Complexity and Unmanageability in Change Processes: Patterns in the Capacity of Dutch Organizations to Change (2005)

An article about patterns in the results of the survey. The article deals with, among other things, the interconnections between the configurations, the contextual factors and the choice of change strategies by change managers.

Original Dutch reference: Werkman, R.A., Boonstra, J.J., & Elving, W.J.L. (2005). Complexiteit en weerbarstigheid in veranderingsprocessen. Patronen in het verandervermogen van Nederlandse organisaties. M & O Tijdschrift voor Management en Organisatie, 59, 5-29.

Organizational change remains a complex and unruly process. Despite attempts by researchers and practitioners to better understand change processes, little extensive empirical research has been carried out with regard to problems in the implementation of changes. This study investigates organizational change at 300 Dutch organizations. The authors look at the choices that the change managers made in terms of specific change strategies. It turns out that there are considerable differences between how board members, middle managers and employees judge those strategies. The authors also look at the capacity of organizations to change by mapping out the interconnections between organizational characteristics, the approach of the change process and the perceptions of the change. They then identify five configurations in the capacity of organizations to change. These five configurations are tied to contextual factors and the choices that managers make in terms of specific change strategies. The research shows that we can only comprehend the complexity and the unruly character of change processes if we approach organizational change from multiple perspectives and take into account the choices that change managers make and the context in which changes will take place.