INLS 131-1 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
(c) Anne Parker and UNC-CH

Managing Change

Agenda
October 15, 1996

• An environment for change
  • Learning organizations
• The change process
  • Lewin
  • Montana and Charnov
  • Individual innovation
• Some tools for managing change
  • Focus groups
  • Brainstorming
  • Prioritizing

Learning Organizations
Definitions

Senge: "An organizational culture in which individual development is a priority, outmoded and erroneous ways of thinking are actively identified and corrected, and the purpose and vision of the organization are clearly understood and supported by all its members." (Worrell)

Garvin: "An organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights." (Worrell)

Learning Organizations
Five core disciplines

(Senge)

• Personal mastery
  Organizations can't learn, only individuals can learn; continue to see reality more clearly; lifelong process
• Mental models
  Frameworks through which individuals see and understand the world; can limit reasoning, therefore continuously identify (make explicit) and test mental models.
• Shared vision
  Images of what the organization should be -- what the members are trying to create.
• Team learning
  Align and develop the capacity to work as a team; defining and clarifying roles and responsibilities.
• Systems thinking
  Senge's fifth discipline; foundation of theory. Without systems thinking mgt. has a tendency to look for familiar solutions; use short term fixes which may shift the problem elsewhere or fail to fix the underlying problem. Uses systems archetypes to define most common management situations.

Learning Organizations
Systems Archetype Example

Change Process

(K. Lewin)

change -> refreeze">

Managing the Change Process

(Montana and Charnov)

• Scanning activities and/or external events
  (can use focus groups as one means of identifying external events)
• Idea for change
  (can use brainstorming)
• Identify the scope of the problem
  (validate with focus groups)
• Develop alternatives
  (validate, get buy-in, with focus groups)
• Analyze alternatives tempered by constraints
• Select an alternative
  (validate, get buy-in, with focus groups)
• Implement change
• Evaluate results
  (can gather data with focus groups among other techniques)

(Repeat)

Note: Reality is much less linear -- many feedback loops. No recognition of need to "unfreeze"

Encouraging Individual Innovation

(Adapted from Everett Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations, New York, Free Press, 1983)

Innovation: "an idea, practice or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption" (Rogers, p. 11)

Encouraging Innovation:
Attributes of Innovations

(Except where noted, these attributes of an innovation are positively associated with earlier adoption of an innovation)

• Relative advantage
• Compatibility
• Complexity (negative association)
• Trialability
• Observability
• Potential for reinvention (flexibility)
• Product vs. process
• Discretionary vs. required use

Encouraging Innovation:
Innovation Adopter Categories

Encouraging Innovation:
Adopter Characteristics

Category	Characteristics	Marketing and Support Strategies for Technology Innovations
Innovators	Venturesome, risk takers Good contacts outside peer groups Can cope with high uncertainty Internally motivated May or may not be respected by peers	Opportunity Generally relevant examples Technical information
Early Adopters	Respectable More integrated into local social system than innovators Opinion leaders Make judicious innovation decisions Internally motivated	Opportunity Domain examples Critical success factor information Technical information Tacit administrative support
Early Majority	Deliberate Adopt innovations just before average Follow others in adopting innovations, but seldom lead Externally motivated	Incentives + opportunity Domain examples Procedural training Central technical support Administrative support
Late Majority	Skeptical Adopt slightly later than average Adopt for economic or peer pressure reasons, not usefulness Unwilling to risk scarce resources Externally motivated	Incentives + "push" Specific peer examples Technical and pedagogical training Local support Admin. encouragement
Laggards	Traditional Last group to adopt Have almost no opinion leadership Point of reference is the past Have limited resources, unwilling to risk	Incentives + "push" Specific peer examples Technical and pedagogical training Peer mentoring Admin. encouragement

Tools for Managing Change
Collecting data through focus groups

• Application: Problem definition; solution evaluation
• Direct inquiry with groups of "customers"
• Representative sample:
  Large group, highly structured topic
  vs.
  Small group, unstructured topic
• Limit questions
• Open-ended data collection
• Neutral questioning
• Check behavioral intentions

Tools for Managing Change
Analyzing focus group data

Customer words	Product/ Service Requirement	Who	How	Where	Possible quality indicators	Possible features
.	.	.	.	.	.	.
.	.	.	.	.	.	.

Tools for Managing Change
Brainstorming

• Agree on question
• Write it down
• Review guidelines:
  • No evaluation, criticism, or discussion
  • Creativity/ wild ideas welcome
  • Hitchhike -- build on each others' ideas
  • Record every idea; use originator's own words
  • Work quickly
• List ideas (Structured or unstructured)
• Clarify list: eliminate duplicates
• Proceed with prioritization/ decision method

Tools for Managing Change
Prioritize

(Penny Matrix variation)

• Decide who will rate
• Assign each rater a number of pennies to spend
• Have raters spend their "money"
• Total the expenditures for each item