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Running head: TITLE OF THE PAPER 1
TITLE OF THE PAPER 7Title of the PaperStudent Name
Western Governors University
Table of Contents
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Title of the Paper
Students in the College of Business often want to know how to
set up their academic papers to make them look professional and
to provide ease of reading. This is an electronic sample for
academic papers written at WGU that contain references and
citations that align with the “Big 4” (Author, date of
publication, title of resource, and source or retrieval location).
The sample paper also includes an optional cover page and table
of contents. The purpose of the sample paper is two-fold: (1) to

help students set recommended margins and spacing and (2) to
provide examples of reference list entries and corresponding in-
text citations for paraphrased, summarized, and directly quoted
information from those sources.
For ease of readability and professional appearance, this
paragraph provides several recommendations for formatting.
The margins of academic papers are generally set at 1 inch, and
each new paragraph usually begins with a half-inch indent. The
lines are usually double-spaced throughout the paper, even on
the reference page. The font size and style choices are also
selected based on ease of readability. For instance, the font used
in this sample paper is Times New Roman, and the font size is
12. Consistency throughout the paper is important, so make
sure to use the same margins, line spacing, and font type and
size for the entire paper.
To ensure that source information for all quoted, paraphrased,
and summarized content is accurately and completely
acknowledged, a variety of examples are given both on the
reference page and within the narrative of this sample paper that
include the author, date, title, and location of the referenced
material. Here is an example of how to cite information from a
WGU-required resource. The CliftonStrengths assessment
provides a report of individual signature themes or traits.
Intellection is one theme identified by the assessment (Gallup,
Inc., n.d.). On the reference list for the Gallup source, the
words “Student Name” should be replaced by the actual name of
the student writer, as that is included in the title of the student’s
signature themes report. The student should also provide a
direct link (URL) to his or her actual signature themes
document following the words “Available from” for the Gallup
source. The following sentence provides an example of an in-
text citation for information summarized from a general
webpage that has no specific date of publication. Salesforce
(n.d.) describes how its company helps a business manage its
client interactions and relationships. Of course, there are many
customer relationship management (CRM) software

options.Heading
Academic papers also often use headings to separate the topics
for ease of reading and organization. The heading should be a
short descriptor of the section. The task rubric aspects may be
conveniently used as headings for the different sections of the
paper. For instance, a heading style like the one above may be
useful for dividing a paper into sections based on content
requirements. In this sample paper, the words “Heading” and
“Subheading” are used, but more specific words are
recommended if headings are included. Note that not all written
tasks will have headings or subheadings in them. For instance,
some performance assessments are business communication
tasks, like emails, blog posts, and business letters. Those would
follow the conventions for their individual type of
writing.Heading
To be sure that an in-text citation corresponds to the reference
list entry for that source, the writer will name the author and
date within the text of the paper. Source information is
accurately and completely acknowledged, as required by the
task rubric, when the writer lets readers know the author and the
date of publication for any outside information. Notice how the
next sentence introduces the author and date of publication at
the beginning of the sentence to let the reader know that the
information that follows has been summarized or paraphrased
from the source by that author. Aalateeg (2017) summarized the
differences between leaders and managers. Readers can find the
corresponding entry on the reference list; both author and date
should match. The author continued later in the article to
discuss several leadership theories. In the following sentence,
the quoted material is acknowledged at the end of the sentence.
Transformational leadership “does not place major emphasis on
exchanges or rewards within the system” (Aalateeg, 2017, p.
41). When using the exact wording (quoting directly), the
borrowed language is enclosed in quotation marks, and in
addition to author and date, the specific page number or the
paragraph number is included in the citation, if the source does

not have page numbers (para. 4). Every source on the reference
list must be cited within the text of the paper, as this sample
paper demonstrates. Subheading
The subheading above might be used if there are two or more
sections within the topic labeled in a heading. This heading
style may be useful if the task rubric has multiple sections
under one aspect. Subheading
Here is an example of another sub-section of a paper that
contains an example of how to acknowledge a source when the
writer paraphrases information from a WGU learning resource
ebook. Guffey and Loewy (2015) acknowledged that effectively
communicating means delivering positive information
differently from delivering negative information.Heading
Included below is a sample reference page that provides specific
spacing and formatting, geared to show readers where source
material originated. The examples on the following page include
examples taken directly from various WGU courses of study
(journal article, assessment results, and course learning
resource) and general webpages.
References
Aalateeg, S. (2017). Literature review on leadership theories.
IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 19(11), 35–43.
Retrieved from http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-
jbm/papers/Vol19-issue11/Version-3/E1911033543.pdf
Gallup, Inc. (n.d.). Student Name: Your signature themes.
Available from URL
Guffey, M.E., & Loewy, D. (2015). Business communication:
Process and product (8th ed.) [Cengage learning resource].
Available from https://lrps.wgu.edu/provision/26430767
Salesforce. (n.d.).CRM 101: What is CRM? Retrieved from
https://www.salesforce.com/crm/what-is-crm/
Chapter 11 Population and Migration

CHINA’S ONE-CHILD POLICY WAS BEGUN IN 1979 TO
REDUCE POPULATION GROWTH. Residents of Guangdong
Province looked at a propaganda billboard for the policy.
However, after more than 35 years, the one-child policy was
rescinded in October 2015 after its long-term demographic and
economic implications caused many to question it.
Learning Objectives
1. 11.1Evaluate the causes as well as negative consequences of
high and low population growth rates
2. 11.2Recall the types, causes, and gender roles of global
migration
3. 11.3Identify the push factors of migration
4. 11.4Identify the pull factors of migration
5. 11.5Illustrate how migration and population issues are
important components of human, national, and global security
6. 11.6Examine the social, economic, and political implications
of migration on the sending and receiving countries
Population and migration issues, perhaps more than any other
global problem, demonstrate the reality of globalization.
Hunger, inequality, ethnic conflicts, environmental degradation,
sustainable development, the treatment of women, global
security, economic development, trade, poverty,
democratization, human rights concerns—all aspects of
globalization are intertwined with population. To a large extent,
population factors will determine the future of humanity and the
world. Rapid population growth is a silent threat to both human
and global security, making it as grave a concern as the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Demographic disparities among countries generally influence
the distribution of economic, military, and political power
among states. For example, France dominated continental
Europe for a long time partly because of its relatively large
population, although Britain used its geographic location and its
navy to counter French power. America’s growing population is
likely to consolidate its power, whereas Europe’s aging and
declining population is likely to diminish its power in the global

system. Russia’s population decline has contributed to its loss
of power globally. Population growth in the developing world is
helping shift economic and political power to emerging market
economy countries.
Migration makes population issues an even more pressing global
concern. Each wave of globalization has been accompanied by
migration. The movement of capital, technology, and products
across national boundaries is inseparable from the migration of
people. The current period of globalization is marked by an
unprecedented movement of people around the world. The
creation of global institutions and the globalization of human
rights and democracy have facilitated migration as well as given
rise to a global human rights regime that protects migrants,
independent of their nationality. This chapter focuses on
population growth and its global implications. The different
kinds of migrants and migrations are discussed. The pressure on
Western Europe due to migration from Africa and the Middle
East, and the possible effects from the November 13, 2015
terrorist attack on Paris, are also noted in this chapter. The role
of gender in migration, rural-to-urban migration,
transcontinental migration, forced migration, refugees, reform
migration, and the global smuggling of immigrants are all
examined. The causes of migration are as old as human
civilization. After analyzing them, we will look at case studies
that illustrate the dynamics of global—as opposed to regional
and internal—migration. The chapter concludes with a case
study of global aging and pensions.
11.1: Population
1. 11.1 Evaluate the causes as well as negative consequences of
high and low population growth rates
At the heart of population as a global issue is the extent to
which population growth threatens the Earth’s carrying
capacity. (i.e., too many people living in an area that has
inadequate resources to support them) has been a global
preoccupation for centuries. Population problems must be seen
in the context of consumption. In this context, the population of

