This document discusses change agency in higher education. It begins by outlining some challenges change agents face as novices to change processes in complex organizations. It then discusses why 70% of change initiatives fail, noting issues like contradictory practices and lack of alignment. The document outlines three types of changes that may be encountered: small projects, larger organizational initiatives, and whole institutional initiatives. It then presents four discourses of change agency and discusses developing an organization's capacity for change, including maintaining operations, implementing single changes, and subsequent changes. Finally, it provides a possible strategy for change involving framing, participation, pacing, and routinizing changes.

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In search of change agency
Cormac McGrath
Director, Unit for Medical Education
© Erik G Svensson
Cormac McGrath

2. Outline
 Who are we anyway?
 The expert-novice paradox
 Why do change initiatives fail?
 What kind of changes do we encounter?
 Four discourses of change agency
 Developing a capacity for change
 Possible strategy for change
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Who are we anyway, and what do we do?
© Name fotograph
Cormac McGrath
© Linda Lindell
time on task
Research
Teaching &
Development
Leadership
Unexpected

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The expert-novice paradox
• Amateur selection
process
• Disciplinary habitus
• Novice knowledge
of change
processes and
educational
governance
• Good intentions
• Pre-reflective
experience
(McGrath et al, 2015)

5.  70%
 internally embedded practices that act and interact to
erode change, slow structural processes that are internally
contradictory,
 decision-making, review and accountability processes are
also non-aligned,
 patchiness in delivery of core activities,
 prioritization does not happen, there are unformed,
inappropriate and changing implementation strategies and
tactics,
 change is conceptualised as training not development
 there is much talk but little action, plenty of strategic
discussion, but business as usual
 (Fullan & Scott, 2009).
 Case in point: Generella kursenkät ….2014
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Why do change initiatives fail?

6.  Do you recognize any of the causes of failure,
give examples, what happened, why?
 Share with your partner. 10 min total
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Ok, let’s talk

7.  (1) Small-scale bottom-up initiatives or projects
led and driven by a small number of enthusiastic
and committed individuals: Digitalising lectures
 (2) Larger-scale organizational (top-down)
initiatives involving wider institutional support,
staffing and/or resources: Global Master
 (3) Integrated whole-institutional (top-down)
initiatives with significant institutional support
linking multiple sustainability activities, often with
an added dimension involving wider cultural
change: Bologna
 (Paul Trowler, Hopkinson, & Comerford Boyes, 2013).
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What kind of changes do we encounter?

8.  What do we know
 They do not have conceptual nor theoretical ideas
about change agency?
 Lack a systematic approach to change
 They are usually stuck in doing things here and now
 (Trowler et al., 2013, McGrath et al., forthcoming)
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Change agents in higher education

9.  What kind of change initiatives do you work
with?
 Share with a new partner, 10 min
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Ok, so let’s talk

10.  Rationalist,
 Contextualist,
 Dispersalist
 Constructionist
(Caldwell, 2006).
Rationalist ---------------------------------------Dispersalist
centred-------------------------------------------decentred
(Barman, et al, 2014)
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Four discourses of change agency
© Name fotograph
Cormac McGrath
© Erik Cronberg

11.  Do the notions of different discourses of change
agency resonate with you?
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Ok, so let’s talk

12.  the capability to maintain daily operations,
 the capability to implement a single change and,
 the capability to implement subsequent changes
 training contra development
 (Meyer & Stensaker, 2006).
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Developing a capacity for change
https://imanikingblog.wordpress.com/2015/06/27/freedom-friday-on-a-
saturday-change/
time on task
Rese
arch

13.  How do these ideas on change capacity building
resonate with you?
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Ok, so let’s talk

14.  framing - identifying and communicating what is
to be done
 participation - allowing the members of the
organisation to be involved in planning
 pacing and sequencing - pacing the rate of
change
 routinizing and recruiting - recruiting people to
take part and routinizing the new elements with
on-going operations (ibid).
 These prescriptions constitute one approach to
change agency.
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Possible strategy for change

15.  Which of the change process prescriptions
resonate with you, why? Give an example!

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Again, let’s talk

16.  Training without a development focus is almost
useless
 Development needs to be contextual and
relevant and fill a purpose
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conclusion

17.  Alvesson, M., & Spicer, A. (2012). A Stupidity-Based Theory of Organizations.
Journal of Management Studies, 49(7), 1194-1220. doi:Doi 10.1111/J.1467-
6486.2012.01072.X
 Barman, Linda, Charlotte Silén, and Klara Bolander Laksov. "Outcome based
education enacted: teachers’ tensions in balancing between student learning
and bureaucracy." Advances in Health Sciences Education 19.5 (2014): 629-
643.
 Caldwell, R. (2006). Agency and change : rethinking change agency in
organizations. London ; New York: Routledge.
 Fullan, M., & Scott, G. (2009). Turnaround leadership for higher education (1st
ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
 McGrath, C., Barman, L., Roxå, T., Stenfors-Hayes, T., Bolander-Laksov, K.,
Silén, C (2015): The ebb and flow of educational change Submitted
 McGrath, C., & Barman, L., (2015) When good intentions aren’t good enough.
Forthcoming
 Meyer, C. B., & Stensaker, I. G. (2006). Developing capacity for change. Journal
of Change Management, 6(2), 217-231. doi:10.1080/14697010600693731
 Trowler, P., Hopkinson, P., & Comerford Boyes, L. (2013). Institutional Change
towards a Sustainability Agenda: How far can theory assist? Tertiary Education
and Management, 19(3), 267-279. doi:10.1080/13583883.2013.798349
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References: