Combining organizational factors that are often studied in
isolation during the evolution of organizational change
Student: Guido Lammerts (S2214466)
Phone: +31615207272
E-mail: g.d.s.lammerts@student.rug.nl
Supervisor: dr. H.C. Bruns
Second supervisor: dr. J.F.J Vos
Master thesis Business Administration – Change Management
July 2018
Word count: 21.263
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Abstract
Many authors have looked at multiple aspects of organizational change like leadership behaviour, readiness to change, communication, approaches to change and timing. But these change factors are often studied independently and combinations between these factors are not made regularly. Therefore, this research aims to contribute by investigating how the above-mentioned factors combine during the evolution of change. Theory development is used as a research method because of the need for a comprehensive understanding about how factors concerning organizational change combine. The focal research site was a Dutch High school named the Werkman Stadslyceum. Findings were compared with the data from two other research sites. Data collection comprised semi-structured interviews and relevant documents from the Dutch Government, the National Inspection of Education and the VO-board. With regard to leadership behaviors and change approaches, it came forward that discontinuous top-down and continuous bottom-up changes can be combined with several leadership styles. It did not come forward that one specific leadership style is most effective during a specific changes approach. It did come forward that people-centered leadership behaviors and goal-oriented leadership behaviors can be used simultaneously during (dis)continuous changes. The findings on change readiness, leadership behaviors, timing and change approaches resulted in an integrated model. This model provided new insights on how these factors combine. It was found that employees evaluate the timing leadership behaviors differently, which was shaped by their degree of change readiness. It was also found that perceptions about the appropriateness of the sequencing of (dis)continuous changes can shape a sense of momentum and change readiness among employees. This way effective ordering of changes can increase the capacity of employees and an organization to look at new change initiatives even when employees hold negative perceptions about previous changes.
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Table of content
Abstract 1 1. Introduction 3 2. Literature Review 5 2.1 Change approaches 5 2.2 Leadership behavior 6 2.3 Timing 6 2.4 Readiness to change 7 2.5 Communication 7 3. Methodology 9 3.1 Research Design 9 3.2 Case Descriptions 9 3.3 Data Collection 10 3.4 Interviews 11 3.5 Archival documents 12 3.6 Data analysis 123.7 Controllability, validity and reliability 14
4. Results 15
4.1 Organizational changes at the Werkman Stadslyceum 15
4.2 Change approaches and leadership behavior 16
4.3 Timing, continuous change and leadership behavior 24
4.4 Timing, sense of urgency and change readiness 26
4.5 Integrated model 29
4.6 Comparative analysis change approach, timing and leadership behavior 31
5. Discussion 34
5.1 Theoretical implications 34
5.2 Change approaches and leadership behavior 34
5.3 Timing and leadership behavior 36
5.4 Timing, sense of urgency and change readiness 37
5.5 Practical implications 41
5.6 Limitations and future research 42
5.7 Conclusion 43
References 44
Appendices 49
A - Interview Guide 49
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1. Introduction
Nowadays there seems to be very little business as usual within organizations. Organizational change has become essential for organizations to survive and prosper. Disturbance within organizations is common and organizations face a wide array of changes. Change can best be understood as alterations of organizational components to improve the effectiveness of organizations (Cawsey, Deszca & Ingols, 2016). This can for instance be the introduction of a new boss, the moving of a company to another region, or shifts in policy and strategy (Adapting to Organizational change, 2013). Despite its importance organizational change is hard to achieve and many organizational change efforts fail. There is considerable evidence that 70% of all change initiatives do not succeed (Burnes & Jackson, 2011). Still, few doubt the importance of organizational change. Burnes and Jackson (2011) state that change has become pervasive, persistent and that it is normal to change. Only by changing constantly can organizations hope to survive. Because change within organizations is very common the subject has attracted a lot of attention in the management literature (Thomas & Hardy, 2011). There is a lot of research that looks in depth at the critical components that play a role during organizational change.
4 What comes forward from the examples mentioned above, is that authors look at multiple aspects of organizational change like leadership behaviour, readiness to change, communication, approaches to change and timing. The above-mentioned examples also show that change concepts are often studied independently of each other. Combinations between multiple aspects are not made regularly. This is surprising because in all likelihood, aspects like leadership behaviour, change approaches and timing do not act separately within organizations. This is also highlighted by Bradbury and Lichtenstein (2000) who mention that factors within organizations rarely act in isolation of each other. While a narrow focus can deepen the knowledge of a specific aspect of organizational change, the resulted fragmentation of the field impedes looking at relations between different factors and ultimately hampers the consolidation of the research field (Crossan & Apaydin, 2010). Pettigrew, Woodman and Cameron (2001) further highlight that reductionism in research into change fails to explain generalizable results. In order to provide insights on how aspects like mentioned above act in combination with each other during organizational change, research is needed that explores how the process of change evolves within an organization. This can be done by considering the process of change as a whole instead of keeping a narrow focus by looking at pre-set single factors (Francis & Desai, 2005).
The first goal of this research is to characterize critical organizational change practices – combinations of decisions and activities for the purpose of change. Subsequently, theory development will intend to explain the relationships between these critical factors and their role during organizational change. For this reason theory development is needed to extend the understanding of how organizational change evolves and how critical factors concerning organizational practices combine during this process. For this research a case study approach has been selected and the data collection method predominately consists of interviews with organizational members involved during the evolution of the change process. As a result the research question of this thesis is:
How do different organizational factors that are often studied in isolation combine during the evolution of organizational change?
This research aims to contribute to existing literature on organizational change by investigating how a combination of factors as mentioned above combine during the evolution of change. On a practical level this research also contributes by providing insights into how the process of organizational change evolves. This way this research will address the need to provide a holistic perspective on managing organizational change (Crossan & Apaydin, 2010). As already said change factors do not evolve independently and theory development can help organizations and managers understand how these change aspects combine during organizational change and how and in what situations they do (or do not) support change practices. A better understanding among managers of how factors concerning organizational practice combine during the evolution of organizational change makes it more likely that
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2. Literature review
In this section a literature review has been provided about important aspects that play a role during organizational change. First a literature overview is given about the following practice factors: leadership behaviour, readiness to change, communication practices, approaches to change and timing of organizational change. Second an explanation of the literature gap is given and how this research aims to contribute to this gap through theory development.
