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Reframing Leadership and Organizational Practice Volume 20, 2020 - Issue 1
Journal of Change Management
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Editorial
Organizational Change and Leadership: Out of the Quagmire Rune Todnem By Pages 1-6 | Published online: 22 Jan 2020
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Abstract
MAD statement
The intention of this annual editorial is to Make A Di�erence (MAD) through outlining
suggestions to where we need to direct future organizational change and leadership
discourse, research and practitioner e�orts. Engaging in immensely important �elds of
study and practice, we have a responsibility to assist the sustainable development of
organizations and the wider society. Much good work is undertaken in support of the
further development of both theory and practice. However, I do observe in my role as
editor-in-chief a sustained tendency amongst both scholars and practitioners of being
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editor in chief a sustained tendency amongst both scholars and practitioners of being
stuck in a quagmire peddling a dominant orthodoxy that is somewhat lacking in
progress, initiative and imagination (it still sells articles, books, courses and seminars
though …). Becoming unstuck through reframing the challenges faced is required for
our work to stay relevant, and it takes real and conscious e�ort to make this happen.
Or blood, toil, tears and sweat as Churchill would put it.
KEYWORDS: Organizational change leadership MAD anticipation reframing
Introduction
As always, thanks for your ongoing support of Journal of Change Management. That
being as a submitting author, reviewer, reader, colleague citing our work, editorial
board member, librarian, member of the Routledge family and/or as a practitioner – it
is invaluable, and the Journal would be nowhere without you.
This year I take the opportunity to �rst re�ect on a personal journey that came about
as a direct result of changes in higher education and beyond. Although being a highly
subjective re�ection, it is shared by many and is believed to be relevant to our work
and role in society. Second, I address the need to reframe the challenges facing
organizational change and leadership scholars and practitioners. Referring to the
current state of play as a quagmire, I mean no disrespect to anyone undertaking good
work and practice with the best of intention. Rather, I observe and respond to the
urgent need to catalyse a change in direction of our combined e�orts for our work to
stay relevant. Breaking the mould is tough – and it is those that dare to do so who will
truly make a di�erence and be remembered beyond the latest change initiative or
publication.
A Personal Journey
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In 2019, I returned to Norway, my birth country, after 20 years of living, studying and
working in England and Scotland. My experience of the UK and those living together in
this diverse melting pot is overwhelmingly positive and I would never be without it.
Bringing people together from all over the world, UK higher education provides
opportunities to learn together and from each other and to co-create new knowledge
and innovations. It creates opportunities to challenge assumptions, broaden horizons,
accept and even thrive on di�erences. Hence, to me, higher education is in many ways
a facilitator for peace and progress.
However, something happened. First, a politically motivated sneak-privatization of
higher education. Through ever-increasing levels of marketization and subsequent
managerialism based on utterly �awed and outdated New Public Management (NPM)
principles, our purpose of contributing to the betterment of society through the
creation and dissemination of knowledge is undermined. Ongoing developments in
support of this marketization not only sti�es academic work and freedom but drives
down the quality of higher education through, for example, increasing levels of
unconditional o�ers at the recruitment end of the student-journey (BBC, 2019; The
Guardian, 2019a) and fuelling unprecedented levels of �rst-class degrees at the
graduating end (BBC, 2018; The Guardian, 2018a). Some would argue that what we are
currently observing in the UK is the dismantling of the traditional academic role and
purpose and an in�ation of marks that will eventually damage the quality and value of
higher education and even undermine the esteemed position of British seats of
learning. I happen to agree with this view, and what sends shivers down my spine is
observing how policymakers focusing on e�ciency gains and short-term wins in other
countries are looking towards the UK when wishing to reform their own higher
education sector. My prediction is that those deciding not to follow in the UK higher
education footsteps will outperform them in the future, and my advice is: Let’s take the
long-term view for once.
