Rosabeth Moss Kanter on Organizational Change Management

Introduction

One of the harsh realities of living and working in an organization is the inevitability of change. Many people absolutely hate change and will go to great lengths to avoid altering their daily routines and learning new processes and procedures. In this regard, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a leading authority on change, has stated that trying to change an organization is like trying to teach an elephant to dance. Because change is inevitable, identifying ways to facilitate organizational change represents a timely and valuable endeavor. To this end, this paper provides a discussion of Dr. Kanter's views on change management, followed by a summary of the research in the conclusion.

Background and Overview of Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Rosabeth Moss Kanter certainly has the credentials to advise industry and government leaders on change management issues. According to one of her biographers, Kanter was born in 1943 and is the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at her university (Kermally, 2005). In 1985, Kanter joined her current faculty from Yale University and has received numerous leadership awards for her work (Kermally, 2005). Kanter has also received 22 honorary doctoral degrees, and her book The Change Masters was listed among the most influential business books of the twentieth century (Rosabeth M. Kanter, 2008). Moreover, Kanter has been listed among the top "50 most influential business thinkers in the world," among the top 20 business gurus, and among the 50 most powerful women in the world (Kermally, 2005).

Kanter also notes that her business management concepts draw on the work of Mary Parker Follett, a pioneering theorist in management theory (Austin, 2002). Not surprisingly, Kanter's insights and advice are highly valued by major corporations and various governments around the world (Kermally, 2005). While Kanter's areas of interest include general management, innovation, and leadership, she also specializes in strategic change, organizational change, and transformation.

Kanter's Views on Teamwork

One of the hallmarks of many organizations today is the emphasis on promoting teamwork among employees to help develop the maximum potential available from everyone involved. Kanter, however, suggests that not every task or project is necessarily amenable to a teamwork approach and that some work can be better accomplished by an individual working alone. For instance, in The Change Masters, Kanter (1983) advises that "there are times when autonomy and individual responsibility are more important than participation and team responsibility … invention and innovation are often not democratic processes" (p. 410). As Kanter cautions, managers face difficult choices when implementing and administering change initiatives, and determining whether a teamwork approach or an individual effort is most appropriate can be a challenging but essential component of the change management process.

Kanter's Views on Change Management

Whatever approach is used, Kanter is well known for emphasizing that corporate managers can be viewed as comparable to orchestra conductors. In When Giants Learn to Dance, Kanter (1989) notes that "in the orchestra, performers with different skills concentrate on perfecting their professional competence, while a single conductor coordinates the overall performance; performers with similar specialties form self-managed work teams, operating without a bureaucratic hierarchy above them" (p. 116). Just as everyone wears a number of "hats" throughout their lives — and indeed during each day — Kanter suggests that it is important for all members of an organization to work together toward a common goal.

For corporate players to make beautiful music together, they must achieve a balance between concentrating on their own areas of skill and responsibility and working together with others. As Kanter (1989) explains, "They need to do their own jobs well while keeping one eye on what might be useful for someone else" (p. 116). When it comes time for change — and the time will come — these issues assume new importance for managers who must deal with people wearing many different hats: "They need to understand enough about the company's other areas to identify possibilities for joint action and mutual enhancement. They need to simultaneously focus and collaborate. They must function in many roles: as soloist, ensemble players, and member of the orchestra" (Kanter, 1989, p. 116).

Notwithstanding Kanter's guidance about when and where teams can be used to good effect, a common theme throughout her work on change management is the need for a collaborative approach. Kezar (2006) reports that "organizations are realizing the need to redesign for collaborative work based both on external challenges and pressure and on the documented benefits of working in this manner. External challenges such as difficult financial times, changing demographics, globalization, and increasing complexity create an atmosphere in which organizations must rethink their work" (p. 804). The growing body of research on change management indicates that the primary strategy for success is the formation of collaborations or partnerships. As Kezar (2006) notes, "partnerships help to combine resources and help to identify new solutions to problems by combining expertise. Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1994) coined the term 'collaborative advantage' to describe the way that private sector organizations engage in strategic alliances and partnerships that enhance institutional capacity to meet the demands of the new environment" (p. 805). While the twenty-first century has introduced numerous innovations in technology and telecommunications that have altered the workplace in important ways, many things remain substantially the same when it comes to effecting change in an unwieldy organization.

Conclusion

The research showed that Rosabeth Moss Kanter is a well-known and highly respected authority on organizational change and change management. Kanter's work spans several decades and she has been a prolific author throughout this time. One of the issues that emerged from the review of the relevant literature was the enormous difficulty associated with organizational change, wherein workers actively resist change even to the point of sabotaging such efforts. As noted in the introduction, although Kanter has equated organizational change with "trying to teach an elephant to dance," an old adage suggests that even an elephant can be eaten — one bite at a time — and this is also the case with organizational change. By following the advice, steps, and principles outlined by Kanter, change agents may not be able to teach the organizational elephant to dance, but they can effect change through the appropriate use of people skills and a collaborative approach that celebrates victories and rewards them.