Change Management
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From or To?
• Changing from something
– “We gotta get out of this place!”
• Changing to something
– “There’s a place for us…”
• Doing both
– Frankly, where are we now?
– Where do we want to be?
– What constitutes progress?
When you say Change, they say:
“This is a waste of time.”
“Why change if it was working just fine before?”
“If it ain't broke, don't fix it.”
“They never tell us what’s going on!”
“How soon will this happen?”
“How will this impact me?”
“Will I receive new training?”
“What’s in it for me.”
“I doubt they are really serious about this.”
Natural reaction to change: Resist
Awareness of need to change: critical ingredient and must come first
Change in organizations
Change usually starts with a high level task force that determines what changes
need to be made.
Change is always a
factor in putting the
puzzle together.
Kinds of Change
• Incremental
– Tweaking the system
or process
• Transitional
– Restructuring,
reorganizing
• Transformational
– New vision, new
mission, new values
John Kotter
• Mechanistic Change Vs Improvisational
Change
• Sequential VS Dynamic
• Anticipated VS Unanticipated
Mechanistic Change
• Follows a series of sequential steps for
envisioning, planning, implementing,
consolidating, and institutionalizing their
particular change component
• Broken down into its component items,
plotted out over the expected time it will
take, and managed in pieces.
• Considers only the anticipated change
Planned vs. Unplanned Change
Planned change – deliberate endeavor to
impact an organization to make a
difference; goal oriented
• Routine
• Expected
• Maintenance of organization
Planned vs. Unplanned Change
Unplanned change – unexpected result of
some large-scale force beyond local
control
• Reactionary
• Unanticipated
• Response to outside influence
• Mechanistic Change Vs Improvisational
Change
• Two types of unanticipated change:
• Emergent change: They arise spontaneously
in response to planned change. Their impacts
can be either positive or negative for an
organization. For example, the introduction of
a new technology can eventually lead to the
need for new roles and skills and may also
affect organization structures and
management processes.
To changes they can predict, managers
should also be prepared to deal with two
types of unanticipated change:
• Emergent
change:
They
arise
spontaneously in response to planned
change. Their impacts can be either
positive or negative for an organization.
• Opportunity-based change: These are
introduced intentionally during the change
process in response to unexpected
impacts that arise.
Change is a dynamic entity
This figure illustrates how change is actually a dynamic process consisting of a
series of planned changes, interspersed with controlled organizational
responses to emergent and opportunity-based changes as they arise.
Do organizations have to change?
Turbulent Times
The Changing Work Place
• Today’s organizations need to continuously adapt to
new situations if they are to survive and prosper
One of the most dramatic elements is the shift to a
technology- driven workplace
Ideas, information, and relationships are becoming
critically important
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From where the pressure on organization
come?
Organizations have to change because they are subject to pressures
from the outside world, the sector, their local area, and from within
Inside the
organization
Closer to home
The outside the world
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Outside the world
• Political factors- government policies and initiatives, attitudes
to industry and competition, political alignments at home and
abroad.
• Economic factors- interest rates, currency exchange rates,
consumer expenditure, inflation
• Social and cultural factors- where people live, education and
health, social mobility, social and cultural attitudes to work,
home and community life and behavior
• Technological factors- new product and services, access
and availability of new technologies becoming outdated
• Legislative factors- employment law, taxation law, health and
safety legislation
• Environmental factors- pollution control, water, transport and
development policies, waste disposal
• -------or any combination of these.
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Closer to home
• The pool of potential customers- do they want the
organization’s product and services? Can they get them
cheaper or more easily elsewhere?
• Competitors-what action is the competition taking to
steal the organization’s customers
• Suppliers-does the organization have a choice of
suppliers and are they keen to get the organization’s
business?
• Labour Market- are there enough workers with the right
skills?
• Local conditions- what’s happening locally that affects
the organization viability?
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Within the organization itself
• A new boss might have different styles and
approach or want to take the organization in a
new direction
• A new strategy may be stimulated by an analysis
of external forces and may involve: providing
new products and services, cutting costs,
moving into new market…
• Attempts to make the organization more efficent
by changing the way people work.
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What is organizational change?
Any substantive modification to some part of
the organization.
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Steps in organizational change?
(or) How to Change?
 Phases of planned change.- Kurt Lewin Model
(1947)
– Unfreezing.
• Preparing a situation for change by disconfirming existing
attitudes and behaviors.
• Getting ready to change, change is necessary
– Changing(Transition)
• A PROCESS
• Taking action to modify a situation by altering the targets of
change.
• The MOST hardest
– Refreezing.
• Reinforcing, Maintaining and eventually institutionalizing the
change.
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What can be done about
resistance to change?
 Ways in which resistance is experienced.
– Resistance to the change itself.
– Resistance to the change strategy.
– Resistance to the change agent.
