Kan två teoretiska modeller förklara ett praktiskt fall? : En fallstudie om förändringsarbetet på ett svenskt utbildningsföretag

Sammanfattning: Previous studies have shown that there were large differences between organizational changes in practice and in theory. The purpose of the study is thus to investigate and analyze whether the gap between theory and practice exists and where it can be identified. The practical case was an educational company in Sweden where a major change work had been carried out. Interviews were conducted with management and the employees who were involved in the change. The theories that have been compared to the practical case were Kotter's eight-step model and Pinto & Slevin's critical success factors. Kotter's model is designed to achieve success in change processes. Pinto & Slevin's model is developed to facilitate the management of a project for a project manager and the factors can be used as a toolbox during the course of the project. In addition to the models, Kotter's discussion of organizational culture is also presented because there was a suspicion that organizational culture is not presented to the same extent in the other models. The questions answered in the study were whether the models could individually explain a successful change or whether they worked in combination to explain a successful change. The study shows that there was a gap between the models from Kotter and Pinto & Slevin and the practical case. A comparison was made of the steps and the factors in an analysis where the steps or factors corresponded or deviated from the practical case. Although several factors were consistent with the practical case, there was a discrepancy between management and employees. The suspicion is that more elements of organizational culture in the models from Kotter and Pinto & Slevin would have potentially reduced the discrepancy between management and employees.