Theatre-based learning to foster corporate legacy change

Irena Descubes, Tom McNamara, Associate Professor David Pick, Professor Ste
2015 Journal of Organizational Change Management  
Structured Abstract: Purpose: The current literature relating New Public Management (NPM) with effective organizational change is mostly focused on how the private sector's managerial methods and tools can be better applied to the public sector by "modernizing" it, allowing for a more rational use of resources and improved economic performance. The success with regards to the implementation of major organizational change is increasingly measured by standardized quality management tools, used
more » ... nly by the private sector, such as balanced scorecards or performance-related salaries. While these managerial devices are, for the most part, understood and readily accepted by internal stakeholders in the private sector, studies have shown that they can trigger unexpected and unwanted dynamics in public companies, which often have a larger mandate, both in scope and purpose, than their private counterparts. An increasing number of scholars argue that private sector managerial tools and methods cannot be merely imposed upon employees in the public sector due to the possible generation of resistance or detriment to the intended outcomes of the organizational change desired. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper we study the case of Électricité Réseau Distribution France (ERDF), a €12 billion French organization that was created as a result of the deregulation of the market for electricity in Europe that started at the end of the 1990s. ERDF is a 100% owned subsidiary of EDF (Électricité De France), the French national electric company. ERDF is responsible for managing 95% of the electricity distribution network in France, and its stated goal is to ensure equal access to the national electrical grid, i.e. a "level playing field" for all. Therefore, while it has had to maintain good relations with its parent company (EDF), it also had to rapidly adopt a more profit-oriented corporate culture and foster relationships with new and alternative suppliers of electricity. To help ERDF achieve this goal a study was done using a management training technique that relies on Theatre-Based Learning theory and practice. A critical component of this approach was the use of "meta-language", i.e. a phenomenon that allows for expressions other than those normally found through verbal exchanges. This can generate dialogue that is critical to the implementation of change. Meta-language has been successfully used in the past with people who have undergone stress or who have been exposed to stressful situations or environments (e.g. people living in economically challenged areas, or under repressive regimes, or who have been addicted to drugs). This study used Theatre-Based Learning theory and practice, in conjunction with meta-language, for a public company undergoing major organizational change. The findings show that this method generated a reflective process in which participants developed an enhanced sense of ownership and interest in the targeted organisational structure. An investigation was carried out over three months involving 70 ERDF employees taking part in "theatre-based learning" workshops. These workshops created "forums" in which the participants were able to better interact with each other, as well as develop frameworks and tools better adapted to the desired organizational culture. This study used the following experiential and transformative theatrical arts-based processes/techniques: (i) Support projective techniques revealing tacit and embodied collective knowledge as well as individual inner feelings and hidden unconscious processes in the preparatory stage of the present training scheme. (ii) Critical reflection: identifying and 2 raising awareness of social / inter-professional structures inside the organisation in order to discover various process and structural overlaps. (iii) Generative questioning: exploration and understanding of how individuals inside the organisation experience various aspects of issues or phenomena. Findings: The training initiative resulted in a noticeable improvement with regards to (i) The understanding of what employees believe and what they identify as being a sustainable and satisfactory customer service relationship. (ii) The ability of employees to provide solutions / products / services specifically tailored to individual customers that will result in better value and a more positive experience for the client. (iii) Employee motivation as it relates to getting actively involved in the evolution of ERDF's corporate culture and contributed to the creation of an esprit de corps. This study led to the participants collectively developing ERDF inhouse practices and tools which were then shared and further improved upon with other internal stakeholders. Among the most noticeable tools and methods adopted ex post were the following: (i) Creation of an open-source portfolio of sales and after-sales selling points stemming from recognized in-house best practices. (ii) Development of a knowledge transfer system operated by volunteer trainers recruited from among ERDF employees. (iii) Organization of regular collective debriefing sessions so to avoid "mission creep" and employees becoming too attached to one particular customer, possibly losing sight of overall corporate objectives. (iv) Development of a customer based problem solving decision matrix. Originality/Value: The value of this paper is that it enlarges the scope with regards to the application of experiential and transformative learning techniques to a public sector enterprise undergoing a major organizational change due to the application of a NPM framework.
doi:10.1108/jocm-11-2013-0232 fatcat:55mdnmqemfganjupenfo4ypagu