Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti
Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti
Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti
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Results<br />
program. Such legitimating <strong>and</strong> committing <strong>activities</strong> were especially<br />
visible in Bureau, where the early advocates of the program tried to actively<br />
convince both the top managers, i.e. the decision makers, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
employees, i.e. the recipients of change, that a change was necessary <strong>and</strong><br />
that a program of this kind was the right way to implement it. The program<br />
manager in Bureau admitted that the current state analysis that was<br />
conducted during the program launch had been very purpose-oriented, as<br />
its main motive had been to provide a wake-up call <strong>for</strong> the top managers<br />
<strong>and</strong> to make them acknowledge the need <strong>for</strong> change. The program manager<br />
in Bureau described his reasoning:<br />
Q54 (Bureau, program manager): “The aim of [the current state analysis] was to<br />
acquire legitimacy <strong>for</strong> this change … in my opinion, you cannot implement a<br />
radical change without pointing out the defects related to the current situation<br />
<strong>and</strong> clarifying the reasons why the change is needed, why we cannot proceed<br />
with just some minor improvements.”<br />
The three cases demonstrate how such legitimating <strong>and</strong> committing<br />
<strong>activities</strong> were also per<strong>for</strong>med after the initial selling ef<strong>for</strong>ts. Since initiation<br />
<strong>and</strong> planning <strong>activities</strong> took several years in all three organizations, it was<br />
clearly a challenge to maintain the motivation <strong>and</strong> commitment, both<br />
regarding the top managers <strong>and</strong> the employees. The following quote from<br />
case Chain describes this challenge of sustaining momentum:<br />
Q55 (Chain, development area director <strong>and</strong> steering group member): “From the<br />
leadership perspective, it has been a real challenge to find a way to motivate<br />
people. For the past two years we have elaborated on these themes on paper<br />
<strong>and</strong> we have not been able to start the implementation. It has been a challenge<br />
to maintain the good spirit, even towards the top management, regarding that<br />
we’ll get this done.”<br />
As a central means to sustain the momentum <strong>for</strong> change, visible quick wins<br />
from early implementations were purposefully utilized in both Bureau <strong>and</strong><br />
Chain to demonstrate the viability of the programs. Communication of<br />
these quick wins represents a <strong>for</strong>m of legitimating <strong>and</strong> committing activity<br />
that aims at maintaining the pressure <strong>for</strong> change. The following quotes<br />
illustrate these <strong>activities</strong>:<br />
Q56 (Bureau, top manager of a unit actively involved in the program): ”It has<br />
been important to [demonstrate quick wins] <strong>and</strong> also to show those <strong>for</strong> top<br />
management so that their faith in this change is maintained … There was this<br />
one [outsourcing ef<strong>for</strong>t] that was very successful … we have already gained<br />
enormous savings with it.”<br />
Q57 (Chain, program owner): “It has been very important <strong>for</strong> us to show results,<br />
since 1.5 years ago there were many doubts of what we’ll gain with this. … It<br />
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