Organizational Transformation

"Avolio demonstrates his mastery of and uncommon ability to integrate a wide set of psychological, leadership, and organizational research streams to create a detailed and theoretically sound model of individual-within-organization transformation."

Auteur
Bruce J. Avolio is Professor and Executive Director of the Center for Leadership and Strategic Thinking at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business. He has published more than 150 articles and 11 books.

Résumé

It is estimated that approximately seventy percent of organizations fail in their attempts to implement transformative change. This book will help lessen that rate. Using real-world examples, Bruce J. Avolio maps four states of change that any organization must go through: identifying and recognizing, initiating, emerging and impending, and institutionalizing new ways of operating. Each state is described in detail, as are the leadership qualities necessary to solidify and transition from one to the next. These "in-between moments" are an often-overlooked key to organizational transformation. So too is the fact that organizational change happens one individual at a time. For transformation to take root, each person must shift his or her sense of self at work and the role that he or she plays in the transforming organization.

Intended as a road map, rather than a "how-to" manual with fixed procedures, Organizational Transformation will help leaders to locate their organization's position on a continuum of progress and confidently navigate planned, whole-systems change, overcoming the challenges of growing from and adjusting to watershed moments.

Contenu
Contents and Abstracts1Building the Narrative chapter abstract This chapter presents an overview of the main focus and goals for this book, which is changing organizations one individual at a time to align with the new organization. The chapter highlights the importance of learning what the narrative is that guides the way people work in the organization. It then moves to examining how one changes the narrative and the different ways this can be accomplished. Numerous examples are provided of organizations undergoing change and transformation, including Microsoft, Alaska Airlines and several large healthcare systems. This chapter sets the stage for understanding that the unit of analysis in any organizational transformation is the individual, and that to transform an organization, you must transform each individual's narrative to be in line with what the new organization represents. 2First Principle: Changing the Self-Concept chapter abstract This chapter begins by focusing on first principles thinking. With first principles thinking one seeks to come up with the organizing principle that guides the development of an organization's script or narrative, which helps to explain the direct being set for change. Numerous examples of first principles thinking are provided including the Mayo Clinic's emphasis on collaboration, and the focus that IBM has taken in reinforcing the idea of getting employees to THINK. These and other organizational examples provide a detailed look at why understanding the core principle that guides your organization's narrative is so important to determining how to best transform an organization. 3The Four-State Model chapter abstract This chapter covers a model that constitutes the four universal states that organizations go through when transforming from one narrative to a new narrative. The goal for this chapter is to provide a high level overview of the 4 states and the components that make up each of the states of change. The states include recognizing the signal(s) that change is needed, deciding on what to initiate when launching the change process, addressing the impending changes that emerge and evolve over time, and then ultimately institutionalizing the change, such that it becomes part of the new narrative in terms of how individuals identify with their organization. The chapter includes organizational examples of change efforts that cover all four states that comprise organizational transformation. These examples build on earlier ones, and extend the description of these organizations across the different states. 4The Identifying State:The Signal for Change chapter abstract This chapter addresses when an organization's leaders or other individuals begin to notice signs or signals that suggest change may be required. Examples are provided where organization's completely missed the change that was required, when organizations such as Amazon or Lyft entered and disrupted their markets. It is incumbent upon the organization and especially its leadership, to be vigilant in looking out for when and where these signals emerge. Cases such as the LuLu Lemon organization and CEO are covered, which serve to demonstrate how the leaders of those organizations recognized the need for change and then went forward in promoting the change process. This chapter is based on a foundational theory in the psychological sciences called Signal Detection Theory, which explains how we are able to identify important signals amidst all of the daily noise out there to determine what requires a response and what can be ignored. 5The Initiating State: Beginning the Launch chapter abstract In this state, the organization and its leaders/members are coming to or have now recognized the signals that point to the need for change and transformation. The organization begins to move from contemplating the need for change to taking actual actions to change the way individuals view their organization, and how those views relate to their current and future scripts or narrative. Examples such as LuLu Lemon demonstrate how they have moved from identifying the signals to actually taking ownership for initiating change. Cases and justifications need to be made to promote change, but as is true of most change efforts, many cases and/or challenges stop or stall the change process. Actions taken in this state are critical to making sure that organizational members become aligned around the change initiative in order to build a reliable and repeatable practice that can sustain change efforts. 6The Impending State: Breaking Better chapter abstract In this chapter, the theme of breaking better is used in terms of explaining how any change process must be continually monitored, adjusted and reinforced for the organization to continue to shift in the right direction towards necessary change. In this state, what has been started in terms of change, has not yet fully changed how people in the organization either work nor identify with the change process. Most of the organizations that were studied for this book either got stuck in this state or failed and returned to the earlier states of change. This chapter explores what can enable change or become an obstacle, including front and center employees who do not take ownership for the change process. This chapter also goes into much more depth regarding the change process that transformed Alaska Airlines, and the change process that didn't work in a large healthcare system. 7The Institutionalizing State: Defining "My Organization" chapter abstract The fourth state represents an organization that has changed the way it functions, but more importantly how individuals in the organization view themselves in terms of their individual and collective identity. New commitments have been formed in terms of the way people in the 'organization does its work'. New processes are in place and new practices are tied to the climate and culture of the organization that has now undergone a transformation. The examples provided cover a broad and diverse range of contexts. It also summarizes what happened at a sunglass manufacturing plant that went through a fundamental transformation in terms of both the climate and culture, and how it went from being the lowes…