrative negotiation
Air New Zealand embedded this approach throughout the organisation
Repaired union relationships

3-*
To Facilitate Successful Integrative Negotiation
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

UNIONS & IBN
Greenwood & Ward 2019
Embedded in the object of the Employment Relations Act 2000
Problem solving approach to negotiating and mediation service through MBIE
Unions reflected IBN bought better outcomes and growth and increased membership
Pathways to progression rather than on size fits all
Organisations and unions worked together
Shift in thinking and practise form the old ways of battling the boss as the enemy
Tension and resistance to change form within the unions
Strategic advantages sharing of information more than consultation
Partnership approach unpacking the problems together
Increased job security creative options for solution
Better health and safety compliance

Week 8 Focus question
What are the leadership factors contributing to organisational change success or failure?
Leadership deals with change, inspiration, motivation and influence” (DuBrin, 2010, p. 5).
In short, leaders set the vision and strategy moving forward, align people towards the vision/strategy and then inspire, motivate and influence them towards making it happen (Kotter, 1996).
*

Reading week 8
*
Jones, J., Firth, J., Hannibal, C., & Ogunseyin, M. (2019). Factors Contributing to Organizational Change Success or Failure: A Qualitative Meta-Analysis of 200 Reflective Case Studies. In R. Hamlin, A. Ellinger, & J. Jones (Eds.), Evidence-Based Initiatives for Organizational Change and Development (pp. 155-178).Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi: 10.4018/978-1-5225-6155-2.chpt8

Wk 1 -How sound are the underlying theories, methods and ideas on change, that managers and consultants adhere to?
Wk2 -Why is it necessary to consider complex contexts and cross-cultural dimensions in organisations during change?
Wk 3 -Why and how do employees’ experiences of participation influence their perceptions and response to change, the effectiveness of organisational change and the success of the change?
Wk 4 -How, do we make sense of change and how do we respond to organisational change across the dimensions of cognition, affect and behaviour?
Wk 5-Why is it important to include perspectives of those people (stakeholders) who might be affected by the decision in the process of planning design and implementation of change?
Wk 6-How can a third-party change agent draw on a range of processes to facilitate collaborative change and embed a collaborative culture? The heatnetwork case
Wk 7 To What Extent Is Culture Change Possible Through Coaching and Mentoring?
Wk 8 What are the key leadership characteristics that contribute to organisational change success and failure?

Approaches to leadership theory
trait theories (Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1991), born with personal attributes
behaviourist (Adair, 1989; 2007) behaviours of a leader can be learned
situational/contingency (Hersey, 1984) and post-heroic (Bass, 1990). The work of Hersey and Blanchard on situational leadership theory (Buchanan, 2013) is considered particularly relevant to change leadership as it relates to the adaptability, willingness, and readiness of those being managed and the ability of the leader to lead change in different and diverse situations. Matches leaders style to situation Turnnidge and Cote (2017) identify can encompass the motivational and empowering elements of transformational leadership.
Bass and Riggio (2006) argue that transformational leaders set the vision, take an entrepreneurial/innovative approach to all aspects of the organization and are agents of change.
*

styles
autocratic –leader in control in charge
democratic/participative – followers & employees
Invited to contribute to decision making
laissez-faire/delegative (Hopen, 2015; Lewin, Lippit & White, 1939). others make decisions self managing teams
Transactional- reward/ punishment
Transformational –change work with others guide
(Bass, Avolio, Jung & Berson, 2003; Bass & Riggio, 2006).
*

Contemporary leadership approaches
Focus on the roles of Individuals
Distributed – shared activities of leading roles
Servant
Authentic
Relational
Moral and ethical contributors
*

Characteristics of contemporary
approaches
self-awareness,
openness, authenticity
transparency, and consistency.
people can learn skills, knowledge and attributes that can be employed in the process of change
continuous professional development element of their working lives.
*

Findings
Communicating with all stakeholders for the purpose of securing common ownership and involvement
Securing active involvement of middle managers is pivotal
Securing top management support
Recognising and addressing real problems root causes and cultural dimensions
An open to learning non blame culture
Importance of being a reflective change agent and conducting research internally
A flexible organizational change approach is needed: The study findings suggest prescriptive change models are not always fit for purpose as change certainly does not always fit linear, rational, un- ambiguous models. Indeed, they tend to support the ‘one size does not fit all’ approach to change as discussed by Burnes (2014).
Communication, leadership and team working will enable change: Our findings suggest that those organizations with ongoing communication and a more open and flexible leadership style, which readily involves others, are more likely to achieve successful change.
*

Negotiation is something
that everyone does, almost
daily
1-*
What is negotiation

Negotiations occur for several reasons:
To agree on how to share or divide a limited resource
To create something new that neither party could attain on his or her own
To resolve a problem or dispute between the parties
1-*
Negotiations
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Most people think bargaining and negotiation mean the same thing; however, we will be distinctive about the way we use these two words:
Bargaining: describes the competitive, win-lose situation
Negotiation: refers to win-win situations such as those that occur when parties try to find a mutually acceptable solution to a complex conflict
1-*
Approach to the Subject
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

The definition of negotiation and the basic characteristics of negotiation situations
Interdependence, the relationship between people and groups that most often leads them to negotiate
Understanding the dynamics of conflict and conflict management processes which serve as a backdrop for different ways that people approach and manage negotiations
1-*
Integrative Negotiation with a focus on relationships

There are two or more parties
There is a conflict of needs and desires between two or more parties
Parties negotiate because they think they can get a better deal than by simply accepting what the other side offers them
Parties expect a “give-and-take” process
1-*
Characteristics of a
Negotiation Situation
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

In negotiation, parties need each other to achieve their preferred outcomes or objectives
This mutual dependency is called interdependence
Interdependent goals are an important aspect of negotiation
Win-lose: I win, you lose
Win-win: Opportunities for both parties to gain
1-*
Interdependence

Interdependent parties are characterized by interlocking goals
Having interdependent goals does not mean that everyone wants or needs exactly the same thing
A mix of convergent and conflicting goals characterizes many interdependent relationships
1-*
Interdependence
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

1-*
The Dual Concerns Model

39.bin

Dilemma of honesty
Concern about how much of the truth to tell the other party

Dilemma of trust
Concern about how much should negotiators believe what the other party tells them
1-*
Two Dilemmas in
Mutual Adjustment
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Conflict may be defined as a:
“sharp disagreement or opposition” and includes “the perceived divergence of interest, or a belief that the parties’ current aspirations cannot be achieved simultaneously”
1-*
Conflict

Intrapersonal or intrapsychic conflict
Conflict that occurs within an individual
We want an ice cream cone badly, but we know that ice cream is very fattening
Interpersonal conflict
Conflict is between individuals
Conflict between bosses and subordinates, spouses, siblings, roommates, etc.
1-*
Levels of Conflict

Intragroup Conflict
Conflict is within a group
Among team and committee members, within families, classes etc.
Intergroup Conflict
Conflict can occur between organizations, warring nations, feuding families, or within splintered, fragmented communities
These negotiations are the most complex
1-*
Levels of Conflict

1. Contending
Actors pursue own outcomes strongly, show little concern for other party obtaining their desired outcomes
2. Yielding
Actors show little interest in whether they attain own outcomes, but are quite interested in whether the other party attains their outcomes
3. Inaction
Actors show little interest in whether they attain own outcomes, and little concern about whether the other party obtains their outcomes
1-*
Styles of Conflict Management

4. Problem solving
Actors show high concern in obtaining own outcomes, as well as high concern for the other party obtaining their outcomes
5. Compromising
Actors show moderate concern in obtaining own outcomes, as well as moderate concern for the other party obtaining their outcomes
1-*
Styles of Conflict Management

Mary Parker Follett’s integrative or Negotiation also known as IBN

A problem solving approach
Focus on commonalties rather than differences
Address needs and interests, not positions
Commit to meeting the needs of all involved parties
Exchange information and ideas
Invent options for mutual gain
Use objective criteria to set standards
3-*
Integrative or IBN Negotiation

Create a free flow of information
Attempt to understand the other negotiator’s real needs and objectives
Emphasize the commonalties between the parties and minimize the differences
Search for solutions that meet the goals and objectives of both sides
3-*
Overview of the Integrative Negotiation Process

Each person tells their story uninterrupted and summarizes the issues from their perspective
Collaboratively identify and define the overall problem
Identify interests and needs of each person
Brainstorm creative solutions
Evaluate and select among alternatives
Record your agreements reached
3-*
Key Steps in the Integrative Negotiation Process

Define the problem in a way that is mutually acceptable to both sides
State the problem with an eye toward practicality and comprehensiveness
State the problem as a goal and identify the obstacles in attaining this goal
Depersonalize the problem
Separate the problem definition from the search for solutions
3-*
Identify and Define
the Problem

Invent options by redefining the problem set:
Compromise
Logroll
Modify the pie
Expand the pie
Find a bridge solution
Cut the costs for compliance
Non specific compensation
Subordination
Generate options to the problem as a given:
Brainstorming
Surveys
Electronic brainstorming
3-*
Generate Alternative Solutions

Narrow the range of solution options
Evaluate solutions on:
Quality
Objective standards
Acceptability
Agree to evaluation criteria in advance
Be willing to justify personal preferences
Be alert to the influence of intangibles in selecting options
Use subgroups to evaluate complex options
3-*
Evaluate and Select Alternatives

Take time to “cool off”
Explore different ways to logroll
Exploit differences in expectations and risk/time preferences
Keep decisions tentative and conditional until a final proposal is complete
Minimize formality, record keeping until final agreements are closed
3-*
Evaluate and Select Alternatives

Some common objective or goal
Faith in one’s own problem-solving ability
A belief in the validity of one’s own position and the other’s perspective
The motivation and commitment to work together
3-*
Successful Integrative Negotiation
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Trust
Clear and accurate communication
An understanding of the dynamics of integrative negotiation

3-*
Facilitate Successful Integrative Negotiation
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Negotiation literature and slides from:
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D.M. (2016).6 th Ed Essentials of Negotiation, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Week 7 Focus question

To What Extent Is Culture Change Possible Through Coaching and Mentoring?

Chapter 6
From Robert Garvey

Week 7
Recap Week 6 collaboration Culture and the third party change agent
Mentoring & coaching
Benefits of mentoring and coaching
How to mentor and coach
7 situational mentoring and coaching contexts
Present processes of mentoring and coaching for change
Why are outcomes ambiguous?

Organisational Culture Textbook definitions
“A system of shared beliefs and values that guides behaviour ”
Wood et al. (2016)
“The soul of the organization”
Hellriegel & Slocum (2009)
Commonly known as…
“The way we do things around here.”

Schein’s 1990 definition
“(a) a pattern of basic assumptions,
(b) invented, discovered, or developed by a given group,
(c) as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration,
(d) that has worked well enough to be considered valid and,
therefore
(e) is to be taught to new members as the
(f) correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.”
p.11

Organisational culture iceberg

Structure
Language
Rituals & ceremonies
Stories & legends
Values
Assumptions/beliefs

McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2010

The Levels of Culture
Schein, 1990
(a) Observable artifacts – e.g. physical layout, dress code, mission statement and other documents

(b) Values – what is important
(c) Basic underlying assumptions – e.g. We are the best, we will always make profits

Factors contributing to changing organisational culture
1. Competitive pressures (e.g. may make the organisation more cost-focussed or innovative)
2. Changes in other aspects of the external environment
(Social, health COVID 19,technological, economic, political/legal)
e.g. What may change is the need to now be ‘leading edge in technology; focused on environmental issues; embrace diversity and flexible workplaces)
3. Changes in ownership (e.g. mergers) and/or management
4. Organisational restructuring (new divisions, new departments, all with their own sub-cultures)
5. New reward systems (e.g. moving to pay for performance drives individual behaviour; move toward greater teamwork creates different relationships)

Sub-cultures
Can be based on:
Department
Gender
Ethnicity
Other factors: e.g. employee-centred, professional-centred, task-centred and innovation-centred
Palthe and Kossek, 2003

CULTURAL WEB
Johnson and Scholes –
textbook on organisational strategy and see also…
http://www.strategyexplorers.com/whitepapers/Culture-Web

Culture change
A need for culture change is a common mantra (Huy & Mintzberg, 2003)

How to change organisational culture
1.   Measure/investigate culture
2.   Analyse corporate strategy
3.   Decide on the appropriate alignment of strategy and culture
– a strategy of innovation needs a culture of innovation
– a cost leadership strategy needs a culture that carefully manages costs
4.   Identify the behaviours (and possibly structure)
that support the strategy and culture
5.   Communicate the strategy, structure and the culture
6.   Implement the changes
7.   Monitor the outcomes and measure culture again
and make further changes if necessary.

GENDER DIVERSITY AND CULTURE CHANGE
GENDER INEQUALITY
Women are not a minority but are in executive and governance roles
To do it properly, you need to create a lot of culture change within organisations as opposed to just having a goal or an ambition.”

The time for an inquiry into ANZ governance
complacency a lack of accountability
Sale of a house to wife of former CEO 3.5m under rateable value
Non disclosure of sale in 2017 annual accounts
Conduct and culture issues bought down the former CEO
Misrepresenting personal expenses as company expenses led to his departure
Governance leads the culture at ANZ according to Fran O’Sullivan Journalist

Spark Boss on Sparks gender pay gap
Focus on improving gender equality
36% of Spark workforce women
38% new hires women
42% of leavers are women
Gender pay gap varied across the business but of 5377 staff women paid 18% less than men
New Zealand technology sector has significantly higher proportion of men than women

Change in the Fire Emergency Service
The Chief Executive and senior leadership of FENZ recognise that to create an effective and sustainable organisation with a shared identity and a culture of mutual respect, the organisation must create “a positive and inclusive environment for its personnel which is free from bullying and all forms of harassment.”

Bullying and Harassment in the New Zealand Parliamentary workplace
“It’s so great we’re brave enough to be doing this. It’s time. It’s the 21st century…and ethical and authentic leadership really matter. We have the public expecting us to improve our behaviour and relationships. However, we also need to be wary of adopting solutions to something so complex as parliamentary culture…it’s a complex ecosystem and if we are to be the best that we can be, it’s going to take collective effort over several years and successive government”

We want mentors not abusers in legal workplaces
“as part of my broader review of the firm’s culture I was surprised to hear of pockets of bullying, poor work management practices resulting in excessive work hours for junior lawyers, and fear among lawyers and partners about the potential consequences of speaking out. A recent survey of all lawyers by the New Zealand Law Society revealed that bullying and harassment are problems across the entire legal profession. This does not minimise the reality of what has occurred at Russell McVeagh, but means the firm is not alone in needing to confront these issues. To its credit, the firm has not shied away from the problems, and has moved to act immediately to address them.

Director quits council business blaming ‘unprofessional and disrespectful’ behaviour
Mentors can help to hold a mirror up to see how people perceive you and where you could round out your skills. You do have to be a bit thick-skinned and have confidence and commitment as you navigate through the leadership ranks. Having good personal and professional mentors can help to reaffirm your value in what you are trying to do.” Samantha Sharif.

But –
Griffiths (2002) argues desired outcomes are good but when managers manage both the ‘process and the outcome’ sloganizing the change process with expression such as ‘buy-in
being treated mechanistically and instrumentally, while being told they are being treated humanistically” (p. 303).
Creates dissonance – saying one thing and doing another!
For example Gender equity equal opportunity but unequal outcomes

Change can come about ! Huy and Mintzberg (2003)
messy little experiments
organic initiatives of middle management
steady rejuvenation
Balancing chaos and inactivity by applying steady pressure

Coaching and mentoring
A Coaching culture?
A mentoring organisation?
Both focus on individuals relationships
Complexity can be over simplified
Coaching and mentoring claimed to enable change
The outcomes are ambiguous

Human Resource approach to enable change
Learning and development approach
Takes learning theory to relationships and decision making by narrative dialogic approaches to resolve problems
Mentoring emerged in 1980’s, coaching early 2000 (Garvey, 2011)

MENTORING
mentoring is a “critical part of culture change”
de Vries et al, 2006, p. 573)
on-boarding’ process (Eisner, 2015),
performance improvement (Srivastava & Thakur, 2013)
talent development (De Long, Gabarro & Lees, 2008)
culture change in SME’s (Peel, 2006)
staff retention in schools (Parker, 2010)
support for people in changing environments in Higher Education (Cureton, Green & Meakin, 2010)
Helps develop performance change personal growth ?
BUT FOCUSES ON THE INDIVIDUAL

COACHING
A process of social and personal meaning making (Stelter, p.191)
leadership development and managing talent (Baron, Morin & Morin, 2011; Wilson, 2007)
An alternative to traditional, learning and development initiatives (Bachkirova et al., 2014; Kilburg, 1996)
a facilitated conversation that enables reflection and change Passmore & Fillery-Travis, 2011; Yu, Collins, Cavanagh, White & Fairbrother, 2008)
a number of commentators argue for the creation of ‘coaching cultures’ within organizations.(Clutterbuck & Megginson, 2005; Jones & Gorell, 2016; Sherman & Freas, 2004)
Helps individuals to improve performance and learn on the job
Helps leaders achieve aims and goals
Executive coaching an effective method of learning and development
Experimental / important (imperative) rejuvenation/ organic and ongoing

How to coach and mentor ?
The central concept of human psychology is meaning and the process and transactions involved with the construction of meaning (Bruner, 1990, pp. 32 -33)
Karl Weick’s (1995) sensemaking question, ‘How do I know what I think until I see what I’ve said?’
Conversation plays a major part in learning for, as Bruner (1985) also says, “language is a way of sorting out one’s thoughts about things” (p.23)
However, meaning is also dependent on the context in which ‘things’ happen …. specific meanings are created and transmitted” (Bruner, 1990, p64).

