A design‐oriented approach to organizational change: insights from a military case study
Journal of Organizational Change Management
ISSN: 0953-4814
Article publication date: 30 August 2011
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the principles supporting organizational change management.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper develops a qualitative study from a single case which focuses on how the military (NATO) transformed their functionally integrated organizational form to gain additional flexibility and responsiveness.
Findings
The findings indicate that the transformation of military organizations has led to reshaping and aligning communication artifacts and organizational structures. In addition, it also entailed significant adaptations of the way knowledge is divided, allocated and coordinated among units, with a particular emphasis on standardization processes.
Research limitations/implications
The implications of this study for scholars and practitioners are twofold. First, it shows that the conditions for success in organizational transformation reside in the consistency of the design strategy adopted by the organization. In particular, the findings provide evidence that the alignment of the structural and cognitive designs is critical but hard to achieve. Second, organizations and managers should devote time and effort to support the codification and standardization of both component and architectural knowledge. This contribution is limited by looking at a single case. On the premise that model generalization depends upon extensive empirical data, the current paper should be considered as a preliminary/exploratory research that aims at identifying the principles supporting organizational change management.
Originality/value
The originality of this paper is to look at military organizations to elaborate on a theoretical model of organization design which links together the structural and cognitive views and discuss its main implications for organizational change management.
Keywords
Citation
Barbaroux, P. (2011), "A design‐oriented approach to organizational change: insights from a military case study", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 626-639. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534811111158895
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited