Implementer and facilitator — an exploration of middle managers' perspective on engaging in organisational change
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School of Business |
Master's thesis
Authors
Date
2024
Department
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Mcode
Degree programme
mib
Language
en
Pages
59+1
Series
Abstract
My research participates in the discussion of organisational change and change management. Although change management have been of interest to researchers for decades and have provided a variety of change models, research shows that only a minority of companies master the process as well as they want. (e.g., Nohria & Beer, 2000). There is a need to understand more of the actions organisational people do during the change process, as the change only happens in the actual actions of employees. One employee group, middle managers, seems to have a potent influence on the change process, serving as “a linking pin” between the strategic and operational levels of an organisation. (Maitlis & Christianson, 2014; Balogun & Johnson, 2005; Huy, 2001) My thesis focuses on middle managers' engagement in supporting organisational change and balancing the combination of top-down (strategic) and bottom-up (operational) views into an action that drives organisational change. My main question is, "How to engage middle managers to facilitate organi-sational change of new resourcing models?". I explore the question with a qualitative single case study about Posti Group Oyj. Posti's external business environment has been rapidly changing. As a response, the intention is to develop entirely new resourcing models that emphasise collaboration between different business units. Thus, change has a clear top-down vision and goal, but bottom-up activity and solutions are needed to test and develop it. To do this successfully, Posti needs the engagement of middle management. My data collection contains three ways: interviews with middle managers, observation in kick-off meeting, and facilitating a workshop for middle managers (participatory observation. The main findings of my research are that there is a necessity for continuous open communication, with an emphasis on horizontal and vertical managerial collaboration. Middle managers may be reluctant to assume an active role in driving change if they do not have the opportunity to contribute their perspectives and also to articulate the challenges that change presents. When provided with the requisite opportunity, they will also identify solutions to overcome these challenges, that helps to balance the strategic and operational levels actionsDescription
Thesis advisor
Koveshnikov, AlexeiKeywords
middle manager, organisational change, change communication, engagement, organisational roles