2.1 Change approaches
Many authors view organizational change as points on a continuum that ranges from incremental/continuous improvements to more radical/discontinuous innovations (Hage, 1980; Sinclair & Zairi, 2001). A continuous change context comprises adjustments that are frequent, purposeful, that are small but cumulative in effect and are happening over a prolonged period of time (Carter et al., 2013). Discontinuous changes are shifts in organizational domains that are infrequent, sudden, episodic and intentional. Discontinuous change can exert direct as well as contingent effects on organizational performance (Ramanujam, 2003; Hage, 1980). Although it is acknowledged that continuous vs. discontinuous changes differ conceptually, many scholars have argued that both types of changes are means for achieving improvement within organizations and as a result can be used in an integrated manner (Hill & Collins, 1999). Collins and Hill (1998) studied long-term change strategies within three companies and found that these change strategies can include both continuous improvements (total quality management (TQM)) and radical innovations (business process re-engineering (BPR)). In their case studies Collins and Hill found that companies see both radical and incremental projects as useful ‘tools for improvement’. They found that incremental improvements only take an organization so far during change processes. At the same time, they argued that organizations need some stability to function properly as a company, making constant radical changes unrealistic to sustain. As a result, an important conclusion of their paper is that an integrated use of both approaches can be most feasible when aiming for meaningful organizational change.
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2.2 Leadership behaviour
Many scholars argue that different categories of leadership styles exist. Pearce et al. (2003) for instance state that it is important to have a clear and accurate representation of leadership because the concept is considered an important variable in organizational change research. They constructed a leadership model with four broad levels of leadership styles. (1) Directive leadership primarily relies on position power. It also relies on coercive power which includes giving direction, commands, providing feedback, assigning goals and means to achieve these goals. This leadership style can also entail that management makes decisions without consulting employees. (2) Transactional leadership refers to the behaviours that establish the conditions of the exchange relationship between leader and follower. (3) Transformational leadership focuses on providing a sense of vision and on transforming the motivational state of followers to higher level needs such as self-actualization. (4) Empowering leadership emphasizes the development of follower self-management. This can for instance be done by providing employees additional responsibility as well as the support needed to handle this additional responsibility effectively. For instance by expressing confidence in employees and facilitating employees in building responsibilities (Martin, Liao & Campbell, 2013).
Pearce et al. concluded that these leadership styles are conceptually (and often empirically) distinct yet related and not mutually exclusive. Any specific leader is not required to choose one leadership style over the other. Higgs and Rowland (2011) for instance explored what leadership behaviours are important to successfully implement a change initiative. Overall they found that facilitating and engaging behaviours are more positively related to change success. But the authors noted that some leader-centric behaviours can be necessary to provide direction during a change initiative. Higgs and Rowland studied contextual factors such as the nature of change, but their study failed to show a link between leadership behaviours and the nature of change. The authors did argue that as a change process gets more complex it is important for a leader to make clear judgments of what change approaches should be adopted. When implementing change, managers should for instance seriously assess organizational goals and strategies, technologies, structure and its people. Besides this, effective leadership can generate higher levels of organizational commitment and can influence readiness to change among employees (Nordin, 2012).
2.3 Timing
7 classifies dramatic change as quick and systematic change as slow. Nowadays, management researchers are more likely to acknowledge the complex nature of time and its organizational aspects (Pettigrew, Woodman & Cameron, 2001). It is now accustomed for change researchers to acknowledge the subjective nature of time. Smollan, Sayers and Matheny for instance researched the emotional responses of organizational members due to speed, frequency and timing of change initiatives. They found that employees can have different and subjective temporal agendas when it comes to the timing of changes. Pettigrew et al. (2001) highlighted the importance of studying time within its context. They have stated that time is not simply ‘out there’ but that it is socially constructed through events in the context of local organizational time cycles. In their article Pettigrew et al. have concluded that the field of organizational change needs to improve their understanding of the dynamics of effects of time, processes and organizational contexts.
2.4 Readiness to change
Resistance to change and readiness to change have often been considered as different ends of the same continuum. Although it was assumed that the components have similar dispositional and contextual antecedents, they may represent different concepts (Armenakis, Harris, & Mossholder, 1993). Essentially, readiness to change describes employees’ beliefs in the benefits of a change initiative to the organization and work processes. Besides, readiness to change describes the beliefs of employees that it is likely that the changes will be successful.
A present view on readiness to change identifies it as a multidimensional concept based on four components: appropriateness (employees perceive that the change is relevant to the organization), managerial support (employees observe that the manager is supportive towards the change), self-efficacy (employees believe that they have the skills and competencies to deal with the change) and personal valance (employees think that the change will be beneficial on a personal level) (Holt, Armenakis, Feild, & Harris, 2007). Armenakis et al.(1993) describe two courses of action for creating readiness for change in an organization. Clear and timely communication can mitigate employees’ fears regarding to the unfavorable impact of a change initiative and it can instruct employees about the purposes and values of the change. A communication strategy can also empower employees and foster confidence in their ability to cope with the change. Besides, through participation employees get included during the planning and implementation of change. As a result they are more likely to accept the underlying reasons and objectives for change (McKay, Kuntz & Näswall, 2013).
2.5 Communication
8 can be used. Alternatively, other authors have argued that communication can be seen as a social process where people jointly create meanings within a particular culture. These meanings are highly dependent on the culture and context in which it occurs (Simoes & Esposito, 2014; Souza, 2008). Simoes and Esposito argue that it usually rests on the capability of a leader to effectively select a communication style with his or her team. Contextual factors (like trust) are likely to influence the effectiveness of communication practices to properly address employees’ concerns (Allen, Jimmieson, Bordia & Irmer, 2007).
