Week 18 Journal

Week 18

1)      How can using the Change Kaleidoscope and Force-field analysis help an organization to deliver its intended strategy?

2)      Add your Change Kaleidoscope diagram for Hewlett Packard (Exercise 1 – slide 21) to your Learning Journal.

Answers

1)      Change Kaleidoscope

A change kaleidoscope is a diagnostic structure that aims at monitoring and seeing through a change process that is situation sensitive. The particular function of a change kaleidoscope makes it bear immense importance in the organizations management process. Change kaleidoscope was developed by Hope Hailey & Balogun in order to consider different factors and implementation options that need consideration during change. The change kaleidoscope has an exterior ring composed of organizations strategic context, a central ring that encompasses the change context and an interior ring that has the design choices at disposal.  Using change kaleidoscope organization can constantly monitors and examines the change under implementation.

Change kaleidoscope (Change Mixture)

Source: Adapted from J. Balogun and V. Hope Hailey, Exploring Strategic Change, Prentice Hall, 2009

The contextual features shown in the box have their own meaning and importance in making the strategy. These contextual features can be defined as:

1)      Time: This is the time that an organization has to achieve change. Organizations in crisis have little time, and they need to change reactively.

2)      Scope: The scope is the degree of change required in terms of realignment or transformation. It is also necessary to consider how much of the organization is affected. Is the change restricted to a particular division or department, or is it organization wide?

3)      Preservation: Preservation relates to the extent to which it is necessary to maintain certain ways of working and certain aspects of culture retain particular groups of staff, preserve specific organizational competencies.

4)      Diversity: This is the degree of diversity among the staff groups who need to undertake change. Divisions and departments, for example sales and R&D, may have different subcultures. Divisional cultures may also be affected by national cultures.

5)      Capability : There are three levels of capability :

i)                     Individual: the abilities of individuals to cope with the transition that they will have to undertake.

ii)                   Managerial: the ability of managers to help their staff through the transition process.

iii)                Organizational: the existence of organizational resources with the knowledge and ability to manage change required.

6)      Capacity: This relates to the resources that are available for investment in the proposed change.

7)      Readiness: This is the extent to which staff is aware of the need for change and committed to making the personal changes required of them.

8)      Power: This is the amount of power, or autonomy, that the key change agents have to implement change as they wish.

Force Field Analysis

Force Field Analysis is a general tool for systematically analyzing the factors found in complex problems. It frames problems in terms of factors or pressures that support the status quo (restraining forces) and those pressures that support change in the desired direction (driving forces). A factor can be people, resources, attitudes, traditions, regulations, values, needs, desires, etc. As a tool for managing change, Force Field Analysis helps identify those factors that must be addressed and monitored if change is to be successful. Force field analysis focuses on the certain procedure which helps to deliver the intended strategy to any organization. The procedures are as follows:

Step 1 Defining the Problem

What is the nature of our current situation that is unacceptable and needs modification? It is useful to separate the specific problem from those things that are working well.

Step 2 Defining the Change Objective

What is the desired situation that would be worth working toward? Be as specific as possible.

Step 3 Identifying the Driving Forces

What are the factors or pressures that support change in the desired direction? What are the relative strengths of these forces? Place these driving forces on the chart on the Force Field Analysis diagram as labeled arrows with the length of the arrow reflecting the relative strength of each force.

Step 4 Identifying the Restraining Forces

What are the factors or pressures that resist the proposed change and maintain the status quo? Represent these forces on the diagram as you did those for the driving forces. What are the inter-relationships among the restraining forces?

Step 5 Developing the Comprehensive Change Strategy

The Status Quo figure is shown below.

2)       Change Kaleidoscope diagram for Hewlett Packard

References

• Chris, R. (2009), 'Working with Emergent Change in Organizations’, available at: http://www.oikos-uk.com/docs_influences/Emergent%20Change%20print.pdf (accessed 20 November 2009)

·         J. Balogun and V. Hope Hailey, Exploring Strategic Change, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall, 2009

• Hayes, J. (2002), The Theory and Practice of Change Management, Palgrave, New York, N.Y.
• Hughes, M. (2006), Change Management: A critical perspective, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, London

·         Online available from http://www.tutor2u.net/business/strategy/change-management-force-field-analysis.html/ [Accessed May1 6, 2013]