Lecture 1 – Introduction & Article: Van de Ven & Poole (1995)
The lecture introduces the DOVE (DDIE) Cycle, which is a structured way of thinking about
organizational change.
• Diagnose → identifying the problem or reason change is needed.
• Design of a solution → creating a plan or solution for that problem.
• Implementation → putting the solution into practice.
• Evaluation → checking whether the change worked as intended.
This is called a cycle because after evaluating, organizations might diagnose new problems,
design new changes, and repeat the process.
Organizational Change in Today’s Society
• Change is very important today because society is fast moving (technology, economy,
social issues, competition).
• Organizations now include a broader set of stakeholders (not just managers, but also
employees, customers, communities, regulators, etc.).
• Change is more about the process of change (how the change unfolds over time)
rather than just focusing on the individual separate steps or components.
• Change also cuts across functions and hierarchical levels, meaning it doesn’t just stay
in one department (like marketing or HR), nor only at one level (managers vs
employees). Instead, it affects the whole organization.
Strategic / Transformational Change
This type of change means big, fundamental shifts in the organization. It usually happens as a
reaction to developments in the environment (outside the organization).
1. Task context → specific, immediate environment, e.g.:
o important competitors
o important customers
2. Macro context → broader external environment, often summarized as PEST(E):
o Social
o Economic
o Political
o Technological
o Ecological
3. Outer context = task context + macro context (everything external to the
organization).
4. Inner context = what is happening inside the organization (e.g., structure, culture,
leadership).
→ Key point: Many changes start because of outer context shifts (like new technology,
new laws, or competitor behavior).
,Elements of Change
There are different aspects of what can change:
• Hard elements (tangible): concrete, measurable things such as:
o resource allocation (where money or people are placed)
o organizational structure
o processes
• Soft elements (intangible): less visible things, but still powerful:
o beliefs that employees hold about the organization
o beliefs about the environment, competition, and how to compete
o essentially, organizational culture
• Means: the methods used to achieve organizational goals.
• Ends: the goals themselves.
o Change can affect either the means, the ends, or both.
Context-Specific Change
Change can be described in four main areas:
1. Change content → what is changing, and what the future organization should look
like compared to now.
2. Change process → how the change is implemented (the transition journey).
3. Outer context → external environment.
4. Inner context → internal environment (control systems, power, politics, etc.).
Change Flowchart (steps in strategic change)
This gives a roadmap for change agents (people managing change):
1. Analyze competitive position → decide if change is needed.
2. Identify desired future state → define the goal.
3. Analyze change context → understand critical features of the situation.
4. Identify change approach → make design choices (which strategy).
5. Design transition process → choose interventions and levers.
6. Manage the transition → deal with leadership and execution issues.
7. Evaluate change outcomes → assess success or failure.
Simple flow:
Current state → Transition state → Future state
• Transition state is the messy middle where action and adjustments happen.
Managerial Capabilities for Change Agents (AJTI)
To manage change, leaders need four skill sets:
1. Analytical skills → understand the inner workings of the organization holistically.
, 2. Judgmental skills → decide what is critical in a specific situation and design a
process to address it.
3. Translation skills → bridge between “strategy language” (abstract goals) and
“implementation language” (practical steps).
4. Implementation skills → actually take action, choose interventions, and decide the
order of steps.
Exercise Example; Consider a situation in which the change content is about the
development of more environmentally friendly output. Why would the change process be
different for a hospital compared to a manufacturing firm?
If the change goal is developing more environmentally friendly output, the process differs by
type of organization:
• Hospital: end goal = healthier people. Means = doctors, nurses, medical workforce.
The change process may involve medical protocols, patient care systems.
• Manufacturer: end goal = products. Means = machines, workforce, production
systems. The change process focuses more on supply chains, production methods.
This shows why context matters — the same goal (environmental responsibility) requires
different processes depending on the organization.
Change Process
• Defined as a progression of change events that unfold during the life of an entity
(organization or person).
• Process theory = explains how and why an organization changes over time.
Chapter 1 – Exploring Strategic Change
• Change is accelerating due to things like technological advances.
• Failure rate of change programs is 70%, which shows how difficult it is.
