Implications of Change Management

Abstract: Date of Seminar: 2018.01.11 Supervisor: Devrim Göktepe-Hultén Key words: Change management, change process, Shape 2020, Shape & Share Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how Cramo AB works with change management and if they succeed or not, by using Kotter’s model as an analytic tool and other theoretical perspectives of change management. Methodology: The research is conducted as a case study of explorative nature. Data was collected at two different semi-structured interviews. One for the managers at Cramo AB and another one for the employees further down in the organisational structure. Seven interviews were performed with respondents from Cramo AB’s top management group and four interviews were conducted with employees from the depots. The collected data was analysed with pattern coding. Theoretical perspectives: Previous research consists of numerous models for change management shows that it is a complex subject. This study will therefore aim to contribute to existing literature by investigating how Kotter’s eight step model for leading change and other selected theoretical perspectives can be analysed against a real case to clarify how and why a company works with changes. Empirical foundation: Cramo AB is an interesting company to investigate, since they currently are working extensively with a change program called Shape 2020. Throughout the years the company implemented many large change processes that have affected the whole organisation. However, employees express some issues today regarding the change processes. Conclusions: This study reached the conclusion that Cramo AB have both successful and failed with change processes. The success rate seems to heavily rely on how well the change and implementation has been communicated as well as how the good or bad the attitude towards change in general is. The comparison between literature and a real case also suggests that literature does not acknowledge the complexity of communication in a real case.