MGW 3130 Organisational 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

High
Cheerleader Emphasis on morale Pathfinder

Persuader

Stabiliser
Low

Analyser
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

Values Goals Needs Abilities Role of

Role of the Change Agent

Role Episode

Ethical Dilemmas Misrepresentation

Misuse of data Coercion Value and goal conflict Technical ineptitude

Role conflict
Role ambiguity

the Client System

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 organisations goals

Summary
This weeks 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