Understanding Teams in Order to Understand Organizational Change: The OTIC Model of Organizational Change

Figures & data

Figure 1. The OTIC model identifies three basic organizational levels and their connections when exploring the role of teams in organizational change.

Table 1. A comparison between the key-characteristics of dominant approaches to teamwork and organizational change (based on Kuipers, 2005; Beer & Nohria, 2000).

Team approach	Change approach
Lean production (LP) Task design: Focus on job enlargement (but with standardized operating procedures) Organization principle: Simple jobs in a complex organization Organization structure: Hierarchy-based work organization Leadership: Fixed foreman, vertical accountability Improvement focus: Continuous improvement of production/service performance Improvement philosophy: Reductionist view with incremental changes: focus on single aspects such as delivery times, product quality, and costs	Theory E Focus: Formal structures and systems Purpose: Maximizing shareholder value Process: Hard approach. Planning and programmatic Leadership: Managing change from the top Motivation: Financial incentives
Socio-technical systems (STS) Task design: Team autonomy Organization principle: Simple organization with complex jobs Organization structure: Team-based work organization Leadership: Rotating team coordinator, horizontal accountability Improvement focus: Quality of Working Life Improvement philosophy: Holistic view, ‘complete’ tasks and ‘complete’ products, fundamental redesign	Theory O Focus: Establishing a corporate culture based on employees’ attitudes and behaviour Purpose: Development of organizational capabilities Process: Soft approach. Experimenting and evolving Leadership: To encourage bottom-up participation Motivation: Commitment

Kuipers, B. S. (2005). Team development and team performance. Responsibilities, Responsiveness and Results: A Longitudinal Study of Teamwork at Volvo Trucks Umea. University of Groningen, Groningen.

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Beer, M., & Nohria, N. (2000). Cracking the code of change. Harvard Business Review, 78(3), 133.

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