A Systemic View of Change Management and Its Conceptual Underpinnings

This paper presents a critical analysis of a systemic view of change management and its conceptual underpinnings. It reflects upon the systemic view from perspectives of modernism and postmodernism. The understandings so developed are then synthesised in terms of structuration theory. It is argued that organisational change is characterised by diversity and interactions, which necessitates a systemic approach using multiple methods in one intervention. By making transparent the conceptual underpinnings, it is shown that this systemic view can help build an improved understanding of organisational change characterised by diversity and interactions, and it can support the use of multiple methods to manage organisational change in one intervention.

[1]  D. Pugh,et al.  The Context of Organization Structures , 1969 .

[2]  T. Luke.  Social theory and modernity , 1990 .

[3]  Audley Genus,et al.  The Management of Change: Perspectives and Practice , 1998 .

[4]  Guangming Cao,et al.  The Application of Systems Perspectives to Organisational Change in Electronic Commerce , 2002 .

[5]  Olivera Marjanovic,et al.  Supporting the "soft" side of business process reengineering , 2000, Bus. Process. Manag. J..

[6]  Dennis A. Gioia,et al.  Paradigms Lost: Incommensurability vs Structurationist Inquiry , 1994 .

[7]  Bert Spector,et al.  Beyond TQM Programmes , 1994 .

[8]  H. Willmott.  Postmodernism and Excellence: The De‐differentiation of Economy and Culture , 1992 .

[9]  Steve Clarke,et al.  Diversity management in organizational change: towards a systemic framework , 2003 .

[10]  M. Addleson,et al.  Resolving the spirit and substance of organizational learning , 1996 .

[11]  Ann Taket,et al.  Creative Problem Solving: Total Systems Intervention. , 1991 .

[12]  Guangming Cao,et al.  The Need for a Systemic Approach to Change Management—A Case Study , 2004 .

[13]  N. Nohria,et al.  Cracking the code of change. , 2000, Harvard business review.

[14]  John Holt,et al.  Critical Systems Thinking: Directed Readings , 1992 .

[15]  Bernard Burnes,et al.  Managing Change , 2004 .

[16]  D. Pugh.  An Empirical Taxonomy of Structures of Work Organizations. , 1969 .

[17]  O. Williamson.  Markets and hierarchies, analysis and antitrust implications : a study in the economics of internal organization , 1975 .

[18]  A. Giddens.  The consequences of modernity , 1990 .

[19]  John Mingers,et al.  Recent Developments in Critical Management Science , 1992 .

[20]  L. M. Bennett,et al.  A systems approach to the implementation of total quality management , 1996 .

[21]  Frances M. Hill,et al.  The positioning of BPR and TQM in long‐term organisational change strategies , 1998 .

[22]  J. Almaraz,et al.  Quality Management and the Process of Change , 1994 .

[23]  Thomas J. Crowe,et al.  Selecting BPR projects based on strategic objectives , 1998, Bus. Process. Manag. J..

[24]  D. Collins.  New paradigms for change? Theories of organization and the organization of theories , 1996 .

[25]  A. Giddens.  The Constitution of Society , 1985 .

[26]  Alan Fowler.  Operations management and systemic modelling as frameworks for BPR , 1998 .

[27]  W. Warner Burke,et al.  Understanding the management of change , 1996 .

[28]  Mohamed Zairi,et al.  BPR implementation process: an analysis of key success and failure factors , 1999, Bus. Process. Manag. J..

[29]  Guangming Cao,et al.  A systemic view of organisational change and TQM , 2000 .

[30]  Guangming Cao,et al.  Towards systemic management of diversity in organizational change , 1999 .

[31]  A. Giddens.  NEW RULES OF SOCIOLOGICAL METHOD , 1980 .

[32]  Abraham B. Shani,et al.  Business process reengineering at Blue Shield of California: the integration of multiple change initiatives , 1998 .

[33]  Rob White,et al.  Operationalizing the postmodernity construct for efficient organizational change management , 1995 .

[34]  Introducing teamworking within a bureaucratic maze , 1999 .

[35]  C. Casey.  Contested rationalities, contested organizations , 2004 .

[36]  James D. Thompson.  Organizations in Action , 1967 .

[37]  Joan C. Woodward,et al.  Industrial Organisation: Theory and Practice , 1966 .

[38]  The Problems of Effecting Change Within the British Civil Service: A Cultural Perspective , 1994 .

[39]  Steve Clarke,et al.  A critique of BPR from a holistic perspective , 2001, Bus. Process. Manag. J..

[40]  J. Peters.  Operationalizing Total Quality: A Business Process Approach , 1994 .

[41]  O. Williamson,et al.  Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications. , 1977 .

[42]  David A. Waldman,et al.  Designing Performance Management Systems for Total Quality Implementation , 1994 .