Lewis (2006) argues that an important communication channel is face-to-face communication. Fidler and Johnson (1984) propose that these interpersonal channels are more like compared to mediated channels to meet specific needs of organizational members in overcoming the risks and complexities associated with change. Lewis (2006) also states that it is important to communicate information during the implementation of change. Lewis describes this as the downward dispersal of knowledge, ideas, training, facts, and requests or directives for action concerning the change. Empirical evidence underscores the importance of addressing employees’ need for information because this can increase their willingness and change readiness to participate in planned change. Lewis also argues that more research is needed on how employees perceive the process of information dissemination. For instance little is known about the importance employees place on the frequency of receiving information, especially when this is balanced with frequent opportunities to provide their own input into the change process. Increasing evidence points to the importance of providing frequent opportunities for employees to solicit input. Active gathering of ideas, opinions, suggestions, evaluations, and reactions relating to a change are all part of soliciting input during change.
As can be concluded there is much research that aims to understand which critical aspects can influence organizational change. Important contributions have been made to a better understanding of factors like leadership behaviour, resistance to change, readiness to change, communication, change approaches and timing during organizational change. Many authors have also highlighted that these factors do not act in isolation of each other and that it is necessary to consider other organizational contexts in which these factors exist. Higgs and Rowland (2011) for instance argue that the behaviour of leaders can influence their approach to change. Likewise, leadership behaviour and communication strategies play an important role when trying to influence resistance to change among employees (Simoes & Esposito, 2014; Allen et al. 2007). Furthermore, readiness to change can be a cognitive antecedent to behaviours of resistance to change or support for change (McKay, Kuntz & Näswall, 2013). But on its own readiness to change is a multidimensional concept as well and it can for instance be based on managerial support and self-efficacy. Readiness to change can also be influenced by effective communication strategies. To be effective, the timing of these strategies should be considered as well (McKay, Kuntz & Näswall, 2013).
9 of unique aspects of organizational change, but they also concluded that all these factors do not act in isolation and should be viewed in the broader organizational context (Allen et al., 2007; Higgs and Rowland, 2011). Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to address this research gap by studying multiple factors like mentioned above in combination with each other during the evolution of organizational change. This will increase the understanding of how organizations incorporate multiple practices and how they keep these practices in line during the evolution of change.
3. Methodology
3.1 Research Design
The aim of this research is to study organizational change from a more comprehensive perspective. Many studies focused on critical factors during organizational change but they have not studied multiple factors in combination with each other. While several studies have researched single factors during organizational change, this research will aim to combine these factors since they can impact each other during organizational change (Francis & Desai, 2005). A more comprehensive understanding of how these factors influence organizational change is needed. For this reason theory development is required to refine the understanding of how organizational change evolves and how critical factors concerning organizational practices combine during this process. Qualitative research is most suited to answer these questions since these issues address underlying relations and require detailed explanations (Eisenhardt, 1989). Data was collected with the help of semi-structured interviews. The focal research site was a Dutch High-school named the Werkman Stadslyceum. Two other research sites (The municipality of Leeuwarden and TKP Investments) were used for a comparative analysis. First, the primary data was collected and analyzed. Subsequently these findings were compared with the data from the two other research sites. Lastly, the findings were compared with existing literature. The ultimate goal of this research is to come up with new insights on how organizational factors like change approaches, leadership behavior, communication, change readiness and timing combine during the evolution of organizational change.
3.2 Case descriptions
10 education for students. These latter initiatives recently started and there is still some ambiguity about the consequences of these changes. The changes have been chosen after an exploratory conversation with the principal of the school and a section representative. Since all the above mentioned changes are related to improving the quality of education and took place over several years, this research site provides a good context to study factors in combination with each other during the evolution of organizational change. Since several layers within the organization (principal, section representatives and teachers) are affected by the changes individual, group, organizational and social phenomena can be studied. This is why this organization is an appropriate case to study the evolution of organizational change within a holistic perspective (Yin, 2009).
3.2.2 Research site for comparative analysis (municipality of Leeuwarden)
The municipality of Leeuwarden was the first research site for the comparative analysis. This public services organization structures the policies and development of Leeuwarden. The organization employs approximately 1200 people. Recently, the organization changed towards a more flexible way of working. The organization went from fixed hours, offices, and departments to working flexible hours and work spaces.
3.2.3 Research site for comparative analysis (TKP Investments)
The second research site for the comparative analysis was TKP Investments which is a financial service organization. The organization offers modular services to pension funds and organizations related to charity. Approximately 200 people work for the organization. A large-scale change project had to integrate the organization with other branches of TKP Investments. The implementation of a new system named Vermillion had to enable this by automatizing and integrating work practices.
3.3 Data collection
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3.4 Interviews
Thirteen respondents have been interviewed in total. For an overview of the respondents see table 1. To provide structure during the interviews, semi-structured interviews were held. Follow-up questions were asked when it was deemed necessary. The interviews lasted between 27 and 75 minutes. All interviews consisted of an introduction to explain the purpose of the interview and the research. Also, confidentiality of the interviews was promised and the respondents were asked for permission to record the interviews. After the introduction some general questions were asked. These questions were followed by questions concerning change approaches, leadership behavior, communication practices, change readiness and the timing of changes. The interviews were guided by the semi-structured interview protocol (see appendix A). This provided consistency during the interviews but it should be noted that a flexible approach was taken as well. This provided room to ask questions about emerging themes that could contribute to the insights for this research.
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Table 1: Respondents.
3.5 Archival documents
Archival documents were collected to get a better understanding of the organizational changes at the Werkman Stadslyceum. Both primary data from the interviews and secondary data from the documents was used. By ensuring triangulation, instrument bias was controlled for. Documents were collected from the Dutch Government, National Inspection of Education and the VO-board. Documents from the Dutch Government were used to provide information on the regulations with regard to school examinations and national examinations. The National Inspection of Education is an organization that oversees the quality of education of secondary schools within the Netherlands. Reports from this organization were used to receive information on the quality of education at the Werkman Stadslyceum. The VO-board is an organization that works in the interest of secondary schools. The board composes the overall policy and agenda of education and closely works with representatives from the Ministry of Education. Documents from the VO-board were used to get a better understanding of the changes with regard to the new educational methods at the Werkman Stadslyceum.
