Driving successful internal change A study on how to manage people-issues, key success factors and the role of change agents
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This study seeks to investigate how an internal change is undertaken at a high-tech
established company, especially it studies the process of change and the role of
change agents, in order to contribute to solutions to overcome the challenges that may
arise in change projects. The case study has been undertaken at an international
company operating in the telecom industry by comparing two attempts of the same
change project.
Three sub-questions are studied derived from the main research question: how does a
change process look like in a high-tech company. The sub-questions are a) what could
be the success factors in a change process, b) how are challenges in relation to human
behavior handled in high-tech firms during a change process, and c) what role does a
change agent play in a change process.
The study is conducted by using an inductive approach. It included a literature study
of current theory about change management, interviews with change agents and
change recipients at the company as well as through participant observation. Eight
interviews were held in a semi-structured manner and the result was analyzed by
identifying common themes.
Structure and participation were identified as success factors and catalysts for making
a positive cumulative process with other important factors to take place. Having
supportive processes in place for handling challenges connected to people was seen as
important for high-tech companies and to be able to adapt to the specific situation.
Furthermore, the result showed that change agents are critical in ensuring the process
is implemented and sustained, but it is not enough to secure success.