دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی پیش بینی تغییر سازمانی - امرالد 2018

Abstract

Purpose – Existing research on the organizational implications of the introduction of new information technology (IT) has neglected to focus on the anticipation of organizational change. In this paper, the author examines the extended pre-implementation phase prior to the introduction of the largest-ever health IT (HIT) implementation in Denmark. The purpose of this paper is to expand the conceptualization of organizational change to include the neglected pre-implementation phase preceding large-scale organizational change projects. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on qualitative data consisting of interviews, documents and observations gathered during a three-year research project in the Danish health sector. An important source of methodical inspiration has been grounded theory, which has allowed the pertinent interview themes to evolve and allowed for the gradual development of a theoretical framework. Findings – The main finding of this paper is that the anticipatory pre-implementation phase is not simply passive waiting time for organizational members. Evidence from a three-year research project demonstrates how organizational members engage in recurring patterns of sensemaking, positioning and scripting of possible futures in preparation for the organizational changes that next generation HIT imposes. The study argues that resistance to organizational change may be better understood as resistance to having to give up institutionalized rights and responsibilities. Originality/value – The paper offers a conceptual model—the anticipation cycle—that enables the systematic analysis of the relational mechanisms at work when organizational members are preparing for pending organizational change. Early analysis based on the anticipation cycle enables organizations and scholars to bring previously black-boxed anticipatory patterns into the equation of organizational change.

Conclusion and reflections

When these lines are written, the development and deployment of the first wave of the new solution has already been completed. This is typically the point in time when research on the post-implementation phase and on the actual organizational changes caused by the new technology could commence. From a research point of view, it is almost as if nothing important happened before the system was switched on. The three years leading up to the go-live have shown that this is a fundamental misunderstanding. The irony is that anybody who has worked in an organization with a significant organizational change pending will know that talks during lunch or at the coffee machine start well before any actual changes occur. Whether a pending change stems from new technology, financial cutbacks, or ritualistic, recurring organizational reshuffling is less important. Once the genie is out of the bottle, the pending change becomes part of organizational reality, even if it is still in the future. This paper has presented a theoretical/conceptual framework for the analysis of this pre-implementation phase. The main finding of the paper is that organizational members’ reaction to an extended anticipatory phase is an engaging in the recurring patterns of sensemaking, positioning and scripting in an effort to cope with the inherent uncertainty of the navigation of an uncharted organizational landscape. The recurring pattern is described as the anticipation cycle. The anticipation cycle offers a view of the mechanisms inside the previously black-boxed pre-implementation phase of a pending organizational change.