MGW 3130Organisational Change and Development

Week 2: The role of the change agent

Week One Readings

• Readings for this week:

– Waddell, Cummings & Worley (2011) Chapters 3

– Caldwell, R. 2003. Change leaders and change managers: Different or complementary? Leadership & Organization Development Journal, (24)5/6, pp. 285-293.

Learning Objectives

1. Develop an understanding of who OD practitioners/change agents are and what their role is

2. Explore the competencies, knowledge and skills that OD practitioners should possess

3. Compare and contrast the nature of internal and external OD practitioners

4. Discuss some of the core values of OD professionals

5. Investigate ethics and ethical dilemmas that OD practitioners could be faced with

Activity: Yourself as a change agent

Learning Objective 1: Who is the OD practitioner?• Those who specialise in the OD profession and work specifically

as change managers– Individual practitioners or teams of practitioners

• May be internal or external to the organisation (or both)– OD consultants specifically trained in change management

> These can be specific to the area in need of change, e.g., an occupational health and safety officer

– Those in related OD fields> For example, anyone who plays a role in the organisation that directly

correlates with a change project

– Managers and administrators> Have gained competence in change management “on the job”> May be placed in change management role by senior managers

Why use an OD consultant?

• Knowledge of humanistic values

• For business effectiveness

• To work within the external environment

• Knowledge of various change methods and strategies

• To overcome political issues that may be experienced by internal change agents

Learning Objective 2: What should OD consultants know?

• OD consultants need a working knowledge of the following:

– Organisational behaviour (micro, meso, macro levels)

– Individual and social psychology

– Group dynamics

– Management/organisation theory

– Research methods

– Cross-cultural perspectives

– The business and its people

– Change management teams may consist of people with different skills, e.g., organisational psychologists and academics are not uncommon

Competencies of an effective OD practitioner

• Competencies/skills of effective OD practitioners are often similar to effective leaders

– Intrapersonal skills/self management competence> A high level of self-awareness> Ability to personally-centre own values, beliefs, opinions> Integrity to behave responsibly with helping others> Active learning skills> Balance between emotional and rationale sides of self> Ability to take constructive and non-constructive feedback

– Interpersonal skills> Understand how others perceive themselves and their place in the

organisation> Trust and rapport building skills> Being able to converse in appropriate language > Ability to treat others’ problems and information with respect

Competencies of an effective OD practitioner

• General consultation skills– How to carry out diagnosis and engage others in the process

– How to ask the right questions

– How to carry out information collection and analysis

– How to design and execute an intervention (change strategy)

– How to gain commitment from and motivate staff

• Knowledge of organisation development theory– Appreciation for different organisational change methods...

> Action research> Planned change> Incremental v large-scale change

– ...and interventions> Technostructural; Interpersonal

> Human resource management; Strategic

OD practitioners also need to be skilled at:

– Managing the consulting process

– Diagnosis at different levels (micro, meso, macro)

– Designing interventions

– Facilitation and process consultation

– Developing client capability

– Evaluating organisational change outcomes

Examples of OD consultant styles

Cheerleader Pathfinder

Persuader

Stabiliser Analyser

HighLow

High

Emphasis on effectiveness

Learning Objective 3: The nature of internal v external consultants Internal• An employee - usually management • Familiar with culture and norms• May:

– Better understand root problems– Not need to spend as long building

relationships– Lack specialised knowledge,

objectivity– Experience greater resistance to

change– Rate success more moderately– Manipulate change strategy

intentionally or non-intentionally– Play hybrid, competing roles

External• Not part of the organisation• Can bring in external experience• Unfamiliar with culture, norms,

power structures etc• May:

– Need to spend a lot of time entering the organisation

– Be more objective– Better understand OD principles– Be able to build trust more

effectively– Be more flexible in their approach– Be more able to terminate the

change relationship

Activity: Organisational change case study

Work in Groups to analyse the case.

Learning Objective 4: Core values of OD professionals

• Humanistic and democratic values (concern for people)– Focus on improvement of organisations through development of staff– Participation, empowerment and motivation of staff– Development of teams– Concern for individuals and their responses to change

• Pragmatic values (Concern for organisational effectiveness)– Focus on improvement through change to organisational structures

and processes– Profits and productivity– Restructuring, downsizing etc

• Ideally, OD professionals should balance both to meet economic and social needs of organisations

Learning Objective 5: Professional ethics

• Ethics and the OD consultant– OD consultants need to consider the ethics of:

> Performing helping relationship with organisational members

> Avoiding misconduct and abuse

> Use of power

> Personal values v needs of the organisation– Own agenda v organisational agenda

> Coercion– Forcing others to participate in an OD program

Antecedents Process Consequences

Ethical Dilemmas

• Misrepresentation• Misuse of data• Coercion• Value and goal conflict• Technical ineptitude

Role Episode

• Role conflict• Role ambiguity

Role ofthe

Change

Agent

Role of the

ClientSystem

ValuesGoalsNeeds

Abilities

A role episodic model of ethical dilemmas

Professional ethics

• Ethical dilemmas associated with the OD process

– Misrepresentation

> Claiming that an intervention will lead to particular results that are

unreasonable

– Misuse of data

> Punitive use of information collected about others; leaking personal or

organisational information

– Value and goal conflict

> What happens when the consultant and client disagree over an

organisational change approach?

– Technical ineptitude

> Attempting to implement interventions that OD consultants are not skilled at

> Suggesting interventions that are not aligned with the organisation’s goals

Summary

• This week’s lecture has:

– Explored who the OD practitioner/change agent is

– Explored the role of the change agent

– Examined skills, knowledge and competencies that change agents should possess

– Compared and contrasted internal and external change agents

– Discussed values, ethics and ethical dilemmas associated with OD practice