Logistiskt förändringsarbete : olika ansatser för operativ utveckling

Sammanfattning: During the last decade organizations have been under an increasing pressure to master change, where some key words are increased variability, competition, insecurity and complexity. The new competitive situation sets new and increasing demands on logistical development work and those who conduct it.An analysis of the logistic research from a perspective of change indicates that the research has primarily met the new !ogistical challenges with systematic knowledge development regarding the change content. The research answers questions of what and why, but the contributions about how changes are implemented have traditionally been very weak. Because of this, there is a need for research focusing on the mere process of change and that develops knowledge about how we can effectively conduct change. The overall purpose is to develop knowledge about how work for !ogistical change can be rendered more efficient.In the theoretical frame of reference it becomes clear that the logistical research is primarily founded in the linear model of change. Through the borrowing of theories from the two research areas Strategic Change and Learning Organization, two additional models of change can be identified. The first model regards changes as social processes and is hence called "the process model". The second model views change as circular and is therefore called "the circular model".The analysis shows that the linear model best reproduces the mechanisms in less extensive changes, where such changes occur within the frame of existing mental models. When the extension of changes increases, the process mode! captures the mechanisms of the processes better, especially the political aspects concerned. The circular model best depicts the processes in the most extensive changes, where new mental models are developed and converted to the operational level.The research results indicate that the outcome of change depends on the correlation between a change's context, content and process over time. Consequently there is no best approach to operational development; rather every kind of change has to be dealt with differently. In the dissertation three approaches of change are typified, each grounded in one of the three models of change. The first approach is termed "solution driven" and is based on the linear model. The second approach, named "programmed process", is grounded in the model of process and the third, called "learning approach", views changes as circular learning processes. Rendering more effective logistical change implies that it needs to be based on the model or models of change that can best live up to the demands and mechanisms of change.