Change Management in a Technical Organization

Ragsdell, G. (2000). Engineering a paradigm shift?: An holistic approach to organizational change management. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 13 (2), 104-120.

Central to Ragsdell’s (2000) research objective is that different members of an organization will have different views of forthcoming change. In any organization there will be some that stand to benefit from change intended for improvement, even when others in the organization may interpret the changes negatively. A key success factor, then, is to actively manage the changes so that they do not become a distraction to overall improvement efforts and so that the change effort is able to stay on-track.

            Ragsdell (2000) worked with three engineering organizations over a three-year period and based her research upon that experience in the business sector.  As a foundation for her research she establishes a useful model of systems tools for change, and then selectively draws two tools which she feels would be most useful to the technical, analytical approach employed by engineers in the engineering services firms with which she worked.  The two systems tools used in her work are referred to as “rich pictures” and “metaphors.”  Both are chosen for these research purposes because Ragsdell (2000) believes that the constructs of these tools are quite different from the more formulaic problem-solving approaches traditionally used by those in a technical field such as engineering.  Their use, Ragsdell (2000) asserts, provokes novel discussion among the participants; places a third-party into the change mediation process; promotes team-building among the participants; and, encourages the participants to take responsibility for their future organizational design. 

Ragsdell (2000) posits that the success in using these two tools with the engineering firms suggests that other such systems tools may be a valuable means for managing the change process in technical organizations.

Critique

This article is highly instructive as it provides a framework for the grouping and application of a portfolio of tools to manage organizational change. The hierarchy of systems tools pyramid, which she includes in her article, may particularly be useful to those responsible for managing and leading change efforts.  Once the framework and the general characteristics of the landscape of tools are discussed the author falls short in justifying the selection of the two tools which she chose, rich pictures and metaphors, other than to fully describe their characteristics in detail and the methods of implementing them with a group in the organization.  This proves to be a major shortcoming as it does not answer the question as to why the tools are superior to others, and therefore best-suited for use by change managers.  A study in which a broader array of tools are utilized and compared could prove to be valuable research.  Ragsdell (2000) selected the tools based upon her interpretation of the learning style and needs of technical workers rather than basing it upon previous research.  Consequently, she acknowledges that further research with a variety of systems tools could prove to be insightful.

This research was published in the Journal of Organizational Change Management, which has been published since 1988.  Published by Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., its home base is the United Kingdom, yet its articles span issues of a global nature.  In each of the past five years there have been more than 200,000 article downloads, which does indicate the relevance of the journal and its subject matter (Emerald Journals, n.d.). A double-blind review process is used by the journal’s editorial staff.  Article topics typically include change strategy, organizational leadership, and implementation planning for change.  As organizational change techniques addressed in its articles span both the public and private sectors, organizations of differing size, and addresses interdisciplinary approaches such as organization and ecology (RAC Library, 2012),  its audience tends to be diverse:  business managers, government agencies, consultants, academics, and training specialists.  Given the research intent of the article under review and the journal’s profile and placement in the change management literature, the journal appears to have been a good vehicle for publication of the article.  The pioneering efforts of Ragsdell (2000) in experimenting with systems tools for change, along with the need in industrial circles to move beyond the traditional change tools of training and communication, combine to justify her very practical approach to finding what is effective in a change situation with actual business enterprises, and getting it into use in industry.  Industrial practitioners can likely appreciate her work with the engineering firms as it may resonate with the some of the same situations which they face in their businesses.

The researcher of this study is Dr. Gillian Ragsdell, the Director of Research in the Degree Programme and Senior Lecturer in Knowledge Management in the Department of Information Science at Loughborough University, United Kingdom.  (Loughborough University, n.d.).  At the time of this research she was associated with the University of Paisley, also in the United Kingdom.  She has merged her experience in industry with her academic interests to leverage the relationships between theory and practice in knowledge management.    Her five other publications have been in the knowledge management field and have all been published in the past three years.  She has been a visiting professor or guest lecturer at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Barcelona and the University of Technology in Sydney, as well as an invited speaker at events at the University of Sheffield, Kuwait University, Lille University, and other institutions.  These foundations in knowledge management and her recent, active work in presenting research provide a good basis for her work in this study on affecting change management in an organizational setting.

An initial observation on the referenced research articles provided by Ragsdell (2000) was that they were limited, especially in light of the large amount of  research attention which change management generates.  Only nine other authors with citations of thirteen studies were referenced.  However, this apparent limitation was likely to have been a product of the experimental work which she undertook in the evaluation of systems tools for change.  Previous research in that very specific dimension of change management may be somewhat limited.  Further, the audience targeted for this particular article, industry practitioners, is likely to be more keenly interested in practical outcomes in a business setting, than they are with earlier research.    Creativity was the underlying theme in nine of these articles, which, though useful in the study, should have been eclipsed by more relevant systems and problem-solving techniques related to managing change.  Nonetheless, it is work like that of Ragsdell (2000) which attempts to bridge that gap and provide new tools and approaches to change management which can be readily embraced by industry practitioners and change managers, alike.