the developed world, which consumes much, is seen as a bigger
problem for the world’s resources than the population of the
developing world, which consumes little. Often, population
problems can be avoided if population growth remains stable,
assuming that resources are also carefully managed. The rate at
which the population remains relatively stable is referred to as
the . To achieve this, fertility rates must average 2.1 children
per couple. Migration influences the replacement rate,
population growth, and population decline.
Thomas Malthus (1766–1834), an English economist,
sociologist, and pioneer in demographics, wrote An Essay on
the Principle of Population in 1798. In it, he argued that
because population increases by a geometrical ratio and food
supplies increase by an arithmetical ratio, the world would have
high rates of population growth and suffer from poverty and
starvation. The widespread practice of family planning and
technological and scientific revolutions in food production,
transportation, and storage essentially rendered these dire
predictions false. The invention of genetically modified crops
and other agricultural scientific breakthroughs further challenge
Malthus’s argument. However, food shortages and higher prices,
due partly to the use of corn to produce biofuels, complicate the
discussion on food and population. High population growth
remains a serious threat to most developing countries and, as we
discussed in Chapter9, frustrates efforts to reduce global
poverty and economic inequality. Malthus was concerned about
the Earth’s carrying capacity. refers to the maximum number of
humans or animals a given area can support without creating
irreversible destruction of the environment and, eventually,
humans and animals themselves.
Combined with fervent nationalism and a perception that
survival itself is at stake, population pressures often result in
military conflict. The Palestinian-Israeli struggle is an example
of how demographic changes are perceived as determining
destiny. Jews now comprise roughly 50.5 percent of the
population in Israel and the Palestinian territories. By 2020, the

proportion of Jews will decline to 42.1 percent, whereas the
Palestinians, who now make up 44.3 percent of the population,
will see their share of the population grow to 52 percent. The
birthrate for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza is 40 for
every 1,000 people. The birthrate for Palestinians in Israel is
36 per 1,000 people. Compare this with a birthrate for Jews of
18.3 per 1,000, and you will see why demographic changes are
perceived as threats to Israel’s security.
11.1.1: Population Issues in Developing Countries
Most developing countries have high population growth rates
and suffer from vast differences in income. Inadequate
education, low rates of contraception usage, cultural norms that
value large families and male virility, the need for labor in
subsistence economies, and the need to have children to support
parents are some of the reasons population growth is higher in
poorer countries. Most of the countries with the largest
populations and the highest growth rates are in the developing
world. Roughly 97 percent of the increase in the global
population is occurring in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and
Latin America, with the more prosperous countries in these
regions experiencing declining growth rates. Industrialized
countries, on the other hand, are experiencing declining growth
rates and even depopulation in some cases.
In India, more than 400 million people—roughly the combined
populations of the United States and Britain—live in dire
poverty and are illiterate. Nonetheless, the population in India
grows by about three people a minute, or two thousand an hour,
or forty-eight thousand per day. In other words, the growth of
India’s population each day is equivalent to that of a medium-
sized American city. By 2025, India is projected to surpass
China as the world’s most populous country, with about 1.5
billion people, compared with China’s 1.4 billion people. China
and India alone account for one out of every three children
added to the global population.
Problems arising from rapid population growth have influenced
governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and

women to take action to limit population growth. It is generally
agreed that women’s level of education strongly influences
fertility rates. Education helps to determine factors that affect
population growth rates, such as contraceptive usage, the age of
marriage and childbearing, social status and self-perception, and
employment opportunities outside of the home and residence.
An interesting development is the declining birthrates in Brazil,
Mexico, Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Iran, Vietnam,
Indonesia, and Egypt, where poverty and illiteracy remain
serious and pervasive problems. Even women who are less
educated have become more assertive about their reproductive
choices. Factors influencing this change include economic and
cultural globalization, greater access to education, increasing
urbanization, the declining influence of religion on women’s
reproductive lives, greater access to medical technologies, and
the cumulative effects of satellite television and other media
that stress the advantages of having fewer children. strongly
influences population decisions in developing countries. In
many societies, tradition supports having large families by
praising the fertility of women and the virility of men. The —
the preference for having boys instead of girls—influences
many parents worldwide to continue having children until a boy
is born. Parents, especially mothers, are demeaned in many
societies if they do not produce boys. In many traditional South
Asian families, a boy is expected to live with his parents, be
employed, inherit property, provide financial security for aging
parents, and light their funeral pyres. A daughter, by contrast, is
widely perceived as a financial and social liability. When she
marries, her family is required, by tradition, to provide the
bridegroom’s family with a substantial , which can be money,
property, or both. Parents often incur significant debt to provide
dowries. Sexism also conspires with advanced medical
technology to reduce the number of girls in some countries such
as India and China. With the use of ultrasound machines to
determine the sex of the fetus, many parents often decide to
abort female fetuses. India passed a law in 1996 prohibiting

medical staff from informing parents of the gender of a fetus,
but it appears to be ignored. Based on the predominance of male
births, researchers estimate that more than six million girls have
been aborted in India since 2000. Those practices plus female
infanticide have contributed to a widening divergence in the
ratio of females to males in many parts of India and China.
China’s , initiated in 1979 by Deng Xiao Ping, China’s leader,
and rescinded in October 2015, was the most controversial
approach to dealing with rapid population growth. China
established the state family planning bureau to formulate
policies and procedures for enforcing the one-child policy.
Family planning committees at the local level, a part of the
Communist Party, were responsible for rewarding those who
complied with the policy and punishing those who violated it.
Those who complied with it received a monthly stipend until the
child was fourteen years old and got preferential treatment when
applying for housing, education, and health benefits for the
child; they were also granted a pension in old age. Those who
failed to comply with the one-child policy risked the loss of
benefits for the first child, jeopardized their employment with
the government, and risked having their property seized.
Women often were forced to be sterilized, especially after the
birth of a second child. Exceptions to the one-child
policy included the following cases: (1) if the first child had a
defect; (2) in the case of a remarriage; (3) if couples are
involved in certain jobs, such as mining; or (4) if both partners
came from families with one child. Demographic and economic
implications of the one-child policy influenced more Chinese to
question it, leading first to a modification of it and finally to its
being rescinded.
11.1.2: Population Issues in Developed Countries
Compared with the developing world, Europe has always had a
smaller population. Among the reasons for this disparity are:
1. Europe was settled by humans who migrated from Africa into
Asia. In other words, it started out with a smaller population.
2. Geography and climate discouraged large numbers of people

from settling in Europe.
3. Confronted with overpopulation, Europe was able to conquer,
colonize, and settle in North America, South America, parts of
Africa, parts of Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
The Industrial Revolution and scientific advances in agriculture
made Europeans prosperous and diminished the need to have
large families.
Europe is faced with the spread of : that is, patterns of
childbearing that would eventually result in indefinite
population decline. The sharpest dip in population is in Russia.
Widespread environmental problems, alcohol poisoning,
sexually transmitted diseases, and an abortion rate that is twice
as high as live births have combined to decrease Russia’s
population by roughly 700,000 each year. If current
demographic trends continue, Russia will see its current
population of 140.4 million drop precipitously to 100 million in
forty to fifty years. Such long-range predictions are often highly
speculative and turn out to be inaccurate. Nevertheless, it is
clear that Russia is going through a population implosion.
Though immigration has slowed the decline of Western
Europe’s populations, immigration levels are not high enough to
alter the demographic realities. The United States, Canada, and
Australia are actually gaining population largely due to
increased immigration and rising fertility rates.
As Table11.1 shows, by 2010, the median age in the United
States reached 36.6, compared to 43.3 in Italy and 44.3 in
Germany, due to the rapid growth in the number of the elderly
and the subreplacement problem. Three major reasons account
for Europe’s aging societies:
1. Life expectancy has climbed due to medical advancements, a
healthier environment, improved nutrition, and greater concerns
about safety and public health.
2. The huge baby boom generation of the 1940s and 1950s is
now entering middle age and moving into the old-age category.
3. Declining fertility rates, below the replacement rate, increase
the proportion of the population that is old.