3.6 Data analysis
All conducted interviews have been recorded and transcribed afterwards. Atlas.ti was used for the coding process, thereby increasing the reliability of the research process (Aken, Berends & Bij, 2012). Coding was based on deductive codes as well as inductive codes. The deductive codes are based on the literature and were composed before coding, the inductive codes are based on open-coding. The coding process happened in close collaboration with the other thesis students to ensure that patterns emerging from the Organizational
function Respondents Gender Tenure
Number and length of
interviews Date
Principal G1 Male 25 years Interview G1a: 62 min
Interview G1b: 55 min
14-05-2018 3-10-2017 Section representative G2 Male 15 years Interview G2: 41 min 31-10-2017
13 interviews could be compared. The codebooks of the deductive and inductive codes can be found in appendix C.
For the primary research site, each interview was analysed, coded and interpreted. After the analysis of the interviews through deductive and inductive coding, documents provided by the Dutch Government, National Inspection of Education and the VO-board were studied to provide a stronger substantiation. Subsequently, patterns that emerged from the analysis of the interviews were compared with the data from the two other research sites. By comparing the patterns that emerged from the interviews at the Werkman Stadslyceum with the patterns from the other research sites generalizability was enhanced (Eisenhardt, 1989). The findings could be complemented with other data because two students with the same research focus conducted interviews at another research site and made use of the same semi-structured interview protocols. Finally, the patterns that emerged from the data were compared to existing literature that closely fitted the data that was obtained. This has been done to compare the obtained data with similar and different findings mentioned by existing literature about factors concerning organizational change and to provide possible explanations on why this the case (Eisenhardt, 1989).
The composed deductive codes were operationalized with the help of existing management literature. The operationalization consisted of core characteristics which helped to identify variables, and their gradation, in the data from the focal research site. Through this process it was for instance possible to identify types of leadership behavior and to differentiate between leadership types. Two examples of leadership types that were operationalized with the help of management literature are provided in the next two paragraphs.
Transformational leadership behavior was for instance operationalized as behaviors that are related to the inspiring of employees and providing a sense of vision to transform the motivational state among employees to a higher-level need such as self-actualization (Pearce et al., 2003). An example of transformational leadership behavior that was related to the core characteristics of inspiring behaviors and providing a sense of vision: “ There was a movie about High-tech High. (…) We said to each other: this is a beautiful movie. We want to show this movie to everybody. We want to do something inspiring each year since the new year begins again. So we watched the movie with everyone. (…) And I think that a great deal of the questions that we are having, the answers lay within that school. “ (G1). An example of transformational leadership behavior that was related to the core characteristic of transforming the motivational state of employees to a need for self-actualization: “ People can think along, they can look for themselves by going to San Diego. We also have presentations and speed dates. And a lot of people think: that is exciting, I would like to see that. “ (G1).
14 building responsibilities (Martin, Liao & Campbell, 2013). An example of a quote that illustrates the core characteristic of facilitating management behaviors: “ And the school facilitates it brilliantly I have to say. We get the time to arrange meetings about things we want to discuss.” (G8). An example of a quote representing the core characteristic of expressing confidence in employees: “ What management always kept doing was that they expressed their confidence in us. They said: you are the experts. You have the experience to handle this properly. And that is a very positive approach. If they would have said: it is going bad and we are not sure if we can do this, then it wouldn’t have gone this way.” (G10).
3.7 Controllability, reliability and validity
Subsequently the most important research-oriented quality criteria will be discussed. By measuring for controllability, validity and reliability the quality of this research was improved by reinforcing inter-subjective agreements of the research products (Aken et al., 2012).
First, to enhance controllability a detailed description of the research method is provided. The research method describes the research process in such a way that it can be replicated and be used for the evaluation of other quality criteria. Information about the coding process is provided and to make the coding process controllable tables of data summaries are provided. This way the data on which the findings are based can be traced down by other researchers. This in order to enable replicability of this study to verify findings (Aken, et al., 2012).
Secondly, reliability is ensured to allow for the replication of results in other studies. This was done by making certain that findings of this study are independent of the characteristics of the research process (Yin, 2003). To obtain reliability the following factors were considered: research bias, instrument bias, respondent bias and situation bias (Aken, et al., 2012). Research bias was controlled for through the recording of all interviews and all interviews were held by the same interviewer. Instrument bias was controlled for by ensuring triangulation by using primary data and secondary data (Aken et al., 2012). Further, instrument bias was minimized by standardizing the data collection process and the data analysis process. Respondent bias was controlled for by including all organizational layers within the sample: the principal, section representative and teachers were being interviewed. To control for situation bias all interviews were conducted at different moments. Furthermore, no major changes or events occurred during this research.
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4. Results
In this section an overview is provided of the findings based on the gathered data. First the context is discussed, based on published news articles and documents from the Dutch Government. Second, it is discussed how the factors leadership behavior, change approaches, change readiness, sense of urgency and the timing of change practices combine during the evolution of change. Connections between these factors are discussed and underpinned with quotes from the data. This is done to reduce bias of the researcher, make research findings more valid (Sandelowski, 1994) and highlight opinions (Howarth, 1990).
4.1 Organizational changes at the Werkman Stadslyceum
Six years ago the National Inspection of Education evaluated the education system within the Werkman Stadslyceum as weak. The Inspection stated that the systems behind work practices were inadequate and that there was not a clear plan. (1) The quality of education was not being evaluated systematically and it was not formulated in a measurable way. (2) The Inspection also claimed that there was an ad-hoc policy without a detailed strategy. (3) The most important issue was that a gap existed between the quality of school exams and the national exams at the end of the school year. The school leaving examination in the Netherlands consists of a school examination and a national written examination at the end of the school year, which is constructed by the Ministry of Education (Government of the Netherlands, n.d.). The Inspection wanted to set clear goals with regard to what the school should have improved within the upcoming two years. The inspection was going to watch over the progress during these two years and if there would be no improvements it would take consequential steps (Inspectie van het Onderwijs, 2012). Because of this, the school had to change its practices quickly since the national exams were in five months and the school was running the risk of losing their examination license when results would still be insufficient.
