Have you been assigned to facilitate a workshop? Have you been tasked to be part of a committee for an academic program or a research event? Have you volunteered to be part of organizing a school event? Chances are, as an educator, your answer is YES.
Read through as I share with you the factors that can facilitate the successful implementation of change related to program planning.
The tasks and responsibilities of the above-mentioned roles reflect program planning. Being a program planner is an inevitable role of an educator. Here, I will share my reflection on my role as a program planner discussing 1) the selection and role of the problem owner, 2) locating change in the change spectrum, and 3) the TROPICS test.
The selection and role of the problem owner refer to how the need for change is identified – is it initiated by those who are directly affected or by those in the senior management? On top of that, locating the change in the change spectrum points to a change that may be mechanistic or complex, and most of the time a combination of these two extreme ends of the spectrum. Finally, a method of implementing a change that is mechanistic, complex, or a combination of both depends on the time, resources, perception of people involved, interests, control, and source of change (TROPICS). These 3 factors along with other factors need to be considered when implementing an organizational change.
My Program Planning Role as a Research Coordinator
The main challenge in my previous role as a research coordinator was to increase the participation of my colleagues in research and publication. To overcome this challenge, I did several strategies such as organizing research and publication workshops, making the student and faculty research process more streamlined and less bureaucratic and making the research activities more fun by doing conferences participated by faculty and students within and outside of the university, being active in the university research ethics committee to expose the department’s capability for research and publication to other departments and networking with other researchers within and outside of the university. In my 3 years of this role, the research participation of the department increased from just 10 percent to 50 percent. The most noticeable improvement was the collaboration of senior and junior faculty members in their research projects. However, I believe it was not sustainable because the resistance to change was still there. If I could continue working on this role, then working on the factors for successful implementation of change will tremendously help.
Reflection 1: Selection and the role of the problem owner
The first factor, the selection and the role of the problem owner, started with the senior management pushing for increased research activities of all faculty members. This was one of the strategic goals of becoming an excellent teaching, research, and entrepreneurial university. In this case, however, there were strong resistance and negative evaluations because the approach for selecting the problem owner was from the top management down to those who are directly affected by the change (Paton & McCalman, 2008). In hindsight, it could have been more effective if the senior management communicated the change first to all those affected before any roles were assigned – through this, there could have been a favorable attitude and considerable support for such a change (Schulz-Knappe, Koch, & Beckert, 2019).
Reflection 2: Locating change in the change spectrum
In terms of the location of the change in the change spectrum, the recommended change on increasing the research and publication activities of the faculty members lies in the grey area (a combination of a mechanistic and complex problem). First, a mechanistic change in terms of training and upgrading knowledge and skills for research and publication needed to be nurtured. Second, the training and upgrading needed to be recognized by the faculty members as essential and not disruptive to their routine work. Ultimately, there is this culture that may be resisting the move from just teaching to both teaching and research. With the limited experience in change management back then, I and our department could have benefited from the support and consistent communication with the senior management who in one way or another have experience in managing change in the university. This also goes to say that I could have communicated regularly with the senior management. In their review of all the models for change management, Stouten, Rousseau, and De Cremer (2018) found that constant support and communication from senior management are vital ingredients for a more effective change coalition.
Reflection 3: TROPICS test (time, resources, objectives, perceptions of change, interests, control, source of change)
Locating the change in a grey area entails diverse ways to address both the mechanistic and complex change. However, the time I was given and the financial resources involved in implementing such a change were limited. There was a constant struggle in terms of which task I should prioritize – my teaching and research task or my research coordinator task. Admittedly, I could not do both. Although the process for securing a budget related to the research and publication workshops was straightforward, the fund was just not enough to involve all faculty members in a considerable amount of time. Even though this change required a complex solution, I was compelled to prioritize a mechanistic solution given the amount of time and financial resources.
What lies ahead?
If I were to take on another similar role in the future, I will have to consider the factors associated with the successful implementation of change and the organization’s culture in general. For example, I can start by slowly introducing the need for change and involve all those who will be directly affected by such a change. My message must be clear – there is an urgency and significance in embracing the change for the common good.
Recognizing that most changes are in the grey area, then as a problem owner and/or a change agent, I have to make sure that the time, resources, objectives, perceptions of change, interests, control, and source of change are in my favor. I can do this by establishing consistent communication and negotiation with the senior management and becoming a representative of the suggestions and feedback from those who are directly affected by such a change.
Encouraging participation from the top management and from those who are directly affected by the change reflects the organization’s culture. Aside from the technicalities in implementing the change, I must be transparent in all the steps I am taking to implement the change. This encourages a culture of open communication. In organizational behavior, this is emphasized in the role of procedural justice – involving people in decision-making processes can foster creative solutions to change situations (De Clercq & Pereira, 2020).
Overall, program planning involves efforts in managing change. Armed with the frameworks on change management, I am hopeful that I can better perform my job as a program planner, be it a short-term workshop or a long-term program.
References
De Clercq, D., & Pereira, R. (2020). Knowledge-sharing efforts and employee creative behavior: the invigorating roles of passion for work, time sufficiency and procedural justice. Journal of Knowledge Management, 24(5), 1131-1155. DOI: 10.1108/JKM-06-2019-0274. Retrieved from https://www-emerald-com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JKM-06-2019-0274/full/pdf
Paton, R. A., & McCalman, J. (2008). Change management: A guide to effective implementation. Sage.
Schulz-Knappe, C., Koch, T., & Beckert, J. (2019). The importance of communicating change: Identifying predictors for support and resistance toward organizational change processes. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 24(4), 670-685. DOI 10.1108/CCIJ-04-2019-0039. Retrieved from https://www-emerald-com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/insight/content/doi/10.1108/CCIJ-04-2019-0039/full/pdf?title=the-importance-of-communicating-change-identifying-predictors-for-support-and-resistance-toward-organizational-change-processes
Stouten, J., Rousseau, D. M., & De Cremer, D. (2018). Successful organizational change: Integrating the management practice and scholarly literatures. Academy of Management Annals, 12(2), 752-788. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2016.0095
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