• Senior executives need two roles:
1. Strategic thinking and formulation (designing strategy).
2. Strategic acting (aligning the organization behind that strategy).
§ This second part is often neglected but is the book’s focus.
History (1980s):
• Shift to large-scale interventions and whole-organization transformation.
• Growing recognition of leadership as key to change success.
Strategic / Transformational Change
• Large-scale change affecting culture, strategy, structure.
• Recognizes second-order effects (changes in one area ripple into others).
• Focuses on the gap between strategy formulation and implementation.
• Also looks at the gap between what the organization is doing now vs what it needs to
do.
, Two Schools of Thought on Change
1. Continuous change model:
o Change is ongoing, iterative, and emergent.
o Appropriate for fast-changing industries (e.g., high-tech).
2. Punctuated equilibrium model:
o Long periods of stability.
o Interrupted by short bursts of revolutionary, fundamental change.
o Dominant view in 1980s–90s strategy research.
Strategic Drift
• Even when managers try to adapt, they often only make incremental changes (small,
safe adjustments).
• These small changes may temporarily help but are not enough to keep pace with
environmental shifts.
• Over time, this leads to a gap between what the organization is doing vs what it needs
to do → strategic drift.
Change is Context-Specific
Every organization’s change depends on its unique context. The Change Kaleidoscope is a
tool to analyze this:
• Change path: what type of change and desired result.
• Change start-point: where the change begins.
• Change style: management style of leading the change.
• Change target: what is being changed (attitudes, behaviors, outputs).
• Change levers: interventions used across subsystems (technical, political, cultural,
interpersonal).
• Change roles: who will be responsible for making change happen.
Article – Van de Ven & Poole (1995)
The authors wanted to explain how organizations develop and change. They noticed that
many different theories existed, but they often came from different disciplines (biology,
economics, psychology, sociology). Because of this, research became fragmented:
• Each theory explained change from its own angle.
• But the theories were not connected, so knowledge stayed in isolated “boxes.”
Their goal was to integrate these perspectives into a common framework so we can see them
as different lenses on the same process, instead of separate, competing ideas.
The lecture introduces the DOVE (DDIE) Cycle, which is a structured way of thinking about
organizational change.
• Diagnose → identifying the problem or reason change is needed.
• Design of a solution → creating a plan or solution for that problem.
• Implementation → putting the solution into practice.
• Evaluation → checking whether the change worked as intended.
This is called a cycle because after evaluating, organizations might diagnose new problems,
design new changes, and repeat the process.
Organizational Change in Today’s Society
• Change is very important today because society is fast moving (technology, economy,
social issues, competition).
• Organizations now include a broader set of stakeholders (not just managers, but also
employees, customers, communities, regulators, etc.).
• Change is more about the process of change (how the change unfolds over time)
rather than just focusing on the individual separate steps or components.
• Change also cuts across functions and hierarchical levels, meaning it doesn’t just stay
in one department (like marketing or HR), nor only at one level (managers vs
employees). Instead, it affects the whole organization.
Strategic / Transformational Change
This type of change means big, fundamental shifts in the organization. It usually happens as a
reaction to developments in the environment (outside the organization).
1. Task context → specific, immediate environment, e.g.:
o important competitors
o important customers
2. Macro context → broader external environment, often summarized as PEST(E):
o Social
o Economic
o Political
o Technological
o Ecological
3. Outer context = task context + macro context (everything external to the
organization).
4. Inner context = what is happening inside the organization (e.g., structure, culture,
leadership).
→ Key point: Many changes start because of outer context shifts (like new technology,
new laws, or competitor behavior).
,Elements of Change
There are different aspects of what can change:
• Hard elements (tangible): concrete, measurable things such as:
o resource allocation (where money or people are placed)
o organizational structure
o processes
• Soft elements (intangible): less visible things, but still powerful:
o beliefs that employees hold about the organization
o beliefs about the environment, competition, and how to compete
o essentially, organizational culture
• Means: the methods used to achieve organizational goals.
• Ends: the goals themselves.
o Change can affect either the means, the ends, or both.
