Creating change from below: early lessons for agents of change

Reconciling Hierarchy and Democracy

Pluralistic organizations are often argued to have become an indisputable reality for senior managers. In consequence, the role of hierarchy has come under close scrutiny. How can organizations balance the need for congruence, provided through hierarchy, with the need for greater organizational democracy? As yet, the potential for management education and learning to impact on this debate, at either an organizational or a societal level, has been largely unfulfilled. This article argues that the aspirational values of liberal adult educationalists have a significant contribution to make to the management of contemporary organizations. It positions these values alongside the business requisites that shape organizations and examine the motivations of senior managers to apply these ideas in practice. The concept of voluntarism, derived from the field of political philosophy, is proposed as an alternative organizational binding mechanism that alters the rationale for the role of hierarchy. The implications for senior executives and management educational-ists are considered.

A Study of the Role of ‘Representative’ Leadership in Stimulating Organization Democracy

There has been a growing concern among commentators about the disconnection between the apparent increase in the plurality of society, and the relatively limited facets of democracy practised in the corporate work place. Specifically, models of distributed leadership appear at odds with the dominant bureaucratic and unitary model of organizing. In addressing the problem, this article offers a model of Representative Leadership (RL) derived from a political institutional discourse and suggests that in settings of contested plurality, the representation of different organizational constituencies, by a wide range of individuals is central to effective organizing. This model of leadership is explored in the context of data derived from 31 senior managers in five different commercial organizations. Observations are provided about the causal relationships between organization context, managerial cognitions of plurality, personal interest, authority and politics. The potential for RL behaviour to inform future discourse on democratic governance is considered.

Muriel Driver Memorial Lecture 2013: Embracing our role as change agents

BACKGROUND

Given the nature of occupational therapy philosophy and practice, it is not surprising that "change agent" has been identified as one of the seven professional roles that occupational therapists fulfill.

PURPOSE

This Muriel Driver lecture examines the change agent role, what it means, and what knowledge, skills, and personal qualities are necessary to be effective.

KEY ISSUES

Overall, relatively little has been written about the change agent role in the occupational therapy literature. Much of what does exist is implicit and often embedded in related topics, such as advocacy. An examination of literature from outside of occupational therapy uncovered four major themes about this role: (a) Change agents are insightful, reflective, and disciplined; (b) Charnge agents are visionary leaders and mobilizers; (c) Change agents are knowledge integrators and translators; and (d) Change agents are diplomatic interventionists who produce meaningful outcomes. These themes point to several areas of silence in the occupational therapy literature.

IMPLICATIONS

Overcoming these areas of silence and moving forward will require open, challenging, and scholarly debates; reconsideration of change agent role competencies; and clear messaging that we all have the capacity to be competent and effective change agents regardless of our title or setting.

Discours commémoratif Muriel Driver 2013

Description.

Compte tenu de la nature de la philosophie et de la pratique de l’ergothérapie, il n’est pas surprenant que le rôle « d’agent de changement » figure parmi les sept rôles assumés par les ergothérapeutes.

But.

Ce discours Muriel Driver examine le rôle d’agent de changement, ce qu’il signifie, de même que les connaissances, les compétences et les qualités personnelles requises pour assumer ce rôle efficacement.

Questions clés.

Dans l’ensemble, on a écrit relativement peu de choses au sujet du rôle d’agent de changement dans la littérature en ergothérapie. Une bonne partie de ce qui existe à ce sujet est implicite et souvent englobé dans des sujets connexes, comme la défense des intérêts. Un examen de la littérature d’autres domaines a permis de mettre en relief quatre thèmes importants à propos de ce rôle : (1) les agents de changement sont introspectifs, réfléchis et disciplinés; (2) les agents de changement sont des leaders visionnaires et des agents mobilisateurs; (3) les agents de changement sont des agents d’intégration et des courtiers du savoir; et (4) les agents de changement sont des interventionnistes diplomatiques qui produisent des résultats significatifs. Ces thèmes mettent en évidence plusieurs aspects sur lesquels la littérature en ergothérapie est demeurée silencieuse.

Conséquences.

Pour briser le silence et aller de l’avant, il faudra participer à des débats ouverts, controversés et savants, remettre constamment en question les compétences jugées essentielles pour assumer le rôle d’agent de changement, et transmettre clairement le message que nous pouvons tous être des agents de changement compétents et efficaces, peu importe notre titre ou notre milieu de pratique.

Financement.

Ce discours n’a bénéficié d’aucun financement.

An In-Depth View of the Facets, Antecedents, and Effects of Leaders’ Change Competency

Leaders across companies initiate and implement change and thus are crucial for successful organizations. This study takes a competency perspective on leaders and investigates the competencies leaders show to facilitate effective change. The article explores the content of the construct of leaders’ change competency and examines its antecedents and effects. We conducted a case study in a German tourism company undergoing a major change process. The study identified (a) distinct content facets regarding the construct of leaders’ change competency along its two dimensions of leaders’ readiness for change and leaders’ change ability; (b) the construct’s antecedents, specifically contextual factors, leaders’ competency potentials, and attitudes toward change; and (c) beneficial effects of leaders’ change competency. The study ends with implications for research and leadership practice as well as suggestions for future studies on leaders’ change competency.

Political Leadership, Bureaucracies and Business Schools: A Comfortable Union?

One of the central issues in reconciling pluralistic and bureaucratic forms of organizing lies in the absence of a coherent model of leadership. The intention here is to stimulate debate about the notion of political leadership as a contribution to this analysis. This approach to political leadership prioritizes the explicit acknowledgement of power relations as being central to the reconciliation of diverse interests, and to the building of moral communities in organizational settings. In developing this idea we explore the organizational context for the emergence of political leadership and consider its distinguishing features with reference to both theory and practice. Consideration is given to its utility in building moral organizational communities and how this approach to conceptualizing leadership might be furthered through business school education.

Management of change for nurses: lessons from the discipline of organizational studies

AIM

This paper explores the literature on change management from the discipline of organizational studies to provide insights that nurse managers can use in their professional practice.

BACKGROUND

The paper will benefit nurse managers by extending the nursing discourse on change management to include wider theoretical and academic perspectives.

KEY ISSUES

Important aspects of change management explored are the roles of power and political behaviour, how much change can be planned and controlled, how to combine top-down and bottom-up approaches to change, the role of emotions in the change management process, a comparison of prescriptive and analytical approaches to understanding change, and the connection between theory and practice in managing change.

CONCLUSION

While nurses can draw much useful information from within the nursing discipline, they can also benefit by exploring other disciplinary areas. In the case of change management, there are many useful lessons nurses can carry over into their professional practice.