Power of language over culture
Both coaching and mentoring are conversational language processes
Learning in this sense then is a social interaction – learning is a social activity
“language is the primary motor of culture” (Webster,1980, p.206)
culture change and coaching and mentoring are primarily linguistic and behavioural change activities
if you want to change the culture, change the language and how people interact with each other

Skills – mentoring and coaching

Both are conversational
listening and interacting in dialogue enables perspectives to be modified and developed and sense is made
Collaborative reflective sense making
Weickian (1995) sensemaking “How do I know what” I think until I see what I have said ?
Conflict management in the workplace
develop attributes as the coaches and mentors help to facilitate ‘complex relativistic reasoning’ through their conversation
draw up development plans for people within the organization

Contemporary employers expect attributes such as
Strong Work Ethic: Setting and achieving goals
Dependable: Consistently following through
Positive Attitude: Creating a good environment
Self-Motivated: Working effectively with little direction
Team Oriented: Making the most out of collaboration
Effective Communicator: Understanding the benefits of clarity
Flexible: Adapting in a meaningful way

Common aspects of mentoring and coaching
Voluntarism – mentoring is essentially a voluntary activity
Training – both the mentor and the mentee
Ongoing support – Mentors often need support.
Matching – It is important to have a clear matching process between mentor or coach and the mentee or student – no fault divorce
Establishing reviewable ground rules
On-going review – regular feedback and review of the learning relationship
Whose agenda? – Mentoring is for the mentee, coaching is for the learner it’s the learners process
Evaluation and monitoring – Ongoing evaluation of the process is imperative

Benefits of mentoring and coaching
Mentoring
Motivational Benefits
Performance and Policy Implementation benefits
Knowledge and Skills Development benefits
Managing Change and Succession benefits

Coaching
Increased productivity and improved quality
Increased diversity and staff retention
Increased team member satisfaction
Accelerated senior leader promotions
Increased client satisfaction, customer service and reduced in complaints
Improvement in ‘Organizational strength’

Organisational culture collaboration and change
How might we collaborate to enable and empower change?

Week 6 Collaboration and change
Recap Week 5 Stakeholders -Reflective action learning Plan Do Check Act –Sports entertainment & Forcefield analysis & World café a process for stakeholder consultation
Culture and Culture Mapping
Facilitation, collaboration building a network of organisations with third party change agent

Review
Wk 1 -How sound are the underlying theories, methods and ideas on change, that managers and consultants adhere to?
Wk2 -Why is it necessary to consider complex contexts and cross-cultural dimensions in organisations during change?
Wk 3 -Why and how do employees’ experiences of participation influence their perceptions and response to change, the effectiveness of organisational change and the success of the change?
Wk4 -How, do we make sense of change and how do we respond to organisational change across the dimensions of cognition, affect and behaviour?
Wk 5-Why is it important to include perspectives of those people (stakeholders) who might be affected by the decision in the process of planning design and implementation of change?

Action learning and analysis of driving & resisting forces
PDCA
Force field

Week 6 focus question
How can a third-party change agent draw on a range of processes to facilitate collaborative change and embed a collaborative culture?
Applied to Wk 6 case
heatnetwork Crossover, St Margaret’s Community Trust, Somali Disability & Elderly Support Group, Comm-Pact, Worth Unlimited, Aim Higher Education Link and Our Community

Our values: working at AUT

https://www.aut.ac.nz/about/careers-at-aut/working-at-aut/what-its-like-to-work-at-aut/our-values-working-at-aut

When you work at AUT you join a community of change makers who understand the positive impact education has on individuals, communities and society.
AUT is an aspirational place that attracts bright, positive and ambitious staff, and supports achievement.
Our values – tika, pono and aroha (integrity, respect and compassion) – are at the heart of everything we do.
Our integrity helps us do good work. We’re genuine, accountable and efficient, and people know they can trust us to stay true to our word.
How we respond to each other makes a huge difference. That’s why we’re welcoming, helpful and kind, and always try to show each other compassion.
Respect is at the core of how we work together. We’re collaborative, inclusive and open, and our staff value different viewpoints and challenge conventional ways of doing things; the same characteristics AUT graduates are well-known for. The outcome

Organisational culture iceberg

Structure
Language
Rituals & ceremonies
Stories & legends
Values
Assumptions/beliefs

McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2010

The Levels of Culture
Schein, 1990
(a) Observable artifacts – e.g. physical layout, dress code, mission statement and other documents

(b) Values – what is important
(c) Basic underlying assumptions – e.g. We are the best, we will always make profits

Dress
(Law firm)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u34OK6gNcM

Factors contributing to changing organisational culture
1. Competitive pressures (e.g. may make the organisation more cost-focussed or innovative)
2. Changes in other aspects of the external environment
(Social, technological, economic, political/legal)
e.g. What may change is the need to now be ‘leading edge in technology; focused on environmental issues; embrace diversity)
3. Changes in ownership (e.g. mergers) and/or management
4. Organisational restructuring (new divisions, new departments, all with their own sub-cultures)
5. New reward systems (e.g. moving to pay for performance drives individual behaviour; move toward greater teamwork creates different relationships)

Change of culture at:
Uber

https://www.engadget.com/2017/11/07/uber-ceo-tries-to-rewrite-corporate-culture/

By the new CEO
https://www.uber.com/newsroom/ubers-new-cultural-norms/

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/105251302/live-report-into-behaviour-at-law-firm-russell-mcveagh-released

Sub-cultures and
counter-cultures
Each dept. or division has its own culture, which may be broadly in alignment with the organisational culture or run counter to it.

Sub-cultures
Can be based on:
Department
Gender
Ethnicity
Other factors: e.g. employee-centred, professional-centred, task-centred and innovation-centred
Palthe and Kossek, 2003

CULTURAL WEB
Johnson and Scholes –

http://www.strategyexplorers.com/whitepapers/Culture-Web

Paradigm summary of cultural elements
Stories and myths – past events narratives of internal and external critical events that have influenced thinking, feeling and acting in the organisation
Symbols – the visual representations logos office physical ambience way people dress in the organisation
Power structures –influences within the organisation and power where it is located ( department, function )
Organisation structures – the formal structure of the organisation – org chart formal contributions whose are highly valued?
Control systems – financial and quality awards & rewards
Rituals and routines –individual team departmental and organisational values the guide the way we work around here?

Cultural web
Cultural web analysis is a way of analysing whether change is needed and where
It helps identify the gaps / assumptions that guide organisations
The web can identify current culture and desired culture

COLLABORATION
according to the Cambridge English Dictionary:

“the situation of two or more people working together to create or achieve the same thing”.
Synonyms
Co-operation unite relationship
alliance unison unity formation co-operatively team work
Group work alongside jointly partnership association connections

Shaping a Collaborative culture
during uncertainty and change the heatnetwork case
D’Souza (2019) was the 3rd party change agent reporting the reflective case
sweeping cuts to public spending, the demise of local services
marked increase in social upheaval
chief executive officers (CEOs) from 7 culturally and economically diverse not-for-profit organisations based in Hodge Hill, Birmingham, UK, joined forces
network based’ solutions to social and educational challenges heatnetwork (Crossover, St Margaret’s Community Trust, Somali Dis- ability & Elderly Support Group, Comm:Pact, Worth Unlimited, Aim Higher Education Link and Our Community)
employed over 100 staff engaged 250 volunteers delivering more than 1000 activities to local population each year.

Loss of funding required
collaboration –diagnosis
Risk of ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality in a scramble to save individual organisations
Aimed to work collaboratively
Funding provided for external consultant- Mr D’Souza
Began with meetings with each CEO
Unresolved tensions – 6-of the 7-faith based 3 Christian, 3 Muslim
Lottery funding from gambling “haram”
Christian vicar – corporate accountant empire building?
Local politician – politically ambitious?
Small orgs swamped by larger?Who would resolve conflicts?
Vision to build a community in which people were empowered and supported to bring about positive change
No process for developing behaviours and processes necessary to achieve the dream

Diagnosis
opportunities and threats would need to be explored
Board members -think strategically and to collectively agree upon risk
Commitments towards sharing resources and capabilities would need to be in place
How would tension within the group surface?
If organisations with more resources demanded more reward, how could a sense of equality within the network be maintained?
How might we support the harmonisation of both religious and cultural differences and manage expectations of 7 CEOs who were all used to ‘running their own shows’.

Theories applied to diagnosis
Culture Hofstede, (2001)

Deviant behaviour Nair & Bhatnagar, (2011)
Proposition 1. The presence of high role ambiguity is a likely factor contributing to WDB in non-profit organizations.
Proposition 2. The existence of a loose form of structure is a likely factor contributing to WDB in non-profits.
Proposition 3. Poor accountability coupled with less punitive action is likely to contribute to WDB in non-profits.
.

Deviant behaviour Nair & Bhatnagar, (2011)
Proposition 4. The presence of individual-level factors such as high idealism, conscientiousness, positive affect, high commitment and identification, and high job satisfaction of members serves to mitigate WDB in non-profits.
Proposition 5. The existence of organizational factors such as strong role models, lower organizational control and surveillance, and ethical climate serves to mitigate WDB in non-profits

Change is inevitable -theory
7-step change theory framework (Lippet, Watson, & Westley, 1958)

COMMUNITY RESPECT –Reflected on TEAM ROLES
Belbin (1993)

Exploring the landscape –STEEP Analysis

SWOT Analysis

Collaboration not competition
Porters five forces (1977)

Resources and capabilities
Resolving tensions -Grant (1991)
analysis of capabilities restricted to focusing on upon leveraging core competencies across organisations – skills, expertise, community knowledge
deliberation – at times a little heated – allowed for the tensions associated with power struggles and secret agendas to surface discussion continued until passions weaned
Used neuro linguistic programming –chunking controlling form abstract to specific

High performance teams
Tuckman & Jensen (1965)

Breakthrough at heatnetwork
Coaching
Team members worked speedily co-operatively reached consensus
Two largest orgs acted as leads for funding applications
Two largest monitored and administrated 10% compensation
Expertise provided case by case
Birmingham City provided new full time member of staff
management and marketing covered and funded for the network

Defining objectives & testing assumptions
Ongoing audits
SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats)
SMART CRITERIA (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timebound)
Cartesian logic and questioning (Gaukroger, 2002)
What will happen if x happens, what will happen if x does not happen? What won’t happen if x happens? What won’t happen if x does not happen

One to one coaching
for ironing out unresolved interpersonal challenges
each board member completed Everything Disc ® Work of Leaders Profile was completed to assist board members to reflect upon their effectiveness as leaders across the three parameters of creating a vision, building alignment, and championing execution (of the vision)
Focus on experiential learning and developing higher levels of emotional intelligence

8 step Kotter theory (1995)

REFLECTIONS ON heatnetwork
People driven by vocation and a desire to make a difference was the critical success
7 CEOs demonstrated enthusiasm and commitment towards building a vision for the future
use of management theory and frameworks proved extremely useful to stimulate debate
Thinking was broadened transferring the responsibility to the Board
Dealing with change at the level of culture was difficult –diversity and
Needed more focus on establishing and harmonising the transcultural identity of the new network
less structured informal time built into the delivery of group work (either through a series of whole day sessions or better still a residential) would have proven more beneficial
six-month timeframe to complete the programme was short
behavioural change takes time to embed
Insistence to operate as facilitator rather than as a consultant is positive

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Review
Week 1 -How sound are the underlying theories, methods and ideas on change, that managers and consultants adhere to?
Week 2 -Why is it necessary to consider complex contexts and cross-cultural dimensions in organisations during change?
Week 3 -Why and how do employees’ experiences of participation influence their perceptions and response to change, the effectiveness of organisational change and the success of the change?
Week 4 -How, do we make sense of change and how do we respond to organisational change across the dimensions of cognition, affect and behaviour?

Week 5 Focus Question
Why is it important to include perspectives of those people (stakeholders) who might be affected by the decision in the process of planning design and implementation of change?

Week 5 Stakeholders and Change
WHO? Types of Stakeholders
Organisational internal stakeholders/Individual stakeholders/External stakeholders
WHAT’s involved? Forcefield analysis:
What are the forces driving and restraining change?
Which stakeholders are driving/restraining change and why?
HOW to include stakeholders? World Café Exercise – Process of collaborative dialogue – Case: Fairfax Nine merger/acquisition Media Newspaper Change
Reflective Action Learning: Plan Do Check Act (PDCA) – Case: Sports & Entertainment Organization

Types of Stakeholders to consider when an organisation wants to make a change
EXTERNAL
Customers
Consumers
Suppliers
Government
Industry and professional associations
Media
Community, etc.
The environment
INTERNAL
Division, department, sub-department
Managers at different levels
People in specific roles
Demographic groupings:
Race, ethnicity
Gender, etc.

Individuals
Trade unions (also have an external component)

Types of Stakeholders in Change
These can be analysed in terms of
Events: e.g. earthquake, change in legislation, merger, new IT system
Trends: e.g. technology, social, economic
Stakeholders are usually organisations or broad groups, e.g. industry associations, consumers, suppliers, government, local residents.
Management of each ORGANISATION needs to identify WHO its stakeholders are when a change is planned.
Not all stakeholders are affected by a change in the same way – How to analyse and evaluate?

Analysis of Driving & Resisting Forces/
Action Learning
PDCA (Plan.Do.Check.Act)
Forcefield Analysis

Forcefield analysis (Lewin, 1947)
Identify the forces Driving and Restraining Change (internal + external)
Estimate how strong each force is.
Consider whether it is worthwhile proceeding with the change.
Consider how the restraining forces could be managed.

Forcefield Analysis by Lewin (1947)

Forcefield analysis
Forces driving change

Forces restraining change
Political, economic, social, technological factors
Competition
Reputation
Benefits Costs
(financial, reputational, etc.)

Internal stakeholders:
Employees/managers/owners
External stakeholders:
Customers, consumers, suppliers, media, government, etc.
Support
Resistance

World Café Exercise
Introduction of the World Cafe 7 Design Principles
Warm Up Café Exercise
Case Study Café Exercise: Fairfax Nine takeover: Australia’s
oldest media empire ends with $4bn merger

WORLD CAFÉ: 7 DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Context –goals, stakeholders, themes main questions
Create hospitable space round tables
Explore relevant questions
Encourage participation & contribution
Connect & link diverse perspectives
Collaboratively listen for new patterns and insights
Share /harvest collective discovery

Dialogue not debate
Encourage conversational flow
Everyone is equal
Eliminate fear
Conceive of new outcomes
No coercion

WORLD CAFÉ DIALOGIC/ CONVERSATION PROCESS
In your teams for 5mins brainstorm ideas to solve the problem harvest all ideas on butchers paper, leave space for others
Shift to another table ensure you are with new people who were not at the n1 table repeat q 1 shar ideas form each of your 1st table
Shift to another table where there are new faces repeat n1
Return to your original team. Record all of your collaborative ideas and be ready to share in plenary
Whole class harvest of all ideas facilitator white board the ideas
Whole class reach consensus ( thumbs up down or half way /rumble) about a way forward …implement

WARM UP CAFÉ EXERCISE
KEY QUESTION
How might we change the way we study post-lockdown in Trimester 2 in 2020 to make the process more enjoyable and less of a struggle to learn?

Case Study: Fairfax Nine takeover: Australia’s oldest media empire ends with $4bn merger

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jul/26/fairfax-nine-takeover-australias-oldest-media-empire-ends-with-4bn-merger?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jul/26/nines-fairfax-takeover-what-is-the-deal-and-what-will-it-mean

Who are the stakeholders in the Fairfax Nine takeover? Which stakeholders are likely to support or resist the change? Why?
Compile a Forcefield Analysis which includes stakeholders supporting and resisting change and include other factors/forces driving or restraining change.
Who might view the change(s) as successful and who might not? Why?

