Understanding organization change: the case of a troubled organization

Abstract

Over the past few years many workers have lived through buyouts, mergers, acquisitions, upsizings, and downsizings as well as many other changes in the workplace. However, witnessing and feeling the effects of such changes does not guarantee that employees will automatically comprehend the changes. Understanding changes in the workplace requires that employees grasp basic concepts related to the nature of change in human systems. Therefore, this paper presents a short case study of one company struggling through some troubling changes. The reader is asked to look at the changes in terms of ten concepts related to planned change. It is recommended that the case and related questions be discussed in small groups. This will enable various perspectives on the case to be discussed and appreciated. The groups should include a mix of employees, supervisors, and managers.

Citation

Gambil, T. and Kirk, J. (1999), "Understanding organization change: the case of a troubled organization", Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 48-52. https://doi.org/10.1108/13665629910260734