Change management and interorganizational structure : a combined journey. The Formaform case

Abstract

In a context of the concept of mutualization has been a hot topic both in the public and the private sector in recent years, with companies realizing that getting together allow them to achieve greater goats that when staying alone. Thereupon, companies have begun to get together and the most common outcomes are the creation of interorganizational projects and interorganizational structures. We’ve analysed a change project through the power-interest matrix. Then, we’ve performed in depths semi-constructive interviews (N=23) of FormaForm’s management, FormaForm’s employees and representatives of key-actors to gather helpful insights in order to localize the stakeholders in the partner’s map. Thereupon, we’ve used the transformation roadmap tool to anticipate and accompany change. Twelve stakeholders have been identified. Six stakeholders localized in the high interest/high power, highlighting the importance of careful stakeholders management, and five stakeholders localized in the high interest/low power, highlighting the importance of communication. The interviews have allowed us to identify the key-actors and FormaForm’s management as zealots and the employees as zealots and influencers. They also allowed us to identify potential key strengths and weaknesses of the project and to come up with lessons learned and suggestions in various topics: preliminary preparation, communication, work delegation and corporate culture. The transformation roadmap alongside with the interviews allowed us to identify risks and internal as well as external factors influencing the project. This allowed us to suggest mitigation actions in order to increase the probabilities of success of the project.