16 skills such as teamwork, creativity and critical thinking; and achieving more ownership at schools and teachers to construct their own education methods. The new curriculum is especially deemed necessary by the Government since the core objectives of the current curriculum do not meet the needs of schools, teachers and students (Government of the Netherlands, n.d.).
4.2 Change approaches and leadership behavior
4.2.1 Discontinuous change and a top-down change approachFrom the interviews it emerged that changes during the inspection period happened in an episodic and sudden fashion and were therefore of the discontinuous type. Discontinuous changes are shifts in organizational domains that are infrequent, sudden, episodic and intentional. the school first had to focus on improving test results within five months because otherwise it could lose the license to examine. Besides, the inspection wanted school management to formulate a clearer policy and they had to provide insight with regard to how they were going to carry out education in a measurable way.
The principal of the school described the content of the short-term changes: “ The inspection came by and they told us that we were evaluated as ‘very weak’. At that moment we first had to look at our test results. But when your results are not good you almost have to change everything. Are final goal was: getting our school results in order. Then there comes a lot of other things that have to go different in time as well. (…) But because exams were coming we first had very little time. We only had five months and then things had to be in order. (…) We had the problem that our tests were too easy. So we started working on that. (G1). An employee who was a member of the support staff described the other changes that had to occur as well: “ There was no overview. I started looking at our structure. What are we doing wrong structurally that we are spending too much money? Which department is too expensive? (…) We for instance only had 45 students for athenaeum four. (…) And then I started analyzing what we needed for a healthy groundwork. Constructing a very simple system of supply and demand. For instance how many student you need an at what department. So we made sure the business side was in order. (…) And our system is very clear now. Everything is centralized. We do everything. “ (G3).
17 During these discontinuous changes the school mostly adopted a top-down change approach. During top-down changes management generally conceives, plans and directs the implementation. When changes within an organization get more drastic, it is more important that the management clearly drives and favors the changes. External pressure to change is cited as a strong reason for the employment of a down strategy (Ryan et al., 2008). Two important reasons why management adopted a top-down change approach were that the changes had to occur in a sudden fashion and were externally imposed. That the discontinuous and sudden changes were combined with a top-down change approach was pointed out by the principal: “ Back then it was crisis. Not only because of results but also financially. We as management said: this is how we are going to do it, period. There was no time for discussions.” (G1). One of the teachers mentioned that the external pressure of the inspection also played a role when it came to the top-down approach the management of the school adopted: “ Adjustments during the inspection period were clearly top-down. The inspection wants it this way so we want to see it this way as well. And we are going to make you stick with it.“ (G11).
The top-down approach mainly resulted in that management created the plan with regard to the changes and they clearly indicated what the end goal was. Besides, management started directing grade allocation which meant that teachers first had to consult section representatives before they could assign grades to students. Other quotes from interviewees that illustrate the sudden and episodic nature of the discontinuous changes in combination with a top-down change approach are provided in the first column of table 2 on page 22.
Overall, the discontinuous changes at the school were described as stressful and negative by both management and employees. The principal for instance mentioned: “ I actually was totally framed because I didn’t know about the problems when I started. I did not know what had to happen but after four weeks inspection came by with their evaluation and there was suddenly panic.” (G1). A teacher described how teachers felt overwhelmed by the message from the inspection: “ I think that most teachers did not expect that the inspection would tighten the screws on within such a short period. People felt overwhelmed by that. If they would have told us at the beginning of the year we would have had a whole year to improve things. Now it almost seemed impossible to change something structurally within five months. “ (G4).
4.2.2 Continuous change and a bottom-up change approach After the discontinuous changes were done the school started focusing on implementing the new
18 continuous changes, the change strategy adopted by the school showed that the improvements were meant to be cumulative in nature and were happening over a prolonged period of time.
This was for instance indicated by the principal when discussing the change plan of the school: “ So if we go towards a system like that we have next year to experiment. So if we learn from it that year, we can implement the successful things the year after that more broadly throughout the organization. And that is how you formulate the steps: year 1, year 2, year 3, year 4. That is what you describe in the school plan. Where you want to be eventually.” (G1). One of the teachers also mentioned that these continuous changes were happening on purpose because the school wanted to adopt these adjustments itself and the teachers were not externally forced to change like during the discontinuous changes. Besides this, the teacher also indicated that the school still had time to change their curriculum because they started changing early: “ Back then we were externally forced to change. Because we did not do anything for three years while results were bad. But now we are the ones who want to sit in front. We do not have to change our curriculum already, we still have five years but school management is very clear on this: we do not want to wait. (…) The motivation to change comes from ourselves this time.”(G3). This quote illustrates that the school adopted a more proactive approach with regard to changing educational methods compared to the structural changes during the inspection period. . This quote also shows that the school implemented these changes gradually and over a longer time period, which shows the continuous nature of the changes.
During the continuous changes it emerged from the interviews that the management of the school mostly adopted a bottom-up change approach. Wee and Taylor (2018) define continuous organizational change as a dynamic and bottom-up process that happens over a longer time-span and ultimately leads to substantial organizational changes. Bottom-up change entails involving all employees in the organization during decision-making. It includes matching the ideas from lower levels of the organization with higher levels which leads to collective decision-making. Yi, Gu and Wei (2017) claim that an important aspect of a bottom-up change approach is bottom-up learning. Bottom-up learning refers to the process that lower-level employees gather information and express their opinions to top management for strategic decision-making. The authors also indicated that bottom-up learning can relieve employees’ defensiveness towards strategic change.
With regard to the bottom-up changes one of the interviewees indicated that the teachers received more responsibility with regard to education development. This shows that the continuous changes at the school were happening with the help of a bottom-up change approach: “ Management mostly looks at how everybody can be involved. But maybe also the other way around. Let a group formulate a vision and we are going to work towards that. (…) That also means that you have to let go and give responsibility to the teachers. It is less top-down now (compared to the inspection period). “ (G3).
