The Role of Networks in Fundamental Organizational Change

Abstract

Utilizing a grounded-theory approach, this study examines 8 organizations and finds that social networks make a difference in the capability of organizations to implement fundamental organizational change. Specifically, this study examines whether networks enable the learning required for local units to develop the new schemata—understandings, behaviors, and interaction patterns—required to adopt and appropriate planned organization-wide change. A mixture of organization-wide and local learning networks in organizations successfully implemented change, whereas the unsuccessful organizations relied primarily on hierarchical change implementation networks. In accelerated change units compared to those that are lagging, a greater abundance and diversity of networks, strong and weak, internal and external, and across system levels were found. These network connections facilitate change implementation not only by sharing information but also by providing the capabilities to exchange and combine knowledge and by enabling local self-design.

A bridge between worlds: understanding network structure to understand change strategy

“…Therefore, attempts to modify formal structures in support of greater collaboration, communication, shared leadership, and decision-making often require change in existing social relationships (Bartunek 2001;Borgatti and Foster 2003;Stevenson et al 2003). It is the organizational interdependence of action (Giddens 1979), reflecting a network of ties, that may ultimately moderate, influence, and even determine the direction, speed, and depth of a planned change (Krackhardt 2001;Mohrman et al 2003). According to Mohrman et al (2003), because change processes emerge and are maintained through interpersonal relationships, ''…lasting change does not result from plans, blueprints, and events.…”

Mind the Gap: Organizational Learning and Improvement in an Underperforming Urban System

“…Therefore, attempts to modify the technical elements of learning often require changes in the existing social relationships (Borgatti and Foster 2003;Stevenson et al 2003). Thus, the nature and strength of relationships among organizational actors may influence the speed, direction and depth of planned change and learning (Krackhardt 2001;Mohrman et al 2003). …”

“…Our study is informed by prior work that has focused on the ways in which the structure of relationships in a social network influence the process of learning and change (see, for example, McGrath and Krackhardt 2003;Mohrman et al 2003;Stevenson et al 2003). For example, informal networks with dense ties generally achieve at a higher levels of performance than those with sparse connections (Reagans and Zuckerman 2001), suggesting the importance of the overall network structure in achieving organizational goals (Guzzo and Shea 1992).…”

Using social networks theory as a complementary perspective to the study of organizational change

“…It is also well understood that organizational adaptation is crucial to success in the context of continuous, sometimes dramatic, environmental changes. However, the effects that social networks have on organization change are somewhat less understood, although it seems reasonable to sustain that inter-organizational relationships have a vital influence on driving firms to change and on how change is implemented (Kraatz, 1998;Mohrman et al, 2003;Tenkasi & Chesmore, 2003;Uzzi, 1996). Moreover, the extant research has piled evidence that most organizations are located in widely differing networks of directly and indirectly linked organizations through a variety of relationships with different purposes, and that the networks may be strategically managed and reconfigured according to the firms' life cycle and needs (Ferreira, Serra, & Santos, 2010;Hite & Hesterly, 2001).…”

“…There is abundant research on the importance of social networks for firms' success (Dyer & Singh, 1998;Gulati, 1995Gulati, , 1998Tenkasi & Chesmore, 2003), and more generally on a variety of firms' economic behaviors (Granovetter, 1985). These relationships form structures that are capable of influencing firms' behaviors, including organizational change, by promoting or constraining their access to information, physical, financial and social resources, such as legitimacy (Baum, Calabrese, & Silverman, 2000;Granovetter, 1985;Mohrman, Tenkasi, & Mohrman, 2003).…”