This literature review examines the topics of change management and leadership by exploring how leadership attributes contribute to and/or hinder the successfulness of a change initiative. The main question undergirding this report is: What are some of the essential attributes and behaviours of an effective change leader? (More)
At the most general level, organizational change is present when a workplace experiences a difference in its functions, members, leaders, or form (as cited in Weick and Quinn, 1999). This change subsequently requires an adaptive response on the part of employees (Jex, 2002). Evidence suggests that perceptions of stress in the workplace result from an employee's cognitive appraisal of their work environment; empirical findings show that during organizational change in the form of a merger, employees consistently report feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, and job insecurity (Jex). Upon consideration of the fact that change often creates these negative feelings among employees, it is reasonable to infer that change is a precursor to higher levels of stress in the workplace, which give rise to tensions that require a certain mode of leadership.(More)
Every organization is DOING change management and many even have a dedicated change team. In the past 20 years, the practitioners and researchers in the field have seen a shift from hiring change management consultants to developing change management teams within an organization. Based on my experience, I provide my insights on the change process and suggest a practical approach to managing change in an organization.(More)
While change theorists explore the process of planned change from various perspectives, most would acknowledge the intellectual roots of their work stem from Kurt Lewin’s laboratory. Scratch the surface of planned change theories and Lewin’s spirit and conceptual framework will not be far below. A German-born psychologist, Lewin was considered the "founder of social psychology." What follows is an exploration of how Lewin’s work provided the deep root structure from which planned change theory has evolved. (More)
By Brian Pritchard
Reliability and Maintenance Manager
Shell Canada Energy
In my 28 years with Shell I have seen many change initiatives. Some were effective, many were not. I never really thought about why. That all changed when I was assigned the task of implementing a series of six business improvement best practices at our two oil sands manufacturing facilities in Alberta. The work processes were already written and the supporting IT tools were developed. All that was left was to roll them out. I quickly learned that this meant the easy part was done. (More)
By Brenda Barker Scott, Queen’s Industrial Relations Centre
At its core, facilitating organizational change is about energizing the right people to design and execute smart strategies. As sociologist Philip Selznik says: "Strategies take on value only as committed people infuse them with energy."(More)
Employee engagement is a top HR priority for the Ontario PublicService (OPS), says Richard McKinnell, a senior OPS manager and the2006 Amethyst Fellow at the Queen’s University School of PolicyStudies. Richard - former Assistant Deputy Minister in CorporateServices Division, and a Director of Communications for severalministries, including the Centre for Leadership and Human ResourceManagement – shares engagement lessons for leaders in the following Q& A.(More)
Queen’s Industrial Relations Centre Director Carol Beatty sat downwith CAW President Buzz Hargrove during his recent visit to campus and discusseddevelopments in the automobile manufacturing sector and the role of his unionin addressing major changes in the industry.(More)
By Carol Beatty, Director, Queen’s Industrial Relations Centre
Unions often feel uneasy about employee ownership, Dr. Beattysays. But in these cases drawn from her research, they learned to loveit, embracing it as a potent strategy for saving jobs, keeping plantsopen, and building better union-management relationships.(More)
By Brenda Barker Scott, Queen’s Industrial Relations Centre
Last month, Brenda discussed how diagnosis enables changeleaders to uncover what is really going on - and how that knowledgeyields both the best solutions and the energy for change. In part twoof her article, she elaborates on how diagnosis actually works tomobilize change, and how to make an accurate diagnosis.(More)
By Brenda Barker Scott, Queen’s Industrial Relations Centre
At its core, facilitating organizational change is aboutenergizing the right people to design and execute smart strategies. Associologist Philip Selznik says: "Strategies take on value only ascommitted people infuse them with energy." Read on for part one of anarticle that details how diagnosis lights that flame.(More)
During IRC's popular Change Management program last June, realestate and environmental consultant Harold Kenny shared his unique,sometimes unorthodox thoughts about how stakeholder communications canhelp make your change happen - in his case, years ahead of schedule andmillions under budget. Here's what Harold has to say about engagingstakeholders so that the sticks stay out of your wheels, and changekeeps rolling smoothly forward.(More)
By Kirsteen MacLeod,Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre
What, you may ask, is a yawp — and what does it have to do with being able to communicate well as a leader? Senior managers who participated in a day-long Queen's Industrial Relations Centre custom program found themselves considering this recently.(More)
Resistance is Futile: Making Change Simply Irresistible
By Brenda Barker, Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre
Have you ever woken up in the morning with a brilliant idea, one that solves a problem that’s preoccupied you for months? Perhaps you can’t quite believe the elegance of the solution, and you decide to sleep on it for one more night. The next morning, excited, convinced that your answer is sound, you go to the office, round up your team, and share your inspiration. Before humbly taking your bow amid their applause, you glance up at your colleagues. They are staring at you, in profound silence, all wearing the blankest of blank looks.(More)
