Organizational change

Published on September 30, 2022   9 min
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0:00
Hello, my name is David Buchanan. I'm Emeritus Professor of Organizational Behavior at Cranfield School of Management in the UK. The subject of this talk is "Organizational Change". How to get it right?
0:16
Change in an organization can affect anything, strategy, structure, technology, systems and procedures, human resource management practices, internal and external relationships, leadership style and culture. Just to make things more complicated, changing in one area can have knock-on or ripple effects leading to changes in other areas. New technologies, for example to change the skill mix requirements, working practices, rewards, and performance appraisal systems. New technologies can also require supportive changes in leadership and management behavior. This variety and complexity make organizational change, exciting and challenging.
0:56
There are several ways in which the content or substance of change can be categorized. For example, some changes are planned while others are emergent. Planned changes, as the term suggests are those which are implemented deliberately, in anticipation of reward in response to known trends and developments. For example, radical changes in the motor vehicle engine design and manufacturing methods, technology and materials, working practices are being dictated by stricter regulations concerning carbon emissions. Emergent changes are those who just happens spontaneously or have to happen in response to unforeseen events such as a pandemic, a sudden opening of new market opportunities or major geopolitical developments. It's difficult to plan ahead for those kinds of events in any detail.