Unconferencing as method to initiate organisational change: A case study on reducing CO2 emissions of a university
Journal of Organizational Change Management
ISSN: 0953-4814
Article publication date: 15 February 2011
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss the potential of available event formats for facilitating the initiation of organizational change processes. It presents unconferencing, a relatively new event format, which seems to provide unique opportunities for this purpose. It reports and analyzes the case of a large Swiss university which initiated its pro‐sustainability transformation by organizing an unconference.
Design/methodology/approach
Researchers studied the effects of unconferencing and the mechanisms, which brought them about in a case study. In the empirical setting of a large Swiss university, a qualitative study triangulating participatory observation, narrative and problem‐centered interviews, participant survey and documentary analysis was carried out. Data were collected and analyzed at different points in time.
Findings
Empirical findings suggest that unconferencing is an appropriate event format for facilitating the initiation of the pro‐sustainability organizational change process of a university. In our case, unconferencing achieved systems connectivity, enabled mutual learning and generated excellent outputs in form of project proposals.
Social implications
The paper raises the awareness of other universities and organizations of an event format they might wish to apply in their organizational change processes.
Originality/value
So far, research has not provided satisfactory answers to the question, how to best initiate organizational change. This paper provides a systematic investigation of available methodological approaches. It furthermore explains unconferencing, which is increasingly applied by practitioners but so far has stimulated only little discourse in the scientific community.
Keywords
Citation
Wolf, P., Hansmann, R. and Troxler, P. (2011), "Unconferencing as method to initiate organisational change: A case study on reducing CO2 emissions of a university", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 112-142. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534811111102319
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited