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RESEARCH IN ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT

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RESEARCH IN ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT

Series Editors: Abraham B. (Rami) Shani and Debra A. Noumair

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RESEARCH IN ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT VOLUME 25

RESEARCH IN ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT

EDITED BY

ABRAHAM B. (RAMI) SHANI

California Polytechnic State University, USA; Politecnico di Milano, Italy

DEBRA A. NOUMAIR

Columbia University, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2017

Copyright © 2017 Emerald Publishing Limited

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78714-436-1 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-78714-435-4 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-78714-930-4 (Epub)

ISSN: 0897-3016 (Series)

List of Contributors

Preface

The Annual Research in Organizational Change and Development Series has reached a milestone. The current issue is the 25th volume marking the silver anniversary of the series. The first annual research volume was published 30 years ago by JAI Press (1987). Earmarking this achievement we have asked several of the authors that contributed to the first few volumes to contribute a reflective manuscript that captures the evolution of the field through their perspective during the past 30 years. The volume includes six such contributions. This volume continues the tradition of providing insightful and thought-provoking chapters. Seven of the manuscripts are based on a 30-year longitudinal reflection and introspection about the Organizational Development and Change (OD&C) field, specific change and development orientations, emerging research trajectories in OD&C, and the evolution of foundational concepts over time. Other contributions focus on the role that identity plays in achieving strategic change; the merger process of two academic institutions; and the power of using a systems psychodynamics frame, attending to group dynamics, conducting psycho-social research, and viewing self-as-instrument as a rigorous method of sense-making when engaged in OD&C research and practice.

This silver anniversary of Research in Organization Change and Development beyond the reflective perspective on the field by some of the contributors continues the tradition of providing insightful and thought-provoking chapters. The chapters in the volume represent a commitment to maintaining the high quality of work that many of you have come to expect from this publication. This volume provides opportunities to understand the roots of the field, its evolution through theoretical development and emerging practice, an invitation to explore the philosophy of OD&C research, an examination of the possible need to reboot change management, examination of the impact of research on the field’s development for the past 30 years, and a suggested ambitious research agenda for current and future scholar-practitioners in the field.

The first and the last chapters in this volume capture reflections on past, present, and future research trajectories in the field. William A. Pasmore and Richard W. Woodman, the founders of this annual research series, note current shifts in our world that trigger the need to rethink what we know and how we intervene. They claim that these shifts and their effects on individuals, organizations, and societies open up exciting possibilities for the advancement of our field that can be achieved through research and action. In the last chapter, David Coghlan poses the question as to how we can learn about the philosophy of OD&C research from the 24 published volumes of ROCD – that include 202 chapters. He adopts and advances the process of interiority and invites the readers to engage with the questions themselves and thereby enact interiority with OD&C itself.

The original articulation of Appreciative Inquiry in organizational life was advanced in a chapter that was contributed by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva and published in the first volume of ROCD in 1987. Using the original manuscript, David provides personal reflections, key points of emphasis, clarifications, or editorial commentaries after three decades of theoretical development and practice. Organization transformation within the OD context, as opposed to the business strategy context, was first published by Jean M. Bartunek and Meryl Louis in the second volume of ROCD in 1988. In this volume, Jean M. Bartunek and Elise B. Jones examine how the theory and practice of organizational transformation evolved during the past three decades. Marvin Weisbord reflects on four decades of his development as a scholarly-practitioner in the field working on improving work places while building on the metaphors of flying and learning how to fly. Todd D. Jick and Kinthi D. M. Sturtevant, based on ongoing collaboration, reflect on the last 30 years of the change management field and suggest that strong evidence from both academe and industry indicate the need to rethink methods and frameworks; the role and skills of change leadership for the future; and collaboration between academics and practitioners.

