Change management : an integrative approach

Victor, P

Abstract

This thesis explores the nature of organisational change and proposes that the
majority of change programmes are unsuccessful due to their interventionist
orientation. The inherent complexity of organisational change is such that the
change needs to be understood from a range of perspectives and that many
factors need to be fully integrated if the change is to be managed effectively.
The original proposition was a vertically integrated methodology called the Five
Dimensions of Change that stratified and integrated organisational activity from
strategic planning to operational processes. This was fundamentally a
prescriptive and positivistic model of change management, that was subsequently
developed into a more interpretive, question-based approach called the Six
Dimensions of Change, which included a focus on the person-centred and socio-
cultural aspects of an organisation and proposed a more integrated and
generative methodology.
This approach was further refined to encompass the critical learning of the author
that a change agent must take full cognisance of the personal and symbiotic
relationship they have with the change programme. This holistically integrative
methodology is explored through the use of the DNA helix, representing the
importance of direction, task focus, people focus and the nature of engagement of
the change agent.
Three case studies explore the development and refinement of the methodology
and these are explored from three perspectives: researcher, change agent andlearner, thus providing epistemological relativism and ensuring that the essential
elements of action, learning and research were the focus of the work.
Action Learning was central to the development, and critically to the refinement, of
the integrative methodology and this is documented within the thesis, as is the
personal and professional development of the author. Action Learning Sets
provided opportunity for constant challenge and critical evaluation of the work and
resulted in a significant personal exploration of the manner in which the author as
a change agent interacts and engages with a change programme.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2012
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2008