America’s aging population, while growing, will comprise a
smaller percentage of the overall population because of the
number of young immigrants and higher fertility rates. Japan
faces not only an aging population but also subreplacement
fertility rates.
Developed countries face many challenges that require the
implementation of difficult and controversial strategies. These
strategies include the following:
1. Substantially increasing immigration to offset declining
fertility rates
2. Postponing or abandoning retirement
Table 11.1 Demographic Contrasts Between Rich and Poor
Countries
Adapted from UN Development Programme, Human
Development Report 2010 (Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK, and
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).
Country
Median Age, 2010 (years)
Total Fertility Rate, 2010–2015 (births per woman)
Population Annual Growth Rate, 2010–2015 (%)
Rich Countries
Japan
44.7
1.3
20.2
France
40.1
1.9
0.4
United States
36.6
2.0
0.9

Italy
43.3
1.4
0.2
Germany
44.3
1.3
20.2
Poor Countries
Bangladesh
24.5
2.2
1.3
Haiti
21.6
3.2
1.5
Nigeria
18.6
4.8
2.1
Zambia
16.8
5.3
2.4
Sierra Leone
18.2
5.0
2.3
3. Encouraging higher fertility rates
4. Investing more in the education of workers to increase
productivity
5. Strengthening intergenerational responsibilities within

families
6. Targeting government-paid benefits to those who need them
most
7. Requiring workers to invest for their own retirements
The implications of these changes are far reaching. Significant
tensions within rich countries over such strategies are already
evident in many European countries.11.2: Global Migration
1. 11.2 Recall the types, causes, and gender roles of global
migration
Migration—the movement of people from one place to
another—is an integral component of human behavior. Our
ancestors moved out of curiosity and a sense of adventure; to
find food, to search for better grazing and agricultural lands; to
seek protection from adversaries; to conquer land for new
settlements; and to obtain religious, political, social, and
economic freedoms. Contemporary migration is rooted in the
earlier periods of political, military, economic, and financial
globalization that we discussed in Chapter 1. Migration includes
the movement of people within a country’s geographical
boundaries as well as movement across national boundaries.
People who migrate fall into several categories. A migrant is a
person who moves from one country or area to another country
or location. Migrants often move from one part of a country to
another location within that country. The broad category of
migrant is subdivided into refugees, displaced persons, and
immigrants. Refugees are essentially migrants who live outside
their country and are unable or unwilling to return because of
documented cases of persecution or a well-founded fear of
persecution. Historically and today, conflicts, famine, natural
disasters, and political, religious, and economic oppression have
been dominant factors contributing to the creation of refugees.
Refugees who attempt to obtain permanent residence in the
country to which they fled are referred to as asylum seekers.
The immigration laws of most countries distinguish asylum
seekers from other categories of migrants and generally grant
them preferential treatment, in accordance with international

law. A displaced person is someone who has been forced to
leave his or her home because of violence, conflict, persecution,
or natural disaster but has not crossed an international border.
Many displaced people eventually cross national boundaries,
thereby becoming refugees. An immigrant is someone who goes
to a foreign country to become a permanent resident. Most
migration occurs in a relatively limited geographical area,
despite growing transcontinental migration (i.e., the movement
of people from one continent to another).11.2.1: Gender and
Migration
Men are more likely than women to migrate under ordinary
circumstances. There are several reasons for this. Who migrates
is determined to a large extent by the requirements imposed by
countries, companies, or individuals who need labor. Much of
the work to be done is culturally defined as work for men. Large
numbers of men from Turkey, North Africa, and the Caribbean
migrated to Germany, France, and Britain, respectively, after
World War II to help rebuild these countries. Men throughout
the world have been recruited to work in industry, construction,
and mining. Cultural norms and sex roles within sending
countries also determine whether men are more likely than
women to migrate. Gender roles also influence men to migrate
in search of employment. Men are generally perceived as
breadwinners in most countries, whereas women are viewed as
being responsible for taking care of the home. Economic
development and greater access to education for women change
cultural views of gender roles and provide more employment
opportunities for women. Demographic changes and greater
employment opportunities for women in developed countries are
transforming gender migration. Women migrate to rich societies
to work in factories, tourism, education, hospitals, businesses,
and private homes. As more women work outside the home in
rich countries, more women from poor countries are hired to do
domestic work.11.2.2: Types of Migration
Although migration, as a contemporary global issue, is often
thought of primarily as movement from developing countries to

rich countries, far more common is the movement of people
within countries and from one country to another within a
particular geographical or cultural region. Regional migration is
fueled by increasing economic opportunities in a country or
group of neighboring countries. For example, people in North
Africa move to Spain, France, and Italy to find employment,
and people from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, and
Lesotho have migrated to South Africa to work in mining and
other industries. Rural-to-urban migration is the dominant
pattern of migration in both rich and poor countries. Many rural
areas across the United States are losing population as residents
seek better opportunities in urban areas. Much of the migration
in the developing world is from rural areas to cities. Rural-to-
rural migration (i.e., the movement of people from one rural
area to another) is common in many parts of the world, despite
the relatively limited economic opportunities found in most
small towns or agricultural areas. Many migrants follow the
planting, cultivation, and harvesting of various crops. Urban-to-
urban migration is common in most countries. Families and
individuals move from one city to another to find employment,
to pursue a college degree, or to be in a culturally dynamic area.
Urban-to-rural migration is usually designed to encourage the
economic development of the countryside and to relieve
population pressures on urban centers. Brazil, China, Indonesia,
and Nigeria are countries that have used this strategy. Another
type of migration is seasonal migration. People often move from
one area to another because of the seasonal demand for labor.
Agricultural industries often demand more labor at certain times
of the year than at others. Harvesting fruit, sugarcane, coffee,
and other crops requires intensive labor for a short period of
time. Seasonal migration is also driven by other industries such
as tourism.
Another type of migration is transit migration. In this case,
those seeking to enter a specific country pass through another
country or stay there temporarily. For example, migrants use
Mexico as a transit point for illegal entry into the United States.

Visiting Mexico’s main immigration detention center, you see
migrants from Ecuador, India, Cuba, China, Albania, Russia,
Ukraine, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and
other countries. Similarly, migrants attempting to enter Western
Europe use countries such as Italy, Greece, Bosnia, Croatia,
Serbia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic as
transit points. Many migrants also stop temporarily in Europe
on their way to the United States and Canada. Within Europe,
France is used as a transit point for migrants attempting to enter
Britain to take advantage of its asylum policies.
Forced and induced migration is an integral component of
human history. Various minorities have been routinely expelled
from countries because of political, social, ethnic, and religious
differences. The Spanish crown forced Jews to leave Spain in
1492; Africans were forcibly removed from their homeland and
enslaved in the Americas, the Middle East, and other parts of
the world; and the Cuban and Chinese governments have used
forced migration to achieve various political and economic
objectives.4 Another type of migration—one that is becoming
common in an age of globalization—is return migration. For
example, many American citizens retain meaningful ties with
another country. Throughout history, some migrants have
returned to the places they left. In the late nineteenth century,
roughly a third of European migrants to the United States were
returning after a few years. Immigrants from Southern Europe,
particularly Italy, were most likely to return after saving enough
money to build homes, start small businesses, or buy farms.
This trend of migration was strengthened by the relative
newness of migration from Southern Europe and by declining
transportation costs and faster and more reliable means of
transportation. Economic success in the new country also
motivates people to return to their country of origin. India and
China, for example, encourage return migration to assist
economic development. The global financial crisis slowed
economic growth in Europe and the United States, which
influenced Latin Americans who had migrated to Spain and the

United States to return home.511.2.3: Causes of Migration
Although the causes of migration are diverse and vary from one
individual to another, demographers generally divide them into
two categories: namely, push factors and pull factors.6Push
factors are negative developments and circumstances that
motivate or force people to leave their homes. These include
widespread abuses of fundamental human rights, political
oppression, forced resettlement programs and expulsion, high
levels of violence and endemic political instability, rapid
population growth, high rates of unemployment, poverty,
natural and environmental disasters, the relative lack of
educational and cultural opportunities, globalization, and
discrimination that excludes specific groups and individuals
from competition for resources and power. Pull factors are
positive developments and circumstances in other areas or
countries that attract people away from their homes. These
include economic opportunities, higher wages, political and
cultural freedom and stability, a comparatively healthy
environment, educational and cultural opportunities, and family
reunification.
11.3: Push Factors
1. 11.3 Identify the push factors of migration
Widespread abuses of fundamental human rights, discussed
in Chapter3, have traditionally pushed people from their homes.
The United States was settled by many individuals who were
deprived of basic human rights. Many Jews, political dissidents,
homosexuals, and others fled Nazi Germany because of the
government’s systematic and profound violations of the most
basic human rights, including the right to life. During the Cold
War, many Central and Eastern Europeans fled oppression in the
Communist countries. Cubans migrated in large numbers when
Fidel Castro came to power and imposed severe restrictions on
fundamental freedom.
Forced resettlement programs and expulsion are significant push
factors. Governments have both forced and encouraged people

