Lean Enterprise Institute Logo
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Cart (0)
  • Account
  • Search
Lean Enterprise Institute Logo
  • Explore Lean
        • What is Lean?
        • The Lean Transformation Framework
        • A Brief History of Lean
        • Lexicon Terms
        • Topics to explore
          • Operations
          • Lean Product & Process Development
          • Administration & Support
          • Problem-Solving
          • Coaching
          • Executive Leadership
          • Line Management
  • The Lean Post
        • Subscribe to see exclusive content
          • Subscribe
        • Featured posts
          blocks that spell put incentive

          Ask Art: How Do You Align Incentives...

          Animation on Starting a Lean Journey

          Getting Started with Lean Thinking and Practice

          • See all Posts
  • Events & Training
        • Custom Coaching and Learning Experiences
        • Co-Learning Partnerships
        • Forms and Templates
        • Featured learning
          • Building a Lean Operating and Management System 

            February 02, 2023 | Boston, MA

          • Lean Summit 2023

            March 08, 2023 | Optional Pre-Summit Workshops March 6-7
            Tucson, Arizona

          • Key Concepts of Lean Management Remotely 

            March 13, 2023 | Online Live Course

          • Improvement Kata/Coaching Kata Remotely

            April 10, 2023 | Online Live Course

          • See all Events
  • Store
        • Shopping Cart
        • Featured books
          Managing to Learn: Using the A3 management process

          Managing to Learn: Using the A3 management process

          Learning to See

          Learning to See

          • See all Books
  • About Us
        • Our people
          • Senior Advisors and Staff
          • Faculty
          • Board of Directors
        • Contact Us
        • Lean Global Network
        • Press Releases
        • In the News
        • Careers
        • About us

The Lean Post / Articles / The Problems Inherent in Change – and What You Can Do about Them

The Problems Inherent in Change – and What You Can Do about Them

Executive Leadership

The Problems Inherent in Change – and What You Can Do about Them

By Katrina Appell, PhD

March 29, 2016

Anyone who's been involved in an organizational transformation knows that its challenges go well beyond resistance. Katrina Appell sheds some light on the deeper challenges presented by change management plus some helpful solutions for getting past them.

FacebookTweetLinkedInEmailPrintComment

How is the transformation to a culture of continuous improvement affected by the underlying thinking in how organizations change?

Organizations have four major components:

  1. Task(s) of the organization – the work to be done
  2. Individuals who do the work
  3. Formal organizational structures – processes, reporting structure, reward systems, etc
  4. Informal organizational arrangements – how the organizational actually functions

These four components are all interdependent and seek to have equilibrium (Nadler & Tushman 1980). When there is equilibrium between the components the organization is balanced and stable. Because organizations are systems when there is a change in one or more of the components balance is lost resulting in instability. As the system seeks to get back to a stable state organizational change occurs as a transition state between a stable current state and a stable future state (Berkhard & Harris 1977, Nadler 1981).

The Problems Inherent in Change – and What You Can Do about Them

The uncertainty of the transition state results in three problems that are cited as being inherent in change: resistance to change, management losing control, and political behavior to shape the power dynamics within the organization (Nadler 1981). The instability of the transition state requires a different approach to management. Change management is used to manage this transition to minimize the problems and enable the desired future state to be achieved (Nadler 1981).

What causes the inherent problems of resistance to change, management losing control, and political behavior to shape the power dynamics within the organization? Each of these problems is a response to uncertainty in the organization. Individuals resist change to remove the uncertainty of the unknown future. The formal management system seeks to maintain control to reduce uncertainty. Through the uncertainty people are “playing politics” to best position themselves and their interests in the future state of the organization. All of these responses are assuming that individuals and organizations can only handle uncertainty by seeking to control it through change management – a fixed mindset mentality.

In a lean organization with continuous improvement there is constant change; in other words, the organization is always in transition. The transition is no longer something to manage to minimize problems, but is the new reality of how the organization operates. In order to not have to constantly manage the problems of resistance to change, management losing control, and political behavior to shape power dynamics there needs to be a different approach to managing uncertainty.

An alternative approach to manage uncertainty is through a learning or growth mindset. If instead of needing to control uncertainty we established certainty knowing we can always learn our way forward and overcome any problem. By having a consistent approach to problem solving and change (PDCA) there isn’t a disruption to the equilibrium of the organization when a change is needed to create customer value. The organization can maintain stability and agility.

Yet we still need to address the issue of how to change from an organization that views change as something to be managed to minimize problems to an organization that solves problems by learning using the scientific method. Conveniently, we can use the scientific method to run experiments: I hypothesize that if you approach the change with the behavior you desire, that is exactly what you’ll get.

What behavior does your organization’s change process model?

The Problems Inherent in Change – and What You Can Do about Them

Nadler, D. A. and M. L. Tushman (1980). “A Model for Diagnosing Organizational Behavior.” Organizational Dynamics, American Management Associations.

Beckhard, R. and Harris, R. (1977) Organizational Transitions. Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley.

Nadler, D. A. (1981). “Managing Organizational Change: An Integrative Perspective.” Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 17: 191-211.

FacebookTweetLinkedInEmailPrintComment

Written by:

Katrina Appell, PhD

About Katrina Appell, PhD

Katrina Appell has 15-plus years of coaching, facilitating, training, and team development experience. Previously, she served as a senior lean consultant at Liker Lean Advisors, focusing on supporting organizations in lean product and process development, and as a lean coach at the University of Michigan Health System. Working with Jeff…

Read more about Katrina Appell, PhD

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

blocks that spell put incentive

Executive Leadership

Ask Art: How Do You Align Incentives for a Lean Turnaround?

Article by Art Byrne

Why Lean Remains a Superior Business Model and Way of Thinking

Executive Leadership

Why Lean Remains a Superior Business Model and Way of Thinking

Article by Dan Jones

pen on a balance sheet

Executive Leadership

Ask Art: Why Should I Focus on My Balance Sheet to Grow Earnings?

Article by Art Byrne

Related books

The Gold Mine (Audio CD)

The Gold Mine (Audio CD)

by Freddy Ballé and Michael Ballé

The Gold Mine Trilogy 4 Book Set

The Gold Mine Trilogy 4 Book Set

by Freddy Ballé and Michael Ballé

Related events

March 08, 2023 | Optional Pre-Summit Workshops March 6-7
Tucson, Arizona

Lean Summit 2023

Learn more

April 17, 2023 | Online Live Course

Developing Structured Problem-Solving and Leadership Skills using A3 Thinking: Managing to Learn Remotely

Learn more

Explore topics

Executive Leadership graphic icon Executive Leadership
Line Management graphic icon Line Management
Problem Solving graphic icon Problem Solving

Subscribe to get the very best of lean thinking delivered right to your inbox

Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

©Copyright 2000-2023 Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Lean Enterprise Institute, the leaper image, and stick figure are registered trademarks of Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Learn More. ACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!