19 “ Now (during the continuous changes) they want to create support by letting employees come to study trips to see how education is done somewhere else.(…) They have given more power to the sections when it comes to these changes. So they shift the problem towards the sections: you all have to come to an agreement together. And when you see two colleagues who are enthusiastic you are inclined to go along. So it is more bottom-up.” (G11). This quote illustrates that management gradually tried to build support by shifting the responsibility for change to the employees. This teacher also explained the mechanism through which a bottom-up change approach can foster support: when other colleagues were enthusiastic and supportive about changing others teachers were inclined to go along.
The first column of table 3 on page 23 presents more quotes that illustrate that the time-span of the continuous changes was several years and that these changes were combined with a bottom-up change approach. This bottom-up change approach mostly came forward in that teachers received responsibility when it came to decision-making with regard to the new curriculum and teachers were able to go on business trips to learn about new ways of carrying out education. It was also indicated that this bottom-change approach was used as a method to generate support across the organization. 4.2.3 Leadership styles and a discontinuous top-down change approach
It emerged from the interviews that the discontinuous and top-down changes were combined with a directive leadership style. Directive leadership refers to behaviors that are primarily associated with the leader giving orders on how work is to be done. One of the teachers for instance indicated that management provided feedback to all employees about the urgency to change: “ … or someone of management came to tell us that the sense of urgency was not high enough and after that they showed the red dots again ” (G4). The directive leadership style also came forward during meetings with individual teachers about the grades of students. This shows that management assigned goals when it came to improving results and they gave direction and orders with regard to how to achieve these goals. One teacher mentioned: “ Now you are forced to have a consultation with management. Why do you have an average of four and you an average of six? What did you do differently? Or is it because of the students in your class? That is obviously possible as well.” (G11). This quote illustrates that management showed ordering behaviors during the discontinuous changes. Other behaviors that can be categorized as a directive leadership style were shown as well: providing feedback about the urgency to change, giving clear direction and making decisions without consulting subordinates. These other behaviors are illustrated by the quotes that are shown in column 2 of table 2.
20 and by expressing confidence in its employees. One interviewee indicated: “ What the current principle can do well is to put the right people at the right place. And giving those people confidence and freedom. Trusting people that they will give the right information. But he also has the intelligence that he oversees things.” (G3). Several teachers also indicated that management tried to give them confidence that they could deal with the discontinuous changes: “ What management always kept doing was that they expressed their confidence in us. They said: you are the experts. “ (G10).
Besides this, it emerged from the interviews that management tried to assist teachers in dealing with the extra responsibilities with regard to improving results. One of the teachers commented: “ They made very clear to us that that they stood behind us and that they supported us. We could get anything. So yes, perfect.” (G6). Other quotes that illustrate empowering leadership behaviors during the discontinuous changes are presented in column 3 of table 2.
To summarize, it comes forward from the interviews that management showed directive and empowering leadership behaviors during the discontinuous and top-down changes. The directive leadership behaviors were mostly related to providing feedback about the urgency of change, assigning clear goals with regard to what had to be achieved by the teachers and monitoring and giving direction during the execution of these goals. With regard to empowering leadership behaviors management gave employees responsibility, tried to assist and support employees in exerting these responsibilities and they expressed confidence in their employees.
4.2.4 Leadership styles and a continuous bottom-up change approach During the continuous bottom-up changes management showed transformational leadership behaviors. Transformational leadership refers to behaviors that define and sustain vision, elicit inspiration from followers, and stimulate change. The management of the school focused on the development and self-actualization of teachers when it comes to new educational practices:“ We had one study afternoon and we have four more to work on our vision. (…) Now they (management) ask different questions. Why did you want to become a teacher? What do you like? What do you want to teach the students?” (G2). This quote and the quotes presented in column 2 of table 3 show that management tried to stimulate change by trying to create inspiration among teachers and by trying to develop self-actualization needs among teachers.
21 Besides these behaviors several interviewees indicated that management showed leadership behaviors during the continuous bottom-up changes that were more directive. This for instance happened when management provided directions and clear frameworks within which new educational change initiatives had to occur. To illustrate, one teacher mentioned that there had not been any consultation about the construction of a new classroom in which they had to work: “There’re coming new classrooms without consultation. And management has good taste but you could also talk to a section about what they want. But now there is already a plan. “ (G9). This quotes shows that management sometimes made decisions during the continuous changes without consulting subordinates. The quotes presented in column 4 of table 3 show that employees sometimes had the perception that management acted directive when making decisions.
From the interviews emerged that continuous bottom-up changes can be accompanied with transformational, empowering and directive leadership behaviors. Transformational leadership behaviors came forward in that management tried to transform the motivational state of employees by discussing self-actualizations needs with regard to teaching. Empowering leadership behaviors were shown through the assisting and enabling of employees. Directive leadership behaviors were shown as well and happened when management provided directions and guidelines when it came to new education practices.
To summarize the analysis in section 4.2, the findings from the interviews show that change approaches and leadership behaviors combine in such a way that a discontinuous and top-down change approach are associated with directive and empowering leadership behaviors. This research also shows that when changes are more continuous and have a bottom-up change approach, this can lead to transformational, empowering and directive leadership behaviors. The combinations of factors are visualized in figure 1. Table 1 and 2 show a further selection of quotes that illustrate the combinations of the above mentioned change approaches and leadership behaviors.
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Table 2. Discontinuous change in combination with a top-down change approach and directive and empowering leadership behaviors.
Quotes that illustrate combinations of factors Discontinuous changes in combination with
a top-down change approach Directive behaviors during a discontinuous top-down change approach
Empowering leadership during a discontinuous top-down change approach
“ Back then there was a negative urgency. Like: you are all doing it the wrong way. The school will have to close if we are not going to do it differently. For a lot of people this was a slap in the face. (…) The interference with the school examinations was clearly top-down. The inspection wants it this way so we want to see it that way as well. “ (G11).