Exercise 1 :
Identifying stakeholders:

In your teams each take one role of
Journalist, Administrator, Human Resource Manager, Media buyer & Advertiser.
Discuss how your character might respond to the merger /acquisition before it is implemented for one of the companies on:
Cognitive,
Affective and
Behavioural levels?
Exercise 2 :
Responding Change on Cognitive, Affective & Behavioural Level

Choose elements of best practise processes from your reading so far and create a plan to implement a change process to deal with resistance at Fairfax Nine
Diagram the Process
Exercise 3 :
PROCESS

Roles people play in change
Change leaders – design the change may also be the agents championing change
Change managers – implement the change will also be recipients of the change
Change agents – can be external or internal consultants who design and/or implement change
Change recipients – people affected by the change who are not in the above three categories

Note that these roles do not always reflect one’s position in the hierarchy, e.g. a senior manager may in some cases be a change recipient; a low level employee may design (lead) a change. Eg Air NZ Baggage andlers

Roles in change
Kanter, Stein and Jick (1992):
Change Strategists
Change Implementers
Change Recipients

Roles in change
London (1988):
Change generators
1. Key change agents
2. Demonstrators
3. Patrons
4. Defenders
Change implementors
5. External change implementors
6. External/internal change implementors
7. Internal change implementors
Change adopters
8. Early adopters
9. Maintainers
10. Users

Four types of Change Roles (regarding HR managers) Caldwell (2001)
Change Champions – ‘those directors or senior executives at the very top of the organisation who can envision, lead or implement strategic HR policy changes of a far reaching, transformative or integrative nature’ (p. 45).
Change Adapters – ‘carry forward and build support for change within business units and key functions’ (p. 47).
Change Consultants – ‘specialist personnel professional or external consultants with the expertise or experience to implement a discrete change project or key stages of an HR change initiative’. (p. 48).
Change Synergists – ‘senior personnel managers or high level external HR consultants capable of strategically co-ordinating, integrating and delivering complex, large scale and multiple change projects across the whole organisation’ (p. 49).

Caldwell, 2001, Four HRM roles in change

Exercise 4: Change roles
Consider a change in an organisation of which you have personal experience:
What role did you play? = leader, manager, recipient.
How well did you play it?
What role did others play?
How well did they play their roles?

Attributes (qualities/abilities, traits) or change leaders and managers – Caldwell (2003)
Leaders
Managers

Competencies in Change Leadership and Management (Higgs and Rowland 2000, p. 124)
Change Initiation ability to create the case for change and secure credible sponsorship
Change Impact ability to scope the breadth, depth, sustainability and returns of a change strategy
Change Facilitation ability to help others, through effective facilitation, to gain insight into the human dynamics of change and to develop the confidence to achieve the change goals
Change Leadership ability to influence and enthuse others, through personal advocacy, vision and drive, and to access resources to build a solid platform for change.
Change Learning ability to scan, reflect and identify learning and ensure insights are used to develop individual, group and organisational capabilities
Change Execution ability to formulate and guide the implementation of a credible change plan with appropriate goals, resources, metrics and review mechanisms
Change Presence demonstrates high personal commitment to achievement of change goals through integrity and courage, while maintaining objectivity and individual resilience (‘a non-anxious presence in a sea of anxiety’)
Change Technology knowledge, generation and skilful application of change theories, tools and processes

Overcoming Resistance to Change
Kotter & Schlesinger, 1979

Embracing Resistance
“View resistance as a resource:
Symptoms of deeper problems in the change process
A form of constructive conflict – may improve decisions in the change process
A form of voice – helps procedural justice”
McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2010

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Week 10
This week we:
Reflect on the ethic of Kaitiakitanga
Apply four constructs of organisational justice to Anytown Art Gallery’s experience of change
Identify relationship between good faith bargaining and the ethic of trust an honesty when negotiating
Examine the case study- Embedding a New Health and Safety Culture within an Indian National Gas Transmission company & The Pike River mining disaster
*

The Ethic of Kaitiakitanga
Kaitiakitanga means guardianship and protection of the environment, based on the wisdom of the Māori world view.
Spiller, Pio, Erakovic, & Henare (2011:226) define “Wisdom values; through an ethic of kaitiakitanga (stewardship) aroha Love, care, compassion; hau Promote, and maintain vitality hapai; Uplift others kotahitanga ;Create alliance; unity, connectedness manaaki; Respect, kindness matauranga; Knowledge, understanding, skill mohio; Realize, recognize pono; Honesty, truthfulness tawhito; Expert, authority tika; Just, right, correct, appropriate behavior whakapapa; Genealogy, honoring of ancestors, recognition of the human connectedness to all of creation whanaungatanga; Relationship”.

Ethics organisational justice and change
Te Reo Maori justice and change Stories form the front line Teaching in the 1970’s
Ethical dilemmas
Distributive Justice
Procedural Justice
Relational justice
Interpersonal justice
Informational justice
Interest based negotiation
Employment Relations Act 2000
*

What is an ethical dilemma ?
Uncomfortable decision making process where some options are going to cause loss
Conflict of moral choices in which obeying one would result in transgressing another.
A choice of options in decision making where one or more is to the detriment of self or others
Moral decision making where creating and claiming options creates paradox where neither options are positive for all parties
*

What were the ethical dilemmas faced by the 8yr old boy who took $5.00 from his father’s car to buy his three school friends some lollies but saw a homeless man outside the shop and decided to give the $5 to him rather than buy lollies for his friends?
What are the ethical dilemmas faced by a manager when bullying and harassment are confidentially reported to them in the workplace?
What are ethical dilemmas faced by a manager embedding health and safety in the workplace?
*

Bullying in the workplace
Workplace bullying is: repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or a group of workers that can lead to physical or psychological harm. – Repeated behaviour is persistent (occurs more th
Workplace bullying is not: one-off or occasional instances of forgetfulness, rudeness or tactlessness – setting high performance standards – constructive feedback and legitimate advice or peer review – a manager requiring reasonable verbal or written work instructions to be carried out – warning or disciplining workers in line with the business or undertaking’s code of conduct – a single incident of unreasonable behaviour – reasonable management actions delivered in a reasonable way – differences in opinion or personality clashes that do not escalate into bullying, harassment or violence.
See https://worksafe.govt.nz/topic-and-industry/bullying/bullying-at-work-advice-for-workers/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwhvf6BRCkARIsAGl1GGg-hciux7A6DZERoMEFlrd6aypBRBAc_MSoUYMG4ErOxlMxVb7RItcaAp6rEALw_wcB
*
See https://worksafe.govt.nz/topic-and-industry/bullying/bullying-at-work-advice-for-workers/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwhvf6BRCkARIsAGl1GGg-hciux7A6DZERoMEFlrd6aypBRBAc_MSoUYMG4ErOxlMxVb7RItcaAp6rEALw_wcB

Wk 1 -How sound are the underlying theories, methods and ideas on change, that managers and consultants adhere to?
Wk2 -Why is it necessary to consider complex contexts and cross-cultural dimensions in organisations during change?
Wk 3 -Why and how do employees’ experiences of participation influence their perceptions and response to change, the effectiveness of organisational change and the success of the change?
Wk 4 -How, do we make sense of change and how do we respond to organisational change across the dimensions of cognition, affect and behaviour?
Wk 5-Why is it important to include perspectives of those people (stakeholders) who might be affected by the decision in the process of planning design and implementation of change?
Wk 6-How can a third-party change agent draw on a range of processes to facilitate collaborative change and embed a collaborative culture? The heatnetwork case
Wk 7 To What Extent Is Culture Change Possible Through Coaching and Mentoring?
Wk 8 What are the leadership and negotiation factors contributing to organisational change success or failure?
Wk 9 How organisational change has been embedded into organisations through Interest Based Negotiation (IBN) Case study Air New Zealand
Wk 10 Ethics justice and change: Good faith bargaining, trust and honest communication, constructs of justice embedding a new health and safety culture

Imagine you are the head curator at Anytown Art Gallery ,
Rate the constructs as we ask the questions about:
Distributive Justice: Fairness of outcome
Procedural Justice: The experience of processes
Interpersonal: The way you were treated by the person with authority
Informational Justice: good faith communication
Adapted from: Colquitt, J. (2001). On the dimensionality of organizational justice: A construct validation of a measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 386-400.

*
Why is fairness so important to people?
Instrumental reasons – It helps us obtain favourable outcomes. e.g. Bigger budget from the change, promotion
Relational reasons – It signals our importance to others and affects our status and identity. e.g. Being consulted made me feel valued, as did being given a promotion.
Moral reasons – We believe we have a right to be treated fairly, including when we are in organisational settings. e.g. I deserved the promotion (Folger & Skarlicki, 2008)

Organisational justice and change
*
When change takes place, how fair are perceived:
Outcomes – and for whom?
Procedures?
Information given – timeliness,
fullness, accuracy?
Ways in which it was communicated?d?

*
Tangible
Economic
Instrumental
Concrete/material
Extrinsic

Pay, benefits, cars, offices, etc
Intangible
Socio-emotional
Relational
Psychological
Intrinsic

Consultation, participation autonomy, empowerment, in-crowd, trust
Tyler & Lind, 1992, Soenen et al., 2017
Lester & Kickul, 2001
Distributive Justice

*
Procedural justice
Perceptions of fairness are enhanced when there is:
no favouritism
people participate
there is openness
explanations are given…
(Content is related to informational justice.
Style is related to interpersonal justice.)
Kaltiainen et al., 2017

*
Procedural justice rules
Leventhal, 1980
Consistent
Unbiased
Accurate information
Correctable
Representative of all groups
Ethical

*
Perceptions of fairness are enhanced when:
People are treated with politeness, dignity and respect.
Sufficient time is given to them.
They can ask questions – and get answers.
This occurs when people are treated with courtesy, dignity and respect. It is mostly done on a 1-1 level but can be seen is smaller and larger groups too.
When people are made redundant how sincerely and sensitively are the decisions communicated to staff?

Interpersonal Justice

*
Perceptions of fairness are enhanced when information is:
Full
Accurate
Timely
, “We were sort of kept in the dark like mushrooms.”
“I was told nothing. My work unit was told nothing.”
Bryant, 2006, p. 252
Informational Justice

Distributive Justice

The following items refer to the change outcome. To what extent:
Was the outcome fair for YOU?
Was the outcome fair for OTHERS?
Was management justified in making this change?
Score /15
Rate from 1= to a small extent, very unfair… 5 = to a great extent, very fair
*
Rate from 1= to a small extent, very unfair… 5 = to a great extent, very fair

Procedural Justice
The following items refer to the procedures used to arrive at your (outcome). To what extent:
Have you been able to express your views and feelings during those procedures?
Have you had influence over the outcomes of change arrived at by those procedures?
Have those procedures been applied consistently?
Have those procedures been free of bias?
Have those procedures been based on accurate information?
Have you been able to appeal the outcome of the change arrived at by those procedures?
Have those procedures upheld ethical and moral standards?
Rate from 1= to a small extent, very unfair… 5 = to a great extent, very fair score /35
*
Rate from 1= to a small extent, very unfair… 5 = to a great extent, very fair score /35

Interpersonal Justice
Has he/she treated you in a polite manner?
Has he/she treated you with dignity?
Has he/she treated you with respect?
Has he/she refrained form improper remarks or comments?
Has he/she listened to your views?
Score /25
Rate from 1= to a small extent, very unfair… 5 = to a great extent, very fair
*
Rate from 1= to a small extent, very unfair… 5 = to a great extent, very fair

Informational Justice
The following items refer to the authority figure who enacted the change procedures. To what extent:
Has he/she been open and honest in his/her communication with you?
Has he/she explained the procedures thoroughly?
Were his/her explanations regarding the procedures reasonable?
Has he/she communicated details in a timely manner?
Has he/she seemed to tailor his/her communications to individuals’ specific needs?
Rate from 1= to a small extent, very unfair… 5 = to a great extent, very fair
*
Rate from 1= to a small extent, very unfair… 5 = to a great extent, very fair

Add your score & discuss

What was the score /100 for your view of the Head Curators experience ?
Which constructs were fair /unfair?
How could the process have been managed to ensure greater fairness?
What areas required the most attention?

Legislating to build mutual trust and confidence in the Employment Relationship
Good faith behaviour
Open communication
Fair processes for change
Early problem soling
Free fast fair mediation provided by the state MBIE
Supporting collective bargaining
An ongoing relationship is more than a contract of service

Employment Relations Act 2000 Objectives
(s3) object thus:
“(a) to build productive relationships through the promotion of mutual trust and confidence in all aspects of the employment environment and of the employment relationship –
(i) by recognising that employment relationships must be built on good faith behaviour; and
(ii) by acknowledging and addressing the inherent inequality of bargaining power in employment relations; and
(iii) By protecting the integrity of individual choice; and
(iv) By promoting mediation as the primary problem-solving mechanism; and
(v) By reducing the need for judicial intervention, and
(b) to promote observance in New Zealand of the principles underlying International Labour Organisation Convention 87 on Freedom of Association, and Convention 98 on the Right to Organise and Bargaining Collective.” (Section 3, ERA 2000).

Must not mislead
Good faith employment relations
(s4) Parties to employment relationship to deal with each
other in good faith
(1) The parties to an employment relationship specified in subsection (2)—
(a) must deal with each other in good faith; and
(b) without limiting paragraph (a), must not, whether directly or indirectly, do anything—
to mislead or deceive each other or(ii) that is likely to mislead or deceive each other.

Wide scope Part 1 s4
(1A) The duty of good faith in subsection (1)—
(a) is wider in scope than the implied mutual obligations of
trust and confidence; and
(b) requires the parties to an employment relationship to be
active and constructive in establishing and maintaining
a productive employment relationship in which the parties
are, among other things, responsive and communicative;

Transparency = Open communication Part1 Section 4 (1A)
(i) access to information, relevant to the continuation
of the employees’ employment, about the
decision; and
(ii) an opportunity to comment on the information to
their employer before the decision is made.
(1B) Subsection (1A)(c) does not require an employer to provide access to confidential information if there is good reason to maintain the confidentiality of the information (e.g protect employer commercial position)

Individual agreement s 65
Agreement must be in writing
Describe the work to be performed
Indication of where the employee is to perform work
An indication of times to work
Arrangements relating to times
Wages and salary payable to employee
Plain language explanation of the problem resolution services available including reference to the 90 day period within which a personal grievance must be raised.

Good Faith Duty applies
bargaining for a collective agreement or for a variation of a collective
agreement
any matter arising under or in relation to a collective agreement
while the agreement is in force
bargaining for an individual employment agreement or for a
variation of an individual employment agreement
any matter arising under or in relation to an individual employment
agreement while the agreement is in force
consultation (whether or not under a collective agreement) between
an employer and its employees, including any union representing
the employees, about the employees’ collective employment interests,
Including the effect on employees of changes to the employer’s
business

Contracting out & redundancy
d) a proposal by an employer that might impact on the
employer’s employees, including a proposal to contract
out work otherwise done by the employees or to sell or
transfer all or part of the employer’s business:
(e) making employees redundant:
(f) access to a workplace by a representative of a union:
(g) communications or contacts between a union and an
employer relating to any secret ballots held for the purposes
of bargaining for a collective agreement.

Penalty for certain breaches
4A Penalty for certain breaches of duty of good faith
A party to an employment relationship who fails to comply
with the duty of good faith in section 4(1) is liable to a penalty
under this Act if—
(a) the failure was deliberate, serious, and sustained; or
(b) the failure was intended to undermine—
(i) bargaining for an individual employment agreement
or a collective agreement; or
(ii) an individual employment agreement or a collective
agreement; or
(iii) an employment relationship.

Embedding health and safety culture national Gas transmission company
Five-year process
bureaucratic mindset
guidelines, and formats were confined to mere documents
new change invited resistance from leadership
lack of openness, trust, sharing, two-way communication, and participative leadership
Score the change against the justice and change constructs

Health and Safety – the Risk of Silence
silencing can be perpetuated by what Mathiesen (2004) calls absorption of attitudes and actions- dominant interests continue to be served
system placement of individuals and groups whereby people are –by their place in the organisation as well as wider stakeholder system – subdued into obeying in a bureaucratic system, the individual is exposed to layered pressure to conform over a long period of time
professionalisation of individuals and groups. Individuals and groups who otherwise might have represented dissenting attitudes and a potential for action are drawn into professional associations that are traditionally conservative and rarely take a critical stance
Legislation and masking- Politicians, lawyers as stakeholders play a significant disciplinary role in establishing and maintaining silencing
From:
A disaster waiting to happen: Silently silencing stakeholders at the Pike River Coal Mine in Journal of Industrial Relations (Lamm, Lips-Wiersma (2018))

Learnings from Pike river
The system as a whole complex system of business stakeholders government trade unions and professionals
It is difficult to attribute blame
The problem goes beyond the employer employee relationship
Questions need to be asked about who was silenced?
Diminished voices of the community were a problem
Demonstrates the multiple systems, levels and layering of interests of a range of groups and stakeholders who may be silent when there are health and safety risks- those layers require analysis and consultation to ascertain the Health and safety culture

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Chapter 18

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-6155-2.ch018

ABSTRACT

Resistance to change happens to be a phenomenon in which both the change agents and change recipients
are equally responsible for all forms of resistance. Resistance and its various forms are an outcome of
the change agents’ observations and their interpretations of the conversations, behavior, and reactions
of the change recipients. This chapter uses auto-ethnographic reflexive narratives of two change agents
involved in the self-assessment process at a college planning to seek US-based business program ac-
creditation to make sense of the change process. The purpose of this chapter is to emphasize the under-
reflected role of the change agents and how they influence and affect the behavior of change recipients
and thereby contribute towards employee resistance. The chapter also emphasizes the crucial role of
reflection and introspection in the sensemaking activities of the change agents in the entire change initia-
tive and thereby adds evidence-based organizational change and development initiatives in an academic
setting where research is limited.

