Organizational Change Case Study

Organizations have been experiencing change, planned and unplanned, as long as organizations have existed. The example Burke (2014) uses of Moses is a perfect example of the need for organizational change. Studying how organization change occurs, however, is relatively new. Since the late 1800s many organizational change studies have been completed, including: Scientific Management, Industrial Psychology, Sensitivity Training, The Hawthorne Studies, and Survey Feedback. Learning about and understanding these studies help leaders to understand how organizational change occurs and those things that influence the success and failure of organizational change.

The Hawthorne studies made significant contributions to understanding the psychology and

The Survey Feedback method uses employee questionnaires to systematically determine the connection between attitudes and production (Burke, 2014) Floyd Mann identified a missing piece in this method. Once the results of the survey were shared with leaders and managers, whether they chose to share the results with subordinates or if any discussions on the results of the survey were conducted, was largely left up to the discretion of the leaders or managers. There was no follow through to ensure the results were shared or steps for improvement put in place. Mann helped develop a better way to use and incorporate the information collected from employee questionnaires, now known as the Survey Feedback

When considering changes it is important to determine the values of the organization and then define the behavioral practices that align with those values. When implementing the desired behavioral practices of its employees it is helpful to consider personality and temperament. Burke (2014) states, “in providing feedback to a person about behavior, the form of feedback can be understood more thoroughly if one can also see the behavior in the context of one’s personality and temperament (pg.