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Transformation Process
Phase
Content
Outcomes
Unfreeze
Set the
direction
Create the
desire & will
to change
Break
with
the
past
Mobilise
Make early
changes & build
confidence
Build
the
energy
Realise
Secure
widespread
shift in
behaviour
Perfor
m-ance
lift-off
Reinforce
Underpin
with
changes in
structure &
people
processes
Embed
new
culture
Part
Sustain
Strive for
continuous
performance
improvement
Push
the
limits
Types of change
Top down
Development
Programme
Restructuring
Strategy
Takeover, merger
Radical
Gradual
Problem solving
Actively seek
New job
Learning
Continuous improvement
Bottom up
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Radical change
• It is characterized by a major shift in the way people
work or act, perhaps requiring different values and
attitudes.
• A radical change is often marked by a decision to
make a distinct break from a current situation in
order to reach a desired future situation. Also known
as frame-breaking change.
• Change that results in a major overhaul of the
organization or its component systems.
Breakpoint decisions
Current
situation
Process of change
Desired future situation
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Some radical change is open-ended-a
change is followed by soon by another and
perhaps more to come,
Breakpoint
decisions
Plan change
Current
situation
Desired future situation
Review/evaluate
Implement
Change processes
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Gradual/Incremental change.
Also known as frame-bending change.
Change that is part of the organization’s natural evolution.
Top-down and bottom-up change
• Top-down change is imposed by others,
usually those who in powers.
• Bottom-up change is planned and let by
the people who carry it out. It is often
gradual, involving small incremental
changes
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Model of Change
Sequence of Events
Environmental
Forces
Monitor global
competition, and other
factors
Internal
Forces
Consider plans,
goals, company
problems, and
needs
Need for
change
Initiate
change
Implement
change
Evaluate problems
and opportunities,
define needed
changes in
technology
products,
structure, and
culture
Facilitate search,
creativity, idea
champions, venture
teams, skunk works
and idea incubators
Use force field
analysis, tactics for
overcoming
resistance
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Forces for Change
• Environmental Forces
– Customers
– Competitors
– Technology
– Economic
– International arena
• Internal Forces – activities and decisions
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Need for Change
Performance gap = disparity between
existing and desired performance
levels. How do we know this??
Current procedures are not up to standard
● New idea or technology could improve
current performance
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Initiating Change
Critical phase of change management
• Stage where the ideas that solve perceived
needs are developed
• Search = process of learning about current
developments inside or outside the organization
that can be used to meet the perceived need for
change
• Creativity = generation of novel ideas that might
meet perceived needs or offer opportunities for the
organization
Experiential Exercise: Is Your Company Creative?
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Why Use IT to Change?
Using new IT allows companies to gain important
advantages such as:
1) cost savings and improving the accuracy of exchanging
information;
2) avoiding human mistakes inherent when complex and
repetitive tasks are used;
3) saving money because it reduces errors and the time it
takes to accomplish tasks;
4) integrating and coordinating several functions at once; and
5) improving the organizational efficiency and effectiveness
by eliminating delay, administrative intermediaries, and
redundant processing steps and by providing better
access to information.
How IT Assist Change
• IT is frequently the means through which
change is implemented in a company.
• In general, IT facilitate change through:
1.increasing information flow
2.technological discontinuity
3. new business practices
4. increasing customer expectations
• Processes may be classified according to
two dimensions:
1.degree of mediation and
2. degree of collaboration
Degree of mediation
• Refers to the sequential flow of input and
output among the participants' functions in a
business process.
• A process at a high degree of mediation
involves a large number of intermediate
steps, performed in various functions that
contribute indirectly to the process outcome.
• A process at a low degree of mediation has
several functions that contribute directly to
the process outcome without the mediation of
sequential steps.
Degree of collaboration
• Is related to the degree of collaboration
between functions through information
exchange.
• The frequency and intensity of information
exchange can range from:
– none (process at the low degree of
collaboration) to
– extensive (process at the high degree of
collaboration).
•SO HOW IT HELPS?
Companies must reduce the degree of mediation
in processes. >>Convert processes with a great
number of intermediate steps into processes that
take part directly in the final outcome.
The ITs that make this modification easy might be:
1) Shared databases: Different functions are allowed to
take part directly by using the
information stored in databases. Each function can
approach, enter, or recover
information from this database the moment it is needed.
2) Imaging technology: Several people may work at the
same time on a digitalized image
of documents or graphics.
3) Electronic data exchange and electronic funds
transference.
• Companies must increase the degree of
collaboration in processes so that involved
functions will share information.
• The IT that makes the collaboration easy
among different people may be
communication technologies.
• These allow information transfer by using
tools such as electronic mail, video
conference, and file transfer protocol.
Food for thought…
• All progress requires change. But not all
change is progress. John Wooden
• Continuity gives us roots; change gives us
branches, letting us stretch and grow and
reach new heights. Pauline Kezer
• Things do not change; we change. Henry David
Thoreau
• That is because Allah has never changed the blessings
which He has bestowed on a people until they
themselves changed the condition of their souls; verily
Allah hears all and knows all.(Al-Anfal:53)
• Lo! Allah change not the condition of a folk until they
(first) change that which is in their hearts; and if Allah will
not misfortune for a folk there is none that can repel it,
nor have they a defender beside Him. (Ar-R’ad:11)
Chapter 1
© 2008 by Prentice Hall
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