Resistance to Organizational
Change in Academia:
A Case Study From Palestine

Investigating the Under-Reflected
Role of Change Agents

Devi Akella
Albany State University, USA

Grace Khoury
Birzeit Univeristy, Palestine

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Resistance to Organizational Change in Academia

INTRODUCTION

Organizational change has become inevitable over the past few years. With globalization, competition,
strategic alignment, introduction of new management theories and models, organizations and their
employees are continuously being exposed to change in a variety of ways. Inspite of careful research
and planning by organizational leaders, change initiatives are a major source of concern. Usually orga-
nizational change and development (OCD) efforts and interventions have a tendency to produce failure
(Sorge & van Witteloostuijn, 2004). Resistance to change has been cited as the most common reason for
the failure of majority change initiatives (Erwin & Garman, 2009). However, resistance to a large extent
has been seen as a “psychological phenomenon located over there in the change recipients” (Anderson,
2016; Ford, Ford & D’Amelio, 2008, p.370) and “objectified as a socio-psychological phenomenon”
(Dent & Goldberg, 1999 as cited in Ijaz & Vitalist, 2011, p.119).

This has minimized the development of OCD tools and methodologies to increase the success of
change initiatives. Most of the efforts remain concentrated on showing change recipients “the error of
their ways by dealing with the misunderstandings, fears and apprehensions believed to underlie their
resistance” (Ford et al., 2008, p.370; Kulkarni, 2016), resulting in a lack of ‘evidence based’ organization
development tools which assist change agents in repairing trust (Tomlinson, Dineen & Lewicki, 2004),
resolve issues of injustice (Folger & Skarlicki, 1999) and restore credibility (Kouzes & Posner, 1993).

Therefore, to portray a more complete picture, resistance to organizational change should be recon-
structed as a phenomenon where both the change agents and change recipients are equally responsible
for its occurrence. Employees’ resistance to change is observed, deconstructed, made sense of and given
appropriate meanings by the change agents (Ford et al., 2008). Employees’ actions, conversations and
reactions are behavioral triggers which change agents make sense of and label as resistance. Studies which
can “engage all forces of change, all contributions to change i.e., recipient action, agent sensemaking and
organizational background and the dynamics of relationship” (Ford et al., 2008, p. 362), allow a more
balanced picture of the entire change process. Studies which go beyond the “one-sided change agent
centric view” (Ford et al., 2008, p.362; Kulkarni, 2016) by critically reflecting on the contributory role
of the change agents and the agent-recipient relationships (Dent & Goldberg, 1999, Ford et al., 2008)
are few. Further, “reflexivity has been identified as a useful method to support change agents” and assist
them in understanding their role in the entire change process but “there is little to no clarity [on] how it
should be executed” (Ostentoski, 2015, p.41).

The entire process constituted action, reflection and new action (Schon, 1987). Change agents reflect,
consciously explore using their personal knowledge and experience to critique their actions, seek relevant
evidence, learn and then apply this new knowledge to rectify the change resistant environment. Reflec-
tion and introspection may appear to be a time consuming, abstract and complex process but however
it is also a rich experience. Reflection allows questioning of current evidence-based practices and their
subsequent modification to increase the overall success of the entire change initiative (Thompson and
Burns, 2008).

The focus of the chapter is on investigating the under-reflected role of the change agents in the entire
change process and how they could contribute towards the change recipients’ resistance practices. Also,
how change agents by reflecting on their actions and behaviors and its effect on change recipients can
minimize resistance. The chapter explores issues such as the various forms of employees’ resistance
which might occur within a college functioning under the umbrella of a university, planning to seek busi-
ness accreditation offered by an American professional organization within the next few years. How do

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change recipients react? How do the change agents feel and deal with these outward behavioral displays?
How do the change recipients interact with the change agents? The chapter uses two auto-ethnographic
reflexive narratives of change agents to demonstrate how their actions and inactions led to employee
resistance and hindered the change process. However, through reflection and introspection during the
entire change process the change agents were able to overcome this resistance and turn it into a force of
change instead. To allow a more complete image of the change process to emerge, multiple versions of
the same change process are used. An attempt was made to understand the entire change process from
the perspectives of two change agents, that of the external consultant (i.e., the accreditation specialist)
and the internal consultant (i.e., college Dean).

BACKGROUND

Organizational change and resistance to change has been a topic of research for decades. However, to
a large extent views pertaining to resistance to change are predominantly one-sided, favoring change
agents and their sponsors (Anderson, 2016; Dent & Goldberg, 1999; Ford et al., 2008; King & Anderson,
1995; Kulkarni, 2016; Meston & King, 1996). Resistance studies have presumed that change agents are
“doing the right and proper things” and are the “undeserving victims” of the “irrational and dysfunc-
tional responses of the change recipients” (Ford et al., 2008, p.362). This “change agent-centric” view
perceives resistance as the negative and opposing actions of the change recipients as observed by the
change agents (Ford et al., 2008, p.362). However, change agents are portrayed as outsiders in this entire
change process instead of as active participants who interact with change environments and influence
the behavior and actions of the change recipients. Change agents interpret the behaviors, actions and
communications of the change recipients. And resistance is the aftermath of these interactions and the
relationships between change agents and recipients. Change agents, in fact “contribute to the occurrence
of resistance through their own actions and inactions and that resistance can be a resource for change”
(Ford et al., 2008, p.362). Change agent sensemaking is a “key factor in organizational reconfiguration”
(Tucker, Hendy & Barlow, 2015, p.1047) which allows rearranging the sequence of events as they may
have occurred during the change process.

Employee resistance is not a phenomenon that exists independent of the change agents. On the
contrary both change agents and the change recipients together make sense of the events, conversations
and decisions which surround the change process with change agents trying to sensemake –“how will
this get accomplished?” and change recipients trying to sensemake–“what will happen to me?” (Gioia,
Thomas, Clark & Chittipeddi, 1994 as cited in Ford et al, 2008, p.363). Sensemaking involves seek-
ing information, ascribing meanings, understanding behaviors and conversations and acting on these
interpretations (Balogun & Johnson, 2004; Gioia & Chittipeddi, 1991; Maitlis & Sonenshein, 2010;
Mills, Thurlow & Mills, 2010; Tucker et al., 2015; Weick, 1995; Weick, Sutcliffe & Obstfeld, 2005).
And in organizations undergoing a change process it is not possible for a change agent to sensemake in
a “reifying and objectifying” manner “as if it exists independent of them as if they had nothing to do
with its creation” (Berger & Luckmann, 1966 as cited in Ford et al., 2008, p.64). Sensemaking would
involve more than just reporting and interpreting the change process. It would also involve influencing
and reacting to the organizational events taking place (Kuntz & Gomes, 2012; Mills, Thurlow & Mills,
2010; Weick, 1995; Weick, Sutcliffe & Obstfeld, 2005).

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The entire change process is an interactive systemic phenomenon (Lewin, 1952) where the actions
and reactions of the change recipient and change agent equally matter. Therefore, change agents along
with change recipients are responsible for resistance and its various forms (Kuntz & Gomes, 2012).
Change agents contribute to employee resistance through their own faulty sensemaking, violation of
employee trust, communication breakdowns and misrepresentation of facts (Ford et al., 2008). Change
agents influence employees’ reactions by breaking agreements, failing to restore loss of trust, know-
ing or unknowingly reneging on promises (Andersson, 1996; Cobb, Wooten & Folger, 1995; Reichers,
Wanous & Austin, 1997), thereby creating situations of resistance.

The role of change agents is to understand the entire organization and its culture and working environ-
ments, to design appropriate change strategies and regularly assess the effectiveness of these strategies
(Hamlin, Keep, & Ash, 2001). Change agents both internal and external are faced with the challenge of
supporting change recipients, understanding the organization and its members, their reactions and adapt
their change initiatives accordingly (Hamlin & Davies, 2001; Handy, 1989). An important responsibility
of the change agents in this entire change process is to critically reflect on the effectiveness of the change
strategies and keep modifying them as needed to increase the overall effectiveness of the entire change
process (Hamlin, Keep & Ash, 2001). Also, as argued in Chapter 2 of this book, critical reflection and
introspection provide new insights on the OCD strategies chosen by the change agents and allows replac-
ing or modifying those which are not working, thereby resulting in emergence of new strategies based
on the lessons learned by the change agents. Therefore, critical reflection should become an integral
aspect of all evidence-based practices used by change agents in all OCD programs.

Effective change agents are those who are “critically reflective, research-informed/evidence-based
practitioners” (Hamlin, 2002; 2007). Change agents are to a large extent responsible for creating employee
readiness to change and their acceptance to organizational changes (Barrett, Thomas & Hocevar, 1995;
Boje, 1995; Czarniawska & Sevon, 1996; Fairclough, 1992; Ford, 1999). They need to understand the
organization, its culture, structure, member roles and expectations and then interpret the entire change
process within these parameters (Hamlin & Davies, 2001; Johnson, 1992).

Change agents who repair damaged relationships to restore trust during the change process are less
likely to face resistance (Ford et al., 2008). Similarly, those agents who are cynical and critical, tend to
lower employee motivation and commitments (Andersson, 1996; Dean, Brandes & Dharwadkar, 1998;
Reichers et al., 1997). In the same manner, change agents can also be responsible for the occurrence of
resistance through communications failures. Communication happens to be an important aspect of all
organizational changes. Recipients overcome their doubts and fears through questioning, evaluating and
clarifying their doubts. If the change agent misses this opportunity it increases the chances of recipients
resisting change at a future date (Knowles & Linn, 2004; McGuire, 1964; McGuire & Papageorgis, 1961).

Also, sometimes change agents may unknowingly mislead the change recipients (DePaulo, Kashy,
Kirkendol & Wyer, 1996) during negotiations and discussions. This could create a climate of optimism
in the beginning which could prove to be misleading as the time unfolds resulting in feelings of violation,
distrust and injustice (Folger & Skarlicki, 1999; Tomlinson et al., 2004) undermining the credibility of
the change process. This increases the chances of resistance as well. Change agents need to be truthful,
realistic and accurate about the change process and the need for it. Realistic and authentic previews are
encouraged (Wanous, 1992).

Change is dependent on mobilizing employee support through talk and conversations with the
employees (Ford et al., 2008). When change agents ignore this aspect it invariably leads to resistance
(Ashkenas & Jick, 1992). Sometimes change agents themselves may be resistant to new ideas, critical

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views, and recommendations. They may be defensive, unreceptive and discourage dialogue and two-
way communication with the employees (Ford et al., 2008). The outcome of this defensiveness could
be escalation in employee resistance (Powell & Posner, 1978).

Finally, employee resistance is not always dysfunctional in nature. In fact, it could assist the change
agents in their change endeavors (Anderson, 2016; Ford et al., 2008). Change recipients’ reactions and
criticisms could lead to further reflection and introspection prior to implementation of the change initia-
tives (Knowles & Linn, 2004). Talking in a negative manner, has been labelled as resistance (Caruth,
Middlebrook & Folger, 1985). However, it also provides an opportunity for the employees and the change
agents to participate in conversations, leading to clarifications, exchange of views and perspectives and
subsequent acceptance of the change process (Barrett, Thomas & Hocevar, 1995). People usually resist
change because of fears, anxieties and inner worries. Change agents instead of considering these attitudes
as resistance, should encourage employees to bring these feelings out in the open. Open communica-
tion in the form of voicing and listening to these complaints, fears and comments would allow change
agent feedback and employee engagement (Amason, 1996; Anderson, 2016; Schweiger, Sandberg &
Rechner, 1989).

This chapter will reconstruct employee resistance from the sensemaking perspective of the change
agents. It will demonstrate how change agents could themselves be responsible for resistance through
their own actions, reactions and conversations. Furthermore, how becoming aware of their role in the
occurrence of resistant forces could convert that resistance into resources of change. This increases the
chances of an effective change initiative.

MAIN FOCUS OF THE CHAPTER

This chapter investigates the under reflected role of change agents in the change process and examines
how change agents themselves could contribute towards the overall resistance practices taking place
within an organization during the entire change process. To allow maximum success in any form of change
program, i.e., to minimize the occurrence of resistance, the change agent combines action research with
sensemaking and reflection. Sensemaking allows the change agent to interpret and deconstruct the past
sequence of events, s/he would then be able to reflect on them and take appropriate action.

Sensemaking as discussed earlier “is the discursive process of constructing and interpreting the social
world” (Gephart, 1993, p. 1485). It revolves around the process of studying and interpreting how the
actions of the actors influence and give meaning to the reality or external sequence of events. Sense-
making is primarily a process “grounded in identity construction, retrospection…ongoing…focused on
and by extracted cues and driven by plausibility rather than accuracy” (Weick, 1995, p.17). As Rouleau
(2005, p. 1415) further clarifies sensemaking is how managers “understand, interpret and create sense
for themselves based on the information surrounding strategic change”. It is a highly retrospective and
prospective thinking process involved in constructing reality where the emphasis is laid on making sense
of past events to influence the sequence of future events. In other words, sensemaking “is a process”
(Balogun & Johnson, 2004; Cornelissen, 2012; Gephart, Topal & Zhang, 2010; Weick, 1995 as cited in
Maitlis & Christianson, 2014, p. 66), “is a recurring cycle” (Louis, 1980 as cited in Maitlis & Christianson,
2014, p. 66) and “unfolds as a sequence” (Weick et al., 2005 as cited in Maitlis & Christianson, 2014,
p. 66). Members confront events, issues and actions which they interpret and explain in the context of
their environments using their past experiences and knowledge (Weick, 1995). The crux of sensemak-

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Resistance to Organizational Change in Academia

ing is on its emphasis on “retrospective interpretation of the actual event” (Giogia et al., 1994, p. 623)
to create a future perfect situation.

If the change agent adopts reflexivity when making sense of the organizational events, it provides
more clarity to the events, roles and conversations. Reflexivity involves reflecting and understanding
one’s own personal feelings, emotions, behaviors, making it possible to locate oneself in research study
and theory. Reflexivity means acknowledging the role of the researcher in the creation and interpretation
of research data (Dubois, 1983; Harding, 1992; Maynard, 1994; Stanley & Wise, 1983; 1993).

While action research is the process of gathering data about groups, then intervene in the change
process and evaluate the overall results of the intervention. “It seeks to bring together action and re-
flection, theory and practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions to issues
of pressing concern to people…” (Reason & Bradbury, 2001, p. 1). Here there is a combination of
both action and research in resolving current problems existing in the organization (Anderson, 2016)
[see Table 1].

Some of the established methods to study sensemaking and action research constitute case studies,
ethnographies, and textual analysis and also qualitative methods like interviews, observations and second-
ary sources (Gephart, 1993; Gioia & Chittipeddi, 1991; Gioia et al., 1994; Weick, 1988; 1993). Methods
which record first-hand accounts of the entire sensemaking process and experiences are also highly useful.
Auto-ethnography is a data collection method which allows a structured self-examination by the change
agent and his/her role as a change agent when leading the change process. In fact, it has been accepted
as a legitimate method to make sense of past experiences (Boyle & Parry, 2007). Auto-ethnography
possesses the ability to show “how the personal struggles of an individual are linked to the cultural and
social meanings” (Mischenko, 2005 as cited in Osentoskli, 2015, p.52). While Haynes (2011) comments
that auto-ethnography allows examination of self both from the theoretical stance and as a contributory
factor within the social phenomenon. “Auto-ethnographical material provides a valuable resource for
exploring, presenting and representing the self, encapsulates a personal, intuitive knowledge, deriving
from a knowing subject situated in a specific social context” (Haynes, 2011, p. 134). It encompasses
reflection on outward observation (Parry & Boyle, 2009). In fact, auto-ethnography can be effectively
used to give voice to those events, situations and conversations which otherwise might have remained
silent (Doloriet & Sambrook, 2012). “People seem to see past events as much more rationally ordered
than current or future events, because retrospective sensemaking erases many of the casual sequences
that complicate and obscure the present and future” (Starbuck & Miliken, 1988, p. 37). Sensemaking
here would be concerned with picking out elements and incidents from the past and then reconnecting
them to write a story “which makes present and future meaningful” (Degn, 2015, p. 1183).

Table 1. Action research perspective

Action Frame of Reference Perspective
Organization: Consists of a network of actively constructed meanings.
Analysis: The focus of analysis is on the interactions between people and groups within organizations to identify the apparent and/or
latent meaning of these interactions from the point of view of the interacting participants in order to understand the rules which govern
organizational behavior.
Change: The aim is to change the rules which inform and shape behavior so as to change and transform the meaning of the organization
for the individual.

Note: Adapted from Hamlin and Davies (2001, pp. 44-45).

