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Organizational Change: A Case Study

• Published: June 2001
• Volume 25 , pages 285–301, ( 2001 )

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• Richard Van Loon 1 , 2  

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Universities are often characterized as highly resistant to change, but this is not always true. In circumstances of major threat to institutional survival they may be as susceptible to change as any other large complex organization. This article presents a case study of major organizational change in a mid-sized (17,000 students) university in Ontario, Canada. It concludes that, while formal internal processes may vary from one institution to another, many of the tenets of change theory applicable to other organizations also apply in universities. Lessons about when and how such change can be effected are suggested.

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Management of Permanent Change—New Challenges and Opportunities for Change Management

Organizational Change

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Van Loon, R. Organizational Change: A Case Study. Innovative Higher Education 25 , 285–301 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011098607957

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Issue Date : June 2001

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011098607957

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The Learning Organization

ISSN : 0969-6474

Article publication date: 1 February 2003

Organisational change is typically conceptualised as moving from the status quo to a new, desired, configuration to better match the environment. Change could, therefore, be seen as a departure from the norm, or alternatively as normal and simply a natural response to environmental and internal conditions. Static models of organisations are being displaced by dynamic models, which reflect the discontinuous nature of organisational change. Developments in theory suggest limitations to contingency approaches, which carry the assumptions of static models of change. Analysis of this case at PowerCo in Australia reveals a number of issues related to changes aimed at achieving a more commercial, profit‐oriented, focus. Points out that the contextualist approach is holistic, in which these aspects interact with each other as change unfolds temporally. A contextualist framework permits models of change to be visualised as dynamic rather than static, having a temporal setting which has multiple causes acting as loops rather than simple lines. This enables change to be understood as a discontinuous phenomenon having the benefits, without the limitations, of rational contingency models.

• Organizational change
• Management attitudes

Nelson, L. (2003), "A case study in organisational change: implications for theory", The Learning Organization , Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 18-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/09696470310457478

Copyright © 2003, MCB UP Limited

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Organizational change: Case study of GM (General Motor

The main purpose of this article is to elaborate and bring to light the core concept of the organization change, how it works, different factors which moves organization to change, steps for change, resistance for change, change forces, change management approaches and last an example of General Motor (GM) has given that how change was taken place in the organization and what was the strategies for change management. Recommendations and conclusion forms the last part of the paper. .

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