ORIENTACIONES DIDÁCTICAS

The study of organisational change is a highly important theme as reported in previous studies, suggesting that any type of change in an organisation is never easy but is part of the process, and such changes have now become usual in the current work landscape (Staren and Eckes, 2013). As discussed in Chapter 3, the role of disability sport organisations is to help facilitate access to sport and promote practice. However, there is still a need to understand the role of the organisation in terms of facilitating and understanding change, which is one of the key rationales for conducting this study. The question about ‘What changes have occurred in organisations’ has frequently been answered in existing literature from a content perspective, however questions such as ‘Why have these changes occurred’ and ‘How have they occurred’ have frequently failed to be addressed. The process of organisational change involves changing certain aspects of the organisation in order to improve the business; this might involve changing the culture, technological infrastructure, or management structure of the business model. Organisational change can be caused by a number of different factors including restructuring, change of mission, new technologies, media influences, new programme mergers, or management (Al-Shahi, 2011). Huczynski (1993) and Taylor and Cooper (1988) report that change can be influenced by both internal and external factors. The ever-changing demands of business environments reflect that

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change is necessary for the continuation and development of an organisation (Pettigrew et al., 1992). Changes taking place outside an organisation can be highly varied; the more varied they are, the higher the pressure on the business to change (Pettigrew, 1985). Change is one of the most 'unchanging' aspects of all organisations (Byers et al., 2012, p.1). Yousef (2000) highlights that it could be useful to examine the differing factors which influence behaviour of individuals in the phase of change. As already mentioned, the factors influencing change can be either external or internal. According to various studies (Cao et al., 2000; Cummings and Worley, 2005), there are also several other types of changes to take into account; for example, Erdogan (2008) identifies change as either strategic or non- strategic. Furthermore, change might be gradual (small changes in the organisation, ‘fine- tuning’), or drastic (changes in the basic operating structure). Ali (1996) identifies the cultural relationships which were prevalent in the Arab world and their organisational design implications. It is argued that if correctly identified and understood, Islamic values and culture could facilitate organisational change and development as highlighted earlier in Chapter 2 on Islam and disability. So, this chapter reviews the literature related to the study on organisational change for drawing out the main patterns, dominant themes, and gaps within the field to establish a mature understanding of the current knowledge about organisational change. The literature synthesisation is from various research domains and it attempts to explore the different aspects that are adopted in discussing organisational change, as presented in Table 4.1, listing the key themes in the existing work on organisational change. It confirms that there is limited understanding of organisational change in the context of the Arab countries in the Middle East.

Jansson (2013, p. 11) mentions that “organisational change is a communicative action that can be approached through the lens of universality and particularity”; the existing literature on change has a discourse on the change practice paradigm of universality over practicality. However, it could be questioned as to what is a common practice in one country may not be applicable to another. It is very relevant within the Arab world where religion plays a key role in understanding change. It can be seen in Table 4.1 that most of the existing studies reviewed have directly examined change. From an organisational perspective, they have

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focused on explaining change from various aspects such as: influences on organisational change (McCallum et al., 2008), health (Dahl, 2011), leadership (Nica, 2013), organisational quality (Smith, 2010), optimisation of organisational change (Staren and Eckes, 2013), social perspectives and behaviour (Silver 2009, Jansson, 2013), and resistance to change (De Matos and Clegg, 2013; Thomas and Hardy, 2011). Only one study (Sidani and Showail, 2013) touched on the topic of religion expressing discursive processes which involve religion in particular and lead to organisational change. Battilana and Casciaro (2012 p. 2) mention that “in order to survive, organisations must convince the public of their legitimacy by conforming at least in appearance, to the prevailing institutions that define how things are done in their environment”. This would imply that for nations where religion plays an important part in society (especially within the Arab world), organisational change would be impacted from the context of religion. De Matos and Clegg (2013) and Thomas and Hardy (2011) both discussed organisational change from the perspective of resistance to change, mentioning that structural interventions that are directed can produce organisational contexts that are more amenable to fostering emergent change; this would imply that studying the role of organisation is a key to understanding change.

Table 4:1 Critical review of Organisational Change

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Authors Aims and Purpose Aspect Research Contexts Remarks

McCallum et al., (2008)

Focuses on influence and how it can be examined at the organisational level, instead of at the level of the agents involved; engineers can better understand organisation robustness to structural, behavioural, population changes Influence Model of Organisational Change using Agents (MOCA)

It has identified the need for an approach to modelling which would enable designers to gain better understanding of the organisational structure, and to analyse and verify various properties of systems. However, it uses the MOCA and not the Pettigrew approach; moreover, religion is not discussed and organisation is not mentioned as a key

aspect to change.

Dahl (2011)

Analyses the relationship between organisational change and employee health; looking at outcomes of change at the level of the employee

Employee Health Danish Organisations

Findings suggest risk of receiving stress related meds increases significantly for employees experiencing change. However, there is no relevance to disability sport organisations and it has a limited impact on organisations in the Arab world.

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Smith (2010)

Looks at quality enhancement initiatives to achieve organisational fitness for purpose to address organisational change

Quality

Case Study: La Trobe University (Australia)

Study finds that quality and change go hand-in-hand. Libraries and librarians operating in an environment of rapid and complex change should add to their managerial “toolkits” to understand the issues of organisational quality and change. However, the study ignores context in understanding change.

Sidani and Showail (2012)

Presents a case of proactive change that occurred in a large organisation in Saudi Arabia using the

Stakeholder approach – using religious discourse to institute a stakeholder view

Change Agents and Religion

Saudi Arabian Organisation

Shows that discursive processes, religious in particular can lead to change. Shows that religious discourse under study, aided the legitimization process of the

stakeholder approach. This aids the current thesis in raising the importance of religion as a factor for change; however the study does not adopt the Pettigrew approach.

