Abstract for: Resolving the paradox of organizational change by focusing on the cognitive gap among top management, middle, and frontline

It is said that in order to keep pace with rapid social change, it is important to promote organizational autonomy. However, this study presents the research hypothesis that the more organizational autonomy is enhanced, the more organizational inertia is created in each autonomous organization, which in turn may inhibit the transformation of the entire organization. To test this hypothesis, this study utilizes the information delay model in system dynamics to model the exchange of information among top management, middle managers, and frontline. Using a top-down organization, a middle-up-down organization, and a model in which the field can directly obtain information and make decisions by modifying the middle-up-down type, this study shows how organizational misalignment converge and how the commitment level of the organization changes. As a result, the convergence of misalignment of recognition is slower in the middle-up-down type than in the top-down type, and the convergence is faster in the model that improves the middle-up-down type and allows the field to obtain information directly than in the top-down organization. In other words, the results indicate that the level of organizational autonomy is a factor that hinders organizational change.