Why change management fails

Griffith, Jon

doi:10.1080/714042516

Cited by 18 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…The organisation may appear to be responsive, but in fact is acting in a repetitive way without thought or reflection (Bain, 1998). In the heroic crusades, energies are often diverted into dysfunctional interventions, away from capitalising on the strengths inherent in the organisation (Griffith, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Anxiety acts as a driving force behind many behaviours in organisations (Krantz, 2001). Excessive anxiety leads to dysfunctional defensive structures, whereas too little anxiety breeds complacency and gradual decay (Gabriel & Carr, 2002;Gould, Ebers & Clinchy, 1999;Gutmann, 1993). In order to cope with anxiety, individuals in organisations fend against the incapacitating effects of anxiety by mobilising defence mechanisms such as regression, denial, projection, rationalisation and intellectualisation (Bion, 1961;Bowins, 2004;Koortzen & Cilliers, 2002;Miller, 1993).…”

Section: Rationale and Value-add Of The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, research data across different types of interventions, consistently shows that they rarely deliver on anticipated goals. Studies of more than 500 interventions indicate failure rates between 90% and 70%, ranging from culture change efforts (Griffith, 2002;Mourier & Smith, 2001;Smith, 2003), to Total Quality Management interventions (De Cock & Hipkin, 1997;Melan, 1998;Siegal et al, 1996), Business Process Reengineering and technology change efforts (Smith, 2003;Ten Bos, 1997), mergers and acquisitions (Sorge & Van Witteloostuijn, 2004), and downsizing and restructuring interventions (Ramaswamy & Fernandez, 1997;Sahdev, 2004).…”

Section: Is the Plethora Of Interventions Justified?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This perception was formed, not necessarily based on substantiated successes. Rather, it is largely manipulated by a change management industry and management best-sellers, myths that are formed about their skills, their actions and the programmes they design, even if such myths are hopelessly romantic or woefully exaggerated (Griffith, 2002).…”

Section: Working Hypothesis 4: the Lure Of Being The Heroic Change Agmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The rational argument for interventions is that without change, the competitive pressures that confront organisations will lead to their downfall (Vinger & Cilliers, 2006). On the other hand, change and improvement interventions are notoriously ineffective in delivering on expectations (Griffith, 2002). So, what is the lure for leaders to continue initiating more interventions so eagerly?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Improvement interventions: To what extent are they manifestations of social defences?

Klerk

Jeremias²

2012

SA j ind psychol

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Orientation: The statistical record of change and improvement interventions to deliver on expectations is notoriously poor. Yet, new interventions are started constantly.Research purpose: The aim is to provide an explanation to the lure behind interventions and to contribute to building a theory on plausible systems psychodynamic drivers and mechanisms of recurrent change interventions.Motivation for the study: This study provides insights into social defences in ways that did not receive much attention previously; specifically how defence mechanisms act as drivers for new change and improvement interventions.Research design, approach and method: A literature study, consisting of a literature review and a phenomenological analysis. The study was conducted from the systems psychodynamic approach.Main findings: Improvement interventions often represent defences that serve to contain anxieties or maintain fantasies. Four specific themes emerged: interventions defend the perception of being in control, they maintain the fantasy that one is busy with worthy actions to overcome challenges, they are defences against boredom or contain anxieties about incompetence, and they maintain the fantasy of being heroic leaders.Practical/managerial implications: The findings can assist leaders to understand their own defences in order to avoid embarking on non-essential interventions. This can free up much time, energy and effort to spend on other priorities, assisting organisations to achieve better results.Contribution/value-add: The study refutes the notion that improvement interventions are always rational coping mechanisms and highlights the role of improvement interventions as defences to reduce anxiety, even though they may contribute little to organisational survival in real terms.How to cite this article: De Klerk, J.J. (2012). Improvement interventions: To what extent are they manifestations of social defences? SA Journal of Industrial Psycholgy/SA Tydskrif vir Bedryfsielkunde, 38(2), Art. #999, 10 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v38i2.999

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rationale and Value-add Of The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Is the Plethora Of Interventions Justified?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Working Hypothesis 4: the Lure Of Being The Heroic Change Agmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Improvement interventions: To what extent are they manifestations of social defences?

Klerk

Jeremias²

2012

SA j ind psychol

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Community and programmatic factors influencing effective use of system dynamic models

Minyard

Smith²,

Turner

et al. 2018

System Dynamics Review

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Despite knowledge of factors that enable effective system dynamics modeling and organizational change, real-life application of these tools in community settings remains challenging and often produces mixed results. We undertook a two-part evaluation of early community use of the ReThink Health Dynamics Model (RTH model). The RTH model is a realistic, but simplified, portrait of a regional health system that supports multisector planning and strategy design. We assessed the contextual characteristics and implementation processes that promoted or undermined effective engagement with the model in five pilot sites. These learnings were used to refine a community readiness framework (Elements Affecting Modeling Use) that was then used to select and design a sixth community engagement. We use the evaluation results to assess the value of this organizing framework to identify communities ready for engagement with validated system dynamics models. Enabling better community-model matches will accelerate model adoption and health system transformation.

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Improving infant CPR training at an academic medical center using a medical student-led program

et al. 2018

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Improving infant CPR training at an academic medical center using a medical student-led program Infants are at a seven-times higher risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) compared to any other paediatric age group, with most OHCA occurrences within previously healthy infants [1,2]. Contrary to this statistic, our institution, St. Louis Children's hospital, previously offered infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training only to caregivers of patients in intensive care units (ICUs). To address this important gap, we developed a program in which volunteer medical students facilitated infant CPR training courses for caregivers of infants admitted to the non-ICU units of the hospital. The goal of this program was to improve training rates among caregivers of this sensitive patient population. The medical student program was comprised of a two-level hierarchy scheme. Student coordinators were selected at the onset of each academic year to train new student facilitators, organize the training schedule, and collect data. Facilitators recruited caregivers from non-ICU wards prior to each twice weekly course. Each course consisted of video-and psychomotor-based infant CPR training using the American Heart Association's (AHA) Family and Friends ® infant CPR video and infant manikins, respectively.

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Why change management fails

Cited by 18 publications

References 0 publications

Improvement interventions: To what extent are they manifestations of social defences?

Improvement interventions: To what extent are they manifestations of social defences?

Community and programmatic factors influencing effective use of system dynamic models

Improving infant CPR training at an academic medical center using a medical student-led program

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