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Auto-ethnography inspite of its drawbacks, like becoming “too involved with the organization”
(Leonard-Barton, 1990, p. 256), or lack of objectivity and biased accounts (Ellis & Bochner, 2000)
“provides depth of ethnographic immersion and richness of data” (Van Maanen, 1988, p.18). The authors
therefore decided to choose the method of auto-ethnography. A case study in academia undergoing a
change process was identified. Both the authors happened to be actively involved in the entire change
process as internal and external change agents.

The authors compiled narrative accounts of their experiences of the change process in their roles as
change agents. The authors recorded their observations during the entire change process within a range
of pre-determined parameters consisting of organizational background, change agents’ backgrounds,
change agents’ expectations, change agents’ observations of the change environment.

The authors positioned their research study within the analytical framework of sensemaking and ac-
tion research (Anderson, 2006) and auto-ethnography was used in combination with case study informa-
tion consisting of document analysis and reports. In this situation, the auto-ethnographer follows a “(1)
complete member researcher status (2) analytic reflexivity, (3) narrative visibility of the researcher’s self
(4) a dialogue with informants beyond the self and (5) a commitment to theoretical analysis” (Anderson,
2006, p. 378). The main crux of auto-ethnography however remains reflexivity (Perriton, 2001), but how
it is done can be flexible dependent on the preferences of the researchers, the research topic and issues
(Osentoski, 2015). The next section introduces the academic case study and the change agents and the
issues they faced during the entire change process.

SENSEMAKING EMPLOYEE RESISTANCE: A CASE STUDY FROM ACADEMIA

The identified case study is a college, or Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE), planning on apply-
ing for US (United States of America) based business program accreditation in the next few years. The
college is part of a larger university located in West Bank/Palestine. Palestine is part of the Arab world
also known as The Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) which consists of two separated territories;
the West Bank and Gaza. The university is a public university in Palestine. In Fall 2016, the students
went on a major strike protesting, against the increase in tuition fees. Currently the students only pay
70 percent of the tuition fees and the rest is covered by the Palestinian Education Ministry and other
independent donors who sponsor tuitions of needy students. The Palestinian government has been fac-
ing dwindling financial resources in the last few years and is unable to allocate the much-needed funds
to universities in Palestine. The Palestinian universities lack sufficient funds, international faculty and
student and faculty exchange programs are limited. The West Bank is isolated from the rest of the world
due to checkpoints and other enforced security measures. As a result, Palestinian universities suffer from
lack of diversity and opportunities to internationalize their curriculum and expose their students to multi-
cultures. The Palestinian institutions are thus faced with the challenge of overcoming these problems
while simultaneously ensuring their academic reputations continue to grow (Khoury & McNally, 2014).
However, FBE had an advantage, it had the financial support of its student alumni and advisory board
members in the form of donations, grants and

scholarships. For instance, FBE had organized various activities such as an annual career day which
had been sponsored by several leading Palestinian corporations. In fact, some corporations had donated
approximately $30,000 to FBE and had also sponsored a few doctoral scholars in their educational
endeavors.

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The college dean of FBE decided on pursuing US based business accreditation for her college. She
is a well published female in her early fifties who had been working for the same institution for the past
twenty-six years. She had occupied different administrative positions in the faculty as the chair of the
department of business administration with two bachelor programs for two years and then as the MBA
program coordinator for three terms each of two years’ duration. The dean was also a member of a num-
ber of committees at a university level and the head of the steering committee for strategic planning few
years ago with an emphasis on quality assurance and curriculum development.

She initiated the entire accreditation process by first inviting an official representative from the US
based accreditation body to visit the faculty in September 2015. She invited faculty council members and
the academic provost to attend the meeting. The representative mentioned that the University had a good
reputation and that the business school might be ready for US based business accreditation. However,
once the top-level management of the university heard that the faculty was planning to seek US based
business accreditation, they expressed their concerns about the financial cost and the inappropriateness
of the decision. The top-level management felt US based business accreditation was not as important
as local Palestinian accreditation which the faculty already possessed. They also cited the example of
another college within the university which had applied for US based program accreditation and it had
taken them six years to receive the program accreditation. The dean was disappointed at this reaction.
She felt with the university’s high rankings in the Arab region, and it being the only Palestinian univer-
sity currently mentioned in the QS World University rankings, US based business accreditation would
prove to be a plus point for FBE. She therefore persisted in her efforts. After the university council and
the president had made their views clear, the president formed a committee to discuss the pros and cons
of accreditation and provide its recommendations to the university council. The committee submitted
its report expressing that accreditation had more pros than cons. However, the top-level management of
the university was not convinced about the need for US based business accreditation and did not want
to take up unwanted additional expenses.

During this time, the dean received an email about country specific consulate scholarships, and
thought it was a good idea to apply and secure a specialist who could evaluate the programs prior to
applying for accreditation. The scholarship request was accepted. She invited an external consultant-an
accreditation specialist- to assess the college and its readiness for US based business accreditation. The
external consultant had to review the curriculum, faculty and staff, research and professional experience
and suggest steps to overcome any existing limitations which might come in the way of a possible ac-
creditation failure. The dean was interested in minimizing the risk of accreditation failure in the future.
Inspite of lack of support from the top management, she was encouraged by the fact that the other college
which had sought US based accreditation had managed to get accredited and she could seek financial
assistance from student alumni and college advisory board members. She was confident a positive as-
sessment by the accreditation specialist would overcome top-level management’s current apprehension
about seeking US based business accreditation. She was not aware at this time that the business faculty
would also resist this decision during the accreditation specialist’s visit.

The accreditation specialist received a grant for 42 days to visit FBE. The specialist was in her early
forties and a faculty member herself at a business college in USA. This was her first visit to Palestine
and the Middle East region. The purpose of her visit was to assist FBE in assessing themselves on the
different quality standards of the US based business accreditation organization. As per the grant regula-
tions she submitted a scope of work plan prior to her travel in Fall 2016. The scope of work detailed the

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items and deadlines to ensure work was completed within the time-period allocated. However, it was
not possible to strictly adhere to it because of lack of existing data and faculty’s lack of cooperation in
accumulating it for review purposes and for the finalization of the report.

The subsequent sub-sections analyze the narrative accounts of both the internal and external consul-
tants (i.e., the college dean and the accreditation specialist).

Excerpts From the Sensemaking Narratives of the Change Agents

In this entire accreditation assessment process, the accreditation specialist (i.e., external change agent)
and dean (i.e., internal change agent) came across numerous difficulties aside from the lack of quantita-
tive data and evidence in the form of faculty non-cooperation, office politics and other forms of overt
and covert resistance. The dean was aware of the opposition. Management at the university level did not
feel the need for an US based business program accreditation and did not want to allocate the additional
financial resources needed for this endeavor. Also, her faculty was not in favor of her decision to carry
out US based business accreditation because they felt uneasy and anxious about its implications in terms
of their job security. However, over the period of six weeks of review process things gradually improved.

The empirical data was analyzed in three phases: initial review, open coding and then development of
themes. First, both the change agents’ narratives were read, that of internal and external change agents
to decipher commonalities and variations in their experiences as change agents. The narratives were
then read again to relate observed employee resistance as reactions to change agents’ behavior and con-
versations. The entire change process at FBE can be reconstructed as a three-stage process consisting
of action, reflection and introspection and new action.

Action

In the last few years, the educational environment has become highly competitive due to globalization
of the world economy. Universities across the world have been forced to reflect upon their quality, cur-
riculum and schools’ rankings. FBE is also facing a similar situation. The dean of FBE had realized the
significance of US based business program accreditation for her college. She informed her senior manage-
ment and the faculty and then subsequently invited the accreditation specialist. The entire accreditation
self-assessment started with the external change agent collecting data about the faculty qualifications,
business curriculum, promotion and tenure policies and advisement policies amongst a few needed items.
The internal change agent informed the faculty about the arrival of the accreditation specialist and then
introduced them to her on her first day of arrival. As explained in the change agents’ narratives:

I first met the dean and faculty of FBE and got acclimatized to the college’s environment. The entire
college could be divided into the dean and her supporters, senior and older faculty members, junior
faculty consisting of teaching assistants and administrative staff. I was assured of all support from the
dean and her team of administrators. (External Change Agent)

…The selected specialist arrived and met with the department chairs, my assistant and all my faculty
colleagues….(Internal Change Agent)

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The above narratives reveal interesting insights about the college environment and its faculty mem-
bers. The external change agent identified faculty members as either supporting the accreditation deci-
sion and those against it. While the internal change agent had different views of the same situation. She
considered the faculty members as her peers. People with whom she had worked with over the years and
despite the differences now, were still her colleagues—“…all my faculty colleagues…”. This attitude,
as later revealed, motivated the dean to constantly reach out to the faculty members, question them and
try to make them understand her decision and its advantages.

Most of the change processes involved improving the educational quality of the business programs
being offered and implementation of new learning and pedagogical standards. It is well known and
reported in literature that reasons for employee resistance consist of a fear of unknown, a desire to
maintain status quo and one’s habits (Anderson, 2016). Change recipients therefore manifest behaviors
like “push-back, not buying in, criticism, foot dragging, work around … not responding to requests in a
timely manner, making critical or negative comments” (Anderson, 2016; Ford & Ford, 2010, p. 24) and
other sabotaging actions. Similarly, the faculty of FBE was also anxious, nervous and uneasy about the
new accreditation standards and quality requirements and how it would affect them. The faculty members
of FBE were therefore against this initiative to carry out US based business accreditation. Consequently,
they made their feelings apparent in different forms of actions and outward behavioral displays. They
refused to cooperate with the change agents.

For instance, as recorded in the change agents’ narratives:

The major issue which was noticeable from the very first day was Arabic language. All documents,
programs of study, tenure and promotion policies, recruitment and orientation policies happened to be
in Arabic. The MBA Director had all his program policies and goals and objectives in Arabic. His offer
to get the information translated never materialized. (External Change Agent)

I asked the department chairs to assign someone from their departments to communicate and gather data
from the departments for the specialist. The information requested by the specialist was not available
in one place. The chairs had to request some of the information from the registrar’s office, computer
center, and institutional research unit. The information was requested by the chairs however there were
numerous delays in obtaining the identified information…

Some faculty members did not cooperate with the chairs and did not provide them with the information
they had requested like research output…. (Internal Change Agent)

The external change agent had to complete her assignment within forty-two days and was focused
on that issue. She overcame the limitation of all documents being in Arabic by using Google Translate:

I finally took a faculty member’s advice and used Google Translate. This helped me in gathering evidence
on all academic policies and regulations. (External Change Agent)

As evident from the above narrative, some of the change recipients understood the external change
agent’s circumstances. They even tried to help her without openly assisting her. There also appears to be
close collaboration and communication between both the external and internal change agents during the

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entire self-assessment process for preparation for the planned accreditation. The external change agent
mentions the dean and her reactions in her narratives.

The dean was puzzled with this feedback because all documentation was always prepared in English
and Arabic. (External Change Agent)

Other instances of faculty non-cooperation were also evident in the change agents’ narratives. Some
are open while others are subtle and insidious in nature.

Another limiting factor happened to be their online portal which housed all their syllabi, policies and
advisement plans. Everything was there, the convenient answer to all inquiries—“it is on the online
portal.” Later at the end of the visit I finally realized that some of the information was not actually
there at all. I heard comments on my last meeting like “it should have been there”, “it is usually there”,
“really how strange it is not there!

I approached faculty members for their feedback on promotion and tenure policies, hiring policies and
orientation processes in place. During these small meetings consisting of the specialist and 2-3 faculty
members, I was told how the college was not ready for accreditation, the faculty was not qualified, none
of the processes were in place, there was no need for accreditation—“we already have Palestinian ac-
creditation”, “the dean is always trying to enhance the quality of our college”, “there is no need to be
international, we are not seeking international students…”.

In spite of deadlines and time schedules, there were always delays. In fact, information was submitted
to me even after the report was submitted. Data submitted was not consistent across the entire college
as well. Some departments submitted others did not. The person identified as data point, did not submit
all the required information. He in fact jocularly remarked to me “I might give it to you in the last week
what you had been waiting for the entire six weeks”. (External Change Agent)

“in fact, one department chair had commented “we are working on too many requirements all at the
same time” while another department chair had complained “the information is in Arabic and we don’t
have time to translate it to English.” One faculty member mentioned that if the accreditation is obtained
“it would be costly to maintain.” A chair who was appointed just before the specialist arrived did not
know where to obtain information from and asked, “how can I obtain information about the department
students’ accomplishments?” (Internal Change Agent)

There is also evidence in the form of some snide and cynical remarks to the external change agent.
Unlike the internal change agent, the external change agent is an outsider, at their college for a short
period of time. The overall impression was, obstructing her progress on the self-assessment review
process would arrest the decision to seek US based business accreditation.

“Another faculty member accosted me on the way to the restroom and informed me “that she had not
submitted her excel spreadsheet along with the rest of her department. I have not kept regular record of
what I do. Sorry.” Some others cheerfully chirped in as well, after giving a friendly wave or handshake

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“I have not submitted yet. So, busy teaching.” I was also encouraged to visit tourist places, not come to
campus every day and just give a good report and leave.” (External Change Agent)

The change agents constantly sought faculty support during the entire self-assessment process in
preparation to seek US based business program accreditation at a later date. They talked with them,
discussed with them, and explained the documentation required and the need for it etc.

In some situations, the data was not formatted properly. For instance, one department head listed all
her faculty members by names and the qualifications possessed by them. When requested to correct it,
she modified it…. (External Change Agent)

I approached the heads of departments personally…. (External Change Agent)

I constantly requested the faculty to cooperate and commit to deadlines. But it was a noticeable fact that
a number of faculty members had no appreciation for time and tried to ditch their obligation to help by
saying that the information was only available in Arabic or that it wasn’t available at all, when in fact
it was available all the time. (Internal Change Agent)

Reflection and Introspection

The change agents need to make sense of their actions and their influence on the change recipients. This
would elucidate the events taking place, reasons for resistant behavior and the change outcomes. Change
agents’ narratives show evidence of reflection and introspection. They reflected on their actions, the ac-
tions of the faculty members and attempted to deconstruct all outward behaviors of the change recipients.

I had numerous conversations with the dean usually at the end of the working day. The dean would give
me an account of the office gossip going on. I heard conversations… (External Change Agent)

I felt like they were purposefully not giving information to their chairs, because they did not support
my leadership and did not want me to show results during my tenure as the dean. I also happened to
be a woman in a leadership position which was very rare in the Arab world. I also happened to be well
qualified and published as well. This I felt had created jealousy and strong feelings of rivalry amongst
my colleagues. (Internal Change Agent)

As evident from the above accounts, the change agents reflected on their actions and its effect on
employee resistance. The external agent tried to seek feedback from the dean about the working envi-
ronment of the college and its culture. She eagerly sought tidbits on the general climate of the college
and office gossip to secure faculty cooperation. On the other hand, the internal change agent reflected
if employees’ resistance was due to her being a woman and emerging as a leader in a male dominated
society, or her being well qualified and published, or her wanting to bring about change could be at-
tributed to be the cause of rivalry and jealously amongst her colleagues.

There is also an effort to deconstruct the behavior of the change recipients. And these deconstructions
reveal a genuine feeling of sympathy and empathy for them.

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I was aware of the doubts and anxiety of my faculty members. They were worried because majority of
them did not have PhD’s and possessed limited published research…

…the older faculty members felt that the accreditation would put extra pressure on them because many
of them had very low research output. (Internal Change Agent)

It was however noticeable that these feelings of concern were more prominent within the narrative
of the internal change agent. This could be attributed to the fact that inspite of being the leader, a dean,
she was also an academic who had worked with the faculty members at the institution for years.

New Action

It could be deduced that these introspective feelings ultimately resulted in change agents modifying their
change strategies, their communication techniques and leadership styles.

I was invited for faculty meetings where the dean …sought faculty support on the decision to carry out
US based business program accreditation…directly seeking clarifications for their behavior and non-
cooperation. For instance, she questioned a department chair “…why did you say students have no
accomplishments when they participated in this case study competition, published papers …”? Again
“why did you inform…when there is survey data on the program participants feedback…”? (External
Change Agent)

In this case study the change agents treated employee resistance as a plus point and confronted it. They
offered further clarifications and opened up forums for debates and discussions. Sometimes “divergent
opinions about direction are necessary in order for groups to make wise decisions and for organizations
to change effectively” (Piderit, 2000, p. 790). Resistance could also be a reaction indicating that those
resisting may want to know about the change process. By “listening keenly to comments, complaints and
criticisms for cues to adjust the pace, scope or sequencing of change and/or its implementation” (Ford
et.al., 2008, p. 369), better solutions can be created.

I was invited to the advisory board meetings and other committee meetings as well. This provided op-
portunities for open dialogue and conversations with new understandings and perceptions being created.
The faculty members became aware of what I was doing, why I was collecting data that is to show where
the college stood on each of the fifteen standards of the US based accreditation body. They understood
this process of seeking US business accreditation was a slow and lengthy process which would take a
few years to materialize (even in US it sometimes takes eight years). This would allow them to gradu-
ally increase their research output, work on their qualifications, or on any other existing deficiencies.

