Organizational change capability: a scoping literature review and agenda for future research

Abstract

PurposeAt a time when organizations are faced with increasing transformations, developing a strong change capability has become crucial to deal with the ever-changing environment. While in recent years, the literature on organizational change capability (OCC) has grown, the understanding of this construct remains overly underdeveloped. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth synthesis of the evidence on OCC.Design/methodology/approachA scoping literature review was conducted on peer-reviewed articles published over the past two decades.FindingsThis review shows that while research largely treats change capacity, change capability and change competency as synonymous, these terms should be interpreted differently since they do not refer to the same organizational phenomenon.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough this review focus on the past two decades, this article offers an examination of the latest knowledge on OCC and provides a non-exhaustive set of research avenues. This review also proposes a change maturity framework that can help scholars to conduct more informed investigations.Practical implicationsThe proposed framework can help practitioners to better understand how an organizational potential for change can transform into a change capability, which in turn can evolve into a change competency.Originality/valueThis review extends prior work by clarifying ambiguities around some constructs in the management field that are fundamental to building sound theories.

Developing organizational change capability: towards a dynamic, multi-faceted and multi-temporal model

“…Although this scale is the most widely used instrument to measure change capability, not only do these attributes not seem to be unique to the OCC construct, which can lead to an overly broad conceptualization, but it can also bear the danger that researchers mistakenly believe that all entities possessing these characteristics can manage change effectively (MacKenzie et al, 2011). This paper contends that there is a difference between having the conditions favorable to change that should represent change capacity and actually knowing how to take advantage of these conditions that should pertain to change capability (Montreuil, 2022).…”

“…This distinction is crucial, as it underscores the significant disparity between change capacity and change capability. While the former refers to holding key resources that form a latent ability or potential for change, the latter refers to the actions an organization actually takes on its potential to fully realize it and achieve change efficiency (Montreuil, 2022). Therefore, this model emphasizes that it is through the simultaneous action of these five dimensions and the configuration that the organization will give to these five dimensions which will define OCC.…”

“…, 2011). This paper contends that there is a difference between having the conditions favorable to change that should represent change capacity and actually knowing how to take advantage of these conditions that should pertain to change capability (Montreuil, 2022).…”

“…To survive and thrive in today's competitive context, organizations must not only master the art of conducting change initiatives, but more importantly, they must develop the ability to orchestrate a multitude of key interrelated practices with extreme delicacy, so that change seamlessly harmonizes with organizational life (Bojesson and Fundin, 2021;Le and Le, 2021). The development of organizational change capability (OCC), which can be defined as the ability of an organization to use its resources appropriately, strategically and dynamically to achieve change effectiveness (Montreuil, 2022), thus emerges as a pivotal lever, empowering organizations to assume their full change-related responsibilities without compromising their long-term viability (Judge and Douglas, 2009). In fact, organizations that develop change capability are more likely to achieve business objectives quickly, spend less effort to introduce change, improve their efficiency in project management, perform better economically and environmentally, and be more innovative (Adna and Sukoco, 2020;Heckmann et al, 2016).…”

“…In general, the literature provides an insightful, yet fragmented picture of what OCC means (Montreuil, 2022; Supriharyanti and Sukoco, 2022), which creates challenges in moving toward a common understanding of the construct. The absence of a shared meaning hampers researchers’ ability to engage in meaningful discussions, posing a hindrance to the advancement of knowledge (Suddaby, 2010).…”