Second, thanks to a poorly executed Brexit process many European contributors to the
British society no longer feel as welcome as we once did. A previous overwhelmingly In this article
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British society no longer feel as welcome as we once did. A previous overwhelmingly
welcoming society is increasingly being perceived as hostile and that has
consequences with regard to who wants to stay or seek opportunities in and
contribute to the British society (The Guardian, 2019b; 2018b; 2017). What is
experienced is a sad and backward process of well-orchestrated alienation fuelled by
cynical rhetoric and grandeur for political gain. Whilst these political voices are
currently representing the British people, they do in no way, shape or form re�ect the
countries and people I have come to know and love.
As a direct result of these developments, I found myself in an emotional space with
little choice but to leave the UK to seek opportunities for academic service elsewhere.
The subsequent return to Norway reinvigorated my love for academia and reinforced
my belief in what should be at the very core of any [academic] job anywhere in the
world: to be MAD – to make a di�erence.
Out of the Quagmire
Informing its vision, values and pro�le my new university – University of Stavanger,
Norway – has a clearly de�ned community assignment: to challenge the well-known
and explore the unknown. After a decade in the caretaker role as editor-in-chief of
Journal of Change Management, I know that much great work has been undertaken
and published both here and in other journals. However, I also observe that we as
professionals working in the �eld of organizational change and leadership are
somewhat slow at initiating and embracing change ourselves. Rather than challenging
what is well-known, many of us keep exploiting it. This is made obvious by the way we
frame challenges reported on hardly having developed over the years. As was the case
in my early days as an editor, much of what is currently submitted for consideration
for publication refer to the same old illusions as if they were unequivocal facts:
Illusion 1) 70% of all change fail
Illusion 2) We exist in a reality of managers versus employees In this article
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Illusion 3) Successful organisational change is led by individual change
agents – often being the managers
Illusion 4) Change resistance amongst ‘employees’ is the cause of much
change failure and as such must be better managed by managers
Illusion 5) Continuous change is the only option
Illusion 6) Leadership is something [formal] leaders do
These illusions represent rather unimaginative framing and underdeveloped
anticipation abilities, and to me, they crystallize the quagmire stagnating our work. As
a direct result of this rather unfortunate and self-in�icted situation, we get stuck and
mired in much research and practice of little real value. It takes e�ort to get out of this
quagmire in order to get ahead, and unless we do so, our contributions will become
less and less relevant – and so will we.
Let’s visit each of these illusions one at a time:
70% of all change fail: Apart from the obvious but more technical questions regarding
how to de�ne change and how to measure success/failure, this illusion has been
identi�ed as unsubstantiated by Hughes (2011). Still, many articles, books, change
leadership development programmes and sessions, and change initiatives start with
this unchallenged assumption. It is hardly a message of encouragement and acts as an
early displacement of blame often removing responsibility from the decision-makers.
However, as a species, we have been rather successful because of our capability and
capacity to change, evolve and innovate – not because of our resistance to it.
We exist in a reality of managers versus employees: We still receive a surprisingly high
volume of article submissions referring to a con�ict between ‘us and them’ often
phrased as ‘managers and employees’. However, most managers are hired and can be
�red and are as such employees just as much as non-managers – they simply have
other areas of responsibilities. No matter organizational role we should all be on the
same team pulling in the same direction, and no roles can function nor deliver in
isolation. Framing organizational development, delivery and success as a tension In this article
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2021/1/28 Full article: Organizational Change and Leadership: Out of the Quagmire
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so at o . a g o ga at o a de e op e t, de e y a d success as a te s o
between us and them – managers and employees – does not encourage a team
approach nor a sense of shared responsibility. What it does encourage is trench-war, a
focus on vested interests, and the inability to deliver on our full potential.
Successful organizational change is led by individual change agents often being the
managers: Organizational change and leadership theory and practice have a
debilitating tendency of focusing on nouns rather than verbs (see for example 2001;
Crevani, Lindgren, & Packendor�, 2010; Barker, 1997; Burns, 1978; Rost, 1993).
However, it is not who that is important, but what. Hence, in order to progress, the
focus should shift from agents (noun) to agency (verb) as the doing is not monopolized
by any one organizational role.
Change resistance amongst ‘employees’ is the cause of much change failure and as
such must be better managed by managers: Again, on the technical side, we must
de�ne what constitutes ‘resistance’. Is it questions posed; the proposals of alternatives;
the sharing of past experience; valid challenges to the facts and assumptions,
management fads and fashions many change initiatives are based on; or attempts to
hold decision-makers accountable for what is often change for the sake of change? If
so, I believe organizations and society at large need more resistance and not less.