to migrate for several reasons. These include the following
desires:
1. To achieve cultural homogeneity. This is particularly the case
in newly independent countries that were faced with
incompatible ethnic groups living in their artificially
constructed boundaries. Yet, the practice of achieving cultural
homogeneity by expelling people perceived as different has
deep historical roots. Catholic Spain expelled the Jews in the
fifteenth century, and Catholic France expelled the (i.e., French
Protestants and followers of John Calvin) in the sixteenth
century.
2. To subdue a region or a people. China’s occupation of Tibet
in 1950 was followed by the mass migration of settlers. During
the (1966–1976), , China’s leader, sent his Red Guard storm
troopers to subdue Tibet.
3. To evict dissidents and opponents of the government. Fidel
Castro, determined to build a Communist society, influenced
and coerced almost a million people to leave Cuba.
4. To achieve foreign policy objectives. Forced emigration is
sometimes implemented as a component of broader foreign
policy objectives. Governments use forced emigration to exert
pressure on neighboring countries. For example, Castro has used
emigration as an instrument of his foreign policy toward the
United States.
5. To achieve economic and national security
objectives. Several governments have forcibly removed people
from one area of the country to another as part of an overall
economic development or national security strategy.
High levels of violence and political instability are factors that
push people away from home. Declining population growth
rates in rich countries facilitate migration that is driven by high
population growth rates in the developing world. High rates of
unemployment and poverty are widely regarded as dominant and
constant push factors. Natural disasters, environmental
problems, and famines push people away from their homelands
or force them to relocate within their countries.

Globalization and discrimination are also push factors.
Globalization has contributed to the creation of strong economic
regions within, as well as among, countries. Globalization’s
emphasis on economic liberalization, free trade, and diminished
government involvement in the economy has resulted in the
displacement of millions of small farmers in the developing
world. Thousands of farmers in Mexico, unable to compete with
subsidized agriculture in the United States and Europe, move to
urban areas in Mexico or make the dangerous …
Assessing leaders for the future
Lucy Povah
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview
of the current elements of leadership and
to give the reader an idea of how to assess a leader’s fit within
an organisation.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a combination of
a&dc’s methodology and external
research.
Findings – The main conclusion of this paper is that an ‘‘all-
weather’’ leader has a huge role to play in
the future success of any organisation, particularly in the
current economic climate. However, we must
learn to appreciate that one leader can do very well in one

culture, but not so well in another, so it is vital
that organisations have an effective assessment and
development strategy in place to deliver their
business agenda.
Practical implications – A change in the way leaders are
assessed and managed is needed to ensure
organisations have the ‘‘all-weather’’ leaders needed for future
growth.
Originality/value – The ‘‘Five Core Elements of Leaders’’ is a
unique a&dc concept.
Keywords Leadership assessment, Resilient workforce,
Leadership resilience,
Organizational performance, Organizational culture
Paper type Viewpoint
T
he current economic climate has changed the landscape of
business dramatically.
These events have led to an increased requirement for our
executives to perform as
all-weather leaders; individuals with the right mix of skills and
characteristics to make
the right decisions no matter what the challenge. But what
makes an ‘‘all-weather’’ leader
and how do you know if they are the right person for the job?

The qualities, skills and attitudes of leaders filter down through
the rest of the organisation,
influencing workforce productivity and a business direction.
With the right leaders in place
an organisation will be in a stronger position for future
progression and growth.
As the business world looks at ways to increase their advantage
and encourage growth, the
importance of developing such leaders has been pushed further
to the forefront of
everyone’s minds. The results of a survey published by Henley
Business School’s Corporate
Development team in February this year suggested that the
development of key skills for
leaders was still high on the HR agenda and seen as a key
attribute for business growth.
According to the survey results, leadership development for
senior managers was the first or
second choice for 47 per cent of respondents, a 12 per cent
increase from last year’s survey.
When these results were drilled down further to tools for
business growth, 71 per cent of
respondents said their number one learning priority for this year
was to use learning and

development as a tool to aid growth, a 7 per cent increase from
last year.
This is just one of many research studies looking to analyse the
current situation for HR and
employee development. But what is clear from all of the
discussions and surveys taking
place in the business community is that leadership skills are a
major factor in the growth of
PAGE 250 j INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING j
VOL. 44 NO. 5 2012, pp. 250-258, Q Emerald Group Publishing
Limited, ISSN 0019-7858 DOI 10.1108/00197851211244988
Lucy Povah is an
Assessment&Development
Consultant with a&dc,
Godalming, UK.
organisations and ultimately the economy. With this in mind, it
is vital that HR and business
leaders look to effectively assess the potential of future leaders
and develop them at the
required pace.
A leader for all seasons

Before we look at what qualities make a leader, let us consider
what leadership is. In their
recent eBook What is Leadership? in collaboration with HR
Magazine, Dave Ulrich and Norm
Smallwood summarised that ‘‘leadership matters, because
leaders are responsible for
identifying and resolving the challenges of their stakeholders –
customers, investors and
employees. Leadership starts with better results’’ (Ulrich and
Smallwood, 2011).
However, if you consider Dubrin’s (2001) leadership model you
could say that leadership is
less about results and more about the intangible aspects such as
encouraging enthusiasm,
drive and a trustworthy environment.
When you sit back and look at the leadership models and
theories out there, it is safe to say
there is a multitude of sometimes conflicting opinions and
research. While there is no
agreement across the board as to the exact components required
to be a great leader, you
can pull out some consistent themes.
The most important theme we have picked up is simply that as

organisations change over
time, businesses need leaders with the capacity to adapt to the
changing context. By purely
focusing on a leader’s individual characteristics, rather than
also looking at how individual
characteristics fit into the broader organisational, cultural and
socio-economic context, we
may lose the opportunity to evaluate and select leaders in a
holistic way that will drive the
business agenda. Given the unpredictable and uncertain times
that we currently face, failing
to take a more holistic view of leader selection is likely to
diminish organisational success.
Despite the importance of selecting the right leaders, there are
numerous organisations
whose leadership selection process is decidedly lacking in
appreciation of context and is
therefore unlikely to deliver the leadership talent that is needed.
More often than not, current
selection approaches involve numerous interviews focused on
past career history and
accomplishments.
We know this approach falls short in these times. The game has
changed, and agility has

become one of the most important skills, if not the most
important, for the foreseeable future.
Does your business need leaders who will replicate what already
exists or do you need
something different?
The five core elements of leaders
Looking across numerous leadership theories and models (trait
theories such as John
Gardener’s leadership attributes, behavioural models such as
Blake and Mouton’s
managerial grid, contingency models such as Hersey-
Blanchard’s situational theory, and
Bass and Riggio’s (2006) transformational model), we see that
there is broad agreement
around a number of measurable elements related to personal
traits of leadership
effectiveness.
These all map onto the elements of a&dc’s ‘‘LIVED’’
leadership model, as published in HR
People & Strategy (Volume 33, Issue 3, 2010). LIVED stands
for Learning, Intellect, Values,
Emotion and Drive. These elements are likely to be emphasised
or weighted differently

based on the particular context in which they are required.
Intellect
For our purposes here, we define intelligence or cognitive
ability as the ‘‘mental activity
directed toward purposive adaptation to, selection and shaping
of, real-world environments
relevant to one’s life’’ (Sternberg, 1985, p. 45). Sternberg’s
theory comprises three elements:
analytical, practical and creative, all of which are keys to
managerial intelligence (Sternberg,
1997). Cognitive ability has been shown to be the best single
predictor of job performance in
VOL. 44 NO. 5 2012 j INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL
TRAININGj PAGE 251
a wide range of occupations, as well as leadership success (e.g.
Dulewicz and Higgs, 2002,
2003a; Ones et al., 2005). Research by Pearman (1999) reports
that cognitive complexity
(IQ) accounts for nearly 24 per cent of successful leadership.
However, while intelligence is
an important element, there is strong evidence that the brightest
individuals are often not the

