Color Change Theory Applied to University Tech Innovation

Introduction: A University at a Crossroads

The university at the center of this case study is a midsized Christian institution that is financially solvent yet seeking to grow its current midwestern base in a more global fashion, widening both its scope and its student body. Its chosen path is through greater and more sophisticated leveraging of available technology. However, a rocky road to change lies ahead.

One useful way to conceptualize change is not as a singular method, but rather as a multifaceted process that can be viewed through many different lenses. One of the greatest strengths of Léon de Caluwé and Hans Vermaak's Color Change Theory is that it suggests there is not simply one way of looking at change, but many. Although balancing and prioritizing different views of change can be difficult, it can ultimately prove fruitful in a complex organizational environment.

The theory categorizes different approaches to change by five colors or "prints": yellow, blue, red, white, and green. Each color represents a distinct paradigm through which organizational change can be understood and enacted.

Yellow and Blue-Print Change at the University

Yellow-print models of change tend to stress change as an organizational power play. At this university, different organizational actors hold very different views of change. For example, Dr. Cash is more interested in cost-cutting as an immediate money saver rather than investing in innovation, while Dr. Town is enthusiastic about the prospect of leveraging new technology. Support for change, in other words, has a great deal to do with the power position and specific department of the organizational actor — not simply the objective value of the change itself.

The university's leadership, as the case study notes, has taken a highly bureaucratic, or blue-print, view of change, stressing that a top-down mandate will be sufficient to generate buy-in. Blue-print models tend to view bureaucratic mandates — or creating structures that make compliance easy and noncompliance difficult — as superior. However, at a university fractured into many different coalitions and populated by highly intelligent, opinionated, and expert staff members, this approach would seem to have limited utility.

From a yellow-print perspective, creating a change coalition between proponents of change from a values-based perspective — such as Dean Daniel in the seminary — and individuals with a technically forward-thinking approach — such as Dr. Ray, who sees new technology as an inherent good — may be helpful. This coalition could potentially win over more traditionalist thinkers like Dean Dovo, who is not opposed to technology but wants a clear demonstration that any technology being incorporated has conclusive value for students.

Red-Print Thinking and Motivating Reluctant Faculty

In addition to yellow and blue-print models, the case study also reflects the benefits of red-print thinking. This view of change stresses behavior over power positions or bureaucratic hierarchies (Caluwé & Vermaak, 2004). It emphasizes how people often alter their behaviors when they feel observed — much as in the classic Hawthorne experiments — and argues that crafting a compelling vision statement can help foster a team-oriented approach to change. This may be particularly helpful in winning over reluctant stakeholders such as Dean Devo, who agrees that certain technological innovations — such as universally accessible Wi-Fi — are necessary, but is less certain that technology should be the primary driver of the university's expansion or competitive advantage.

Faculty who do not view technology as essential to the university's higher values, or as something that will attract future students, may be more effectively persuaded through a red-print approach that takes the time to understand individual motivations. As Caluwé and Vermaak (2004) note, "Change agents are good at motivating people and at devising systems and procedures that facilitate this adjustment" (p. 12).

Conclusion: Toward a Balanced Change Strategy

Ultimately, the university is a learning culture, and stressing the green-print educational value of technology is vital. Even when emphasizing financial benefits, the fact that technology can make university learning more efficient and affordable must be incorporated into the narrative used when selling the change to deans and faculty — rather than framing education purely as a business enterprise.

Stressing short-term buy-ins, even in simple forms such as making it easier to incorporate visual aids into the classroom, may help generate early enthusiasm. This practical momentum should be pursued while keeping the potential for chaos and complexity firmly in mind — acknowledging that, as white-print theory reminds us, no change process unfolds exactly as planned.

References

Caluwé, L., & Vermaak, H. (2004). Change paradigms: An overview. Organization Development Journal, 22(4), 9–18.