Reengineering in practice: where are the people? Where is the learning?
Article Abstract:
Reengineering has attained tremendous popularity for what it promises, but experience shows that its real returns are far lower than expected. This article explores the process of reengineering and suggests that one reason for this lack of results is the traditional technocratic assumptions and practices that underlie the actual practice of reengineering. Based on a field study of a dozen large reengineering arrangements, the article suggests that several flawed assumptions about reengineering practice get in the way of producing the desired results. For example, lack of leadership engagement, limited participation, and low commitment to learning all sow the seeds for ultimate lack of results. The article proposes a broader set of assumptions about the process of large-scale change and offers a road map of key processes to guide redesign efforts that engage leadership and employee commitment, motivate employees to change, and set the climate for learning and renewal. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Applied Behavioral Science
Subject: Social sciences
ISSN: 0021-8863
Year: 1998
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Challenging "resistance to change."
Article Abstract:
This article examines the origins of one of the most widely accepted mental models that drives organizational behavior: the idea that there is resistance to change and that managers must overcome it. This mental model, held by employees at all levels, interferes with successful change implementation. The authors trace the emergence of the term 'resistance to change' and show how it became received truth. Kurt Lewin introduced the term as a systems concept, as a force affecting managers and employees equally. Because the terminology, but not the context, was carried forward, later uses increasingly cast the problem as a psychological concept, personalizing the issue as employees versus managers. Acceptance of this model confuses an understanding of change dynamics. Letting go of the term - and the model it has come to embody - will make way for more useful models of change dynamics. The authors conclude with a discussion of alternatives to resistance to change. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Applied Behavioral Science
Subject: Social sciences
ISSN: 0021-8863
Year: 1999
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The open and closed corporation as conflicting forms of organization
Article Abstract:
A study was conducted to examine a conceptual model based on philosophical, sociological and anthropological principles concerning organizational change. The basic hypothesis was that organizations was societal systems, are marked by the simultaneous existence of two forms or organization that are mutually exclusive in part, and the resulting combinations or mixes of the two forms have the character of compromise. It was also examined if these combinations of open and closed organizational elements tended to be in flux, giving organizational change a partly cyclical structure.
Publication Name: Journal of Applied Behavioral Science
Subject: Social sciences
ISSN: 0021-8863
Year: 1999
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