Change Management Prof. Steve Phelan Lecture 1

Course Goal To learn to manage organizational change better  What do we mean by organizational change? Individuals Work teams Division Firm  What do we mean by better? Better for whom?

What is change? A planned or unplanned response to pressures and forces  Technological, economic, social, regulatory, political, competitive Is the nature of change changing?  More global  On simultaneous fronts  Unpredictable, turbulent, more unplanned

Ackerman’s Types of Change Developmental change  Improvement of what is Transitional change  Implementation of a known new state  Old State->Transitional State->New State Transformational change  Change in belief and awareness about what is possible and necessary in the organization  Often can’t stay in old state e.g. deregulation  “Letting go of one trapeze before a new one swings into view”  Emergence of an unknown new state over time

Some interesting questions Given pressures to change:  How far do we want to go?  Are we following the path of least resistance or a direction that is truly needed?  What kind of results do we want?  How much change can the organization absorb?  What happens if we don’t change?

When to change Be proactive and change in anticipation of pressures down the road Change in response to an isolated problem Change in response to a crisis  Should one manufacture a crisis? Alternatively,  All organizations could routinely change to avoid complacency and stagnation  The Icarus paradox

Enabling change Pace  How long should it take to change?  How long do we have?  Should change be quick or slow? Scope  Start small and grow or start big  Which area of the organization should change start? (In a problem area or a success area) Publicity  How much? Who drives the change?

Reacting to Change Does managing change include managing the reactions to change? What about resistance to change?  Inertia, habit, comfort with the known  Change evokes fear What about political roadblocks? What about grief, anger, and other emotions? How can changes be made permanent with no back-sliding?  Do we plan for a degree of back-sliding?

Orders of change Orders of change First order  Transformational change - ‘the big planned changes’ Second order  Everything else – transitional and developmental Simultaneous  Many companies are in the midst of several changes at the same time Globalization, six sigma, boundaryless organizations, ABC