However, the word resistance has not had positive connotations since the Second
World War, and the less dividing theoretical and practical framework of change
readiness is at our disposal (see, for example, Armenakis & Harris, 2009). The option of
building and sustaining high levels of organizational change readiness rather than
demolishing ‘resistance’ gets my vote every time.
Continuous change is the only option: This goes too often without saying. However,
change is only required when linked to organizational purpose and in line with
organizational values. Change for the sake of change is harmful and will result in
change fatigue. Not to change can often be the right option, but in a political
environment driven by the increased appetite for change and short term, measurable
�nancial gains at the cost of long-term �nancial and human pain is often the harder
decision as you can so easily be branded a change resistor facing a sudden halt in your In this article
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dec s o as you ca so eas y be b a ded a c a ge es sto ac g a sudde a t you
career. However, deciding not to change organizational purpose (see By, 2019 for
further references to purpose) and values should go without saying.
Leadership is something [formal] leaders do: Having previously challenged the illusion
leadership = leaders in our 2016 editorial (By, Hughes, & Ford, 2016), little has changed
in theory and practice. Although there is some movement in peripheral areas of study
such as critical leadership studies and leadership as practise – where the focus is on
power structures and relationships between the haves and the have nots rather than
the essentials of leadership – the outdated orthodoxy stands as �rm as ever. I know
this through reading the most recent articles in both academic and practitioner outlets
specializing on leadership, and from inviting executives, students and colleagues to
de�ne ‘leadership’. Nine out of 10 times they de�ne ‘leaders’ rather than ‘leadership’.
They de�ne the peripheral who rather than the essential what. Nothing represents the
quagmire we currently �nd ourselves in as organizational change and leadership
scholars and practitioners more than this. Although most of us claim to oppose the old
Great Man theory, we have only made slight adjustments to the protagonists in
practice. Moving forward, a focus on the essentials of leadership (Barker, 1997; Burns,
1978; Rost, 1993, 2001), leadership as purpose (Kempster, Jackson, & Conroy, 2011),
leadership as process (Crevani et al., 2010), and the ethics of leadership (Burnes & By,
2012) is urgently required in order to help us reframe the challenges faced now and in
the future.
Conclusion
If we decide to stay the course we are currently on as organizational change and
leadership scholars and practitioners, much of our work will quickly become obsolete
and irrelevant. Consequently, we will become obsolete and irrelevant. In order to stay
relevant and make a true di�erence we must work our way out of the current
quagmire of illusions in which we are stuck. Through actively enabling change within
our midst and rejecting illusions that have been allowed to fester for far too long we In this article
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ou dst a d eject g us o s t at a e bee a o ed to este o a too o g e
can reframe organizational change and leadership challenges in order to anticipate
new imaginative and progressive ways forward. For those interested in this calling, my
advice is �vefold: (1) stop referring to change as something we fail at – history suggest
otherwise; (2) cease referring to ‘us and them’ – often through the reference to
‘management and employees’ – as this approach only fuels division, trench wars and a
focus on vested interests; (3) further explore how we can build and sustain high levels
of change readiness rather than how we can demolish change ‘resistance’; (4)
prioritize, enable and support only change in support of de�ned organizational
purpose and in line with organizational values; and (5) facilitate a better understanding
of the essentials of agency and leadership rather than the characteristics, skills and
traits of formal agents and leaders.
Notes on contributor
Rune Todnem By returned to his local University of Stavanger Business School,
Norway in the role as Professor of Change Leadership in August 2019 after having
served at universities in England and Scotland since 2005. Being an internationally
acknowledged organizational change and leadership expert, he is currently dedicating
himself to the development and introduction of a new theoretical leadership lens with
a focus on purpose, and to working with students, practitioners and academic
colleagues on his EPICally MAD leadership framework (By, 2019; please also see 2019
TEDx contribution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nno1faLhoWk). Email:
ORCID
Rune Todnem By http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3817-049X
R f
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