Understanding the Organizational Dynamics of Change in China: A Multimedia Simulation Approach

As organizational change, and in particular change driven by information and communication technology, has become an important way to improve the efficiency of business processes, more and more organizations are paying increasing attention to helping their managers acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to better manage such change. This research paper describes the design of the LingHe Simulation, a computer-based interactive multimedia simulation which models the dynamics of organizational change in a typical Chinese business environment. The simulation aims to stimulate and enhance managerial understanding of organizational resistance to change and of how to more effectively implement changes. The simulation was tested on both Western and Chinese managers in a series of workshops, and the paper further examines its effectiveness as an innovative learning tool and technique for improving their understanding of the organizational dynamics and the corresponding knowledge and skill needed to manage organizational change in a Chinese environment.