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

Theoretical background
change processes are especially open for external influences in their
beginning and towards their end.
Authors advocating a contextual approach to change have criticized the
stage models and other recipes for managing change of their “one size fits
all” approach (Burnes, 1996). Respectively, contingency models for change
have been introduced (e.g. Dunphy & Stace, 1988; Kotter & Schlesinger,
1979), highlighting focal contextual factors like the type and scale of
change, the timeframe in which the change should be achieved, and the
extent of support for the change (Hope Hailey & Balogun, 2002). These
contingency models suggest that contextual factors determine the
appropriate approach to change, including the management style,
intervention methods, and required roles and responsibilities. Burnes
(1996) goes beyond the classical contingency theory, arguing that the
managers of change programs do not just passively adapt to the
contingency factors, but they also make choices in what changes they
implement and how. Burnes maintains that managers may affect the
contingency factors by influencing the circumstances of change, which
requires understanding of the organization’s current situation and the
related constraints.
The context, content and process of change are intertwined and thus all
three should be taken into account in the study of organizational change
(Armenakis & Bedeian, 1999; Barnett & Carroll, 1995). Especially Pettigrew
and his colleagues (Pettigrew, 1987; 1990; Pettigrew, Woodman, &
Cameron, 2001) have argued for a more contextual approach to studying
organizational change. Pettrigrew (1990) divides the context of
organizational change into the outer and inner context of the organization.
The outer context involves wider environmental forces, such as political,
social, economic and sectoral influences, whereas the inner context involves
the structural, cultural and political environment of the organization.
Empirical research adopting the contextual view of organizational change
has typically focused on examining specific areas of the context, such as the
effects of the industry sector (Child & Smith, 1987) or organizational culture
(Feldman, 1986).
The current study takes a contextual view to organizational change in two
ways. Firstly, instead of focusing on the change program’s internal life, the
study acknowledges the importance of the program’s context and focuses
on examining the key program actors’ interaction with other members of
the parent organization. Secondly, the study examines the impact of
contextual factors on the early program activities and on creating readiness
for change program implementation. The study aims to identify key
contextual factors, primarily related to the inner context of the
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