Change Without an Agent: What Happens When Change Agents Leave?

• In Event: 551 - Section on Organizations, Occupations and Work Paper Sessions. Workplace Diversity: Demography, Policy and Practice

Abstract

Much attention has been paid to the challenges of designing effective diversity initiatives (Kalev, Dobbin, & Kelly, 2006). Yet one challenge that remains relatively unexplored is the problem of change agent departure: what happens to a change initiative when the primary change agent leaves the organization? Even change initiatives with substantial money, resources, and publicity often suffer dissolution after the departure of a primary change agent (e.g. Peterson, 2013). What factors help an initiative survive change agent turnover? How can a diversity change initiative become embedded in the larger organization, rather than remaining tied to specific individuals? To explore these questions, I use unique case study data from two sites—an academic medical center and a technology company. Both organizations implemented gender-related change initiatives, and both organizations lost their primary change agent midway through implementation; however, in one case, the initiative continued to thrive, while in the other case, the initiative was subsequently discontinued. Analyzing a combination of interviews (68 interviews conducted with 55 people), observation (76 meetings), and primary source data (29 recorded conversations), this paper builds a new theoretical model to identify the factors that help embed a change initiative into the larger organization, thereby reducing the risk of dissolution following the departure of a primary change agent.

Authors

• Alison Wynn, Stanford University

• Caroline J. Simard, Stanford University