A theoretical framework of organizational change

Purpose ¿ Organizational change is a risky endeavour. Most change initiatives fall short on their goals and produce high opportunity and process costs, which at times outweigh the content benefits of organizational change. This paper seeks to develop a framework, offering a theoretical toolbox to analyze context-dependent barriers and enablers of organizational change. Starting from an organizational identity perspective, it aims to link contingency-based approaches, such as environmental scan, SWOT and stakeholder analysis, with insights from organizational behaviour research, such as knowledge sharing and leadership. Design/methodology/approach ¿ The framework is informed by long-lasting field research into organizational change in an international policing environment. The theories in the framework are selected from the perspective of field validity in two ways; they were chosen because the topics covered by these theories emerged as relevant during the field research and therefore it can be expected they have applicability to the field. The authors' insights and suggestions are summarised in 13 propositions throughout the text. Findings ¿ The analysis provides a clear warning that organizational change is more risky and multifaceted than change initiators typically assume. It is stressed that the external environment and the internal dynamics of organizations co-determine the meaning of managerial practices. This implies that cure-all recipes to organizational change are bound to fail. Originality/value ¿ This paper makes an ambitious attempt to cross disciplinary boundaries in the field of organizational change research to contribute to a more comprehensive and holistic understanding of change processes by integrating perspectives that focus on the internal context and the external environment of organizations

Reactions to organizational identity threats in times of change: Illustrations from the German police.

Change projects can affect core features of an organization's identity, because changes made to the managerial practices of an organization can result in misalignments with existing organizational culture. Such misalignments produce threats to organizational identity generating uncertainty and evoking distrust among members of the organization. Faced with projects that introduce changes to managerial practices, people engage in search-and-adjustment processes in order to confirm that organizational identity is intact, producing second-order changes, the pathways of which cannot be predicted and might also undermine the intentions of change leaders. Using case-study evidence, we show how change projects in the German police force produced violations of cultural norms that were central to the continuity and stability of the police. We argue that the change enthusiasm of organizations be tempered given the potentially negative outcomes for individual employees faced with excessive change, and also because of the threats to organizational identity that can result from inherently unpredictable change processes

Establishing Evacuee Reception Centres by Czech Red Cross Humanitarian Crews

Import 26/06/2013Diplomová práce se zabývá zřizováním přijímacích středisek pro evakuované osoby Humanitárními jednotkami Českého červeného kříže. V práci je provedena analýza stávajícího systému fungování přijímacích středisek. Jsou zde vymezeny nedostatky v činnosti těchto jednotek, které zohledňují zejména výsledky cvičení Humanitární jednotky Českého červeného kříže Blansko. V závěru práce jsou navržena opatření pro zkvalitnění činnosti Humanitárních jednotek Českého červeného kříže při zřizování přijímacích středisek pro evakuované osoby.The thesis deals with establishing of receiving centres for evacuees by Humanitarian teams of Czech Red Cross. The thesis opens with an analysis presenting a current system of running the receiving centres. The main focus is on defining failings in functioning of these units which are based on results obtained from trainings of the Humanitarian Czech Red Cross in Blansko. Finally, in the conclusion there is an attempt to suggest actions for improving work of Humanitarian teams of the Czech Red Cross in the process of establishing the receiving centres.Prezenční050 - Katedra ochrany obyvatelstvavelmi dobř

Policing opportunities and threats in Europe

Purpose – This paper aims to take stock and to increase understanding of the opportunities and threats for policing in ten European countries in the Political, Economic, Social, Technological and Legal (PESTL) environment. Design/methodology/approach – This study is part of the large EU‐funded COMPOSITE project into organisational change. A PESTL analysis was executed to produce the environmental scan that will serve as a platform for further research into change management within the police. The findings are based on structured interviews with police officers of 17 different police forces and knowledgeable externals in ten European countries. The sampling strategy was optimized for representativeness under the binding capacity constraints defined by the COMPOSITE research budget. Findings – European police forces face a long list of environmental changes that can be grouped in the five PESTL clusters with a common denominator. There is also quite some overlap as to both the importance and nature of the key PESTL trends across the ten countries, suggesting convergence in Europe. Originality/value – A study of this magnitude has not been seen before in Europe, which brings new insights to the target population of police forces across Europe. Moreover, policing is an interesting field to study from the perspective of organisational change, featuring a high incidence of change in combination with a wide variety of change challenges, such as those related to identity and leadership