best leaders, as they struggle to work with less intelligent
colleagues. While strategic and
quick thinking, Highly intellectual leaders often fail to
understand and motivate colleagues
(Goleman, 1995).
Emotion
Emotional intelligence is defined in the literature as the
awareness of and ability to manage
one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others (Salovey
and Mayer, 1990). Goleman
(1995) added that emotional intelligence includes the ability to
analyse and understand
relationships, take someone else’s perspective, resolve conflicts
and manage one’s own
anger.
Research suggests that the most successful leaders possess high
levels of emotional
intelligence, while leaders with lower levels of emotional
intelligence are more likely to derail
from senior positions (Higgs and Dulewicz, 2002). Prati et al.
(2003) state that ‘‘the emotional
intelligence of the team leader is important to the effective
functioning of the team; the leader

serves as a motivator towards collective action, and facilitates
supportive relationships
among team members.’’
Values
The Values element focuses on integrity, honesty, sincerity,
trust and respect and is the basis
of what many leadership theorists have described as
‘‘character.’’ O’Reilly and Pfeffer (2000)
compared the performance of eight companies that had superior
results in their sector with
the performance of similar companies, matched on size and
industry sector. The more
successful companies had approaches to leadership that were
based on values. As the
authors put it, ‘‘the most visible characteristics that
differentiate the companies we have
described from others are their values and the fact that the
values come first, even before
stock price.’’ Their values acted as guiding principles that
helped them make crucial and
difficult decisions. Values have a solid base of research (Hogan
and Hogan, 2001; Collins,
2001) and are clearly important when it comes to role-modelling

desired behaviours and
walking the talk. Self-management, e.g. courage, accounts for a
little more than 16 per cent
of successful leadership (Pearman, 1999).
Drive
According to Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991), drive has been
referenced in the leadership
literature as a broad term that includes achievement, motivation,
ambition, energy, tenacity
and initiative. In the current model, Drive is concerned with the
engagement aspect of
leadership that inspires people into action. It covers passion,
self-motivation, resilience and
tenacity (Dulewicz and Higgs, 2003b). Decisiveness, e.g. action
and results orientation,
accounts for slightly more than 13 per cent of successful
leadership (Pearman, 1999).
The fifth element – learning
We see Learning as the ‘‘X’’ factor in this dynamic and
unpredictable business world. This is
the ability to learn from one’s experiences and apply that
learning to new and different
situations. Focus on ‘‘learning agility’’ derives from research

by Sternberg et al. (1995). They
distinguished learning agility as different from basic
intelligence and related it to concepts
‘‘ . . . as organisations change over time, businesses need
leaders with the capacity to adapt to the changing context. ’’
PAGE 252 j INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAININGj
VOL. 44 NO. 5 2012
such as ‘‘street smart’’, ‘‘savvy,’’ or possessing ‘‘common
sense.’’ Sternberg found that this
learning intelligence was more predictive of organisational
success than basic IQ. Eichinger
and Lombardo (2004) later defined learning agility as being
‘‘able and willing to derive
meaning from all kinds of experience.’’ Their business,
Lominger (Lombardo and Eichinger,
2000), researched learning quotient across ten companies and
built an informal assessment
model around the trait.
Given what we know from this research, leaders who
demonstrate learning agility
consistently exhibit the following behaviours:
B seek out new challenges;

B seek feedback from others and self-reflect;
B record ‘‘learnings’’ for future review;
B evaluate their experiences and draw practical conclusions;
and
B plan what they will do as a result.
Linked to these core elements is resilience, a topic which has
become increasingly important
in this economic climate. Resilience is a key skill that effective
leaders must develop to
overcome the pressures involved in the role and continuous
change in the workplace.
Culture and ‘‘fit’’
Determining ‘‘fit’’ entails evaluating the internal and external
factors that define the
organisation’s context, based on the current reality and the
vision of the anticipated future:
B What are the external conditions and challenges that must be
faced in the external
environment?
B What business strategy must be executed to address the
external challenges?
B Is the company growing or does a new growth platform need

to be developed and
executed?
B Is the current organisational culture going to facilitate
strategy execution or does it need
to change?
The answers to these questions help to define the skill set
needed by an effective leader for
that organisation.
The importance of regular review and assessment of your
culture is often underestimated in
times of economic struggle as other business issues become a
priority. However, without
knowing the current situation and where the culture should be in
the future, an organisation
will struggle to plan and prepare for the right type of growth.
One way of doing this is to undertake an internal culture audit.
There are several tools on the
market that assess internal culture. We use our Cultural
Alignment Indicator (CAI), which
measures where the organisation currently lies on various
aspects of culture. Our tool groups
these into three areas:

1. working on tasks;
2. working with people and change; and
3. learning orientation.
For the purposes of assessing and selecting leaders, we
administer the culture audit to key
stakeholder groups, e.g. the top team, managers and a sample
from each department and
level. We then have in-depth discussions regarding how much
they want the new leader to fit
this current culture profile – how much the individual is
expected to maintain the status quo
or break the mould. We have found it helpful to facilitate
dialogue among key stakeholders to
discuss which of the cultural aspects add most value or are most
critical for success of the
business strategy. This provides useful information for the
preferred profile of a potential
leadership candidate.
TRAININGj PAGE 253
Evaluating a leader’s cultural fit

It does not stop at evaluating your current culture and assessing
the desired culture though.
Once you have a clearer idea of the cultural traits of the
organisation, these components
need to be added into the assessment process for leaders.
A culture tool can also be used to assess a candidate’s cultural
fit. We ask the person to
complete the tool, rating each scale based on his or her
preferred culture. This ‘‘fit’’ can be
defined more closely by understanding how each leadership
characteristic aligns to the
desired culture. For example, say your organisation would like
to shift the culture to be more
pragmatic with a faster pace, certain task behaviours within the
culture support this and
align to the leadership area of ‘‘drive.’’ Thus, when assessing
drive, it is crucial that a
candidate demonstrates these behaviours to a very high degree.
Once the aspects of culture are determined and the external
conditions are understood, we
settle on how to best measure the five key leadership
components within the LIVED model.
We recognise that learning agility is more difficult to assess
than the other components set

out in our leadership LIVED model. However, we must still face
this challenge in times of
uncertainty. Effective leaders must demonstrate this capability
or risk poor performance,
especially through tough and changeable times.
Leadership resilience can also be enhanced through a range of
methods which focus on an
individual’s thinking style and their behaviour under pressure.
It is important that leaders
have an appreciation of these different tools and techniques so
they can draw on them in
tough times.
Case study: context-based leader selection at a top retailer
Company ‘‘Z,’’ a supermarket group recognised as one of the
UK’s top ‘‘Every Day Low
Cost’’ (EDLC) retailers realised it needed an infusion of new
leadership talent to help it
weather the effects of the world recession. Despite its favoured
market position, Z was facing
fierce competition. Prices were being driven down, while
quality expectations remained
high.

With its reputation of caring for customers, colleagues and
excellence, Z was positioned to
attract luxury-oriented customers forced to move ‘‘down-
market.’’ However, retailers often
perceived as ‘‘higher cost but high quality’’ started playing a
new game as well, such as
pushing two-for-one type deals, targeting a population hungry
for luxury at a low cost. Z
faced the challenge of attracting that population, as well as
other target markets. Perhaps go
online? Maybe offer more non-food products, such as electrical,
home ware, clothes and
toys? Uncertain, it needed a shot of new thinking.
A new strategy would call for a shift in organisational culture at
Z, one that promotes
innovation, willingness to risk new ideas and encouraging the
reflection time that
accompanies learning. That kind of culture is a far cry from the
fast-paced,
performance-driven norms of the retail world. Z would have to
synthesise formerly
opposing cultural styles - fast-paced versus reflective, creative
and innovative, versus highly
action-oriented, an internal focus and tradition of nurturing and

caring, versus and external
focus on the market and frequent change.
This shift in emphasis would require more commercially
oriented leaders who focus on the
competition, market conditions and consumer spending habits,
while remaining
quick-acting and decisive with new market shifts. Currently, its
leaders were respected for
‘‘ The ‘all-weather’ leader has a huge role to play in the future
success of any organisation. ’’
VOL. 44 NO. 5 2012
having the ability to build relationships, understand the
influence on others, with high levels
of emotional intelligence, integrity and levels of drive.
Z’s existing leadership selection model was heavily focused on
growing talent within, its
leaders often selected in their own image. Promotions were
made during internal talent
reviews, based on anecdotal data and gut feeling, rather than
objective selection criteria. It
was no surprise that the prevailing, heretofore highly

