Radical Change Accidentally: The Emergence and Amplification of Small Change Plowman, Baker, Beck, K

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Radical Change Accidentally The Emergence and
Amplification of Small ChangePlowman, Baker,
Beck, Kulkarni, Solansky TravisAMJ,
50(3),2007, 515-543

• Nick Bartkoski

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Phenomena Being Studied

• Examines how organizational change can be both
  radical and continuous
• Radical Change Frame Bending change where
  organizations depart from their existing
  orientations
• Continuous Change-Small adaptations that emerge
  from improvisations and learning. These changes
  may or may not accumulate and occur because the
  systems cannot maintain stability
• This study is performed at the organizational
  level.

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Research Objective

• The authors goal is to develop theory on the
  under-researched concept of radical and
  continuous change.
• How does radical and continuous change occur?
• What are the driving forces behind such change?
• Effectively diagnosed the drivers of the change
  the organization being studied underwent.

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Theoretical Len(es)

• Change can be measured on two dimensions Scope
  and Pace.
• Viewing change through these dimensions leads to
  the evaluation of a rarely researched quadrant
  radical and continuous change
• Complexity Theory
• A complex system has numerous interacting agents
  acting on local knowledge or rules, adapt to
  feedback about the behavior of others, act in
  parallel without specific coordination or
  communication, are non linear and their
  components interact via feedback loops
• Constructs important to emergent behavior
  Initiating conditions Far-from-equilibrium
  state Deviation amplification and Fractals and
  scalability
• Studying radical and continuous change is being
  considered a study of emergent behavior

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Critical Influences

• Greenwood, R., Hinings, C. R. 1996.
  Understanding radical organizational change
  Bringing together the old and the new
  institutionalism. Academy of Management Review,
  21 10221054.
• Suggested change has dimensions of scope
  (convergent or radical) and pace (evolutionary or
  revolutionary)
• Weick, K., Quinn, R. 1999. Organizational
  change and development. American Review of
  Psychology, 50 361386.
• Proposed change as either Episodic (replacement
  of structure or strategy) or Continuous (Small
  ongoing changes)
• Anderson, R. 1999. Complexity theory and
  organization science. Organization Science, 10
  216232.
• Gave complexity theory of organizations

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Conceptual/Research Model

• Feedback
• Negative counters deviance
• Positive amplifies deviance
• Resource Availability
• Use of Language
• Use of Symbols

Radical Change to Organizational Structure
Small Initial Change

• Intensified by tension gradients
• Organizational Decline
• Change in Leadership
• Indentity Struggles
• Organizational Conflict

• Interactions amplify effect
• Interaction between amplifying effects
• Interaction between amplifying effects and
  tension gradients

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Research Strategy

• The authors epistemology seems to be positivism.
• Summarize the authors research approach
• Interviewed church leaders, members, employees
  and volunteers as well as representatives from
  outside community
• Gathered information from secondary sources
• Case study technique

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Research Method

• Given the objectives the sample of one firm seems
  appropriate (allows for greater detail of data)
• No variables per se, but strong methodology in
  anecdotally supporting constructs
• When asking how or why questions (as this
  study does), case study is the preferred
  technique (Yin, 2003)

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Findings

• Data was used to effectively develop theory
• Authors found that leaders have important
  sensemaking role in radical change

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Contributions

• Creation of a theoretical framework describing
  how small change can emerge and amplify into
  continuous radical change.
• The modeling does seem to show how continuous
  radical change occurred in this organization
• Questionable how applicable these constructs may
  be in other organizations.

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Learnings

• The application of complexity theory to
  organizational studies
• A model of how small changes can become complete
  organizational shifts
• New terminology
• Scope of Change
• Pace of Change