A Model of Organizational Change Process

Abstract

Purpose/Goal: The article focuses on organization development process based on functioning of change motors; therefore, the author focuses on accomplishing three objectives. The first objective involves adding to the four change motors described by A. H. Van de Ven & M. S. Poole the fifth one, actually the balancing development motor. The second objective deals with devising a five change motor model based on motor interaction during the life cycle of an organization. The model represents the stages of change motor functioning, description of their interaction and combination of different stages of this functioning. The third objective implies developing and describing the method of the analysis of change motor interaction.
Method: Lewin’s field theory, punctuated equilibrium theory, and complexity theory common aspects were identified using the method of comparative analysis and the method of synthesis, which allowed describing balancing development as a change motor.
Results: The five change motor model was developed using the method of metaphors and the method of conceptual modeling.
Conclusion: The results presented in the article can provide more thorough understanding of the development process of an organization since they contribute to the explanation of how an organization declines in its life cycle due to the functioning of its change motors and how this decline can be overcome by implementing a transformational change. The use of the five change motor model presented in this article will provide insight into the development process of an organization as well as contribute to its further theoretical and empirical research.

Keywords: Development process, Change process, Change motor, Management theory, Organization theory