Organizational Development in an International Context: A Story of Planned Change and Attempt to Induce High Involvement

This chapter is an account of how organizational development takes place in an international setting. It takes place in a Danish MNC, being one of the first movers into the Chinese market. Through structured and planned build-up of organizational and managerial competences, based on a Scandinavian management approach, the company moves through different stages of personal, team and organizational development. This is in many respects a successful exercise, partly caused by the experienced HR-consultants working intensely with the many uncertainties felt by The China Management Team. The different obstacles mainly have to do with different approaches to work and management in two very diverse cultures, and culture is the main explanation for the first major setback of the process—the Chinese CEOs circumvention of the divisional managers, leading to his forced resignation. This type of power struggle, between divisional managers and country managers, are not so often addressed in international change management literature.