successful, culture went unchallenged.
It became clear that Z needed an infusion of more learning agile
leaders and, in the current
climate, that required new leaders placed in key roles
throughout the company.
Through consultation with Z, a&dc developed the contextual
behaviours required at different
management levels using the LIVED model. Previous attempts
to recruit leaders from the
outside had not always proved successful. While these outsiders
possessed the qualities
existing leaders lacked (learning agility, intelligence), they did
not always have sufficient
levels of the culturally acceptable qualities – values, emotion
and drive – to ensure a good fit
with the organisation and often left soon after joining. We
needed to help Z select leaders
who demonstrated acceptable behaviours in all LIVED areas,
but with an emphasis on
learning and intellect for the highest levels of management,
given the desired strategic
direction.
It included a 360 feedback process, simulations, personality
assessment and a structured

interview. This multi-method approach provided a holistic
picture of the individual while
allowing robust coverage of all LIVED areas. By reviewing past
experiences (interview),
current performance (personality assessment) and evaluating
performance in a new
situation (behavioural simulation), it allowed us to explore the
individual’s level of learning
agility and how readily they could transfer their knowledge and
experience, and apply it in a
different context.
The outputs allowed the executive team to identify which
individuals had the traditional and
culturally acceptable profile and which individuals could
potentially add something new or
different to senior management, particularly in the areas of
learning and intellect, where
current leadership skills were weakest. This information could
then be used to make talent
decisions for internal colleagues and to identify where external
talent should be recruited
into the business.
Participants, HR and executives have all received this process

very positively, with 95 per
cent of all feedback being enthusiastic. It provided decision
makers with the information that
led to discussions of how to develop more strategic and learning
agile leaders through job
and project rotations. Already there has been recognition that
every individual has different
things to contribute to the business and that having a ‘‘one-size
fits all’’ leader can create
problems. Elements of learning are now viewed as key levers to
pull, not only to improve
individual leadership effectiveness, but also broader
organisational effectiveness.
Conclusion
The ‘‘all-weather’’ leader has a huge role to play in the future
success of any organisation.
However, we must learn to appreciate that one leader can do
very well in one culture, but not
so well in another, so it is vital that organisations have an
effective assessment and
development strategy in place to deliver their business agenda.
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Era, Values, and Defining Moments
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MA.
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VOL. 44 NO. 5 2012
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September 3, available at:
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September
14, 2010).
Eichinger, R.W., Raymond, C.C. and Lombardo, M.M. (2004),
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leadership: the hidden driver of great
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of Management, Cambridge, MA.
Lombardo, M.M. and Eichinger, R.W. (2000), ‘‘High potentials
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pp. 199-216.
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‘‘Early identification of international executive
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& Noble’’, …
Organizational change as
practice: a critical analysis
Noora Jansson
University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to challenge some taken-

for-granted practices related to
organizational change in order to understand how organizational
change as practice is conditioned by
mundane assumptions.
Design/methodology/approach – A critical analysis of the taken-
for-granted assumptions
revealed by a literature review was conducted utilizing practice
theory approach in which human
behavior and social context are intertwined. Hence, the analysis
of this theoretical paper focuses on
practices, praxis and practitioners in organizational change.
Findings – The results suggest that certain elements that are
believed to be universal in
organizational change are, in fact, particular within context. The
key finding and message of this
research is that organizational change in practice is a
manifestation of particularity. The conclusion is
that certain mundane assumptions condition organizational
change practices by ignoring the
importance of power, phronesis and paradox, which lie in
human interaction within social context.
Research limitations/implications – The proposal that the
dominating discourse on
organizational change involves some taken-for-granted
assumptions, challenges scholars to
question the ways organizations are currently studied, and
perhaps draws more attention to power,
context and particularity in future research.
Practical implications – The analysis demonstrates that the
social aspect of organizational
realities is crucial in organizational change, and should not be
underestimated by the practitioners in

the process. This realism of practice complexity indicates that
the pitfalls of organizational change are
more context dependent and thus, more numerous than generally
is assumed.
Originality/value – This research contributes to both theory and
practice by offering a critical view
on some of the taken-for-granted organizational change
practices. This paper also demonstrates
originality by introducing the concept of “organizational change
as practice” in analogue of “strategy
as practice” (SAP).
Keywords Organizational change, Particularity, Practice,
Practitioner, Praxis, Universality
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
It is widely accepted among scholars that organizational change
is an extremely
difficult reality in practice, as over 70 percent of organizational
change efforts fail (Beer
and Nohria, 2000; Burke, 2011; Cinite et al., 2009). A planned
organizational change
means intentionally increasing employee stress levels (Dahl,
2011), knowingly
disturbing the ongoing operations (Currie et al., 2009; Pache
and Santos, 2010) and
consciously gambling with the organization’s future as the
outcome is often different to
the original plan ( Jian, 2011; Whittle et al., 2010). Thus,
organizational change practices
are in the interest of both scholars and practitioners. Research
about organizational
change mostly concern topics like change processes (Schreyögg

and Sydow, 2011),
leadership (Battilana et al., 2010), change execution (Van de
Ven and Sun, 2011), change
reception within the organization (Stensaker and Falkenberg,
2007), discourse (Grant
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0953-4814.htm
Organizational
change as
practice
1003
Received 22 September 2012
Revised 21 December 2012
22 February 2013
Accepted 2 May 2013
Journal of Organizational Change
Management
Vol. 26 No. 6, 2013
pp. 1003-1019
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0953-4814
DOI 10.1108/JOCM-09-2012-0152

and Marshak, 2011), or paradoxes (Smith and Lewis, 2011).
Although the role of
practices in this literature is quite significant, some assumptions
related to them are
rarely questioned.
Organizational change is a communicative action ( Jian, 2011)
that can be
approached through the lenses of universality or particularity,
(Flyvbjerg, 1998).
Universality is this study is defined as “the commonly
applibale” while particularity is
defined as “the locally applicable”. While change literature
provides convincing
explanations to the challenges practitioners face with complex
change processes and
proposes well justified methods to overcome them, discourse on
change practices has a
tone of universality over particularity. Universals should,
however, be seriously
questioned, because “nothing in society is fundamental”
(Foucault, 1988). The purpose
of this theoretical paper is to critically analyze some of the
taken-for-granted
assumptions identified in the organizational change literature
related to practice, to
evaluate how these mundane assumptions condition
organizational change as practice
(Vaara and Whittington, 2012), and to propose a theoretical
model that advances our
understanding of why organizational change is so difficult in
practice.
Practice has many definitions. For example, practice is
“embodied, materially

mediated arrays of human activity centrally organized around
shared practical
understanding“ (Schatzki, 2001, p. 2), or “practices are linked
and implicit ways of
understanding, saying, and doing things” (Schau et al., 2009, p.
31). In this research, the
concept of practice is considered as a dimension of activity
within socially constructed
context, and the concept of “organizational change as practice”
is regarded as shared
understanding of organizational change practices in theory.
The paper starts by introducing and explaining the research
methods used. The key
results of the organizational change literature review are shared
first by outlining the
philosophy of change and second by introducing three taken-
for-granted assumptions.
Next, these assumptions are critically analyzed utilizing the key
framework used in
strategy-as-practice literature which focuses on practices, praxis
and practitioners
(Vaara and Whittington, 2012). The findings suggest that
certain taken-for granted
assumptions in the current organizational change literature
overlook the meaning of
context and particularity, which according to practice theory are
central to social
change to succeed. Finally, concluding arguments are offered
including proposals for
further research.
Research methodology
This article is developed based on a literature review and a
complementing critical
analysis utilizing practice theory lens. As the purpose of this

research is to critically
evaluate how the taken-for-granted assumptions regarding
condition organizational change as practice, practice theory is a
logical choice since it
analyses practice (change) in its social environment
(organization). Practice approach
is also suitable in analyzing discursive interaction and related
social practices (Fenton
and Langley, 2011; Grant and Marshak, 2011), which
organizational change is mostly
about ( Jian, 2011).
Two key criteria led the selection process for the studies
included in the review: high
quality and actuality. Electronic searches for the term change,
looking for articles that
explain organizational change (i.e. organizational
transformation, organizational
design, mergers, strategic change, institutional change, change
management or change
JOCM
26,6
1004
implementation) were conducted for each journal in the 2010
Journal Citation Reports
on business and management with an impact factor of $1.0
using EBSCOhost in the
Business Source Complete database. Furthermore, in order to
find other highly relevant
and supporting material, electronic searches were conducted on

