Strengthening Organizational Change Processes

Abstract

Although the existing organizational change literature identifies the steps in organizational change, it has not conceptualized those steps to provide a comprehensive process model. In particular, the relationships between the change process at the organizational level and the change processes at the inherent individual and group levels have not been fully described. Using a case study and related data from a major organizational change effort in a corporate audit department of a U.S. bank, this article explores change processes by answering two questions: (a) What constitutes a comprehensive change process as initiatives move from the organizational level to the group and individual levels of implementation? and (b) What does an analysis of the individual and group change processes in large scale organizational change add to our understanding of organizational change processes? This article proposes a more detailed and complete change process model and provides further insight into the differences and transition among the change processes at the individual, group, and organizational levels.