The art of making change initiatives stick

MIT Sloan Management Review

Volumn 46, Issue 4, 2005, Pages 53-60

  Roberto, Michael A ^a   Levesque, Lynne C ^a  

^a HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 23444444886     PISSN: 7653697     EISSN: 1782155X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (29)

1. M. Beer and N. Nohria, "Cracking the Code of Change," Harvard Business Review 78 (May-June 2000): 133-141.
2. D. Rigby, "Management Tools 2005," Bain & Company Inc. (2005).
3. For a detailed description of Lewin's classic "unfreeze-change- freeze" model, see K. Lewin, "Field Theory in Social Science: Selected Theoretical Papers" (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1951). Building on Lewin's work, many researchers have developed three-stage models of the change process. For a discussion of other three-stage models of organizational change
4. see R.M. Kanter, B.A. Stein and T.D. Jick, "The Challenge of Organizational Change: How Companies Experience It and Leaders Guide It" (New York: Free Press, 1992).
5. J. Welch and J.A. Byrne, "Jack: Straight From the Gut" (New York: Warner Business Books, 2001), 298.
6. J. Darragh and A. Campbell, "Why Corporate Initiatives Get Stuck?" Long Range Planning 34, no. 1 (2001): 33-52.
7. J.R. Hackman, "The Design of Work Teams," in "Handbook of Organizational Behavior," ed. J. Lorsch (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1987), 315-342.
8. S. Finkelstein and D. Hambrick, "Strategic Leadership: Top Executives and Their Effects on Organizations" (Minneapolis, Minnesota: West Publishing Co., 1996).
9. For more on conflict management during the decision-making process, see D. Garvin and M. Roberto, "What You Don't Know About Making Decisions," Harvard Business Review 79 (September 2001): 108-116.
10. Amy Edmondson argues that candid dialogue within teams stimulates learning and enhances their ability to accomplish tasks effectively. See A. Edmondson, "Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams," Administrative Science Quarterly 44 (1999): 350-383.
11. For more on experimentation as a mechanism for learning and innovation, see D. Garvin, "Learning in Action: A Guide to Putting the Learning Organization to Work," (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000);
12. and S. Thomke, "Experimentation Matters: Unlocking the Potential of New Technologies for Innovation" (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2003).
13. For more on the use of metaphors in organizations, see H. Tsoukas, "The Missing Link: A Transformational View of Metaphors in Organizational Science," Academy of Management Review, 16, no. 3 (1991): 566-585.
14. Many researchers have emphasized the importance of symbolic action. For instance, see J. Pfeffer, "Management as Symbolic Action: The Creation and Maintenance of Organizational Paradigms," in "Research in Organizational Behavior," ed. L.L. Cummings and B. Staw (Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI Press, 1981), 3: 1-52.
15. J.E. Russo and P.J.H. Schoemaker, "Winning Decisions: Getting It Right the First Time" (New York: Currency, 2002).
16. For more on small wins in the change process, see K. Weick, "Small Wins: Redefining the Scale of Social Problems," American Psychologist, 39, no. 1 (1984): 40-49;
17. J. Kotter and D. Cohen, "The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations" (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002);
18. and D. Ciampa and M. Watkins, "Right From the Start: Taking Charge in a New Leadership Role" (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1999).
19. R.M. Kanter, "Managing the Human Side of Change," Management Review 74 (April 1985): 52-56.
20. J. Bower, "Managing the Resource Allocation Process: A Study of Corporate Planning and Investment" (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1970);
21. R.A. Burgelman, "A Process Model of Internal Corporate Venturing in the Diversified Major Firm," Administrative Science Quarterly 28 (1983): 223-244.
22. M. Korsgaard, H. Sapienza and D. Schweiger, "Beaten Before Begun: The Role of Procedural Justice in Planning Change," Journal of Management, 28, no. 4 (2002): 497-516.
23. For more on procedural justice, see J. Thibault and L. Walker, "Procedural Justice: A Psychological Analysis" (Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1975);
24. and W.C. Kim and R. Mauborgne, "Fair Process: Managing in the Knowledge Economy," Harvard Business Review 75 (July-August 1997): 65-75.
25. M.C. Suchman,"Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches," Academy of Management Review 20, no. 3 (1995): 571-610.
26. Author and consultant Michael Watkins has coined this wonderful phrase to describe managers who have made up their mind but ask for advice anyway, simply to try to demonstrate that they value subordinate input.
27. Edgar Schein describes how stories and myths about an organization's founders are used to sustain and transmit a company's culture over time. See E.H. Schein, "Organizational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View" (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1985).
28. For more on the role of emotion in organizational change processes, see Q.N. Huy, "Emotional Balancing of Organizational Continuity and Radical Change: The Contribution of Middle Managers," Administrative Science Quarterly 47 (2002): 31-69.
29. For more on the notion of balancing hope and fear during successful change efforts, see J. Collins, "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't" (New York: Harper-Business, 2001).