Introduction
Change management among business organizations is a critical factor that determines their success. As society shifts towards tech-driven operations, many businesses are considering the adoption of information technology (IT) in their routine activities. The literature review will involve a systematic survey of scholarly articles on the overarching topic. The review will explore the theoretical approach to employee behaviors, selected change management models, and the role of IT and employees during the organizational transition. Furthermore, the chapter will try to compare arguments in support of and against organizational transformation as proposed by various scholars. Although the existing scholarly works support organizational changes, some gaps need to be filled by the current study.
Change Management Among Organizations
The success of a business organization is anchored on its capability to transition and embrace change. According to Kaur et al. (2022), organizational change may involve onboarding new employees, growing a department, or merging with other companies. The authors define change management as a collective term for approaches adopted in preparing, supporting, and helping employees in making an organizational transaction. Consistent with Kaur et al. (2022) definition is the description by Calabrese et al. (2020), who state that change management is the systematic approach to dealing with the transformation of organizational goals, technologies, and processes. Therefore, organizational change is not limited to processes and the production of products and services. Instead, the transformation involves the application of technology in executing organizational activities.
Theoretical Approach
Various theories are used in explaining the need for organizational change management. Theories are crucial in organizing relevant empirical facts that create a context for understanding a given phenomenon (Traeger et al., 2021). Although many theories exist to explain organizational change management, existing literature highly focuses on the transtheoretical and social cognitive. The transtheoretical theory propounds that a change can only take place in six distinct stages: pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and termination (Kamonrat et al., 2022). According to Deng et al. (2022), pre-contemplation is the stage when employees and organizations do not intend to make a change. Meanwhile, during the contemplation stage, a change becomes inevitable since the stakeholders know its pros and cons (Deng et al., 2022). Preparation, action, maintenance, and termination follow the desires of the organization to embrace change.
The Social Cognitive theory is another approach that explains the change and how employees can embrace it. The theory, also known as Bandura’s Social Cognitive, postulates that behavioral transformation among employees is not driven by inner forces but by external factors. Ercantan and Eyupoglu (2022) propose that organizations should adopt factors that motivate individuals to adopt the proposed changes. For instance, an increase in employee incentives and salaries can motivate the desired behavior to improve product quality and quantity (Siregar & Suma, 2022). Although the existing theoretical approaches focus on employee behaviors, it is significant to explain the transformation from an organizational perspective. Therefore, different kinds of literature propose organizational change models that can be adopted by businesses.
Models of Change Management
Models of change management build on the adopted theories of employee behavioral change. While many models of change management exist, the literature review focuses on two major models: Lewin’s and ADKAR models. According to Jaaron et al. (2021), the two models are the most effective compared to others since they are simple in structure and application. Lewin’s model requires organizations to adopt three smaller and more manageable steps: “unfreeze”, “change”, and “refreeze” (Santos et al., 2022). The “unfreeze” step allows organizations to approach a new task with a clean slate, and without bias (Santos et al., 2022). Meanwhile, the “change” stage involves the implementation of the suggested change. Arora and Giri (2022) argue that during this stage constant communication among the stakeholders is crucial. The last stage, “refreeze”, allows the organizations to lock into place the made changes (Santos et al., 2022).
Although many scholars prefer Lewin’s model, the ADKAR model remains prioritized due to its inclusivity and high success possibility. Additionally, Antoniades et al. (2022) propound that the ADKAR model is people-focused in its approach. Consequently, the model is consistent with the theories of employee behavioral change theories discussed above. The model perceives that any organizational change must involve awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement (Söderlund & Pemsel, 2021). Although the existing literature on models of change management prioritizes the two models, it has failed to illustrate the weaknesses of other models. However, the current study will adopt the ADKAR model due to its people and structure-oriented approach.
Structure-Oriented Change and Business Success
An organizational structure is a multifaceted concept that involves the human resources and IT infrastructure deployed in the execution of its activities. Fu et al. (2022) define organizational structure as a system that describes how certain activities are directed to achieve business goals. The structure involves how the business is managed by defining the different roles of the organizational leaders. Shi (2022) states that organizational structures utilize functions, markets, products, and geographies, among other factors, as their guides. While the leadership structure is focused on management activities, the IT structure designs the execution processes, such as marketing and product development (Roh et al., 2022). Humairoh et al. (2022) Classify organizational structures into four forms: chain of command, departmentation, a span of control, and centralization. The existing literature falls short of describing organization structures that are most significant to businesses.
Although the literature fails to provide an in-depth analysis of business structures, it is evident that structures are subject to entropy. Therefore, many advantages and impacts come along with structure-oriented business change. According to Farrelly (2021), businesses enjoy improved efficiency, increased sensitivity to employee needs, more cohesive vision and values, and improved processes through structure-oriented changes. For instance, changing the current IT infrastructure to a more advanced one allows the organization to improve product quality, service delivery, and sensitive processes, among others (Tsaramirsis et al., 2022). Therefore, the reviewed literature shows that organizational change is beneficial for businesses and other organizations.
Gaps in the Existing Literature
Although the existing literature extensively discusses behavioral change theories, change management models, and the impacts of structure-oriented change, several gaps exist. Firstly, the literature fails to distinguish between management-oriented structure and IT-related. The study will fill the gap by discussing the importance of integrating IT infrastructure as a form of organizational change. Secondly, the literature insufficiently discusses the role of IT infrastructure in change management. Lastly, the existing literature does not explain the various organizational structures that are most effective for businesses. The study will help fill the gap by exploring the various organizational structures that can be adopted by businesses. Therefore, the current study is significant since it will explore organizational structure-oriented change from the human resource and IT infrastructure perspectives.
Conclusion
The literature review explores the existing scholarly articles on the definition of change management, theories of behavioral changes, change management models, and the impacts of structural-oriented change on organizations. Although the existing literature concisely explores the overarching topics, various gaps are evident. Therefore, the study aims to fill existing gaps by describing the importance of IT infrastructure in organizational change. Additionally, the study will explore structure-oriented change based on identified business structure models. Therefore, the study is important to businesses and academia.
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