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The potential of standardizing and improving the change management process in the pulp and paper industry – A multiple case study / Potentialen med att standardisera och förbättra förändringshanteringsprocessen inom massa- och pappersindustrin– En flerfaldig fallstudie

Abstract Purpose Changing processes and an organization quickly and successfully is a challenging task. Thus, standardization of the process of making changes as well can be useful to reach the goal of increased performance. Many different aspects can be considered when investigating the critical factors that lead to a successful change. Assessing whether these critical factors can be utilized to formulate standards is, therefore, an interesting topic to delve deeper into. Thus, the purpose is “Explore how change management processes in the pulp and paper industry can be standardized, and how the change management process can be improved.” and the research questions (RQ):  RQ1. What are the critical factors of the change management processes in the pulp and paper industry?  RQ2. How can standardization of change management processes be achieved in the pulp and paper industry? Method This is a qualitative study where information has been gathered through a literature review and a multiple case study. The empirical data was primary data gathered through interviews. Theoretical information was gathered based on keywords selected through brainstorming sessions and found in articles. A data analysis model was used when analysing the empirical data.  Findings Six critical factors were found as an answer to RQ1. These six critical factors for pulp and paper industries were found within broader studies on change management factors as well. Standardization of change management processes on a general level was deemed possible. However, when investigating detailed levels of change management processes there are indications that it is possible to some degree, but it is more difficult to transfer a standardized process between different types of changes. Future Research More research can be beneficial in change management on more detailed levels and how standards can be transferred between types of change, and if this is only applicable to pulp and paper industries or to 24-hour continuous production processes. The conceptual maturity model presented in this report could be explored further and has the potential to be modified further to fit the needs of different organizations and industries. The conceptual guideline that was presented in the report needs to be tested and verified. Limitations This project has excluded international factories from its studied area. This project also scopes in toward the pulp and paper industry as its focus and did not analyse if its result is applicable to other industries or not. Additionally, this project did not verify if the implementation of the resulting guidelines yields a positive or negative outcome, further study is required.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hj-57758
Date January 2022
CreatorsHauguth, David, Wilson, Alfred
PublisherJönköping University, Tekniska Högskolan
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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