Week Six Study Guide: Leading Organizational Change

Study Guide 1 LDR/531 Version 5 Week Six Study Guide: Leading Organizational Change

Readings and Key Terms

 Ch. 13 of Organizational Behavior

o Power o Sexual harassment o Politics o Behavior

 Ch. 6 of The Strategy Process

o Top-down change o Bottom-up change o Converging change o Frame-breaking change o Logical incremental process

Content Overview

 Power

o “Power refers to a capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so B acts in accordance with A’s wishes” (Robbins & Judge, 2013, p. 412).

 Formal power  Personal power

o Causes of dependence: importance, scarcity, nonsubstitutability

 Power tactics

o Nine distinct influence tactics:

 Legitimacy  Rational persuasion  Inspirational appeals  Consultation  Exchange  Personal appeals  Ingratiation  Pressure

 Coalitions

o Soft tactics – personal and inspirational appeals, as well as rational persuasion and consultation o Hard tactics – exchange, coalitions, and pressure

 Political behavior

o Includes behaviors such as the following:

 “Withholding key information from decision makers  Joining a coalition  Whistleblowing  Spreading rumors  Leaking confidential information to the media  Exchanging favors with others for mutual benefit  Lobbying on behalf of or against a particular individual or decision alternative” (Robbins & Judge, 2013, p. 424).

o Contributing factors: Review Exhibit 13-3 in Ch. 13 of Organizational Behavior.

 Conflict over the allocation of limited resources, such as departmental budgets, space, project responsibilities, and salary adjustments  Individual – high self-monitors, internal locus of control, high Mach personality, and so forth  Organizational – reallocation of resources, promotion opportunities, low trust, and so forth  Politicking

 Comprehensive change

o Top-down change: Review Figure 2: Transformational Leadership: A Three-Act Drama described by Tichy and Sherman (1993 in Ch. 6 in The Strategy Process.

 Awakening  Envisioning  Rearchitecturing

o Bottom-up change: Review Box 1: “Six Steps to Effective Change” for managers at the business unit or plant level in Ch. 6 of The Strategy Process.

o Periods of convergence

 Converging change: fine-tuning  Converging change: incremental adjustments to environment shifts

 Organizational momentum

o Organizational structures and employees work together over time and become comfortable – eve ryone knows how to do what must be accomplished and things work smoothly.

 Pros – develops organization history that explains this is how you do it and why you do it this way  Cons – can become too comfortable, resistant to change, and not watch for external threats

 Frame-breaking change

o Leading forces

 Industry discontinuities  Product life cycle shifts  Internal company dynamics

o Scope

 Reformed mission and core values  Altered power and status  Reorganization  Revised interaction patterns  New executives

 Incremental process

o Integrating the strategy

 Concentrating on a few key thrusts  Coalition management