The farewell meeting consisted of a presentation before the faculty covering the outcome of the entire
visit. This allowed faculty to get an idea of the report, ask questions and feel reassured about the purpose
of the US based business program accreditation. (External Change Agent)

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After carefully reviewing the faculty’s environment I appointed two committees one for assurance of
learning and another for accreditation to follow up …and work accordingly. I thought these commit-
tees would help …– to believe in the importance of meeting the standards of US based accreditation
body and reinforce a culture that would be supportive of the college’s new strategic direction. (Internal
Change Agent)

In the above situation, the change recipients were integrated into the entire change process. Commu-
nication and dialogue along with participation and collaboration between the change agent and change
recipients were the new action techniques adopted by the leader. This paved the path for a college culture
where the faculty realized the importance of US based business accreditation and supported the strate-
gic decision of the college. In fact, at the end of the accreditation specialist visit, the top management
based on the report findings felt more positive about the decision to seek US based business program
accreditation and was willing to consider applying for it in the future. The top management also invited
the external change agent to conduct two workshops emphasizing quality and learning assurance for the
faculty and staff members at the university level to create awareness throughout the university, as this
step was taking place at a university wide level as well.

Dialogue, open and honest communication and collaboration and participation techniques may not
be new in overcoming employee resistance. But in this situation, an attempt was also made to identify
with the change recipients instead of dividing the people involved in the change process into separate
groups—the change agents and change recipients with the change agents trying to overcome employee
resistance. In this case study, change agents especially the internal change agent identified themselves
with the change recipients and made efforts to become ‘in-group’ and or one of them.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The challenges faced by universities are different from those faced by organizations within the private
and public sectors. The environmental pressures facing educational institutions consist of changing
trends in the labor markets, changes in technology, new ways of design and delivery of learning services.
Educational institutions also possess a more consensual form of governance involving faculty, administra-
tors, students, parents and communities. The faculty is committed to their subjective disciplines and the
vocation of teaching and learning while the administrators believe in responding to the external forces
and developing the institution accordingly (Ruben, 2005; Torraco, Hoover, & Knippelmeyer, 2005). The
conflict to any change process usually occurs at the faculty and administrative level (Torraco et al., 2005).
However, not much is known about OD and change initiatives at the university level. There is a need to
further thresh out issues such as “who initiates [the change process]? …what strategies are associated
with the development and expansion of OD-based change? Why do some OD initiatives succeed while
others fail?” (Torraco et al., 2005, p. 858) within an academic setting.

Further there are few studies which have examined change issues in higher education in the Arab
context. This chapter examined a university college in Palestine which was planning to apply for US
based business program accreditation in the next few semesters. So, this study contributes towards the
limited OCD evidence-based literature. To continue with the case study, the dean, who was the internal
change agent had decided on US based business program accreditation for her college, but she lacked the
support of the university’s top management and her faculty. To ensure college’s readiness for accredita-

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tion before applying and thereby convince the top management about the soundness of her decision, she
decided to invite a specialist to review the curriculum and faculty qualifications. She felt this was the
least expensive available option. The entire review period duration was around six weeks. But these six
weeks were not smooth, information was scattered, and faculty did not cooperate in compiling, locating
or submitting it. The dean and specialist faced faculty opposition, overt and covert resistance and political
maneuvers. The dean tried to overcome resistance through open dialogue and employee confrontation and
involving them in the entire accreditation review process. She formed two committees for accreditation
and assurance of learning to encourage and empower her faculty to think strategically as she was aware
that this change process could take years before it gets accomplished successfully.

The chapter reconstructs employee resistance in a university college as a phenomenon which acknowl-
edges that both change agents and change recipients are equally responsible for resistance. The actions,
conversations and reactions of change recipients are behavioral triggers which the change agents need to
make sense of to pave the path for the change initiatives. The study draws upon two auto-ethnographic
reflexive narratives of change agents to demonstrate how change agents make or break the change process
at their work place. The sensemaking narratives are correlated with different theoretical aspects of OCD
evidence-based practices to provide insights on the change process and how introspection and reflection
can lead to maximum success. The objective is to allow an understanding of how each change agent
interpreted the change process and influenced the stakeholders in the change environment. It focuses
on the importance of reflection, introspection and sensemaking activities of the change agents in the
entire change initiative.

This study has implications within the higher education sector it provides insights on how success-
ful change requires communication and involvement at all levels of organization. In addition, how this
can be practically achieved through quality assurance and accreditation committees which allow col-
laboration between the faculty and administration. It also recognizes the importance of internal change
agents who are aware of the culture of the organization, its problems, and trouble makers and yet are
sympathetic to the fears and anxieties of the change recipients. It exhibits how a team of internal and
external change agents who are communicating with each other throughout the entire change process,
minimize employees’ resistance and increase acceptance of change initiatives.

The empirical analysis reveals differences in interpretations and reactions of both the change agents
regarding the change process. The internal change agent is more sympathetic to the change recipients
and their internal tensions. While the external change agent is more bothered about completing her
assignment and to achieve this she tries to overcome the opposition of the faculty and win the trust of
the change recipients. These differences in the change agents’ approaches could be attributed to their
respective positions in the college i.e., paid employee vs. non-employee. Research studies on employee
resistance to organizational change so far have concentrated on the resistance practices, the organizational
leader or the top management. The influence of the change agents, internal and external, and how their
personalities, culture and ideologies could affect the change process has been substantially neglected.
This could be an issue worth further investigating. Turnbull and Edwards (2005) in fact demand further
case studies in higher education of a cross-cultural nature such as the above, to provide insights about
OD and the influence of national cultural values and characteristics.

The empirical findings generated by the auto-ethnographic narratives in this chapter should be further
investigated through interviews and surveys to get the perspectives of the faculty and staff members at
the college level and the higher-level administrators at the university level as well. This would provide
a complete and comprehensive picture of the entire change process.

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Example Annotated bibliography toward ITAC

APA reference: and key idea (I)

Theory (T)

Application (A) FOR EXAMPLE

Hamlin R. Organisational Change and Development: The Case for evidence-based practice in Hamlin, A. Ellinger, & J. Jones (Eds.), Evidence-Based Initiatives for Organizational Change and Development (pp. 52-75). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi: 10.4018/978-1-5225-6155-2.Chpt 1.

Key idea – I

Organisational change and development should be informed by research. Hamlin (2019), argues that change should be planned and informed by research evidence through partnerships between business practitioners and researchers. There are warnings about six situations where evidence-based change can fail.

Organisational change and development involves adaptation or transformation of organisations that aims for improved business outcomes. Business changes could relate to the structure functions or culture or all three. Change could involve ownership, governance, structure operational matters, relationships with stakeholders or issues faced by managers and employees involving any aspect or the overall culture of the business. Organisational change and development should be informed by research and implemented by people skilled in change management.

One example could be the need for businesses to respond to the COVID 19 outbreak by ongoing evidence-based research of the situation. Change will involve constant research into the spread of the virus. Communication and responses to employee’s needs, change to travel policies, remote working processes, business tracking and forecasting to assess the impact on business sectors dependent on the context in which the business operates. Businesses may examine research on the outcomes of other health epidemics such as SARS OR HIN1 Flu’s.

The six risks of failure outlined by Hamlin (2019) in terms of the COVID 19 problems might involve managers trying for a quick fix and not researching the ever changing nature of the problem; managers not attending to the cultural or people issues of the process of implementation of changes, managers not channelling their responses through the human resource function of the business or the implementers lacking credibility with the line mangers and workforce. The main claim is that organisational change requires attention to evidence based research preceding implementation.

463

Chapter 27

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-6155-2.ch027

ABSTRACT

In response to environmental volatility, uncertainty, and change, seven not-for-profit organizations
decided to join forces to deliver more efficient and effective solutions to deeply rooted social and educa-
tional challenges in the city of Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom. From the perspective of
the change agent, this reflective case history explores the processes involved in developing the network
and the successes and challenges associated with its people and their ambitions for the future.

INTRODUCTION

Strength in Numbers

Against a backdrop of sweeping cuts to public spending, the demise of local services and a marked
increase in social upheaval, chief executive officers (CEOs) from 7 culturally and economically diverse
not-for-profit organisations based in Hodge Hill, Birmingham, UK, joined forces to protect community
assets and to find ‘network based’ solutions to deep rooted social and educational challenges. Champi-
oned by Birmingham City Council, and supported by local stakeholders, the idea behind heatnetwork
(Hodge Hill Enterprising Active and Transforming Network) was a simple one; through the combining of
organisational resources and capabilities, cost efficiencies would be achieved, local competition avoided,
and bargaining power strengthened when competing regionally and nationally for scarce resources to
support the 121,678 adults and children residing in one of England’s most deprived areas. In total, the
organisations that comprised heatnetwork (Crossover, St Margaret’s Community Trust, Somali Dis-
ability & Elderly Support Group, Comm:Pact, Worth Unlimited, Aim Higher Education Link and Our
Community) employed over 100 staff and engaged 250 volunteers to deliver more than 1000 activities
to three-quarters of the local population each year. In 2009, reported turnovers amounted to circa £3m

Strength in Numbers?
Shaping Collaboration During a

Period of Uncertainty and Change

Barry Joseph D’Souza
Walking Among Giants Limited, UK

464

Strength in Numbers?

(combined). Individually, each organisation was contributing significantly to neighbourhood manage-
ment and had achieved city-wide respect for positively impacting the areas of education and training,
employment, social care and youth and community regeneration. In 2010, with a great deal of good
will, and a renewed sense of optimism, a formal working agreement was signed, and the CEOs began
meeting fortnightly to plan and progress the work of heatnetwork.

When Reality Bites

No sooner had the network started meeting, then the bottom fell out from under the sector. Across the
nation funded organisations were losing financial support overnight. While some were having to dem-
onstrate immediate efficiencies for financing to continue, others were less fortunate, and the shutters
came down within a matter of weeks. In response to mounting pressure, the CEOs felt railroaded into
taking a step back from heatnetwork and reluctantly adopted a ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality as they
scrambled to protect jobs and to secure the futures of their discrete organisations.

Where There’s a Will There’s a Way

Although the work of the network had stalled, the desire to work collaboratively remained unabated, and
with the support of local influencers and a constituency wide appeal for financial help, a little funding
was found to drive forward the development of heatnetwork with the help of an external consultant.

Incumbent within the not-for-profit sector, I had for a period of 10 years operated across Birmingham,
UK at a strategic level bringing together private, public and third sector organisations to help create
life changing participatory music opportunities for disadvantaged children. Due to our combined suc-
cesses in for example reducing anti-social behaviour, improving literacy rates, elevating general levels
of wellbeing, and securing sustained levels of funding, I was engaged by heatnetwork to help progress
the project over the short term.

Unresolved Tensions

Further to a document review (heatnetwork formal working agreement and terms of reference, and the
annual reports and business plans for each of the organisations) my first contact with heatnetwork was
via one to one meetings with each of the CEOs (now to be referred to as board members). Each spoke
candidly about their professional and organisational challenges, their ideas for the network, and the im-
mediate obstacles that would need to be overcome if heatnetwork was to flourish. Given that 6 of the 7
organisations were faith based (3 Christian and 3 Muslim), there were many religious and cultural sensi-
tivities that needed to be managed. For example, whilst lottery funding was viewed as a key opportunity
to exploit by Christian based organisations, from an Islamic perspective, it was derived from gambling
and therefore ‘haram’. The largest of the organisations – a Church of England limited company led by
a vicar whose previous career had been in corporate accounting – was viewed by some of the smaller
organisations as one more focussed on ‘empire building’ rather than on genuine collaborative working.
Another, led by a local labour councillor, often arose suspicion due to a possibility that the CEO might
have been operating in ways designed to further personal political ambition. The smallest organisations
voiced concerns about functioning in the shadows of the larger ones and their difficulties in exerting

465

Strength in Numbers?

influence. Many expressed concerns over the recently elected Chair’s ability to resolve internal issues
quickly and effectively and to successfully advocate for increased resources amongst external stakeholders.

Initial Diagnosis

It soon became apparent that whilst ambition for heatnetwork was driven by a noble vision for the fu-
ture “To have built a community in which people are empowered and supported to bring about positive
change” (D’Souza, 2012, p.6), little attention had been paid towards developing the behaviours and
processes necessary to achieve the dream. Within the context of environmental volatility, emerging
opportunities and threats would need to be explored and this would involve board members having to
think strategically and to collectively agree upon an appetite for risk. If heatnetwork were to flourish,
then firm commitments towards sharing resources and capabilities would need to be in place. Would
this be the time where tension within the group surfaced? Would those organisations able to commit
more resources demand more reward, and if so, how could a sense of equality within the network be
maintained? Furthermore, if my intervention were to be successful, then any course of action would need
to support the harmonisation of both religious and cultural differences and to manage the expectations
of 7 CEOs who were all used to ‘running their own shows’. As a starting point to answering my own
questions, I turned to theories of culture and deviant behaviour in the workplace (Hofstede, 2011, and
Nair & Bhatnagar, 2011) which in turn provided me with a conceptual base to work from.

Scoping the Project

By their own admission, board members had already identified a deficit of strategic thinking within
the group and were now keen to develop heatnetwork from within a structured approach which they
believed would maximise their chances of success. However, with no pre-conceived ideas as to how to
move forward, onus for scoping out the project brief was transferred to the chair and me. Together we
outlined a plan which, over a period of 6 months would include environmental and risk analyses, the
development of leadership behaviours, and the production of a three-year strategic plan. Furthermore,
upon my insistence, process work (including diagnostics) would be undertaken by the whole group to
ensure methodology and learning was transferred and embedded within the new organisation.

GROUP WORK

Setting the Stage for Change

The concept of change was explored as being something constant and inevitable and made up of a few
distinct stages – stability, disruption, chaos, and adaption. Board members were quick to proffer examples
and anecdotes drawn from their personal and professional lives which in turn afforded me opportunities
to tease out and explore good and best practice examples of entrepreneurial effectiveness. An unexpected
outcome arising from this activity was a growing sense of camaraderie that soon developed on the back
of what could only be described as open and honest conversations. Next, we explored drivers – both
internal and external – specific to the sector and to the organisations incumbent within. Board members
were encouraged to voice their hopes and concerns for the futures of their organisations, the emerging

466

Strength in Numbers?

network, and their ongoing abilities to positively affect social change. I then mapped my own temporary
role as change agent against the 7-step change theory framework (Lippet, Watson, & Westley, 1958) and
in doing so, a rich line of questioning and a general discussion evolved which focussed on change objects,
formulation of strategy and plans, and the need for continuity with respect to board members managing
the change process once my contract terminated. Exploring the theme in more detail, I introduced a
model of team roles (Belbin,1993) to assist me in dissecting the roles, skills and behaviours necessary
to successfully manage a programme of change and, through scenario-based tasks, members were given
opportunities to reflect upon their strengths and weaknesses and to commit to adopting both roles and
responsibilities which would ensure the forward momentum of heatnetwork.

Exploring the Changing Landscape

Revisiting the notions of disruption and chaos, I facilitated a STEEP (sociological, technological, eco-
nomic, ecological, and political) analysis of the macro environment. Discussion was rich with respect
to emerging trends – especially at social and political levels. Best guesses concerning future funding
were tested through scenario and sensitivity planning and from the points of arrival, quality opportuni-
ties and threats were identified. A collective appetite for risk was far more difficult to achieve. With
a ‘speculate to accumulate’ culture more prevalent amongst the smaller entrepreneurial organisations
contrasted with a more conservative ‘preserve and protect’ culture exhibited by the larger ones, it was
necessary to explore motive. It soon became clear that those organisations with limited assets (including
human resources) were willing and able to respond to change more readily compared to others which
stood more to lose if things went awry. Consequently, it was agreed that only low to medium risk op-
portunities would be exploited by heatnetwork leaving individual organisations to pursue higher risk
openings as they saw fit. Furthermore, given the religious sensitivity concerning lottery funds, a deal
was struck whereby any applications submitted through the network for such funding would be led and
managed by one of the Christian faith-based organisations with limited in-kind support being delivered
by the Muslim faith-based groups.

Collaboration Not Competition

Analysis of the competitive environment posed another cultural challenge for the group albeit without
internal factions this time! Although group members were acutely aware of a heavy demand for scarce
resources, the idea of competition at regional and sub-regional levels had been little explored mainly
because collaborative efforts were seen critical to achieving the ‘more with less’ outcomes demanded by
funders. Moreover, as each organisation had a similar vision for Hodge Hill, the concept of competition
and a competitive environment appeared counterintuitive. As such, it was suggested that I dispense with
the term competitive environment and proceed with an analysis of the ‘collaborative environment’. Using
the ‘Five Forces’ framework (Porter,1977), we adapted the model to include the bargaining power of
beneficiaries (being distinct from service buyers) and explored the potential for industry collaboration
(rather than rivalry) by way of opening membership of heatnetwork to additional organisations. On a
point of semantics, it was considered appropriate to substitute the word ‘threat’ with ‘possibility’. Once
the model was fully adapted (a wonderful exercise in teambuilding in itself), further opportunities and
threats were identified.

467

Strength in Numbers?

