"The organizational change imperative": an empirical examination of how work units in a learning context respond to increasing complexity

Magnus Söderlund and Johan Stein

Scandinavian Journal of Management, 2000, vol. 16, issue 2, 145-165

Abstract: This paper examines an empirical case of the way teams in a teaching context change, as they move from a less complex to a more complex task. The paper also examines the extent to which these changes affect performance in three dimensions: learning, organizational commitment and grades allocated to the units by teachers. Basically, it can be contended that only some behavioral changes did occur in the teams as complexity increased. This finding offers partial support for an "organizational inertia argument". However, it can also be contended that cognitive development did take place (in terms of self-reported learning and grades), as complexity increased. However, change in the behavioral dimension was associated with change in the cognitive dimension only in terms of grades.

Date: 2000
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