Samenvatting

Organizational change intends to be a mean towards improvement, hence it is a learning process for everyone concerned with it. When a change is being introduced in a complex organization, it affects a significant amount of people.
Therefore, it is natural to expect various reactions, depending on the perception that a certain person has about the proposed change. This qualitative case study will evaluate the relationship between perceptions
and reactions of all concerned stakeholders during an introduction of a specific organizational change in the Global Social team of Philips. The researcher was a member of the team starting from late August, to late December 2016; hence, had an opportunity to represent a holistic and naturalistic image of the state of
the team.
The main management challenge regarding the change was to understand if the proposed change solves existing issues within the team and company, and how to implement it in the best way possible. Therefore, the objective of this research is to evaluate the link of perceptions and reactions of the team towards the change, and suggest strategic options for implementation. The assessment is done through multiple instruments, including participant observation, individual interviews with each stakeholder, and a focus group with members from the Global Social team. The findings can be grouped into three themes: main principle of organizational structure, leadership style and collaboration. Throughout the themes the researcher does two things: first, a picture of the current state of the Global Social team is presented; then, what the team perceive as a positive, negative or undesirable elements of the proposed change are discussed.
Finally, the study recommends three strategic options for change management: transformation, realignment and no change. Each of the options has their own set of advantages vs. disadvantages, organizational vs. financial implications, and implementation steps – letting the decision makers and stakeholders to estimate which approach fits the future directions of the team and the company best.