Thinking About Resources

The resources and capabilities framework (Grant,1991) was particularly useful for exposing the full
extent of tangible resources that would potentially be shared within the network. As no previous thought
had been given over to intangibles such as know-how, motivation and culture, a rich discussion evolved
which allowed me a useful and appropriate opportunity to digress towards the work of Hofstede (1974)
and his cultural dimensions theory to explain and explore some of the tensions that may have been felt
within the group. Although the author was looking at corporate diversity issues, his classifications were
of great interest to members who readily mapped their own experiences onto the paradigm. Whilst no
specific outcome was forthcoming, it was evident from impromptu feedback that some learning had
been achieved, and that cross-cultural communication was a skill worth developing within the network
given the diversity of its membership.

Resolving Tensions

Back on track with Grant (1991), an analysis of capabilities was restricted to focussing on upon leverag-
ing core competencies across organisations – skills, expertise, community knowledge, etc, together with
the ‘intrinsic’ leadership qualities deemed necessary and specific to the sector. Once mapped out, board
members were facilitated towards considering how best they could assign value to their resources and
capabilities and to then identify a fair and equitable formula that would link investment to reward. The
ensuing deliberation – at times a little heated – allowed for the tensions associated with power struggles
and secret agendas to surface. I intentionally allowed the discussion to continue until passions weaned
somewhat, at which point I employed the NLP (neuro linguistic programming) linguistic tool of chunking
up and down to control the flow of conversation from abstract to specific, and vice versa until agree-
ment was reached. To provide a level of reassurance over the need to openly deal with difficult issues,
I briefly discussed ideas relating to high performance teams (Tuckman & Jensen,1965) which sparked
rich questioning and discussion focussed upon emotional regulation and relationship management.

Achieving Breakthrough

Further to a period of reflection and one-to-one coaching sessions, the matters of value, investment and
reward were picked up once more and this time group members worked speedily and cooperatively to
reach consensus. When applying for funding, the two largest organisations would act as leads, and if
successful, be responsible for managing administrative and monitoring processes. In return they would
be compensated with 10% of any secured funds. Organisational expertise would be provided in kind on
a case by case basis and funds would be devolved proportionately to those organisations involved in the
practical delivery of project work. Those responsible for delivery would also be responsible for securing
outcomes. Financial clawbacks would apply if pre-agreed targets were not achieved. As Birmingham City
Council had by now agreed to second a member of staff to heatnetwork for 24 months, it was decided
that marketing and evaluation would be handled internally and a 10% management fee for these services
would be applied to each funding application. The fulltime member of staff would be line managed by
the CEO of Crossover and report to the board monthly.

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Strength in Numbers?

Defining Objectives

With a structure now emerging and resources and capabilities committed, strengths and weaknesses of
heatnetwork were audited, and a completed SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats)
analysis produced. Management frameworks, models and techniques were introduced as and when ap-
propriate to support the group to identify and prioritise ways to exploit opportunities, defend against
threats, heighten strengths and minimise/eliminate weaknesses over a 2-year period. Any gaps identi-
fied during this process formed the basis of organisational objectives to be achieved across the period.

Testing Assumptions

With a set of objectives drafted, testing for robustness was necessary to ensure that the selected pattern
of activities would contribute towards achieving the overarching aims of heatnetwork. In addition to
running each through SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timebound) criteria, cartesian
logic and questioning techniques (Gaukroger, 2002) were utilised to highlight a need for contingency
planning. What will happen if x happens, what will happen if x does not happen? What won’t happen
if x happens? What won’t happen if x does not happen? At first, members found this technique difficult
to master (especially when having to answer questions built upon double negatives) however, as the
exercise progressed, and fluency developed, each clearly demonstrated higher levels of critical thinking
and expressed enthusiasm for being challenged to view individual scenarios from multiple perspectives.

One to One Coaching Sessions

Coaching sessions served the dual purpose of ironing out unresolved interpersonal challenges that mani-
fested during the initial one-to-one meetings and group work, and for exploring leadership styles and
behaviours using trait, style, and contingency theories. As a precursor to these ninety-minute sessions
(of which each board member benefited from six) an Everything Disc ® Work of Leaders Profile was
completed to assist board members to reflect upon their effectiveness as leaders across the three param-
eters of creating a vision, building alignment, and championing execution (of the vision). The tool was
particularly useful for enabling analysis and exploration of how one individual might be perceived by
another or by the group, for understanding motive and for paving the way towards behaviour modifica-
tion. Sessions were supported with tasking focussed on promoting experiential learning and developing
higher levels of emotional intelligence through the practise and integration of NLP techniques. Whilst the
quality of work produced through tasking was high, commitment towards completion was varied due to
the time constraints of board members. In my regular coaching practice, further sessions are only booked
once tasking has been completed thereby allowing clients to work at their own pace. However, in this
case, due to the relatively short timeframe I was operating with, forty-two coaching sessions delivered
across four months needed to be achieved if the intervention was to progress as agreed. Unfortunately,
this less than ideal situation was not picked up by me at the contracting stage as I wrongly assumed that
I would be able to deliver sessions over the full six-month period of the contract.

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Independent Work to Support the Process

Early document review spring boarded me towards conducting discrete STEEP analyses at EU and UK
levels. Focusing primarily on social, economic, and political factors I made informed assumptions as to
how the English not-for-profit, education and social care sectors would be impacted over a three-year.
This insight enabled me through individual and group sessions to surface alternative scenarios that may
otherwise have gone undetected. From my early meetings with board members, it became apparent that
if heatnetwork was to develop into an organisation of influence, then early exposure to stakeholder theory
would be necessary to broaden the perspectives of some of the smaller organisations whose limited
concerns focussed solely upon satisfying the needs of service users. As such, stakeholder analysis and
prioritisation using adapted frameworks of Patton and Comforth (1991) and Johnson and Scholes (1993)
provided me with a greater insight as to how potential partnerships along with their potential opportuni-
ties & threats could play out into the future. Again, these scenarios were presented during individual
and group sessions as additional things to consider. Due to the extent of environmental volatility, I was
clear about wanting to frame the development of heatnetwork within the context of ‘change’ and did so
through adopting a loose association with the 8 Step model of Change (Kotter,1995). However, given
the makeup of the heatnetwork board – all leaders in their own right – I made greater use of the “7 Step
Change Theory” (Lippet, Watson, & Westley 1958) as it allowed me to focus their attention more on
their roles and responsibilities as change agents rather than on the evolution of the change itself. By
positioning the board at cause rather than affect the inherent sense of urgency to perform was viewed as
something motivational rather than as a final effort to avoid failure.

CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS

A group of people driven by vocation and a desire to make a difference was the critical success factor that
this programme was hinged on. Despite having to deal with multiple challenges, 7 CEOs demonstrated
enthusiasm and commitment towards building a vision for the future. The use of management theory and
frameworks proved extremely useful to encourage debate, broaden thinking, and transfer the responsibility
of organisational development to the board. This in turn positively impacted the individuals’ abilities to
lead and manage change and to do so at both network and organisational levels. Dealing with change at
the level of culture was always going to be difficult given the diverse makeup of the group and it is in this
area that I believe the programme was least successful. All too often, due to time constraints imposed by
the contract, I felt it uncomfortable but necessary to halt discussion to move forward, to complete work
packages and to meet deadlines. Yet in doing so I remained acutely aware that such discussions would
still need to happen if establishing and harmonising the transcultural identity of the new network was to
be successful. In hindsight, what was lacking was the addition of a (real or virtual) space, or forum that
would allow for structured discussion to continue outside of contact time. I am in no doubt that some
less structured or informal time built into the delivery of group work (either through a series of whole
day sessions or better still a residential) would have proven more beneficial than the half day model
that was utilised. For the reason already stated, the six-month timeframe to complete the programme
was in some ways a little short. Furthermore, behavioural change takes time to embed and, especially
when where there are tensions that require resolution, processes cannot be rushed if outcomes are to be
fully realised. Board members’ understanding of the change management process – what it meant, what

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Strength in Numbers?

it entailed, who it involved, and how it could be managed – was arrived at through gradual exposure to
new knowledge and skills and a commitment towards iterative learning and reflection; both inside and
outside of training sessions. Had coaching sessions been scheduled across nine to twelve months with
the first sessions commencing at the half-way point of training (rather than from the outset of the pro-
gramme), I believe that some of this crucial learning and reflection could have been leveraged to yield
higher quality outcomes for the individuals.

My insistence to operate as a facilitator rather than as a consultant paid off well. By training board
members to use and manipulate management frameworks, tools, and techniques to help achieve their
goals, the group developed in confidence as the process progressed. I was encouraged to learn how in-
dividual members planned to transfer and embed new learning within their own organisations and how
two were considering undertaking formal training in business and management studies. My one regret
was that again, due to time constraints, I would not have a role to play in supporting board members to
routinise new knowledge, skills and behaviours in a manner that was consistent and conducive to best
practice in change management.

In summary my recommendations would be:

• Adopt a facilitative role when using management theory and frameworks. The goals should be to
encourage debate, broaden thinking and ensure that analyses are owned by the client. Be prepared
to adapt frameworks if necessary and wherever possible reduce complexity (including the use of
jargon) to a minimum.

• Remain mindful of the true amount of time and support necessary to effect behavioural change.
Focus some attention towards creating the necessary spaces (real or virtual) for client interaction
outside of formal contact time. Also, give sufficient thought to the most appropriate sequencing of
coaching sessions bearing in mind that clients will most likely be conflicted due to heavy work-
loads and competing priorities.

• Encourage sustainable learning practices from the outset. Whether acting as teacher, facilitator,
consultant, mentor or coach, the change agent should work towards embedding learning through a
combination of three sequential strategies: knowledge transfer (via teaching resources, facilitated
discussions and learning materials), risk free experimentation (via individual and group-based ac-
tivities being introduced into sessions), and risk attached experiential learning (where new knowl-
edge, competencies and behaviours are applied in the workplace).

• Underpin learning strategies with a requirement for the client to rigorously reflect on their expe-
riences so that meaningful coaching interventions can be introduced to effectively support their
development.

• Adopt a structured approach to reflective practice to enable personal creativity and innovation to
flourish. Using an adapted model of structural reflection (Johns,1994) I iteratively recorded and
referred to my thoughts and experiences with the intention of loosening fixed ideas, breaking free
of routine, and generating new and novel ways of achieving outcomes.

By the time my contract terminated, and I had bid farewell to my colleagues, I left heatnetwork
confident that they were stronger for having undertaken the process and that I, in some small way had
also contributed to making a difference for the residents and communities of Hodge Hill. And that is a
wonderful thought!

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Strength in Numbers?

REFERENCES

Belbin, R. M. (1993). Team roles at work. Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann.

D’Souza, B. J. (2012). heatnetwork business plan (2012-2015). Retrieved from https://www.walkingam-
onggiants.co.uk/

Grant, R. M. (2010). Contemporary strategy analysis. Chichester, UK: Wiley.

Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context. Online Readings in
Psychology and Culture, 2(1). doi:10.9707/2307-0919.1014

Kotter, J. P. (2010). Leading change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

Lippet, R., Watson, J. C., & Westley, B. H. (1958). The dynamics of planned change; a comparative
study of principles and techniques. New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace.

Nair, N., & Bhatnagar, D. (2011). Understanding workplace deviant behavior in non-profit organisations.
Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 21(3), 289–309. doi:10.1002/nml.20026

Porter, M. E. (2004). Competitive strategy: techniques for analysing industries and competitors. New
York, NY: Free Press.

Scholes, K., & Johnson, G. (1993). Exploring corporate strategy. New York, NY: Prentice-Hall.

Thomas, A. B. (2004). Controversies in management: issues, debates, answers. London: Routledge.

Tuckman, B., & Jensen, M. (1977). Stages of small group development revisited. Group & Organization
Studies, 2(4), 419–427. doi:10.1177/105960117700200404

https://www.walkingamonggiants.co.uk/

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Chapter 29

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-6155-2.ch029

ABSTRACT

This reflective case history illustrates the change process in a USA sports and entertainment’s theatre
organization led by its leader in consultation with a human resource development and organizational
change professional. Evidence-based organizational change and development informed by the theoretical
perspectives on shop floor management and action learning guided the change process conceptualized
on the belief that frontline employees should play a major role in driving change in organizations, and
their learning and reflection is crucial in this process.

INTRODUCTION

After acquiring full ownership of two movie theatres and conducting an initial environmental and busi-
ness scan, a large sports and entertainment organization based in the United States of America (USA)
determined that much of the economic viability of the movie theatres was contingent upon the success
of the theatres’ concessions where guests purchase popcorn, soda, candy, and other snacks. Data showed
that after subtracting film rental from gross box office sales, box office sales represented 49.8% of total
revenue while concessions generated 40.5% of the two theatres’ total revenue. Based on the aforemen-

Creating a Business Unit
Within a Large Sports and

Entertainment Organization’s
Theatre Operation:

Reflections on the Change Process

John Baaki
Old Dominion University, USA

Maria Cseh
The George Washington University, USA

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Creating a Business Unit Within a Large Sports and Entertainment Organization’s Theatre Operation

tioned data, the environmental and business scan, and the sports and entertainment organizations’ experi-
ence from its other venues (e.g., major league baseball stadium, performance theatre, and multi-purpose
arena), the organization decided that, in order to maximize concessions revenue potential, the theatres
needed a self-contained concessions department. Each venue under the sports and entertainment orga-
nization’s umbrella had a self-contained concessions department that included a concessions manager
and frontline concessions leaders.

The self-contained concessions department required a significant change in the theatres’ organizational
structure and leadership, as the organization had no manager in place to oversee the concessions depart-
ment and no day-to-day floor supervisors to directly supervise each concessions location. Structurally,
the concessions department, as a potential business unit, did not have direct leadership at the frontline
where all customer-employee transactions and interaction occurred. This reorganization of the theatres’
concessions departments was considered unique in the movie theatre industry and caused much anxiety
amongst the employees of the theatre organization.

Description of the Theatre Organization

The theatre organization consisted of two different theatre units that were separated by two downtown
city blocks in a metropolitan suburb. Refurbished from a one-screen theatre house built in 1926, the first
unit, referred to as T1, reopened in 1997 as an eight-screen house. The two-floor 1920’s-style ornate
movie house hosts one main concessions stand on the first floor and a smaller concessions stand on the
second floor. The second unit, referred to as T2, opened in November 2001 and was built in a multi-tiered
style like downtown theaters in New York City, USA, and Toronto, Canada. T2 has three levels with
one concessions stand located on the second level and one concessions stand, along with an ice cream
and coffee bar, located on the third level. The opening of T2 increased the organization’s revenue by
232.5%. In addition, the theatre organization went from a staff of 50 full-time and part-time employees
to a staff of approximately 200 full-time and part-time employees. Once the sports and entertainment
organization determined that a self-contained concessions department was needed to ensure economic
viability a concessions manager was hired to oversee the concessions operations at both theatres, and
concessions procedures and policies (e.g. inventory control, food safety, cash handling, and portion con-
trol) were implemented. The sports and entertainment organization expected measurable results within
30 days of the concessions department becoming a self-contained business unit within the day-to-day
theatre operations.

Our Partnership and Engagement with the Organization

I (first author) was an 11-year employee with the sports and entertainment organization and had earned
credibility as a leader who could lead change in day-to-day operations. The founder of the sports and
entertainment organization personally asked me to lead the newly acquired theatre organization.

The partnership between me and my co-author started to develop while I was a graduate student working
with the second author, a university faculty member with 15 years of experience in international manage-
ment and organizational development and change, and continued after my graduation. While working
on another project, I, who at the time was a leader at the organization’s major league baseball stadium,
expressed great interest during meetings with my co-author in how frontline supervisor leadership can
impact the sports and entertainment facility industry – arenas, stadiums, theatres, convention centres/

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exhibit halls, amusement parks/fairs, and zoos. The continued dialogues between us led to reflections
on theoretical perspectives regarding frontline leadership in organizations and how these theoretical
perspectives may be applied to practice, on how change happens in organizations, on how people learn
in organizations, and how learning organizations develop.

When I took on a leadership role in the theatre organization, my primary responsibility was to oversee
the theatre organization’s business operations. With the concessions department change process placed
under my leadership and facing a 30-day timetable to show results, I consulted with my co-author, and
together started to conceptualize a way to approach the concessions department development process.
The partnership process was characterized by regular face-to-face consultations and e-mail communi-
cations. Insightful discussions on the application of theory-to-practice and practice-to-theory, on what
was happening with the change process, as well as on lessons learned at every step of the process led to
continuous reflections and learning for both of us.

THE CHANGE PROCESS

The theatres operated 18 hours a day, seven days a week. In order to effectively educate leaders in an
operation that rarely stops, we needed a process that leaders could easily grasp, involved all leaders,
and helped them consistently reflect on what was happening day-to-day in their operations. Our belief
in the importance of evidence-based practice and the involvement of frontline leaders and employees
in change processes led us to shop floor management (Suzaki, 1993) while our belief in the power of
social learning in action and of reflection in and on action in making the tacit learning explicit (Schön,
1983, 1987) led us to action learning (Marquardt, 1999).