the same database
without preselecting the journals or the publishing year Finally,
108 articles from 38 of
the world’s leading journals met all the criteria above (Table I).
Overview of organizational change research
Despite the rich variety of research on organizational change, a
current, holistic review
of the topic is missing, the reason most likely being the
complexity and the depth of the
phenomenon. Topical reviews about organizational change do
exist, but their analysis
is presented from a specific perspective, such as reactions to
change (Oreg et al., 2011;
Thomas and Hardy, 2011), duality characteristics in organizing
(Graetz and Smith,
2008), or sustaining organizational change (Buchanan et al.,
2005).
The philosophy of change
Change is about dualities. The origins of the duality approach
can be linked back to the
Han Dynasty in China and the early days of Taoism, when the
Taoists believed that
human situations could be balanced as yin and yang, two
opposing elements
complementing each other. In this dialectical view of reality
perhaps lies the basis of all
change (Morgan, 2006). Coexisting opposing elements tend to
create paradox, a central
element to organizational change (Graetz and Smith, 2008;
Farjoun, 2010; Lüscher and
Lewis, 2008). Graetz and Smith (2008) propose that even
though contrary features,
stability and change coexist in organizations their relationship
may be treated as a

paradox. Farjoun (2010) on the other hand, suggests that
stability and change are not
paradoxical, and rethinking their relationship may help in
recognizing some of the
threats dualism may cause in the way organizations are studied
and guided.
As change unfolds, change and continuity are balanced in sets
of simultaneous
processes (Sonenshein, 2010). Thus, organizational change can
be characterized as a
process (Butler and Allen, 2008; Jian, 2011; Schreyögg and
Sydow, 2011).
Organizational change is a complex, dialectical process, where
the motor of change
develops and is developed by the process itself, and where old
and new intertwine,
cumulatively building an innovative dynamic (Castel and
Friedberg, 2010).
Organizational change process is not necessarily linear, because
it can evolve in
both progressive and retrogressive ways (Ambos and
Birkinshaw, 2010), retrogressive
change being a kind of re-development towards the original
state before regression
occurred (Lewin, 1951). So change does not just happen, it is
interactive by nature
(Castel and Friedberg, 2010).
Taken-for-granted assumptions on organizational change
The assumptions which seem self-evident and non-exotic are the
most interesting to
look more in detail (Chia and MacKay, 2007; Vaara and
Whittington, 2012). The
purpose of this study is to challenge some taken-for-granted
assumptions related to

organizational change in order to understand if and how
organizational change as
practice is conditioned by these mundane assumptions. Next,
three examples of the
taken-for-granted assumptions revealed by the review are
introduced.
Organizational
change as
practice
1005
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The journals used in the
review
JOCM
26,6
1006
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Table I.
Organizational
change as
practice
1007
Although the relevance of substance and context to
organizational change is
acknowledged among scholars, one dominating assumption
seems to be that
organizational change practices are universal in nature (Kotter,
2007; Martin et al.,
2009; Miles, 2010; Schaffer, 2010). Opposite views do exist,
but they are a minority. In
their literature review on dualities in organizing, Graetz and
Smith (2008, p. 274)
highlight the difference between the “hardware and the software

of strategizing”, the
difference between practice and praxis, suggesting that both are
necessary in
organizing. The reasons for emphasizing universalities could be
many: First, universal
patterns are easier to understand and prove. Second, the nature
of particular practices
is peculiar. Particularities are difficult to learn externally as
they are constructed in the
context dependent “practical wisdom”, which in turn puts great
challenges on the
empirical research methodologies that might require long-time
participation and
auto-ethnography. Third, although gaining growing interest
among scholars,
sociological poststructuralist approaches in organizational
research are still
considered marginal.
The second identified mundane assumption in this research
concerns change
resistance, which is often approached as a phenomenon that is
generated as a result of
change (Danisman, 2010) provoking the taken-for-granted
assumption that resistance
is targeted towards the change itself (Levay, 2010). For
example, an extensive, 60-year
review of quantitative studies on change recipients’ reactions to
by Oreg et al. (2011), shows that studies focusing on reasons to
resist change beyond
change per se (simultaneous consideration of practice,
practitioners and praxis) are
marginal.
The third taken-for-granted assumption revealed by the review

is that change
practitioners act as members of groups defined by
organizational hierarchy. These
taken-for-granted practitioner groups are for example the top
management (Barron
et al., 2010; Ndofor et al., 2009; Zhang and Rajagopalan, 2010),
the middle management
(Lüscher and Lewis, 2008; Plowman et al., 2007; Rouleau and
Balogun, 2011) or the
change agents (Schwarz et al., 2011; Stensaker and Langley,
2010).
Next, the taken-for-granted assumptions of organizational
change are further
analyzed utilizing the three primary dimensions commonly used
in practice theory;
practices (change-making), praxis (how change takes place),
and practitioners (the
actors involved) ( Jarzabkowski, 2003; Vaara and Whittington,
2012). A summary of the
analysis is presented in Table II, comparing the more
traditional, dominating
assumptions with the slowly emerging critical assumptions in
the field of
organizational studies. Examples of the key root references for
the traditional view
is for example Kurt Lewin (1951), and for the critical view for
example Andrew
Pettigrew (born in 1944) (Buchanan et al., 2005; Whittle et al.,
2010).
A critical analysis of the taken-for-granted assumptions
utilizing the
practice theory lens
Organizational change practices
Practices are dimensions of activity within socially constructed

context, such as rules,
tools, methods, meetings, socio-material practices, and
discoursive practices (Garfinkel,
1967; Jarzabkowski and Seidl, 2008; Orlikowski, 2007).
Scholars offer interesting
insights to organizational change practices such as leadership
approaches, planning
methods, strategy processes, personnel engagement, conflict
management, and
JOCM
26,6
1008
communication practices (Currie and Lockett, 2007; Ford et al.,
2008; Pache and Santos,
2010; Stensaker et al., 2008).
Following the re-growing interest on practice theory (Baxter
and Chua, 2008),
discursive practices are also becoming popular means to
approach organizational
change (Grant and Marshak, 2011). This important trend
leverages our understanding
of organizational change because discourse is the practice
through which change
evolves together with other practices. The logic of discourse
does not necessarily
follow official organizational hierarchies, since discourse
evolves also through partial
organizations and networks (Ahrne and Brunsson, 2011;
Schwarz et al., 2011).
Discourse is the key place, reality and process through which

organizational change is
made sense of, formulated, and practiced (Grant and Marshak,
2011; Stensaker and
Falkenberg, 2007). The assumption that organizational change
practices are universal
in nature is thus challenged, because according to practice
theory, human action and
discourse are particular within context (Gunder, 2010; Sherrard,
1991; Whittington,
2006). In fact, applying universal practices as “best practices”
might condition
organizational change in practice by overemphasizing
techniques over contextual
factors and by ignoring rhetorics or contextually dominating
discursive norms.
Organizational change praxis
Praxis is the intellectual dimension of human action (Schatzki,
2002). In praxis,
individual behavior constructs within social practices. The
change initiative and the
organization affect each other over time through individuals’
talk, and thus, the final
form of change result is impossible to fully predetermine
because it is a product of
multiple local discourse involving reinterpretation, recitations
and interests
constructed during the discourse (Detert and Pollock, 2008;
Stensaker and
Falkenberg, 2007; Whittle et al., 2010). In other words,
people’s talk influences the
change and the change influences people’s talk. As these
discourses construct and
develop, they may become mythically colored stories that either
support management
or play against the change initiative or even expose failure

(Bathurst and Monin, 2010;
Traditional view Selected examplars Critical view Selected
examplars
Practice
Organizational change
practices are universal
in nature
Kotter (2007), Martin
et al.(2009), Miles (2010)
Organizational change
practices are particular
within context
Buchanan et al.(2005),
Graetz and Smith
(2008), Whittle
et al.(2010)
Praxis
Change resistance is
about resisting the
planned changes
Cameron (2008)
Danisman (2010), Oreg
et al.(2011)
Resistance is about
resisting human action,
power, or practitioners
holding the power of
change

