Methodological Issues In Organizational Change

Introduction

Organizational behavior can be considered a broad field covering a wide range of topics over the past hundred years. Areas include leadership, motivation, individuals in teams and groups, effects of the work environment, power and influence, and organizational change (Ott, Parkes, & Simpson, 2008). The last area, organizational change, has received much focus and attention, thus the vast amount of literature on the topic. This could be because scholars and researchers are aware that change is a necessary part of organizations, if they want to successfully move into the future.

In an organization, change is normal and expected, so when leaders are vigilant they are better able to respond to change. Dealing successful with change

Methodological Issues Faced In studying organizational change, researchers would do well to take a step back or change their perspectives from time to time. By looking too often at the pieces of the whole the connection to the whole is lost (Senge, 1990). Communication may also suffer when perspectives do not change or evolve. Change comes from verbal and nonverbal communication, but if the action does not match the words failure is more likely (Kotter, 1996). Inconsistencies and conflicting information are easily noticed by employees who are expected to follow along. Another problem organizations may face in the area of change are the various phases that must be experienced. The leaders often do not consider the past, present, and future at the same time. This is a mistake because they must know the age, size, and stage of revolution the organization is experiencing (Greiner, 1998). Since they are living organisms, organizations must go through various phases of growth and development. Leaders who are aware of the development stage are able to work with it, but must not rush or skip any stage (Greiner,