Change management in public reforms - Det Danske ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Change Management in Public Reforms 2006towards what one might expect from each group in the current reorganization andtherefore mutual perceptions are essential in vast reorganizations.The metaphor presented in the above quote establishes a clear example of some of theassumptions which are central to the dominant perceptions in change management byintroducing a parallel between managing a reform and moving a cemetery. Assumptionswhich can be inappropriate and counterproductive. Vast reorganizations such as reformscan be seen as organizational crisis during which the nature of management are surfaced.The values of which support the existing management will often present itself more clearlyin times of crisis than in everyday working life. Therefore, reorganization is often a goodopportunity to inquire into management values at play in an organization since the senseof urgency is a good catalyst of management assumptions. Assumptions of which someare necessary and of which some are inappropriate. The necessity of assumptions lies inall the experience and learning which we have gathered throughout our lives asorganizational beings.The inappropriateness appears when these basic assumptions are nested in beliefs thatemployees are passive or even counterproductive. It may be true that this is the dominantbelief; but that does not make it true. On the contrary, people are generally loyal to theorganization and to the moral order which is weaved into the organization and of whichthey have become a part of. The loyalty to the moral order of the organization in times oforganizational crisis has been studied by Larry Hirschhorn (2005). He gives an alternativeexplanation to what management often determine as resistance to change when facedwith signs of inertia among employees. Hirschhorn’s explanation rests on a premise thatthe moral order of the current organization has been weaved into a myriad of mutualpromises and obligations between the employees and the organization which areconstituent of the expectations from the employee to the organization. In this explanationsigns of inertia from employees are not necessarily results of a counter-productive questled by the employees; rather, they are results of employees’ devotion to the organizationand its moral order.… people are tied to the network of promises and obligations they have worked in.They are wary of abandoning a moral order that has sustained them, so they tend towait for signs that the crisis will pass. (Hirschhorn 2000, pp. 165-166)Rex Degnegaard Page 10 of 14
Change Management in Public Reforms 2006In this view, signs of inertia may not necessarily be products of resistance but rather theproducts of loyalty to the organization. Loyalty which is essential in public managementgiven its influence on predictability which again is a precondition for the democraticfunction of public organizations. Therefore, a misinterpretation of behavior by employeesor other managers in this respect can be very unfortunate for those being misunderstoodas well as for those who misinterpreted the signals. As a result of such amisunderstanding, the misinterpretation may in the end be self fulfilling.Moral order of an organization is vulnerable during vast reorganizations such as publicmanagement reforms. As described earlier, reform is an organizational crisis which shakesthe organization and its members. In vast reorganizations, the moral order will be fragiledue to the lack of stability and certainty:A crisis renders all obligations and promises suspect, because the organization as awhole has an uncertain future. (Hirschhorn, 2000, p. 165)People in an organizational crisis are generally heavily affected by these changes in whatHirschhorn describes as obligations and promises between the organization and theindividual. However, people in the organization tend to hold on to the moral order as far asthey possibly can.People relinquish a moral order only when it has seriously lost legitimacy, when it isno longer experienced as an arrangement that secures its members’ future.(Hirschhorn, 2000, p. 164-165)This quote shows that people try to retain the moral order of the organization for as long aspossible. However, following the statement on the dynamics of moral order, we can alsoconclude that people cannot sustain a moral order when faced with insecurity and lack offuture scenarios. Therefore, when initiating vast reorganizations, the risk involved inremoving the existing moral order and removing the projected images of futureorganization from employees should be taken into consideration. Particularly in publicsector organizations for which stability is a precondition for its function – and ever moreimportant in organizations such as the police that has high social capital.Public management reform risks compromising the moral order of the organization. Peoplein the organization will try to cling to the existing moral order – whether managers orRex Degnegaard Page 11 of 14
Page 1: Paper for the Danish Academy of Man
Page 8 and 9: Change Management in Public Reforms
Page 13 and 14: Change Management in Public Reforms
Page 15: Filnavn:Degnegaard 2006 Change Mana

Change management in public reforms - Det Danske ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?