Erkama (2010), Thomas
and Hardy (2011),
Vaara and Tienari
(2011)
Practitioners
Change practitioners
act upon their
organizational
hierarchy groupings
Cinite et al.(2009), Clark
and Soulsby (2007),
Rouleau and Balogun
(2011)
Change practitioners
act upon emotional,
contextual and identity
factors
Battilana (2011), Nag
et al.(2007), Schwarz
et al. (2011)
Table II.
The taken-for-granted
assumptions on
organizational change as
practice
Organizational
change as

practice
1009
Schwarz et al., 2011). A story, whether true or not, is an
example of organizational
change praxis, as praxis brings out the human intervention
inside change
implementation processes.
Praxis unfolds for example within choices, details, events,
sensemaking, and
resistance, all influenced by emotions (Avey et al., 2008;
Rouleau and Balogun, 2011;
Stensaker and Langley, 2010). Frustration, anger and fear are
examples of the negative
emotions that organizational change may provoke in employees
(Fugate et al., 2008;
Liu and Perrewé, 2005). Some people remain silent out of fear
of negative personal or
professional consequences. Employees in avoiding the
unpleasant characteristics of
fear may develop fear-based silence behavior (Kish-Gephart et
al., 2009). On the other
hand, positive emotions, employees’ positive resources and
positive psychological
capital may significantly contribute to the success of any
organizational change by
defeating negative reactions, such as cynicism and deviance
(Avey et al., 2008).
Change resistance, that is the employees’ undesirable attitude or
behavior in

response to the management’s change efforts as they try to
maintain the status quo, is
a widely accepted phenomenon in organizational studies
(Erkama, 2010; Stensaker and
Langley, 2010; Zoller and Fairhurst, 2007). Social learning and
local context are
important factors for an individual in deciding whether to
approve change initiatives
and participate in them (Bercovitz and Feldman, 2008).
Frustration and negative
emotions may lead to change resistance, even crisis (Danisman,
2010; Levay, 2010).
However, because resistance is thoughtful, Ford et al. (2008)
propose that resistance
can be seen as a valuable asset for change since it may generate
scrutiny and
well-considered counterarguments, and thus, in some cases lead
to a positive spur in
the change discussion.
Praxis in the change literature is approached less universally
than practices, due to
the evident relevance of human action and the fact that praxis is
a core dimension of
practice theory (Vaara and Whittington, 2012). In the literature,
an example of the
taken-for-granted assumption in praxis is, however, identifiable.
Change resistance,
although linked to social learning and local context, is largely
considered about
resisting the planned changes (Cameron, 2008; Danisman, 2010;
Bercovitz and
Feldman, 2008). To practice theorists, human action and power
are central in social
change (Bourdieu, 1990; Foucault, 1984). Following this
analogue, change resistance is

not necessarily about resisting the actual change, but it could as
well be about resisting
human action, power, or practitioners holding the power of
change. Change, in this
critical view, would then represent an excuse, a possibility
space for resisting activity,
which ultimately becomes a power battle between individuals,
their wills and emotions
(Vaara and Tienari, 2011). Change resistance is thus a
competition about power, about
who gets to decide or who has the authority over others. These
competitions are
particular within context because the struggles are unique
among individuals, but they
are also universal as a phenomenon since power struggles,
visible or not, are
everywhere (Foucault, 1988). Treating resistance as a duality
between current and
future organizational models, conditions organizational change
practices to
overemphasize change methods, tools, and mechanistic
justifications and to
underemphasize humanity and emotionality.
JOCM
26,6
1010
Organizational change practitioners
A critical element that ties change practitioners together is
organizational identity
(Clark et al., 2010). Organizational identity inheres in work
practices, so that the

cognitive dimension of identity “who we are as an organization”
needs to be
complemented by another dimension that involves “what we do
as a collective” (Nag
et al., 2007). According to Ravasi and Phillips (2011) identity
claims should mirror and
communicate the desired organizational image, and this may
lead to identity drift,
which is a gradual identity change that can be explained by
misalignment of past and
future beliefs, and may cause identity discrepancy. An
organization may also create a
transitional identity as one response to organizational change,
because it helps people
to let go of their former organizational identities and build new
ones (Clark et al., 2010).
Similarly, through splitting identification, individuals may
choose the elements they
value in the current identification while simultaneously seeking
out new elements
through change (Gutierrez et al., 2010).
One taken-for-granted assumption in the literature is that the
change practitioners
act as their organizational hierarchy grouping indicates, such as
the board, the CEOs,
the top management, the middle management, or the change
agents (Clark and
Soulsby, 2007; Greve and Mitsuhashi, 2007; Schwarz et al.,
2011; Stensaker and
Langley, 2010; Zhang and Rajagopalan, 2010). Another widely
used grouping of
change practitioners is to categorize individuals either as the
change promoters or the
change recipients (Palmer, 2008; Stensaker and Falkenberg,
2007). These groupings are

perhaps utile in analyzing organizational change, but following
the logic of practice
theory, human action in social structures is a complex
phenomenon and indicates a
need to look beyond the taken-for-granted practitioner
groupings.
An interesting option to group objects is offered for example by
Foucault (1966,
p. 13), in “The order of things”, who refers to a text that quotes
“a certain Chinese
dictionary”. According to this example animals were grouped as
follows: “a) the ones
that belong to the Empire, b) the embalmed ones, c) the tamed
ones, d) pigs, e)
mermaids, f) legendary, g) running dogs, h) the ones that are
categorized here, i) the
ones that rampage like crazy, j) the countless, k) the ones that
are drawn with fine
camel’s hair brush, l) and so on, m) the ones that just broke a
crock, l) the ones that from
far remind a fly.” This grouping departs from the universal, and
as such illustrates that
alternative and particular, even utopian, approaches to thinking
are possible. If
organizational change practitioners are grouped and treated
purely as universal
groups based on the organizational hierarchy, it might limit the
way practitioner roles,
actions and motivations are analyzed and practiced. For
example, since organizational
identity strongly influences the way change is experienced
among practitioners, this
critical view highlights the need to explore further the origins
and varieties of these
identities.

Manifestation of particularity in organizational change as
practice
The key finding and message of this research is that
organizational change in practice
is a manifestation of particularity. Change provokes the reality
in man bounded by his
social arena, which is constructed of particular factors, such as
power (struggle is part
of life), phronesis (social codes do exist), and conflict (tension
is in the heart of change)
(Erkama, 2010; Farjoun, 2010; Schatzki, 2002; Smith and
Lewis, 2011). Based on the
review, the current discourse of organizational change seems to
overlook this social
Organizational
change as
…
Task 2: Organization and Leader Analysis
Tips for Task 2: Organization and Leader Analysis
Please use the following tips to help you complete your
leadership analysis.
· Write this paper in third person.
· Read through the entire task instructions and rubric
requirements prior to completing task 2.
· Use a different scholarly leadership theory in task 2 than the
one chosen in task 1.
· The current leader that you choose must be someone other
than yourself.
· Recommend to use the “Sample academic paper” when
organizing your task. You are encouraged to create a cover
page, a table of contents, headings, and subheadings.

· The paper should be 10–16 pages, not including cover page
and references. Please be both descriptive (who, what, when,
and where), and explanatory (why and how). Evaluators assess
your paper based on the specificity of your response, not on the
generalizations.
· Note: Meeting the rubric criteria is more important than
writing a number of pages.
A. Organization Description
Describe an existing organization with which you have had
personal experience and where you have either had direct access
to a leader or have been able to observe a leader. Describe the
organization's objectives. The organization can be a for-profit
or a nonprofit business, and you may represent any level of the
organization (e.g., the team, department, division, or whole) in
your analysis.
· You must change the name of the organization and employee
names.
· Provide a detailed discussion of the organization.
· Discuss the history and background of the organization.
· Discuss the vision and mission of the organization.
· Discuss the purpose and objectives of the organization. Think
of the goals, financial objectives, and strategic objectives of the
organization.
· Provide citations where needed.
A1. Leadership Practices
In this section, you will provide specific descriptions of three
leadership practices of the current leader. The current leader
must be someone other than yourself.
· Provide specific examples that illustrate the practice.
· Cleary state the leaders title and (fictitious) name. The leader
analyzed in A1 will be the same leader analyzed in C1, C2, and
C3.
· Write a separate paragraph on each of the three practices.

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