Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti

Theoretical background
change capacity has been defined as the organization’s ability to develop
and implement appropriate organizational changes (Judge & Douglas,
2009; Klarner, Probst, & Soparnot, 2008). Whereas change capacity
describes an organization’s general ability to change, recent research
suggests that the concept of organizational readiness for change should be
tied to the context of a specific change effort, instead of viewing it as a
general state of affairs (Weiner et al., 2008).
Earlier studies provide some ideas on how to prepare an organization for
a specific change. Nutt and Backoff (1993: 323–324) state how “a careful
consideration of what is needed to make implementation possible and steps
that must be taken to secure the needed support are essential components
of a transformation”. Woodward (1982) sets four criteria for the
performance of project planning: a realistic plan; completion of the plan
within the timescale; smooth task-oriented performance; and
organizational acceptance of the plan. Furthermore, a survey of the success
factors of large-scale change programs by Covin and Killmann (1990)
highlighted the need to prepare the organization for a successful change.
In this study an organization-level perspective to readiness for change is
adopted to include the multiple dimensions of change initiation. In the
context of large-scale organizational change programs, readiness for change
program implementation is viewed to reflect the various organizational
abilities and resources that are created or ensured during the early stage of
change and that are required to successfully implement the change
program. This approach is encouraged by the notion that Armenakis et al.
(2002) relabel the three steps of Lewin’s (1947) unfreeze-move-freeze
model as readiness, adoption and institutionalization.
The present study uses the concept of readiness for change program
implementation to integrate the success factors of change program
initiation listed in Table 6. Building on the literature review, readiness for
change program implementation is defined as having a shared intent for
the change, and possessing the resources that are required for the
implementation of a certain change program. The concept includes both the
willingness and the ability to implement the change (Weiner et al., 2008).
Instead of indicating the organizations’ general ability to change, or the
change recipients’ personal attitudes towards change, the concept describes
the organization-level readiness to implement a specific change program.
Thus, the definition provides a contextual view of readiness for change,
linking it to a certain change context.
To summarize the discussion, readiness for change program
implementation is defined as consisting of commonly reported success
factors of organizational change. These factors must be ensured or acquired
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