LEADING POSITIVE ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

A Fulbright scholar and business consultant offers a broadly applicable strategy for implementing organizational change.

Rather than theorizing about organizational leadership, this debut guide delves into the operational specifics of how a leader can influence change. The book is separated into two distinct parts. In Part 1, Tkaczyk introduces a framework for what he terms “an alternative strategy for leading positive organizational change.” The framework consists of three phases, “Energize, Redesign, and Gel (ERG),” each of which is further discussed and explored throughout the volume. The author builds a firm foundation for his framework by citing research-based examples and appending extensive references to each of the three chapters in the first part. While the writing style borders on the scholarly, the manual includes two particularly helpful sections, a “Lead-in” to stimulate interest in the chapter and “Summary propositions,” a bulleted segment that recaps the main takeaways. The content strongly reinforces the ERG framework, concluding with the third chapter that focuses on organization development consulting. Here, Tkaczyk precisely describes the global market, providing a statistical overview of consulting in specific countries and regions. Perhaps more intriguing is the comprehensive case study of a Middle Eastern insurance company in which the author discusses how “positive strategic transformation” was achieved via the ERG strategy. Tkaczyk takes pains to describe actions the company took that were related to each of the three phases, but he notes that they should be viewed in the context of a “dynamic continuous and concurrent process.” The case itself is invaluable in illustrating the application of the ERG method.

Part 2 of the book is a unique “ToolBox” divided into three “WorkBoxes,” one for each of the three phases. Ten highly useful interactive tools, drawn from the author’s knowledge of projects from around the world, are included in each WorkBox. For example, the Energize WorkBox begins with the “ERG organizational change scorecard,” a tool designed to assess leadership performance. An especially creative tool in this WorkBox centers on crafting a story about an organization that mirrors a neuron and “F.I.R.E.S. (Fresh, Informative, Related, Energizing/Evangelical, Strategic).” In the Redesign WorkBox are several imaginative tools, such as the “Innovation booster,” a matrix of numerous terms associated with the categories “Benefits,” “Needs,” “Positive feelings,” and “Action.” Tkaczyk includes pertinent questions to guide an organizational leader in the use of this tool. The Gel WorkBox is the culmination of the volume; here readers will find a tool that helps in developing reward strategies for employee teams as well as one to encourage “continuing executive development.” As a whole, the all-inclusive ToolBox is the equivalent of a consultant in a box. It is likely that the exceptional value of the 30 tools generously shared by the author in Part 2 will far exceed the cost of the manual. As Tkaczyk accurately observes, his framework appears to be a “straightforward, effective, action-oriented, designerly, collaborative approach” to “organizational renewal.”

Ingenious, carefully researched, and impressively detailed; both a hands-on workbook and a leadership guide.