Staren and Eckes (2013) Addresses the optimisation of organisational change

using different factors Optimisation

Implementation of EHR

Studies specifics of the Electronic Health Records (EHR) in the healthy industry. However, limited relevance to disability sport organisation and to explaining change in sport.

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Silver (2009)

Investigates change in savings banks, which is shifting to promote savings into a dominant culture closely resembling commercial banks

Perspectives Savings Banks

The shift in culture is a result of decreasing values of original visions which is the key findings from this study. However, it is a limited study as the results are applicable for savings banks only and hence not really relevant for understanding change in disability sport organisations.

Battilana and Casciaro (2012)

Analyses change initiatives in the UK NHS to show that structural closure in a change agent network can aid adoption of change

Initiation and Adoption of Change

United Kingdom NHS

Illustrates that low levels of structural closure in a change agent network aids the initiation and adoption of changes that diverge from the institutional status quo, but can hinder less divergent changes. However, the study ignores context in understanding change.

Hellyer (2011) Analysis of change in the Arab world from a political

and national perspective N/A

Middle East and Arab World

Article addresses that change would have happened in the Arab world as the Arab people are demanding change and the focus of change cannot be simply put back into the stability bottle. However, limited discussion on organisational change even though it addresses change from an Arab context.

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Al-Shahi (2011)

Explores the contextual and processual factors that are associated with implementing inter-organisational and collaborative arrangements in the public sector

Inter organisational and collaborative arrangements Oman Public Sector Organisations

A multi-level contextual framework is developed and validated through literature synthesisation, which can be used to explore contextual and processual factors when implementing collaborative arrangements in the public sector. However this study ignores religious factors that impact on organisation change

Smith (2009)

Provides insight into a potential gap between superficially appealing pronouncements of a high profile management guru and social scientific research on the issue of major organisational change

Organisational Change Processes

ABB – A Case Study Approach

Study shows that although post-

bureaucratic form of an organisation and its associated patterns of working cannot be dismissed – and that some evidence can be found of their existence but seldom in pure form, showing

relationships between multiple change motors and organisational structuring. However, limited consideration of internal and external factors.

De Matos

and Clegg (2013)

Examines intersection of the demands to create shareholder value and to ensure sustainable development Resistance to Change Management Research Contributions – EU Strategy

Study illustrates that structural

interventions can produce organisational contexts more amenable to fostering emergent change, through minimizing

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structure, shifting roles, and combining paradoxical requirements. However, several contexts are ignored.

Jansson (2013)

Challenges some taken-for-granted practices related to organisational change in order to understand how organisational change as practice is conditioned by mundane assumptions Human Behaviour and Social Context Literature Review

Study suggests that certain elements that are believed to be universal in

organisational change are in fact, particular within context. The key message is organisational change is in practice is a manifestation of

particularity. Provides critical view of organisational change practices. However, limited consideration is provided for processes.

Nica (2013)

Examines the relationship between employee disciple practices and organisation culture, the shift towards the neo-managerial model and conditions that brought about change in personnel administration

Role of Leadership Public Sector HR Professionals in Local Government Units

Addresses transformative nature of organisational change, looking at complex way in which personnel constraints are manifested in public organisations, as well as coordination and cooperation among levels in hierarchy. Emphasis on role of managers and capacity of managers to bring about change. However, limited consideration is provided for processes.

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D’Cruz et al. (2014)

Reports an empirical inquiry on the dynamics of workplace bullying in relation to the organisational antecedent of change

Workplace Bullying

Indian IT Sector Employees

Studies the understanding of workplace bullying-organisational change link. Depersonalised downwards bullying arising from execution role and related to the organisational level of involvement. However, it emphasises solely on bullying which is not enough to explain organisational change in disability sport organisations.

Thomas and Hardy (2011)

Examines the literature on resistance to organisational change and identifies two dominant yet contrasting approaches: the demonizing versus the celebrating of resistance to change Resistance to Change US Hospitals and Hierarchy of Medical Staff

Study shows that both of these

approaches fail to address power relations adequately, thus raising practical, ethical and theoretical problems in understanding and managing change. Proposes an alternative, more critical approach showing how both power and resistance constitute organisational change. However, this study only considers on resistance to organisational change.

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If an organisation is becoming more institutionalised and structured, it would foster change within the organisational contexts. Thomas and Hardy (2011, p. 8) highlight that organisations are understood as “unfolding enactments, constituted by local communicative interactions between its members”. This would imply that the actions and movements of members within an organisation can have a profound effect on organisational change through their attitudes and beliefs (such as the religious aspects). From the context of the Arab world, religion drives how organisations operate and function, and so this would have an indirect effect on change as a whole. Such an increased awareness would enhance the chances of understanding change by providing greater insights into how change occurs through the analysis of inner and outer contexts, and from various organisational aspects. A study by Brown and May (2012) shows that intense competitive pressure from organisations were probably sufficient to facilitate change, however, the role that organisations played is not clear in terms of ensuring that leadership training actually took place, or the right operating environment was in place. Nica (2013) emphasises that managers play an important part in organisational change; the role of managers and capacity of managers to bring about change is explicitly stated (as mentioned in Table 4.1); however, it is not clear that how the organisation is structured and set-up to enable leaders to drive such changes. Finally, it could be argued that half of the literature reviewed in the Table was based on organisations in the western world. As this study seeks to examine and address issues related to the application of organisational design within the Arab world so the findings from this section reflect the message from Jansson (2013, p11) in that “organisational change literature reveals certain taken-for-granted assumptions and it tends to approach change rather through universalities than particularities”. By bringing in practice which incorporates the human nature and social sciences including religion, it becomes imperative to understand the importance of the context of organisational change.

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