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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 27

RESEARCH IN ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT

EDITED BY

ABRAHAM B. (RAMI) SHANI

California Polytechnic State University, USA

DEBRA A. NOUMAIR

Teachers College, 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 2019

Copyright © 2019 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: 978-1-78973-554-3 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-78973-553-6 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-78973-555-0 (Epub)

ISSN: 0897-3016 (Series)

List of Contributors

Preface

JAI Press published the first annual volume of Research in Organization Change and Development in 1987. Since 2009 and for the last 11 volumes, our partner in publishing ROCD, Emerald, has enhanced the quality of this special platform for scholars and practitioners. Together we are continuing the tradition of publishing high quality of work that many of you have come to expect from this annual publication.

Volume twenty-seven of Research in Organizational Change and Development continues the tradition of providing insightful and thought-provoking chapters. This volume includes contributions by colleagues from Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The diversity and inclusivity of the ROCD series, since its inception over 30 years ago, continues to flourish.

The broad umbrella theme that AOM 2019 provided “Understanding the Inclusive Organization” framed a broad terrain within which to explore organization development and change. Although none of the chapters in this volume addressed directly the theme, all provide some relevant insights. The philosophical and methodological foundation of organization development and change magnify the distinct emphasis of the field on collaboration and inclusion in guiding our work. Positive organizational scholarship provides an inclusive platform for engagement in emerging challenges that individuals and organizations experience and a more scientific base for the study and practice of genuine, sustainable change. The presence and practice of humility and humble behaviors in which an attitude of inquiry, kinship, extraordinary collaboration, professional excellence, and a focus on values attracts individuals to engage in organization development and change efforts. The socioeconomic approach to organization development and change enhances compatibility between the human system, stakeholders, and stockholders in building up a socially responsible capitalism. The importance of collaborative effort across hierarchies and vertical boundaries, despite emotional and political tensions that undermine middle managers’ role as change agent, highlights the critical role of inclusivity in the change process. Collective attitudes and individual attitudes are linked through top-down or bottom-up processes, or a combination of both, and as such can enhance levels of engagement. Leaders in social enterprise development continuously respond to common paradoxes of engagement via a hybrid of top-down influence and bottom-up participation practices. Last, enhancing a culture of inclusive, agile and thriving teams can help organizations to develop resiliency in environments of continuous change.

These contributions represent a commitment to the future. Many times over the years, we’ve been asked the question, “Is there still a vibrant scholarly community in organization development?” The answer is a resounding yes, as those of you who have attended professional conferences like the Academy of Management, Organization Design Forum or Organization Development Network will attest. While the field continues to evolve, the need for organizational change has never been more apparent than it is today, amid yet another global economic meltdown, continuing wars, and threats to the sustainability of the planet. It is no surprise to us that scholars in our field are stepping up to help address these challenges.

The field continues to evolve and increase our understanding of the complexities of organizational development and change. While we are smarter about it now than 70 years ago when the field began, we are still far from mastery or efficiency. We have models and principles to follow, and a great deal of research to support what does and does not work. Yet, we are lacking a sure-fire formula for success and it is our belief that due to the inherently human and emotional nature of change in organizational settings that no such formula will ever be found. That said we are improving the state of the art, as the papers in this volume attest. Some of these papers bring new perspectives to classic issues in the field such as facilitating change through groups and examining collective rather than individual attitudes toward change. Others challenge us by offering consolidations of what we know about organizational development and change either by providing an examination of social science philosophies and offering a (new) solid foundation from which to conduct research and practice or by increasing our awareness of how to produce change through approaches that challenge the dominant discourse. From our editorial perspective, one of the most wonderful things about our work on this series is that it always brings surprises, whether in the form of a new way of thinking about old problems or a different way to think about opportunities we did not know existed. 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. While it’s too early to say whether the papers in Volume 27 contain new classics, there are certainly some significant and worthwhile pieces to read that have the potential to become classics at some time in the future.

Leading off volume twenty-seven is a paper by David Coghlan, Rami Shani, and George Hay that provides an historical perspective on the progression of philosophies of social science as currently practiced in organization development and change by showing how researchers in the field structure their inquiry based on inherent philosophical dimensions. The authors challenge members of the community to reflect on the practice of OD&C as a social science and to consolidate the philosophical and methodological foundation of the field. Collaboration and inclusivity seem to be central elements of philosophy, research, and practice. Kim S. Cameron and Robert E. Quinn, the recipients of last year’s Pasmore and Woodman Award, take us to the relatively new emerging field of positive organizational scholarship and the role that it plays in the scientific base for the study and the practice of “genuine and sustainable change.” The authors review the origins and nature of positive organizational scholarship and present a framework for positive change for individual agents of change. The chapter offers a new perspective on the importance of focusing on changing oneself rather changing others as an enabler of extraordinary collaborative positive change. Melissa A. Norcross and Mike R. Manning challenge us to consider how we think about humility in collaborative organization development and change work. A main thrust of their focus is on connecting humility and humble human behaviors to creating a psychologically safety environment within which inclusivity and collaboration can be enhanced in producing learning and change.

Olivier Voyant, Frantz Datry, Amadine Savall, Véronique Zardet, and Marc Bonnet share the essence of the socioeconomic intervention approach that was developed at the ISEOR research center in France. The center led over 1,800 projects with different organizations that utilized the approach and the authors present one of the cases in the chapter. A main thrust of the chapter is the focus on connecting organization development and economic performance. At the core of the argument one can find the notion that the scholarly-practice of OD that integrates the socioeconomic approach can enhance inclusivity and socially responsible capitalism. Jean E. Neumann, Kim Turnbull James, and Russ Vince explore the under-researched tensions that middle managers experience in leading change. The authors advance a comprehensive framework that captures the key elements of the underlying dynamics and processes that influence the degree to which middle managers can shape and navigate change. Leading change from the middle is impacted by the political dynamics of the system, the emotional dynamics of the humans that are engaged, and the collaborative context of social interactions and social structures. Dave Bouckenooghe, Gavin M. Schwarz, Bradley Hastings, and Sandor G. Lukacs de Pereny explore the role that collective attitudes play in enhancing or hindering change initiatives. Drawing on social network theory, the authors advance an alternative perspective that can improve our understanding of how collective attitudes to change develop over time and as such can enable scholars and practitioners to better manage the change process. Laura Galuppo, Mara Gorli, Benjamin N. Alexander, and Giuseppe Scaratti examine how leaders in social enterprise development phase the tensions of common paradoxes of engagement via a hybrid of top-down influence and bottom-up participation practices as they led change and development. Using their observation of an Italian Healthcare Network, the authors advance a conceptual framework and explore various leadership orientations to address the tensions as they led development efforts. Finally, Rachael L. Narel, Therese Yeager, and Peter F. Sorensen, Jr. argue that enhancing a culture of inclusive, agile, and thriving teams can help organization’s resiliency in an environment of continuous change. The authors propose an agile and thriving team framework and suggest that it can be utilized as a development tool for change.

From our editorial perspective, one of the best parts of our work on this series is that our collaborations with the authors always brings 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 change and development. 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 has provided reliable sources for contributing to the ongoing development of organization change and development theory, research, and practice. It is our hope, that as you read through the volume, you will consider your own thoughts and practice and possible contributions to the field and contact us to suggest topics or themes for future volumes.

Abraham B. (Rami) Shani

Debra A. Noumair

Editors