New Challenges in Change Management

Łukasz Sułkowski / Ewa Grandys (eds.)

New Challenges in
Change Management

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The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in
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This publication was financially supported by
the University of Social Sciences in Łódź.

ISSN 2194-153X

ISBN 978-3-631-74113-9 (Print)

E-ISBN 978-3-631-74114-6 (E-Book)

E-ISBN 978-3-631-74115-3 (EPUB)

E-ISBN 978-3-631-74116-0 (MOBI)

DOI 10.3726/b12994

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Berlin 2018

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About the editors

Łukasz Sułkowski is Professor of Economics and Humanities. He is Chair of HEI Management Department at the Faculty of Management and Social Communication of the Jagiellonian University (Poland), and a member of the Academy of Management and of the Polish Accreditation Committee.

Ewa Grandys is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Management, University of Social Sciences in Lodz (Poland). She is the author of multiple publications, a reviewer for a JCR journal, a manager and business consultant.

About the book

This book presents the perspectives of different Polish authors on challenges in science and practice of management. The authors compare and discuss change models and strategies enabling organizations to anticipate change or respond to it. This book is intended for managers in modern enterprises as a resource of up-to-date knowledge and practical solutions supporting management functions.

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Table of contents

Preface

Ewa Grandys

An Innovative Method for Investigating Production Process Changes

Mariusz Bednarek, Łukasz Bielakowski

Practical Application of Lean Manufacturing – Some Results of Industrial Implementations

Marcin Lisowski, Mariusz Bednarek

Lean Manufacturing and Logistics Distribution 3.0

Remigiusz Kozłowski

Technology Innovation for Logistics Service Providers

Łukasz Sułkowski, Dominika Kaczorowska-Spychalska

Social Media in Change Management Process

Zofia Patora-Wysocka

Putting Daily Activities into Practice: a Practice-based Approach to Organisational Change

Małgorzata Rozkwitalska

Learning in Intercultural Interactions as an Antecedent of Organisational Change←5 | 6→ ←6 | 7→

Preface

Research into change management and its models is still very relevant in the 21st century. The source of change management issues as faced by researchers, organisational development experts and organisational leaders is the complexity of change and the speed of adjustment it involves rather than its worth or relevancy.

In our turbulent world, where innovation cycles are growing shorter and shorter, change management must engage all employees to be effective, as some changes may affect all functions in organisations as well as industries.

With change being an inherent element of today’s world, success is usually with leaders that react in a prompt and responsible manner, but those that can create the future or anticipate it are even more successful, as they play their own game while others only follow them. The survival of an organisation experiencing adaptation problems is questionable.

There are numerous models for making organisational change successful. Winners are quick to act, learn and adapt to the complexity and speed of change, as opposed to losers, who strive to master and control change. The leaders of organisations are responsible for designing and implementing a model of transformation strategy that in addition to making their organisations sustainable will also help them thrive in the near future and beyond. This monograph compares and discusses change models and strategies enabling organisations to anticipate change or respond to it.

Managing change is a tough challenge, partly because experts disagree over factors that have the biggest influence on transformation initiatives.

Change management gurus have recently focused their attention on soft factors, such as motivation, leadership and organisational culture. While these are vital to successful management of change, they are not likely to lead to transformation projects, as their real influence on the results of most change programmes is very limited. Visionary leadership may not always be a prerequisite of transformation projects, but it frequently plays an important role. The same applies to communication with employees. Modifying behaviours and attitudes is not easy, as they are deeply ingrained in people and organisational culture. Motivation and cultural changes can be indirectly assessed by means of interviews and surveys, but a reliable measurement of the degree to which soft factors contribute to them is much more difficult.

Hard factors are apparently given less attention than they deserve. There are three unique attributes that make them special. Firstly, organisations can employ←7 | 8→ direct and indirect methods to measure them. Secondly, their importance can be easily communicated to the outside and inside of the organisation. Thirdly, and most importantly, organisations can change without much problem. Hard factors not only influence the transformation initiatives but also enable their completion, determine the number of people that are involved in them, as well as their financial outcomes.