“ It just had to happen. We had to perform well that year. We had to do it right that year and otherwise we had a problem. Well, and then you will do everything possible. (…) There wasn’t a grade that was first looked at by one of the section representatives before it went to the students. “ (G12).
“ Before it was the case that teachers could just give a grade but now they first have to come to us with their averages to ask if it is consistent with the image we have. (…) And at first you get discussions as a result. (…) But that was our role really. Make it negotiable and establishing and carrying out frameworks. (…) But it is also about how you carry out the message. If we don’t get these results the inspection is going to revoke our examination license, then we can’t keep our Athenaeum. (…) That is a dreadful message but it is reality. “ (G2).
“ Management made clear what the end goal had to be: within three months we have to have this. (…) It seemed like it was impossible to change something structurally within 3 months” (G4).
“ The goal was very clear back then. Within a year our grades have to go up structurally. And that was controlled by management very clearly: this is wat we need and what we have to do. There wasn’t a lot of room to do it otherwise, or else. I think that was very clear for all the parties involved.” (G6).
“ It was very clear that it was bad and it had to go better. And we all had to do it in a short amount of time at first. It was somewhere in the beginning of the year and that group still
had to do the national exams. (…) During those changes it really was top-down. “ (G5).
“ Management shows increased monitoring when it comes to bad performing teachers and grades from your classes are now always in consultation with school management. “ (G7). “... or someone of management came to tell us that our sense of urgency was not high enough and then they showed the red dots
again.”(G3).
“ Now you are forced to have a consultation with management. Why do you have an average of four and you an average of six? What did you do differently? Or is it because of the students in your class? That is obviously possible as well.” (G11).
“ Management acted decisively. (…) At some point it becomes very clear: this is how we are going to do it, we don’t have a choice.” (G5) “ At some point the section representatives also came to your class to see how you were teaching. Obviously you gave perfect lessons then. “ (G9).
“ At some point a lady came from O2G2. She told us that we were on the verge of disaster. (…) There were a lot who thought: who is that lady who is tutoring us? I thought it was quite an hysteric woman who told us that we were doomed if we didn’t do anything quickly. But okay, in the end we all came to action.”(G8). “ I can remember that the director of O2G2 came to tell us how bad we were doing things. In her suit. And there was someone else in a suit as well.”(G10).
“ Back then it was crisis. Not only when it comes to results but it was also crisis
financially. And then you need a manager. And we were new back then. We inherited the mess. We as management said: this is how we are going to do it, period. There was no time for discussions. “ (G1).
“ I think it was brought very well. Really in the we-sense. Not me or you. No, it really was we. But we will have to carry out some emergency interventions to make this right again.” (G5)
“ I have to say I was very surprised. And it is not nice to hear you have to do things differently all of a sudden. Because you are working hard to develop nice lessons. Then it is annoying to hear that you are not doing it the right way. But I have to say it was very well handled within the school. Also during the change process we had study afternoons but management continuously kept highlighting that we were good teachers and that that was not the problem. That was handled very carefully but that feeling wasn’t their yet.” (G8).
“ What management always kept doing was that they expressed their confidence in us. They said: you are the experts. You have the experience to handle this properly. And that is a very positive approach. If they would have said: it is going bad and we are not sure if we can do this, then it wouldn’t have gone this way.” (G10).
“ In the beginning the principal gave a lot of openness. It was very clear what he was doing. And you could always sit down with him. Very approachable and open.” (G9).
“ I think the previous management did not understand all the processes. They looked less at figures and had less overview. (…) What the current principle can do well is to put the right people at the right place. And giving those people confidence and freedom. Trusting people that they will give the right information. But he also has the intelligence that he oversees things.” (G3).
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Table 3. Continuous change in combination with a bottom-up change approach and transformational, empowering and directive leadership behaviors.
Quotes that illustrate combinations of factors Continuous changes in combination with a
bottom-up change approach
Transformational behavior during a continuous bottom-up change approach
Empowering leadership during a continuous
bottom-up change approach
Directive leadership during a continuous bottom-up change
approach
“ This change is not motivated by the closing of doors but because of idealism. There is room and time to do it like this. And now we are thinking about how we can involve all teachers. (…) This also means letting go and giving the responsibility to the teachers. You are the teachers so go develop education. It has become less top-down now.“ (G3).
“ We have to keep up with time and it will also change because of government policy. In that sense there is external pressure that that will change the upcoming years. And we’d rather be the precursors than walking behind again. (…) Now they try to create commitment by letting employees come with them to study trips. So more bottom-up. (…) You are creating commitment and you also give a lot of tasks to the teachers. “ (G11).
“ Yes we just started. But within the sections we have meetings which includes brainstorming: where do we want to be in 10 years? Where do we want to work on then? We have to think about what we want to do and what we need. “ (G4).
“ You want to sit in front: this is where we want to go as school. That we have a chose in this ourselves. Our building is still a constraining factor. In America the building was constructed for project based learning. (…) So we still have to look at that. That is a trajectory we have to go through the upcoming years. That is going to be a big job. (…) We are now in the phase that we have to transfer our enthusiasm to the other teachers. (…) Transferring it to the other teachers. I think it works well. “ (G10). So if we go towards a system like that we have next year to experiment. So if we learn from it that year, we can implement the successful things the year after that more broadly throughout the organization. And that is how you formulate the steps: year 1, year 2, year 3, year 4. That is what you describe in the school plan. Where you want to be eventually. (…) And now a point on the agenda is how we can talk about education with the teachers. (…) Everybody should be able to take their responsibility. To change and to think along. “ (G1).
“ Well they are trying to sketch that we have to head towards a new direction. A dot on the horizon. “ (G4). “ There was a movie about High-tech High. (…) We said to each other: this is a beautiful movie. We want to show this movie to everybody. We want to do something inspiring each year since the new year begins again. So we watched the movie with everyone. (…) And I think that a great deal of the questions that we are having, the answers lay within that school. “ (G1).
