Positioning Theory

ANTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE ORGANIZATIONAL ANTICIPATING COPENHAGEN BUSINESS SCHOOL SOLBJERG PLADS 3 DK-2000 FREDERIKSBERG DANMARK WWW.CBS.DK ISSN 0906-6934 Print ISBN: 978-87-93483-66-8 Online ISBN: 978-87-93483-67-5 Simon Krogh ANTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE Doctoral School of Business and Management PhD Series 51.2016 PhD Series 51-2016 Anticipating Organizational Change A study of the pre-implementation phase of Sundhedsplatformen Simon Krogh PhD Thesis Supervisor: Anne Marie Bülow Submitted August 2016 IBC / LIMAC Simon Krogh Anticipating Organizational Change 1st edition 2016 PhD Series 51.2016 © Simon Krogh ISSN 0906-6934 Print ISBN: 978-87-93483-66-8 Online ISBN: 978-87-93483-67-5 Doctoral School of Business and Management is a cross disciplinary PhD School connected to research communities within the areas of Languages, Law, Informatics, Operations Management, Accounting, Communication and Cultural Studies. All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank my supervisors, Anne Marie Bülow and Maribel Blasco for guiding me to the finish. I would also like to thank Mikkel Flyverbom and Finn Borum for critical and constructive feedback along the way. Thanks to Barbara Czarniawska and the team at GRI for an inspiring stay in Gothenburg. A special thanks goes to all the great colleagues at Sundhedsplatformen, with whom I have shared the journey of Sundhedsplatformen from the early days at Blegdamsvej to ‘go-live’ at Herlev/Gentofte hospital. Last, but not least, I want to thank Hanne and the boys for your endless patience during the entire three years. IOU. 3 4 Summary Anticipating organizational change Ph.D. dissertation submitted by Simon Krogh to the Department of International Business Communication (IBC), Copenhagen Business School, August 2016 This study reports on the extended time period prior to the introduction of the largest ever Health IT implementation in Denmark – Sundhedsplatformen. The focus of the dissertation is on organizational implications of introducing new technology and more specifically the anticipation of organizational members waiting for changes to take effect. The 3-year period leading up to the ‘go-live’ of Sundhedsplatformen has been a unique opportunity to study the anticipatory phase in connection with large scale IT project and has resulted in the development of a theoretical / conceptual framework for the analysis of this pre-implementation phase. Three major findings have come out of the study. First of all, the study has demonstrated the presence of what I call the Anticipation Cycle. The Anticipation Cycle consists of recurring patterns of Sensemaking, Positioning and Scripting of the future in an organizational context, and the recurring nature is observed across professions. The anticipatory phase is in other words not passive, but characterized by anticipatory actions that can be studied systematically and used as cues in preparation of actual change. The Anticipation Cycle offers a view of the mechanisms inside the previously black-boxed pre-implementation phase of pending organizational change. Secondly the study has shown that during the anticipatory phase negative reactions to organizational change is not a simple matter of resistance to change per se. The study has demonstrated that it is better understood as individuals’ resistance to giving up institutionalized rights and responsibilities. If pending changes, during the pre- implementation phase does not appear to pose a threat to rights and responsibilities of the individual, it is less likely to cause resistance. The AS-model presented in the analysis can be used to map how organizational members are affected by the pending changes and subsequently decide where to initiate activities to alleviate the problems and concern of the actual change. 5 The third major finding of the dissertation is that the seeds of future organizational conflicts are already laid in the pre-implementation phase. Organizational members motion through the Anticipation Cycle results in what can be described as an uninformed optimism the clouds realization of a possible brutal future. Future users tend to focus on the practical and material aspect of the change and underestimates the organizational implications. The theoretical contribution of the dissertations is a proposal for how to expand the field of organizational change to include the anticipatory pre-implementation phase. The practical contribution of the dissertation is the introduction of theoretical / conceptual tools and models (the Anticipation Cycle and AS-model) which are both applicable in connection for analysis and design in connection planning of large scale organizational change program. 