A transdisciplinary change concept

Januar 19, 2011

Die Autorin Kora Kristof unternimmt mit dieser Forschungsarbeit den Versuch einer explorativen, transdisziplinären Theoriekonsolidierung. So wird eine umfassende Literaturanalyse verschiedenster, mit Veränderungsprozessen befasster Wissenschaftsdisziplinen, wie Ökonomie, Innovations- und Diffusionsforschung, Soziologie, Kommunikationswissenschaft und Psychologie vorgenommen und mit Veränderungskonzepten und Alltagstheorien aus der Praxis zusammengeführt. Letztere gehen aus einer Reihe von Interviews mit anerkannten Experten und PraktikerInnen aus Wirtschaft und Politik hervor.
Im Ergebnis wird ein allgemeingültiges, übertragbares Prozessmodell für soziale Veränderungen vorgestellt, welches phasen- und zielgruppenspezifische Erfolgsfaktoren beschreibt. Besondere Beachtung finden darin die Akteurskonstellationen und Eigenschaften von Change Agents, das Timing sowie Unterschiede zwischen der ersten Einführung einer sozialen Innovation und deren breiter Diffusion. Zwar bleibt die Gestaltung von sozialen Veränderungsprozessen eine Kunst, doch wer diese Faktoren berücksichtigt, kann die Erfolgswahrscheinlichkeit seiner Change-Projekten sicherlich erhöhen.

Kristof, Kora. (2010). Models of Change: Einführung und Verbreitung sozialer Innovationen und gesellschaftlicher Veränderungen in transdisziplinärer Perspektive. Zürich: Vdf Hochschulverlag AG

Source URL: http://change-centre.org/a-transdisciplinary-change-concept/

How to overcome change resistance

Mai 31, 2010

Changing one’s behaviour is oftentimes very difficult, though the desired change seems reasonable and logical. Coevally, psychological research shows that the human brain is composed of two diverging systems concerning decision making: The rational one and the emotional one.
The authors, Chip and Dan Heath, build on these findings theoretically and state that in order to achieve behaviour change, both parts of the brain have to be in line with the aspired aim. They underline the practical validity of this concept by a great variety of real life examples:
From individually altering one’s recycling habits to convincing others of consuming healthier food, from rebranding one’s business to overcoming corruption in governments, all these cases demonstrate very convincingly the way of overcoming change reluctance. This book is highly recommended for business executives as well as all human beings fighting for individual change.

Heath, C. & Heath, D. (2010). SWITCH. How to change things when change is hard. Broadway Business

Source URL: http://change-centre.org/how-to-overcome-change-resistance/

Successful change by top management’s power

Mai 25, 2010

Written by two practitioners in the field of consultancy, this quite controversial book addresses the oftentimes tabooed concept of power. The authors argue that half of all change management processes fail due to a lack of adequate leadership.
According to them, the top management level plays the decisive role in conflict resolution within an organisation. Therefore strong executives must not shy away from resolving these conflicts and communicating new strategies forcefully. Furthermore, change management is seen here as an enduring management task, not as a solution only in times of crisis.
The great plus of this guide is its clear thesis drawing a different picture of leadership, one that breaks with the common emphasis on consensus. It is easy to read (in German), yet does not aim at giving in detail advice for the reader to apply.

Oltmanns, T. & Nemeyer, D. (2010). Machtfrage Change. Warum Veränderungsprojekte meist auf Führungsebene scheitern und wie Sie es besser machen. Campus Verlag

Source URL: http://change-centre.org/successful-change-by-top-management%e2%80%99s-power-2/

International perspectives on educational change

März 20, 2010

Written by the leading educational researchers around the world, this international miscellany provides a diversified review of the educational change and its’ implementation research. It depicts lessons learned from past school reforms and community organizing for change, thereby pointing out the critical factors for success under diverging circumstances.
The book’s concern is to bridge the existing gap between research findings on educational change and the actual policy making process in order to fully unleash all potentials of the knowledge society. The concluding chapter focuses on teachers as those learning to lead the change at the forefront.
All readers with academic interest in the topic as well as policy makers and practitioners in the field of educational reform will find sound impulses for their work in this basal book.

Sugrue, C. (Ed.) (2008). The future of educational change: International perspectives. London, New York: Routledge

Source URL: http://change-centre.org/international-perspectives-on-educational-change/

Change without disruption: Dynamic Stability

Februar 17, 2010

This extraordinary, yet quite theoretical book challenges the current management paradigm of reiterating change initiatives which, according to the authors, produce even worse results due to permanent disruption and adaption pressure on unsettled, fatigued stakeholders.
Instead managers should first learn about their organization’s type of structure, then rebuild the structure into one that is more adaptive to change and finally induce dynamic stability.
The four authors therefore present a concept using the metaphor of geometric figures to describe four different types of organizational structures: The pyramid, cube, cylinder and sphere, the first being most resistant, the latter most open for change. Readers will additionally find useful real-life examples of companies for each of the outlined structures.

Scott-Morgan, P., Hoving, E., Smit, H. & Van der Slott, A. (2000). The end of change: How your company can sustain growth and innovation while avoiding change fatigue. New York: McGraw-Hill

Source URL: http://change-centre.org/change-without-disruption-dynamic-stability/

Managing Change across corporate cultures

Februar 10, 2010

When two companies are brought together into one business, may it be a joint venture or after mergers or acquisitions, one of the most decisive elements for the successful transition process is the integration of divergent corporate cultures. Thanks to this publication this oftentimes neglected determinant is investigated in detail and with scientific closeness.
The authors Fons Trompenaars and Peter Prud’homme introduce a novel model to specify and analyze the abstract concept of corporate cultures. In addition, they provide brief but very useful insight into the success stories of international players such as Ikea, Nokia and Suez in order to highlight the importance of corporate culture change for extraordinary business performance.

Trompenaars, F. & Prud’homme, P. (2005). Managing Change Across Corporate Cultures. Chichester: John Wiley and sons Inc.

Source URL: http://change-centre.org/managing-change-across-corporate-cultures/