Dr. Stan Amaladas, who earned his Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences in 2004, won Walden University’s Harold L. Hodgkinson Award for A Narrative Inquiry Into the Experiences of Individuals in the Midst of Organizational Change: A Shift From Systems to Stories.

“As a senior learning consultant and change strategist with the Canada School of Public Service, I observed that the greater part of organizational experiences happen through the circulation of stories and that most organizational realities are based on stories that are told and retold,” Amaladas says. “Given this observation, I also concluded that it makes sense to study the experiences of individuals in the midst of organizational change, narratively.”

The purpose of his study, Amaladas explains, was to understand how individuals in the middle of proposed and already implemented organizational change understand and make meaning of what is happening. He did this by listening to and analyzing their stories.

In many organizations, during change, management does not reach out to employees on a personal level. As a result, employees don’t feel that their voices are heard. “Stan’s concern for social change is reflected in the concern for the solicited opinions of the employees—in their own words. These opinions are often neglected,” says Dr. Raphael Becvar, a professor in the School of Health and Human Services who nominated Amaladas for the award.

Dr. Lilburn Hoehn, who won the Bernard L. Turner Award for chairing Amaladas’s dissertation committee, says, “Effective organizational change is based on understanding where [employees] are in terms of their understanding of the purpose and possible effects of the change.” Hoehn believes that Amaladas’s ideas could help illustrate for managers the value of including staff in planning their change strategy.

“I think the social significance lies in the possibility that his research could help corporate and government decision-makers consider the role of individual employees in a change strategy. Organizations could be more effective in fostering change—and save considerable money and avoid failed initiatives—by involving individual employees in a change process,” Hoehn explains.

At the recommendation of Walden faculty, Amaladas is preparing articles for publication based on his dissertation.

Amaladas’s dissertation committee members were, in addition to Becvar and Hoehn, Dr. Sybil M. Delevan and Dr. Joseph E. Barbeau, both professors in the School of Management.

The Hodgkinson award is awarded annually to a Walden graduate whose dissertation meets the highest university standards. It was created to honor the distinguished career of one of the nation’s foremost experts in demography, Dr. Harold L. Hodgkinson, who had an important role in Walden’s establishment and academic development.

The Bernard L. Turner Award is bestowed annually upon the chair of the dissertation committee of the winner of the Hodgkinson award. It was created to honor the unique contributions to American higher education of Bernard L. Turner, chairman of the board (emeritus) and founding president of Walden University.  

Winners of the Hodgkinson and Turner awards each receive $2,500.

—By Danielle Sweeney

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