6 Resume Anticipating Organizational Change Ph.d. afhandling indleveret af Simon Krogh ved Institut for International Business Communication (IBC), Copenhagen Business School, August 2016 Denne afhandling drejer sig om perioden der er gået forud for den hidtil største implementering af sundheds-IT i Danmark – Sundhedsplatformen. Fokus i afhandlingen er på de organisatoriske konsekvenser af at introducere ny teknologi og mere specifikt på forventningerne hos de organisations medlemmer, som har udsigt til tage den nye teknologi i brug. De tre år som er gået forud Sundhedsplatformens ’go-live’ har været en unik mulighed for at studere forventningsfasen i forbindelse med et stort it-projekt og har resulteret i udviklingen af et teoretisk / konceptuelt framework til brug i forbindelse med analyse af en præ-implementeringsfase. Afhandlingen har resulteret i tre overordnede resultater. For det første har studiet anskueliggjort, at der findes det jeg kalder en forventnings cyklus – Anticipation Cycle. Denne forventningscyklus består i organisationsmedlemmers gentagelser af Sensemaking, Positioning og Scripting i en organisatorisk kontekst og findes på tværs af professioner. Forventningsfasen er med andre ord ikke passiv, men snarere kendetegnet af forventningsadfærd, som kan studeres systematisk og bruges i forberedelsen af organisatoriske forandringer. Forventningscyklussen giver indsigt i hidtil afskærmede eller usynlige mekanismer i præ-implementeringsfasen forud for organisatoriske forandringer. For det andet har studiet vist, at negative reaktioner blandt medlemmer af organisationen i forventningsfasen forud for organisatorisk forandringer, ikke blot skal ses som et simpelt udtryk for modstand mod forandring. Afhandlingen viser, at modstanden med fordel kan forstås som individers modstand mod at skulle opgive institutionaliserede rettigheder og forpligtigelser. Hvis en forestående forandring, i løbet af præ-implementeringsfasen ikke fremstår som en trussel mod individets rettigheder og forpligtigelser, så vil det i mindre grad resultere i modstand. AS-modellen (Autonomy vs Standardization), som præsenteres i analysen kan bruges til at kortlægge hvordan organisationsmedlemmer bliver påvirket af de forestående forandringer og 7 efterfølgende beslutninger om hvad der kan gøres for at afbøde de negative effekter af en forandring. Det tredje overordnede forhold, som afhandlingen giver indsigt i er at kimen til fremtidige organisatorisk konflikter allerede lægges i præ-implementeringsfasen forud for organisationsforandringer. Organisationsmedlemmers brug af eller bevægelse i gennem forventningscyklussen resulterer i hvad der kan beskrives som en ’uinformeret optimisme’ der er baseret på forestillinger, som skygger for en erkendelse af de ubehagelige aspekter af den forestående forandring. Brugere af den kommende teknologi har en tendens til at fokusere på praktiske og funktionelle aspekter af forandringen og undervurdere de organisatorisk konsekvenser. Ihukommende Kurt Lewins kendt dictum ’at intet er så praktisk som en god teori’, så består afhandlingens teoretiske og praktiske bidrag med andre ord i introduktionen af teoretiske / konceptuelle modeller (Anticipation Cycle og AS-modellen), som dels kan bidrage til at udvide forståelsen af organisationsforandringer til også at inkludere præ- implementeringsfasen, samt bruges i forbindelse med analyse og planlægning af organisatoriske forandringsprojekter. 8 Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... 3 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. 5 RESUMÉ ...................................................................................................................... 7 PROLOGUE................................................................................................................ 11 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH QUESTION .......................................... 13 1.1 – INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 13 1.2 – FOCUS OF DISSERTATION ............................................................................................... 16 1.3 – RESEARCH QUESTION .................................................................................................... 17 1.4 – STRUCTURE OF DISSERTATION ........................................................................................ 18 1.5 – CONTRIBUTION ..........................................................................................................

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