Deriving significant factors for managing change in UN

Abstract

Purpose

A consequence of the UN general assembly resolution calling for increased efficiency and better utilization of resources in all its agencies, is a mandate for change. As a response to this resolution, the purpose of this paper is to identify the key factors for managing change.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey methodology approach was used where officials representing department heads, middle managers, professionals and specialists were the target participants. Exploratory factor analysis was done for factor validation and reduction, followed by confirmatory factor analysis to identify the relationships between those factors.

Findings

Three significant factors, communication, temporal sensitivity and knowledge were found to represent a shared common theoretical propositions from Kotter’s, Lewin’s and ADKAR models. Extracted factor explain the proposed United Nations (UN) model.

Research limitations/implications

Due to political and cultural reasons, characteristics of participants could not be revealed. Also, a larger pool of participants spanning across all the UN agencies would provide more comprehensive view. The final UN model proposed herein would need to be further validated and tested within each agency as well as across them.

Practical implications

The study urges the UN to utilize its findings, with the hope of standardizing an effective change management model for all its agencies.

Originality/value

While change management literature primarily focuses on the private sector, few are applicable in the public sector. Research effort on managing change in UN is scarce. This study advocates the need for UN research to fill this very important gap. As such, the authors test existing theoretical model and then adapt it for the UN context.

Citation

Wan, J., Saade, R. and Wang, L. (2020), "Deriving significant factors for managing change in UN", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 114-126. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-10-2018-0288