A scoping workshop for organizations concerned with how to make extensive change a reality
Friday 17th June 2011 at the University of Bath
How do middle managers experience leading change?
Your organization has to implement extensive change. This affects the whole organization: different departments and units will need to work together to change processes and practices. People may lose their jobs.
Your middle managers are experienced and understand that doing nothing is not an option. However they now have to work with other managers who compete with them for resources and who see the challenges from quite different perspectives. Their own staff are uneasy and predict that the change will be messy and hard. Even worse, many people think that if they weather the storm it will pass – yet another new initiative will override this one and it will never have to stick.
The middle managers commit to the change – but have they all the necessary resources to make it work? The one thing they feel they lack is power: do they really have the authority to make this work and will they be backed up if the steps are unpopular? How will they handle mixed messages from different parts of the organization? Who supports them in this process? Do they understand enough about being an ‘agent for whole organization change’ to actually do this work?
Scoping workshop aims
- To identify the key challenges and opportunities middle managers experience when implementing extensive or cross organizational change
- To explore a common language and framework for working with managers on the topic of leading change from the middle
- To identify the implications of middle managers as agents for organization change: what works and what does not
- To shape the remit for ongoing study into enabling middle managers to lead change:
- What questions should we be asking, what problems should we be addressing, what should we explore to help leadership development for middle managers to be more effective?
This workshop is an opportunity to share experience of organizational change with colleagues in other organizations and sectors; an opportunity to shape the research agenda, an opportunity to develop frameworks for making organizational change more effective
Who should attend?
- Managers who are tasked with leading change
- Senior managers who want to improve their understanding of the challenges facing their middle managers in leading change
- Internal ‘change agents’ who work with middle managers on change projects.
Benefits of attending
- Sharing experiences with others facing similar issues in leading organizational change
- Gaining a perspective on which issues in leading change are specific to your context and which are generic challenges relating to the organizational dynamics that arise when change is introduced
- A perspective on leading change from the middle which addresses some of the emotional, political and institutional barriers and enablers of change.
Output
The discussions from the day will be summarised (without attributing any remarks to individuals) and this report will be sent to all participants following the event, by the project team running the workshop.
Research Outline »
Programme
- 10.00 - Tea/coffee and registration
- 10.30 - What’s the problem? Is there a problem? An exploration of the issues in leading change and the challenges middle managers face
- 11.00 - Leading change from the middle: sharing experiences
- 11.30 - Leading change from the middle: exploring a common language
- 12.00 - Leading change from the middle: stories from our organizations
- 12.30 - Buffet lunch
- 1.00 - The challenges in making extensive cross organizational change happen: what happens, what works, what doesn’t
- 1.45 - What do we know and what don’t we know: key issues for a practical research agenda
- 2.15 - Pulling the ideas together: questions, problems, access
- 2.45 - Tea
- 3.00 - Workshop closes
Booking
- No cost.
- This workshop is sponsored by Cranfield University School of Management.
- This is not an open workshop. Participation is by invitation only.
- However, if you have colleagues who share an interest in these issues, please refer them to this web page, and ask them to contact us.
To secure your place at this workshop, please phone or send an email to:
Sarah Gundry
T: 01225 385682
If you have any questions about this workshop, please contact:
Prof Russ Vince
Associate Dean of Research, Professor of Leadership and Change
University of Bath School of Management,
Bath, BA2 7AY
This project is a joint initiative between Cranfield School of Management and Bath School of Management.
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