Organizational Change in Educational Organizations

Introduction

Change is the differences that occur in the structure, quality and status of an organization over a long period of time. The change is defined in the dictionary of the Turkish Language Association (2022) as “the totality of changes within a period of time, alteration”. Change is determined by measuring the difference between the initial structure and the final structure of the organization. There are planned, unplanned, incremental, rapid, repetitive and unpredictable types of change (Poole, 2004).

Change is an inevitable fact of life from birth to death, affecting cultures, countries and societies. Especially today, change is happening faster than in the past and this causes societies and organizations to face much more change that they need to keep up with. Organizations can only survive if they change themselves by adapting to these rapid changes (Erdoğan, 2012). Change involves recognizing the current situation, determining the desired results, initiating an action plan and implementing the plan in line with a purpose (Calabrese & Shoho, 2000).

Change means to make different. It is aimed to transform an object from its current state into a different state. Those affected by change can both initiate change and be affected by change beyond their control. However, in the end, the changed individual or organization is not the same as its initial state (Calabrese & Shoho, 2000). The concept of change also includes development.

Organizational change describes the act of moving an organization from its current state to another desired state in order to increase its effectiveness. The reasons for organizational change include competitive forces, economic forces, political and global forces, social-demographic forces and ethical forces (George & Gareth, 2002). The simplest definition of organizational development is to change the organization in order to achieve its objectives because competitive conditions require organizations to protect themselves and survive under these conditions. Organizational development affects change through learning processes. In the learning process, new ideas and attitudes emerge that change the behavior and culture of the organization (Ellis & Dick, 2003). Organizational change is the process and art of deliberately and intentionally changing an organization in order to improve its performance. Organizational change is the work of putting ideas into action. Organizational change aims at organizational development, in other words, increasing effectiveness of the organization by increasing the capacity and competencies (Floyd, 2002).

Organizations change cautiously, deliberately and continuously to bring themselves into strategic alignment by influencing or choosing their environment (Demers, 2007). Organizational change should not be considered in isolation from the history of the organization and other factors that bring about change. Instead, organizational change should be carried out continuously, taking into account the historical, cultural and political context in which the organization exists. Change involves a cyclical process of generating new knowledge and putting that knowledge into practice. Change is a priority for organizational development (Choi & Wendy, 2011).

According to Demers (2007), changes introduced and developed by leaders are considered as “top-down” change. On the contrary, the change that starts from the lower parts of the organization and increases towards the top management is considered as “upward change”. The so-called planned change can be called “top-down” change because it is carried out by top management.