Context-Specific Change
Change can be described in four main areas:
1. Change content → what is changing, and what the future organization should look
like compared to now.
2. Change process → how the change is implemented (the transition journey).
3. Outer context → external environment.
4. Inner context → internal environment (control systems, power, politics, etc.).
Change Flowchart (steps in strategic change)
This gives a roadmap for change agents (people managing change):
1. Analyze competitive position → decide if change is needed.
2. Identify desired future state → define the goal.
3. Analyze change context → understand critical features of the situation.
4. Identify change approach → make design choices (which strategy).
5. Design transition process → choose interventions and levers.
6. Manage the transition → deal with leadership and execution issues.
7. Evaluate change outcomes → assess success or failure.
Simple flow:
Current state → Transition state → Future state
• Transition state is the messy middle where action and adjustments happen.
Managerial Capabilities for Change Agents (AJTI)
To manage change, leaders need four skill sets:
1. Analytical skills → understand the inner workings of the organization holistically.
, 2. Judgmental skills → decide what is critical in a specific situation and design a
process to address it.
3. Translation skills → bridge between “strategy language” (abstract goals) and
“implementation language” (practical steps).
4. Implementation skills → actually take action, choose interventions, and decide the
order of steps.
Exercise Example; Consider a situation in which the change content is about the
development of more environmentally friendly output. Why would the change process be
different for a hospital compared to a manufacturing firm?
If the change goal is developing more environmentally friendly output, the process differs by
type of organization:
• Hospital: end goal = healthier people. Means = doctors, nurses, medical workforce.
The change process may involve medical protocols, patient care systems.
• Manufacturer: end goal = products. Means = machines, workforce, production
systems. The change process focuses more on supply chains, production methods.
This shows why context matters — the same goal (environmental responsibility) requires
different processes depending on the organization.
Change Process
• Defined as a progression of change events that unfold during the life of an entity
(organization or person).
• Process theory = explains how and why an organization changes over time.
Chapter 1 – Exploring Strategic Change
• Change is accelerating due to things like technological advances.
• Failure rate of change programs is 70%, which shows how difficult it is.
• Senior executives need two roles:
1. Strategic thinking and formulation (designing strategy).
2. Strategic acting (aligning the organization behind that strategy).
§ This second part is often neglected but is the book’s focus.
History (1980s):
• Shift to large-scale interventions and whole-organization transformation.
• Growing recognition of leadership as key to change success.
Strategic / Transformational Change
• Large-scale change affecting culture, strategy, structure.
• Recognizes second-order effects (changes in one area ripple into others).
• Focuses on the gap between strategy formulation and implementation.
• Also looks at the gap between what the organization is doing now vs what it needs to
do.
, Two Schools of Thought on Change
1. Continuous change model:
o Change is ongoing, iterative, and emergent.
o Appropriate for fast-changing industries (e.g., high-tech).
2. Punctuated equilibrium model:
o Long periods of stability.
o Interrupted by short bursts of revolutionary, fundamental change.
o Dominant view in 1980s–90s strategy research.
Strategic Drift
• Even when managers try to adapt, they often only make incremental changes (small,
safe adjustments).
• These small changes may temporarily help but are not enough to keep pace with
environmental shifts.
• Over time, this leads to a gap between what the organization is doing vs what it needs
to do → strategic drift.
Change is Context-Specific
Every organization’s change depends on its unique context. The Change Kaleidoscope is a
tool to analyze this:
• Change path: what type of change and desired result.
• Change start-point: where the change begins.
• Change style: management style of leading the change.
• Change target: what is being changed (attitudes, behaviors, outputs).
• Change levers: interventions used across subsystems (technical, political, cultural,
interpersonal).
• Change roles: who will be responsible for making change happen.
Article – Van de Ven & Poole (1995)
The authors wanted to explain how organizations develop and change. They noticed that
many different theories existed, but they often came from different disciplines (biology,
economics, psychology, sociology). Because of this, research became fragmented:
• Each theory explained change from its own angle.
• But the theories were not connected, so knowledge stayed in isolated “boxes.”
Their goal was to integrate these perspectives into a common framework so we can see them
as different lenses on the same process, instead of separate, competing ideas.
