Multitude of Voices An understanding of what the organization does, or stands for, or what my role is, is created by talking There is no ”the company”, but multitude of stories and images All this talk and stories ”construct” a social reality in which people live = organization is a story, too Social construction Sense making as “everyday talk” Relevant information is shared by talking Leadership (responsibility) is about negotiating realities Changes have to be heard in stories and in ways of talking Taylor Made Development Process Process is a set of activities from input to output – a development process is always unique Instead of readymade answers and tools we trust our experience and expertise to steer development processes in different organizations We trust our clients content expertise and joint innovation process. Dialogue Design A development process needs to be designed in dialogue between the parties involved Finding out the core question Designing a process that supports the targets Systems thinking Analysis: how a part of the system interacts with other parts of the system In social systems cause and effect don’t follow prescribed models or “mechanical” order. Developing social systems differs from managing “things” or processes – Focus on work The main focus is the work people actually daily accomplish – relevant new skills are built by solving on-hand issues. Problem solving “on the spot” Starting point for discussions: the challenges people have in fulfilling their daily tasks Our Organization Development Approach D

Traditional phases of change: 1.Planning the desired changes 2.Implementing the desired changes Re-engineering or the redesign of new processes is a relatively straightforward activity, compared with the challenges associated with implementing new processes. The challenges are even greater when we talk about ”cultural changes”, where one might be aiming at a different way of thinking in relation to customers, quality, responsiveness or learning. (Adapted from: Kai Laamanen, Terms and concepts in business process management, 2002) Change Management in Dialogue – 1

Change Management in Dialogue – 2 Presuppositions of a dialogical change process: Strategies or plans amount to nothing if they are not realized Focusing on the whole process in which organizations formulate and implement strategies. If people are not stimulus-response-automata, why should they be regarded as such in organizations? Strategy understood as a social practice: …the process is polyphonic, with lots of voices joining… the voices compete for the position of narrator, the voice that tells the story of strategy… (Adapted from Saku Mantere, Champion, citizen, cynic? Social positions in the strategy process, 2003)

Strategy as a social practice What kind of stories about strategy circulate at your organization? Which stories dominate and which are marginalized?