It’s common in the workplace to hear leadership statements about change. Statements like: change is a constant or the only thing that is constant is change. Change pessimism has had a negative connotation for quite some time. Organizational change doesn’t have to be negative, painful, or even disruptive if it’s done right from the start. The goal of this article is to explore different strategies that can be used in a transformational change strategy. The point of view will be from a consultant working within a higher education organization. These strategies that will be examined will be search, top-down and bottom-up, experimental, quality, and lead/lag conferences. The goal is to provide an understanding of these strategies and how they can be applied in a higher educational setting.
Search conferences
Search conferences are a great strategy to use as a consultant to gain a strategic understanding of what the long-term vision of the organization might entail or become. Emery and Purser (1996) define search conferences as the use of open systems theory, which is a system that is viable and visible to all. In essence, it is transparent with nothing to hide. The goal of a successful search conference will have all the right decision makers in the same room who have the ability to provide valuable information. When organizations use search conferences to help with strategy, organizational leaders who attend the conference are asked to assess three main areas of the organization. These areas are environmental, systems and integration.
The first phase is environmental recovery. Consultants and conference leaders will ask participants to take a hard look at the world around them and what changes are occurring that could affect their organization. Also, what are some desirable outcomes for the organization that are based on the future? As the participants start to think through all the desirable outcomes and really start to create a roadmap in their head for the strategy, the second phase will be implemented.
During this second phase, participants are asked to examine the past and how the organization got to where it is today, analyze the present, and dream about the future of their system. For example, a consultant might ask participants what is unique to their culture or what has shaped their identity. The goal of this phase is to help participants explore their own internal environment and see where they come from.
The third phase is the combination of the first two phases or an integration of systems and environment. Emery and Purser (1996) define this phase in place with robust planning and action with operational plans that align with a desirable future. This is the phase where strategic plans are drawn up with all search conference participants. Examples of successful search conferences include school reform, water quality planning, juvenile justice system.
As a consultant, this type of transformation strategy can be very useful when working with many decision makers or even when working with external stakeholders who can provide input. This type of transformation strategy views the organization as a puzzle and brings together problem solvers to put it back together stronger than before. In the field of education, there are many stakeholders who might want their views heard, but due to the internal nature of higher education, not having external involvement would be the best recommendation due to the focus and objectives.
focus on quality
Total Quality Management or TQM has been a transformational strategy since the 1980s. Beer (2003) explored why TQM programs do not persist as a transformational change strategy in organizations. What they found was that patience and top-down leadership are to blame for the failures of TQM initiatives. For example, when a CEO and senior leadership decide it’s time to make a change, they can delegate responsibility to a small task force for implementation. What happens, according to Beer (2003), is that these small working groups dissolve before the transformation is complete or only tell senior leaders what they want to hear and do not reveal the truth for fear of the consequences. The main problem is that leadership wants immediate impact and results and with the implementation of a TQM change strategy, speed is not an option. Also, due to leadership’s top-down strategy and then delegation of tasks to a work group, there is little incentive for employees to make changes, as top management doesn’t seem committed enough to work on the change with them. your employees. This can cause resistance to change and can damage the trust factor of leadership. If senior leadership at all levels is not invested with the TQM transformation strategy, then the organization’s behaviors and actions will not align and the new culture will not adopt any new policies or behaviors.
Consultants working within the TQM model within higher education must understand all the rules and regulations associated with higher education. This is a great model when used correctly and can really simplify the process for large distance learning schools that have many campuses globally and nationally.
Experimentation
This is a unique transformation strategy where leadership can mix and match strategies to find the right fit for their organization. Macintosh and Maclean (1999) state that organizations cannot successfully change with a one-size-fits-all mentality that most models implement. The authors used the example of Newtonian laws where systems cannot exist unless there is equilibrium, but since change is non-equilibrium, change with a combination of different systems to create a new system that presents equilibrium for the organization. . For example, organizational learning is a fairly new field of study and can be used in this case. The example will indicate that the equilibrium of an organization will present itself as a static or routine institution, but this can be dangerous as innovation will fade and the organization will die out. By using organizational learning and challenging the current strategy, the organization can throw the organization out of balance and can then develop a new system within the best-fitting organizational learning paradigm.
A consultant must be careful when working on this type of transformation strategy. There need to be plans in place and predictable results that can be measured during the non-equilibrium state; otherwise, a state of chaos could ensue from which the organization cannot recover. On the other hand, this could be a beneficial transformation strategy by making the organization break out of static and routine and develop a new system that can redesign its own identity. Also, this type of transformational change can be a good option if there are many different avenues that need to be explored.
In addition to experimentation, during this type of transformational change, a consultant can use the lead and lag strategy as a compare and contrast to see what works and what doesn’t work within the change. If a certain strategy leads the way while the other lags behind, the lagging strategy will be eliminated. According to Breja, Banwet, and Iyer (2010), as long as the goal of the strategies is to achieve the objectives of the organization, a pattern will emerge that will, in fact, help transformational change and provide information about a strategy that is congruent with the organization.
Conclusion
With all the transformational change strategies, models, and concepts in the business world, it’s hard to believe that some organizations believe in one-size-fits-all models. Consultants can provide support and guidance, but the organization’s leadership must be held accountable for a successful transformation. Through search conferences, top-down TQM, and bottom-up experimentation, a transformative change strategy can be found for any organization, as long as that organization has the patience to see it through. If the change is done correctly, it can be straightforward and can provide incentives to both employees and stakeholders. Although change is a constant, it doesn’t have to be doom and gloom
References
Beer, M. (2003). Why Total Quality Management Programs Don’t Persist: The Role of Quality Management and Implications for Leading a TQM* Transformation. Decision Sciences, 34(4), 623-642.
Breja, SK, Banwet, DK, & Iyer, KC (2011). Quality strategy for transformation: a case study. TQM Magazine, 23(1), 5-20. d
Emery, M. & Purser, RE (1996). The search conference: a powerful method for planning organizational change and community action. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass.
MacIntosh, R. & MacLean, D. (1999). Conditioned Emergence: A Dissipative Structures Approach to Transformation. Strategic Management Journal, 20(4), 297.