Change, Organizational

Abstract

Organizational change concerns altered or disrupted states in organizations. Scholars have suggested various change models and documented how communicative relationships and actions play an important role in change. Research has primarily sought to understand managers' needs in change processes that are often focused on dissemination of information and framing of change in order to reduce uncertainty and resistance. Communication research has focused on a variety of stakeholders' communicative interactions surrounding change and noted that change and change processes are socially constructed. Key communicative processes of sensemaking, conflict, persuasion, dissent expression, and upward influence shape the course of change in organizations.

Paving the way for sustainable educational change: Reconceptualizing what it means to make educational changes that last

“…The present study aimed to help the field move forward through providing an alternative framework, specifically in relation to second-order educational change. Whereas first-order change refers to an extension of the past and can be implemented with educators' existing knowledge and skills (Waters et al, 2003), and third-order change refers to a transformational effort that occurs (partially) outside the boundaries of the organization (Tsoukas & Papoulias, 2005), second-order change refers to a transformational change within the boundaries of the organization that calls organizational assumptions into question, requires new knowledge, as well as adaptations in the prevailing values and norms (Lewis & Sahay, 2017;Tsoukas & Papoulias, 2005;Waters et al, 2003). It is important to take this second-order change context into account, because ones' definition of sustainability might differ depending on whether first-, second-or third-order changes are being implemented.…”

“…1.1. The definition of educational change and its challenging nature Various classifications exist of the size and scope of change (e.g., Bartunek & Moch, 1987;Lewis & Sahay, 2017;Tsoukas & Papoulias, 2005). The present position paper uses a classification of firstsecond-, and third-order change.…”

“…This type of change is an extension of the past and can be implemented with educators' existing knowledge and skills (Waters, Marzano, & McNulty, 2003), such as when a teacher wants to increase his use of collaborative assignments. Second-order change refers to large transformational or radical changes that call organizational assumptions into question (Lewis & Sahay, 2017). This is a 'paradigmatic' change that requires new knowledge and skills as well as adaptations in the prevailing values and norms (Tsoukas & Papoulias, 2005;Waters et al, 2003).…”

“…Therefore, teachers' professional development is often seen as a key component of change processes (Sleegers & Leithwood, 2010;Van Driel et al, 2012). This is especially the case with second-order change, as it calls organizational assumptions into question and requires new knowledge and skills as well as adaptations in the prevailing values and norms (Lewis & Sahay, 2017;Waters et al, 2003). Although formal programs usually play an important role in teachers' learning processes, it would be an oversight to focus our definition of sustainability (and its accompanying research) exclusively on the learning that is tied to such programs.…”

In pursuit of sustainable educational change - Introduction to the special section

“…It is important to note that this special section will not cover all aspects of sustainable educational change. For example, the current articles focus only on second-and third-order educational changes (Lewis & Sahay, 2017), meaning that they focus on intended and planned change strategies within the school and/or district. This means that incremental changes that make sense within educators' established working methods, the so-called first-order change strategies (e.g., teachers who try to gradually improve their teaching practice), will not be covered in this section.…”