Shop floor management (SFM) was aligned with the vision, mission and strategies of the theatre
organization so theatre leaders could understand it. SFM focuses on the frontline where the action is and
is driven by six elements: (a) develop clarity in vision where values are shared with people, (b) develop
customer orientation where everyone views the next process as the customer, (c) promote the involve-
ment of everyone so improvement is continuous, (d) increase problem-solving capability, (e) provide
adequate leadership for continuous improvement, and (f) clarify the management support team that drives
the shared values, vision, and objectives, and means to achieve them. The result is a continuous and
integrated improvement process that is guided by a Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle (Suzaki, 1993).

According to our interpretation of the PDCA cycle, ‘check’ is the opportunity to reflect on what has
happened, why it has happened, and how things affect other things. Before the issue, problem, or gap
may be acted on, before an intervention may be planned, and before the plan may be executed, reflection
must occur. If reflection or ‘check’ is not practiced, then an organization finds itself practicing firefight-
ing where the PDCA cycle turns into a plan-do-plan-do cycle.

Frontline leaders implement, observe, monitor, and evaluate standards and processes. As frontline
experts, frontline leaders can best reflect on what has already happened and analyze why it happened.
According to Marquardt (1999), action learning is built on six distinct interactive components: (1) a
problem, (2) a group, (3) a questioning and reflection process, (4) a commitment to take action, (5) a
commitment to learning, and (6) a facilitator. When developing a theory-to-action approach to involve
frontline concessions leaders in the change process, all components must be present with a focus on the
questioning and reflection process, commitment to take action, and commitment to learning. Action
learning is embedded in the SFM process and it was deemed to be effective in developing leaders as
change agents in the theater organization.

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Informed by SFM and action learning, I reflected on my interest in Peters’ (1997) “businesspersons
of everything” concept and how it applied to frontline leaders. The idea is that every job is a business
and every frontline leader is a business unit of one. Through reflection, we concluded that every person
in the theatre organization needed to be a businessperson. The difference between businesspersons was
the size of their “everything.” For example, as the leader of the entire theatre, the T2 general manager’s
(GM) “everything” contained all aspects of the theatre operations. Whereas, a T2 concessions manager’s
“everything” contained all aspects of a concessions stand operations. The T2 GM’s everything includes
the concessions manager’s everything.

To understand the width and depth of the change process in developing a concessions department and
to allow for evidence-based practice, there was an agreement that I would keep a handwritten reflective
observation journal, conduct in-depth interviews with seven upper-level managers and five concession
leaders, and compile concessions performance reports that included monthly, year-to-date, actual vs.
budget, and current year actual vs. previous year actual information based on the following key business
performance data: (a) net revenue, (b) per capita spending, (c) concessions leader and team member
labor dollars, (d) labor as a percentage of sales, (d) food and beverage cost, and (e) food and beverage
cost as a percentage of sales.

THE PROGRESS OF CHANGE

The purpose of this year-long change endeavour was not to test theoretical perspectives, but informed
by them, to try to introduce new concepts for the theatres to achieve the desired change. Based on the
consultation process, I introduced concepts based on the theoretical perspectives at different stages of
the change process, and assisted upper-level managers and concession leaders in understanding situa-
tions when they wanted clarifications on what was happening, role modeling all along the way. From the
start, I conscientiously created an environment that would allow reflection and learning. In other words,
I set the stage for our conceptual model, informed by action learning and SFM, to cycle through the
development stages. Although the focus was on the frontline where theatre concessions team members
directly interact with customers, in order for this to happen, concession team members’ supervisors –
concessions leaders – and theatre upper-level managers were involved so they first could understand
and then support the change process.

In order to create a learning and reflective environment, weekly upper-level manager and concessions
leader meetings were established where an exchange of ideas and reflective participation were encour-
aged. Prior to the change process, such a meeting format had not happened. Meeting communication
was always one-way, dictated by upper-level management. At first, in the concessions leader meetings
there were little or no reflective participation. Concessions leaders expressed that they did not feel that
they were involved in the change process and the concessions department development. Knowing that
leaders were critical to the change process, I facilitated meetings by attempting to involve everyone.
After three months, the concessions manager and concessions leaders began to rotate meeting facilitator
duties. Meetings became a vibrant exchange of ideas, thoughts, and insights. An upper-level manager
summarized the long process of getting all participants involved in the improvement and development
of a concessions department:

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Creating a Business Unit Within a Large Sports and Entertainment Organization’s Theatre Operation

I think that they [managers and concession leaders] went from feeling that they were being controlled
more to, in the course of months and months, people realizing that they actually had a bigger say in
things, a bigger hand in things especially concessions leaders. They have been empowered with realizing
that they do and affect positive and negative outcomes in what’s going to be happening.

The SFM implementation process goes through four different stages: (1) introduction stage where
people become familiar with SFM ideas and how it relates to the organization, (2) promotion stage where
ideas are put into place and the PDCA cycle is begun, (3) expansion stage where people’s self-managing
activities show positive results, and (4) stabilization stage where everybody in the organization internal-
izes the idea and SFM and its benefits are obvious to all. After one-year of developing a self-contained
concessions department, the theatre organization had reached the promotion stage. Critical concessions
performance standards, reflection during concessions leader meetings, and involvement of all team mem-
bers had been put into practice. Upper-level managers and concessions leaders began the PDCA cycling
to increase problem-solving capability and impact performance. For the theatre organization, the key
to the PDCA cycle became the action learning’s questioning and reflection component. In concessions
leader meetings, leaders reflected on their actions, tweaked the actions, and then returned to execute
critical concessions performance standards on the frontline. A concessions leader noted:

I feel that our environment as far as when we have leader meetings is very open…I feel comfortable in
saying if I have an idea, it’s going to be listened to or even considered as far as, “Okay, that is something
that can possibly work, we’ll try that.”

In a two-week span four months into the change process, concessions leaders spent a great deal of time
reflecting on food waste and how it affects food cost. After summarizing their reflection, concessions
leaders acted on their ideas by cooking chicken strips in increments of five, rotating product between
concessions stands, and ensuring team members pump popcorn oil once instead of three times. Learning
was a big part of controlling food waste and the development of the concessions department. Learning
through experiences and action is how things got done on the frontline.

Upper-level managers understood and supported the concessions leaders’ learning process. As one
manager commented, “I think a lot of the current leaders, right now, are interested in growing, interested
in learning more, and really kind of throwing ideas in and I think that they (upper-level managers) are
very supportive of it”. When describing why concession leaders are allowed to make decisions and be-
come businesspersons regarding the development of a concessions department, an upper-level manager
explained:

You’re not going to learn to be a leader by listening to me. I can tell you everything to do. I can lay it
out for you. This is what I want you to do every single day, but you are just going to be robotic, just do-
ing it. You’re not going to know why. You learn what to do, but you got to fall on your face sometimes.
I think that’s a big thing in developing a leader in general – to allow them to make a mistake as long as
it’s not putting the business in jeopardy.

Seven months into the change process, concessions leaders were learning that they had to support
team members on the frontline. Taking on this responsibility meant learning how things affect other

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things and the importance of involving team members in day-to-day concessions operations. An upper-
level manager summed up best the concessions leaders’ action learning journey:

I think that some of our leaders are at the point now they’re taking on responsibility and it’s something
that they’re looking forward to and they’re doing better because of it. But, they’re not necessarily at
the point where they also see that giving other people responsibility is a reflection of how well they are
doing that job rather than how well they’re not doing their job.

When the change process began, the sports and entertainment organization’s performance expecta-
tions were clear. In 30 days, the concessions department, as a self-contained business unit, would impact
the theatre organization’s revenue performance. However, a year later, with the theatre organization at
the promotion stage (stage two of Suzaki’s four stages), performance improvement consisted of small
victories. A review of concessions performance data revealed small improvements in key concessions
business indicators like per capita spending, labor as a percentage of sales, food and beverage cost, and
food and beverage cost as a percentage of sales. During the year, per capita spending increased one
percent while food and beverage cost as a percentage of sales decreased three percent. Although these
increases were small victories, they did indicate an important performance improvement trend, which
had not occurred prior to the change process.

Performance improvements resulted from upper-level managers and concessions leaders applying
SFM by using the PDCA cycle to tweak critical concessions performance standards. In practice, Plan-
Do-Check-Act was one cycle made up of many smaller cycles. Oftentimes, tweaking an action resulted
in a check (reflection)-act-check-act cycle that lasted months. Accurate daily key item (items designated
to represent a sale like popcorn tubs and soda cups) inventories were a struggle throughout the change
process. Using a check-act-check-act cycle, managers and leaders reflected on inventory struggles, acted
on tweaked procedures, reflected again, and acted again. Finally, seven months into the change process,
T1 concessions leaders began to complete nightly key item inventories that were consistently within
the half percent variance stated in the key item inventory procedures. Later that month, the concessions
manager and concessions leaders celebrated as the T1 key item inventory had an impressive $1.00 vari-
ance. The success at the T1 resulted in developing a new key item inventory plan at the T2. After seven
months of continuous tweaking, concessions leaders cycled through Plan-Do-Check-Act. Key item inven-
tory procedures were changed from daily inventories for each concessions stand to one daily inventory
for the entire T2 concessions department. As a result, T2 concessions leaders began to complete more
accurate daily inventories. What was expected in 30 days took 210 days in practice. Financially, it was a
small victory for the theatre organization. In practice, getting through the PDCA cycle was a significant
accomplishment since it led to participants’ change in attitude that would support the transition into the
expansion and stabilization stages of the SFM implementation process.

During the change process, action learning and SFM were intertwined. Action learning was the rope
that tied together a SFM process. Upper-level managers and concessions leaders first learned about
managing change and then together implemented the development of a concessions department.

Upper-level managers and concessions leaders impacted the theatre organization’s direction by
achieving small victories. In a one-year period, concessions performance data reflected improvements
in key concessions business indicators and there were documented improvements in critical concessions
performance standards like food safety and key item inventory. Although the conceptualization of this
change process was embedded in our belief of the importance of involving frontline team members in

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the process, only at the end of a year did frontline leaders realize the importance of involving their team
members in the process and learning from each other.

CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS

This reflective case history has resulted in important lessons that we have learned about the use of evi-
dence-based practice, lessons about the actual practice and implementation of the organizational change
and development effort, and reflections about collaborative partnerships for promoting and facilitating
change. The following sections detail these key findings.

Use of Evidence-Based Practice

A key lesson learned from theory to practice was that learning and reflection was needed at every level
in the organization in order for the involvement of frontline team members in the change process and all
participants’ development into businesspersons. Right from the beginning of this change intervention
we recognized the two failings of organizational change and development (OCD) interventions noted
by Hamlin (2001) related to managers in organizations not understanding principles of change manage-
ment, and not realizing the significance of people issues (e.g., the experience of employees dealing with
change). Before upper-level managers and concessions leaders were able to contribute and reflect on what
was happening and why it was happening, they needed to go through a cognitive and attitudinal change.
Managers and leaders had to first understand the need for learning and reflection to become part of the
theatre organization environment. We found that action learning and shop floor management provided a
flexible, agile, and easy-to-understand road map for the development of a concessions department. The
nature of the PDCA cycle kept concessions leaders moving forward, albeit slowly at times. No doubt,
smaller cycling within the PDCA cycle occurred, and sometimes for every two steps forward there was
one step backwards. But, by applying action learning principles and cycling through Plan-Do-Check-Act
we made certain that upper-level managers and concessions leaders understood principles of change
management and stayed on the road to change.

Hamlin’s (2016) described evidence-based organizational change and development (EBOCD) as “…
the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence and/or of action research to inform,
shape, critically reflect upon, and iteratively revise decisions made in relation to the formulation and
implementation of OCD interventions and the associated change management processes” (p. 129). Dur-
ing this change process, we continuously reflected on the principles of change management and our use
of evidence, and by consciously creating an environment in the organization that allowed for reflection
and learning, we role modeled our own practice. As a result, as we described earlier, during the whole
process, concessions leaders reflected on their procedures and actions, tweaked them, acted upon them,
and then reflected on them again, tweaked them again, and acted again, showing the iterative nature of
the change process.

Practice and Implementation of the Change Process

A key lesson learned from practice to theory was the frustration and impatience regarding the pace of the
change process. Hamlin (2001) noted that one of the failings of change interventions was explained by

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managers’ need to find quick-fix solutions that rarely result in desired results. In this case, the sports and
entertainment organization expected measurable results within 30 days of the concessions department
becoming a self-contained business unit within the day-to-day theatre operations. The daily stress of a
seven-day operation, delays in completing team member concessions training, and delays in hiring and
placing the right concessions leaders on the frontline slowed down the process right from the beginning
and negatively affected the accurate and complete implementation of critical concessions performance
standards like key item inventory. The unrealistic 30-day performance expectation became a year-long
journey that ended at stage two of a four-stage SFM process. The smaller cycles within the PDCA and
their impact became visible only during the application in practice of the theory. Since we discussed the
time needed for any change process, I entered the development of a concessions department knowing
that it would not occur overnight. However, it was not until I was in the midst of the change process that
I really grasped what is meant by ‘it would not occur overnight.’

The four-stage SFM process was a necessary guide during the organizational change and develop-
ment process. We were able to see where we had been, where we were, and where we were going.
After one year, the theatre organization was firmly planted in the promotion stage. Upper management
and concessions leaders were continuing to grasp the fundamental principles of change management.
Concessions operational improvement ideas were in place. The PDCA cycle was in action. The theatre
organization began to see where it was going. Albeit small steps, we saw steps towards the expansion
stage. Concessions leader were self-managing activities in key item inventory, per capita spending, and
food and beverage cost of sales as a percentage of sales that showed positive results.

In practice, Plan-Do-Check-Act is a cyclical framework made up of smaller, oftentimes simultane-
ous cycles. Check-act-check-act was a reflective trial and error cycle that occurred when concessions
leaders were tweaking key item inventory procedures. Plan-do-plan-do was merely a firefighting cycle
that happened during early concessions leader meetings. Since these smaller cycles are always in mo-
tion, they are difficult to represent in the PDCA model, nevertheless they should be discussed in the
description of the model.

Our experience showed the importance of having one or several road maps (i.e., theoretical perspec-
tives) to guide the conceptualization and implementation of a change process. Human resource devel-
opment practitioners as well change agents in organizations should invest time to plan for the creation
and maintenance of the environment that needs to support their approach to change. Documenting the
process of change during the process and reflecting on the findings along the way proved to be very
beneficial not just for adjusting continuously the implementation but for reflecting on the application
of the theories to practice and thus contributing to the development of theories. This experience also
showed that the meaning of ‘time’ in theory could be quite different than in practice, a lesson talked
about but not emphasized enough in project management.

Collaborative Partnerships for Promoting and Facilitating Change

A major lesson learned was the need for accountability from me and my co-author and for sustained
awareness and reflection on the change process over a long period of time while faced with numerous
other tasks and challenges. We agree with Hamlin’s message in Chapter 1 that engagement in profes-
sional partnership research will significantly contribute to bridging the scholar-practitioner gap. From the
start of our partnership, a clear process of collaboration was discussed and delineated. Timelines were
established and regularly met. Regular face-to-face meetings were set up and if the set dates needed to

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Creating a Business Unit Within a Large Sports and Entertainment Organization’s Theatre Operation

be changed (it happened only a few time), meetings were re-scheduled immediately. Regular meetings
were crucial for a continuous dialogue. From time-to-time general views of the world were shared dur-
ing tangent discussions regarding learning and change processes. Of course, such partnership building
requires time, a commodity safely guarded by many in our society. Meeting times were set after ‘working
hours’ and although the meetings were bounded by time, the timeframe was set in such a way to allow
for meaningful sharing. Our respect and trust in each other grew over the period of this collaboration,
learning was insightful and plentiful. Reflecting on our partnership during this change process and on
our learning, we cannot emphasize enough the importance of evidence that emanates from what Hamlin
called Mode 2 research which is concerned with instrumental knowledge production to solve real-life
problems, and in some cases contribute to theory development (see Chapter 1 of this book).

REFERENCES

Hamlin, R. G. (2001). A review and synthesis of context and practice. In B. Hamlin, J. Keep, & K. Ash
(Eds.), Organizational change and development: A reflective guide for managers, trainers, and develop-
ers (pp. 13–38). Harlow, UK: FT Prentice Hall.

Hamlin, R. G. (2016). Evidence-based organizational change and development: Role of professional
partnership and replication research. In C. Hughes & M. W. Gosney (Eds.), Bridging the scholar practi-
tioner gap in human resources development (pp. 120–142). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-
1-4666-9998-4.ch007

Marquardt, M. J. (1999). Action learning in action: Transforming problems and people for world-class
organizational learning. Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black Publishing.

Peters, T. (1997). The circle of innovation you can’t shrink your way to greatness. New York: Vintage
Books.

Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professional think in action. New York: Basic Books.

Schön, D. A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner. New York: Basic Books.

Suzaki, K. (1993). The new shop floor management empowering people for continuous improvement.
New York: The Free Press.

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