The Management of Change
Research indicates that organisations are
undergoing major change approximately
once every three years, whilst smaller
changes are occurring almost continually.
There are no signs that this pace of
change will slow down.
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Many things cause organisational
change.
These include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
challenges of growth, especially global markets
changes in strategy
technological changes
competitive pressures, including mergers and
acquisitions
5. customer pressure, particularly shifting markets
6. to learn new organisation behaviour and skills
7. government legislation/initiatives.
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There are 3 main models
1. Kurt Lewin (USA 1947)
2. Anthony Stafford Beer (UK 1970’s)
3. Patricia Shaw (UK 1990’s to date )
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Lewin
• A simplistic model but useful for
researchers.
Static
State
Static
State
• There is an implication that “forces” hold
the organisation in equilibrium.
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Lewin’s proposal
A 3 stage managerial process of change
1. Unfreezing
Creating a level of dissatisfaction with the status
quo to create conditions which allow to take place
2. Changing
requires organising and mobilising the
required to bring about the change
resources
3. Freezing (or crystallising)
embedding the new ways of working into the
organisation.
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Beer’s model
• Change is more complex than suggested
by Lewin and need to managed in a way
that recognises complexity.
• There is a focus on 'task alignment',
whereby employees' roles, responsibilities
and relationships are seen as key to bring
about situations that enforce changed
ways of thinking, attitudes and behaving.
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Beer’s 6 stages of change
1. Mobilise commitment to change through joint
diagnosis.
2. Develop a shared vision of how to organise.
3. Foster consensus, competence and
commitment to shared vision.
4. Spread the word about the change.
5. Institutionalise the change through formal
policies.
6. Monitor and adjust as needed.
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Shaw’s model is more interesting
1. Change is seen as both complex and also
evolutionary.
2. the environment of an organisation is not in
equilibrium.
3. As such the change mechanisms within
organisations tend to be 'messy'
4. Change operate in reverse to the way outlined by
Lewin. It is not appropriate to consider the status
quo as an appropriate starting point,
5. Organisations are not static entities. Rather the
forces for change are already inherent in the
system and emerge as the system adapts to its
environment.
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Different models will have implications on
the way organisations and their leaders
view change, the way they manage
change and the effectiveness of any
change initiative.
But what change strategy should an
organisation adopt?
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The Information Revolution
• Business Process Reengineering and
radical change (Hammond & Champy
1990, 1993,1999)
• Driven from customer needs?
or from shareholders?
It derives from a mechanistic view of the
organisation.
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It depends on how you view the
organisation
• A narrow view of processes means a lack
of overall strategy.
• A broader view of the organisation
suggests that managing change is a
response to a more fundamental issue.
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A firm’s competitive advantage
is what it “knows”
Is change management really about
managing knowledge within the organisation
and responding to it?
That is, the learning organisation changes
organically to the evolving environment.
Is organisational change only possible with
culture change?
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They’re not employees:
They are people!
(Drucker 2002)
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