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A Systemic Model for Managing and Evaluating Conflicts in Organizational Change

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Abstract

Change or innovation diffusion is a key issue for most business organizations but is yet difficult to implement as the change management process is often complex as it relies on an organized methodology to complement an organization’s commitment and participation. An ambiguous environment surrounding change mechanism tends to develop unintended attitudes, resulting in resistance and conflict. The study proposes a model for the management of such conflicts among change participants (involved and affected) in the context of organizational change. The authors consider organizational change process as an innovation project that treats change and conflicts holistically with the Ulrich’s notion of boundary considerations (boundary critique). A social network setting of multiple stakeholders is considered to effectively help in resolving problematic situations that hinder organizational learning and change. The proposed model provides a theoretical foundation based on concepts governing Critical Systems Heuristics (CSH), change theory, stakeholder theory and conflict management.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, WA, 6027, Australia

    Syed Arshad Raza & Craig Standing

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  1. Syed Arshad Raza
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  2. Craig Standing
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Correspondence to Craig Standing.

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Raza, S.A., Standing, C. A Systemic Model for Managing and Evaluating Conflicts in Organizational Change. Syst Pract Action Res 24, 187–210 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-010-9186-0

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