In many
change management theories, the change recipient’s trust and willingness to
change on one hand, are viewed as key factors for a successful change process.
Resistance to change, on the other hand, is viewed as something the management
must conquer to be able to complete the change process. In order to make the change
recipients trusting and willing to change, change theories provide useful tools
such as making discrepancy in the work situation of those who are to face
changes, and using persuasive communication. However, from a safety perspective
the importance of trained scepticism, and having the end users questioning the
change process, rather than convincing them, seem to be more important. To view
the end users as experts, and to bring them in the process from an early stage,
with their opinions on how to make changes as safe as possible, seems more
important than overcoming their resistance to change. This paper bridges theories
of organizational change and the theory of high reliability organizations (HRO)
as a safety theory and discusses how a change process can be feasible with
safety as a main priority. Finally, a new model of organizational change which
includes processes that ensure safety is presented.
Key words:
safety, organizational change, high reliability organizations, high-risk
industry
Sætren, G.B. & Laumann, K. (2017). Organizational change management theories and safety. A critical review. Safety Scinece Monitor, 20(1).
Link til artikkel: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317717072_Organizational_change_management_theories_and_safety_-_A_critical_review