Learn about an innovative change management initiative to bring e-government to Ontario. The case study details how the OPS built organizational capacity and engaged stakeholders and employees; as well as key factors for successful change. (Download)
The current operating environment, characterized by mandates to control costs, challenges organizations to find innovative ways to reward their employees. Motivational and compensation research indicates that money is not an employee?s primary motivation to work; firms, therefore, are turning to the practice of non-cash incentives such as incentive travel. This research examines the effectiveness of incentive travel in a Canadian context. It includes an assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of incentive travel from three perspectives: corporate (management/meeting planner), employee, and industry. As well, it considers incentive travel and motivation, evaluates a program at ?Company X?, and discusses practical implications, providing advice on how to design a motivating program. (Download)
One of the most frequently asked questions in change management is ?How can we build genuine and inclusive support for change within our organization, and do it quickly?? One answer to the dilemma of time versus wide participation is to use a large group whole systems change process. In this article, the author examines one of the whole systems processes, Future Search, and presents two case studies of its application in two very different change management scenarios: a regional economic development story from Canada and the creation of a national suicide prevention policy in Ireland. (Download)
Pradeep Kumar, Gregor Murray, and Sylvain Schetagn, 2000
This paper examines change management and labour organizations. Specifically, the research surveys the impacts of workplace changes such as downsizing and restructuring on unions and the work-life quality of employees. (Download)
Mergers and acquisitions often don't result in positive organizational change. In this current issues paper, the Dean of Science and Health from the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Technology discusses the four stages of the M & A process, human resource management issues such as retention, and essential cultural considerations for a successful merger. (Download)
How do you manage change while promoting labour-management collaboration? In today's organizations, unions and management are increasingly being asked to work together in areas that stretch far beyond collective agreements, such as organizational design and business and profitability planning. (Download)
To lay the groundwork for true and effective participation among stakeholders, change agentsmust create an environment that enables high quality conversations and learning interactionsand that engenders strong positive emotions. (Download)
While change theorists explore the process of planned change from various perspectives, most would acknowledge the intellectual roots of their work stem from Kurt Lewin’s laboratory. Scratch the surface of planned change theories and Lewin’s spirit and conceptual framework will not be far below. (Download)
To lay the groundwork for true and effective participation among stakeholders, change agents must create an environment that enables high quality conversations and learning interactions and that engenders strong positive emotions. (Download)
In this current difficult economic climate, many organizations are facing the unfortunate necessity to downsize and streamline operations. The big question for managers is: Can we avoid the pitfalls of downsizing and create the best possible outcome for our organization? Former IRC Director Carol Beatty reviews the best practices of leaders who have faced this daunting challenge and the lessons they have learned. (Download)
by Peter Edwards in conversation with Hilary Sirman, 2009
A leader's job is is to wash away the proverbial mud that is impeding organizational change, says Peter Edwards, CN's Vice President of Human Resources. Mud is a metaphor for what gets in the way of the flow of information in an organization. "Mud is things like: Why doesn’t the right information get to the right people?" Edwards said in conversation with the IRC. "Why doesn’t the leader know what’s really happening in a location? Why do people use email when they should just talk to people? Why do we create the structure that don’t allow us to communicate effectively?" In this paper, Edwards talks about the significant culture change that continues to sweep through CN ranks as a result of a never-ending mud-cleaning mindset. (Download)
Too often, implementing information technology initiatives neglects consideration of the human factor from very early in the process. The author demonstrates that attention to organization development and change management in IT implementation has resulted in a positive impact on productivity, job satisfaction, and other work attitudes. This justifies proactive efforts to plan for change management effectiveness in most organizational interventions, particularly in IT initiatives that traditionally tend to turn the organization into which they are introduced upside-down. (Download)
Do unionized organizations in British Columbia face a greater challenge attracting and retaining new post-secondary graduates? Does the often adversarial nature of the union-management relationship translate into a culture that is perceived as negative and inconsistent with Gen X-Y workplace values? To what extent does a perceived negative workplace culture affect their decision to join or stay? What can employers and unions do to reshape any negative perception that may exist? These are questions that Ken Kaiser, faculty member in the School of Business at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, has posed in human resource management and labour relations classes for several years. His answer: workplaces with a perceived adversarial culture are at a serious disadvantage in competing for young, trained professionals. (Download)
HRM Project Series - The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role and significance of unions and collective bargaining in facilitating workplace change. (More)