Collaboration continues to be one of the tenants of our field. Phil H. Mirvis and Mitchell Lee Marks, the second recipients of the Pasmore-Woodman Award (AOM 2016), reflect on co-researching and co-doing Merger and Acquisitions Integration for over 35 years. The authors reflect on how their thinking, research methods, and interventions developed over time; how they derived theory from practice and applied theory to practice; and how their shift in perspectives from academe toward scholarly-practice influenced their thinking and writing. Collectively, these seven contributions take a longitudinal perspective, include personal reflections, and challenge the scholars and practitioners in the field to integrate some of the learning gained into current practice and theoretical development but also begin to address some of the emerging challenges in the field.

Several of the challenges faced by the field are explored in three contributions, each of which emphasize a distinct theme, namely: the need to pay attention to the role that performance management can play in the implementation of strategic change; the increasing challenges that OD&C face in facilitating the merger process; and the need to reconsider the importance of group dynamics in OD&C work as there has been a move away from considering irrational and unconscious dynamics in organizational life and more attention focused on rational and observable behavior that can be measured and quantified. Kajsa Asplund, Pernilla Bolander, Andreas Werr apply a conceptual framework to an empirical study of a strategic change initiative in a school organization that was supported by a new performance management practice. The study contributes to our understanding of individual- and group-level heterogeneity in reactions to strategic change, and also to a more nuanced conception of identity threat. Staci Lynne Ripkey presents a case study of inter-institutional merger in higher education as an example of an organizational adaptation strategy. She examines what can be learned about how a merger in higher education may be carried out strategically from studying the described experiences of individuals involved in a specific case of inter-institutional merger, and how the theoretical perspective of organizational ambidexterity may help shed light on the process of inter-institutional merger. Debra A. Noumair, Danielle L. Pfaff, Christine M. St. John, Asha N. Gipson, and Sarah J. Brazaitis introduce the tool Beneath the Surface of the Burke-Litwin Model that invites consideration of how the overt behavior of individuals, groups, and entire systems is linked to covert dynamics. This more comprehensive view of organizational life provides scholar-practitioners with a systemic perspective, a view of covert dynamics by organizational level, and support for the ongoing development of one’s capacity for using self-as-instrument when engaged in OD&C efforts.

This volume of Research in Organization Change and Development continues the long established tradition of providing a special platform for scholars, practitioners, and scholar-practitioners to share new thought-provoking research-based insights. The chapters in the volume represent a continuous commitment to the high quality of collaborative work that many of you have come to expect from this publication. In addition, collectively, the volume represents tremendous diversity: multiple generations of authors including the creators of the ROCD series, a former AOM President and senior scholar, winners of the Division’s Pasmore-Woodman Award, few founders of the field, well-established thought leaders and colleagues at various stages of career including newly minted OD&C researchers and practitioners; colleagues from inside and outside the United States; historical pieces that are foundational and current work that opens up new avenues of inquiry as well as multiple research methodologies. Together, these chapters and the collaborative engagements they represent, contribute to a sustainable trajectory of research that will broaden and deepen the field of Organization Development and Change.

From our editorial perspective, one of the best parts of our work on this series is that our collaborations with the authors always bring new learning, whether in the form of making history accessible and relevant, challenging assumptions, extending theory in creative ways, or integrating perspectives that heretofore have remained separate. The series has been around long enough to substantiate the claim that we have published some true classics in the field of organization development and change. We have also provided scholar-practitioners across career stage, sector, and geography with a platform to share their work and for colleagues to learn from each other in order to inform future collaborations. Moreover, the ROCD Series have provided reliable sources for contributing to the ongoing development of Organization Development and Change theory, research, and practice.

This silver anniversary of Research in Organization Change and Development volume demonstrates that the drive toward understanding and mastering the process of Organizational Development and Change in a rapidly changing environmental context has been and continues to be a driving force in the development of the field. This volume affords new opportunities to understand the roots of the field and build on its foundation by considering current developments in research, theory, and practice. Together, these chapters and the collaborative engagements they represent, contribute to a sustainable trajectory of research that will broaden and deepen the field of Organization Development and Change. It is our hope, that as you read through this volume, you will consider your own thoughts and practice and possible contributions to the field and contact us to suggest topics for future volumes.

Abraham B. (Rami) Shani

Debra A. Noumair

Editors