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Visual management for a dynamic strategic change

Yvonne Eriksson (School of Innovation, Design and Engineering, Mälardalen University, Eskilstuna, Sweden)
Anders Fundin (School of Innovation, Design and Engineering, Mälardalen University, Eskilstuna, Sweden)

Journal of Organizational Change Management

ISSN: 0953-4814

Article publication date: 14 May 2018

2793

Abstract

Purpose

Strategic changes in an organization will face challenges not only related to the changes as such but also with regard to how the vision of the future is interpreted and understood by the organization. Visual management is a field of research that could contribute to change management research as a means to facilitate management of the dynamics in a change process and to facilitate the process of communication. The purpose of this paper is to problematize episodic change processes with regard to communication and to contribute with a proposed model on how to facilitate dynamic strategic change management using visual management.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses an interdisciplinary approach by linking change management literature to visual communication to be used for visual management.

Findings

A proposed model presents how a dynamic episodic change process can be managed in terms of visual management, potential pitfalls to avoid, and what ambidextrous capabilities are needed throughout the complete episodic change.

Research limitations/implications

The proposed model is still yet theoretical, based on a literature review of dynamic change management and visual communication. Future research will validate the model in practice to confirm its robustness.

Practical implications

An implementation of visual management in Kotter’s (1995) eight steps on how to strategically manage change in combination with theories on ambidexterity and episodic change is suggested.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to how visual management can support change management by combining visual communication and change management.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This research work is a part of the initiative for Excellence in Production Research (XPRES), a cooperation between Mälardalen University, the Royal Institute of Technology, and Swerea. XPRES is one of two government-funded Swedish strategic initiatives for research excellence in production.

Citation

Eriksson, Y. and Fundin, A. (2018), "Visual management for a dynamic strategic change", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 712-727. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-05-2016-0103

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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