“ I do have the idea that management is trying to get employees committed as widespread as possible. (…) Just last week. In the canteen. All the people who went to San Diego for project based learning were sitting behind a table. And then you could ask for information what kind of forms they have seen and what it means. So that helps, that you are talking about it with everyone. “ (G6). “ It also has to do with awareness. It also has to do with a school that is being refurbished. The feeling like: we are doing a good job. The school looks good and we are getting a garden. They provide lectures and workshops to show that you can do it in another way as well. And for next year they (management) say: do something totally different during your lessons for a change. “ (G13).
“ Now there is a trajectory of study afternoons. And the room for that is being facilitated by management. “ (G4).
“ I think management gives us a lot of room to grasp influence. But you do have to grasp it. (…) But the room for it is there. “ (G5).
“ And the school facilitates it brilliantly I have to say. We get the time to arrange meetings about things we want to discuss. And based on that we make policy and we plan things. (…) And we are going to Toronto as a result of the upcoming changes. “ (G8).
“ Management really gives us… How do you say that. They have the feeling they want to do it the right way. So they are sending 23 people to San Diego instead of 3 people. So there is being transmitted a lot of time and money in this project. “ (G10). “ It is more that they
(management) provide the preconditions. They try to facilitate things so that we can discuss things with each other. I think that is the main approach. That they take care of things for us. “ (G10).
“ Well the idea is that student get a lot more choices within their program. That it is a lot more tailored to what that person wants. (…) This maybe also means that teachers can make a schedule themselves each day and that teachers will have less students assigned to them.. In that case you know all the students more personally. “ (G3).
“ I know that management is totally up for it. (…) They already have ideas without taking into account a lot of practical constraints. (…) Another way of testing or no tests at all. It is not that easy. And you can force people to do it but… (…) I have the feeling that
management wants to do it very quickly. They want to go faster compared to the people they want to involve. “ (G7).
“ On average management is very approachable but sometimes a bit less. Then they just want things to go their way. And in that case it is harder to talk about things. Maybe that is necessary sometimes. You can’t involve everyone all the time. “ (G6).
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4.3 Timing, continuous change and leadership behavior
From the interviews it came forward that there were differences among employees’ readiness to change during the continuous changes. It also came forward that these differences can shape the perceived speed of changing and the perceived frequency of leadership behaviors. This happened in such a way that employees who showed less prominent readiness to change indicated that management sometimes acted too quickly when making decisions and they made these decisions without consulting subordinates. These employees indicated that it was mostly management that acted frequently when making decisions with regard to the implementation of the continuous changes. On the other hand, some of the employees who did show more prominent readiness to change showed the opposite pattern. These employees indicated that the bottom-up change approach resulted in a slow implementation of new education practices. These employees indicated that the changes could be implemented quicker and with more frequent guidance and control from management. This shows that these employees – in contrast to the employees showing less prominent change readiness – thought that the changes could be implemented with more speed and management could take more frequent steps to implement the continuous changes.
The teachers who showed a pattern of less prominent change readiness during the continuous changes, often commented that management acted too quickly with regard to decision-making. They also had doubts about the appropriateness of implementing the new curriculum due to practical concerns. They had the perception that decision-making concerning the new curriculum was mostly done by management. One teacher for instance mentioned that there were some practical concerns which should be looked at first and this teacher also indicated that management acted too quickly in this regard: “ Management wants to go really fast, maybe faster than they can get people along. That doesn’t make it easier. There are still a lot of practical issues that have to be taken into account. “ (G7). This employee did not have a sense of urgency when it came to implementing the continuous changes because he indicated that practical concerns should first be taken into account. In addition, this employee held the view that it was mostly management that acted frequently when it came to decision-making during the bottom-up continuous changes. This was backed up by another employee who indicated that transitions between different change stages happened too quickly and were sometimes ambiguous. The reason behind this ambiguity might be that these employees held the perception that there was a lack of communication from management because management made decisions without consulting employees. This employee for instance indicated: “ Well outside of the school you have the social discussion about the future of education. But in my view that is a bit of a hollow discussion. (…) That you are going to change education based on such ideas. I do not know if you totally should go in that direction. (…) Management often acts quickly and sometimes they act too quickly. (…) And then they forget things that are important as well. (…) Sometimes I think: They told me that this was the experimental phase but now we are already making decisions. That transition is a bit unclear sometimes.”(G6).
25 different perspectives on management behaviors. These teachers went to study trips to learn about new educational methods and they indicated that these new methods would be very appropriate for the school. These teachers also indicated that the bottom-up change approach resulted in a slower and more ambiguous implementation. These employees indicated that the changes occurred without frequent guidance from management. Some teachers thought that the new curriculum was very appropriate for the school and in their view it was not necessary to slowly implement the new education methods: “ I went to San Diego and I am positive about it. (…) In my ideal world I would like to see: in two years we are going to do it like this and that. But I understand that it is not going to work that way. Because in that way you do not get along all the teachers.” (G8). Another employee who showed change readiness and was responsible for propagating new education methods to other teachers mentioned that more guidance and clarity would be nice during the bottom-up change approach since it was not clear enough what the intentions of management were: “ Now there is a trajectory of study afternoons facilitated by management. Sometimes I would like they would be a bit more present in terms of guidance. That is personal. But that feeling of: what do you (management) actually want? It would be nice if they steered a bit more sometimes. “ (G4).
To conclude, most employees indicated that the bottom-up continuous changes were combined with more ambiguity during the implementation of the changes. Employees evaluated this ambiguity differently which might have been shaped by their degree of change readiness. (1) Employees who showed less prominent change readiness often indicated that the transition between change stages were unclear and happened too quickly. In addition, these employees indicated that management frequently made decisions without consulting subordinates. (2) On the other hand, the teachers showing change readiness had the perception that the new curriculum was very relevant for the organization. These teachers preferred a quicker implementation of the continuous changes. These employees had the perception that they did not receive frequent steering from management and management did not make decision regularly. They also indicated that the intentions of management were sometimes too ambiguous. This shows that employees’ change readiness can shape the perceived speed of changes and frequency of leadership behaviors and that this process can unfold in different ways. The contribution of change readiness to the perceived timing of changes and frequency of leadership behavior is shown in figure 2.
