1. Chapter 8 Controlling approaches to change
Change Management
Chapter 8
Controlling approaches to change

2. Change Management Approach
Focuses on strategic, intentional and usually large-scale change
Entails following a variety of steps; the exact steps vary depending upon the model used
Belief that achieving organizational change is possible through a coordinated and planned approach

3. Some Systems Nadler’s 12 Action Steps Pendlebury’s Ten Steps
Get support of key power groups
Get leaders t model change behavior
Use symbols and language
Define areas of stability
Surface dissatisfaction
Promote participation
Reward behavior that supports change
Disengage from the old
Communicate image of future
Use multiple leverage points
Develop transition mgt arrangements
Create feedback
Pendlebury’s Ten Steps
Define the vision
Mobilize
Catalyze
Steer
Deliver
Obtain participation
Handle emotions
Handle power
Train and coach
Actively communicate

4. Some Systems Kanter’s 10 Commandments Kotter’s eight-step model
Analyze the need for change
Create a shared vision
Separate from the past
Create a sense of urgency
Support a strong leader role
Line up political sponsorship
Craft an implementation plan
Develop enabling structures
Communicate and involve people
Reinforce and institutionalize change
Kotter’s eight-step model
Establish the need for urgency
Ensure there is a power change group to guide the change
Develop a vision
Communicate the vision
Empower staff
Ensure there are short term wins
Consolidate gains
Embed the change in the culture

5. Exercise
Compare and contrast the various steps in these models. What is left out of different models?
Create your own composite model.
Is there a preferred sequence of steps? Why?
Identify the key management skills associated with each step
Which ones are you strongest on? Weakest on?
In your experience:
Which steps have been best handled?
Worst handled? Why?

6. Change Management vs. OD
Critics of change management depict it as being “faddish” and the product of management consultancy firms
There is a debate between proponents of OD and proponents of change management:
OD is criticized for being less relevant to modern organizations which require strategic, often large scale change rather than slower, incremental change often associated with a traditional OD
Change management is criticized for lacking a humanistic set of values and for having a focus on the concerns of management rather than on those of the organization as a whole

7. Contingency Approach
Contingency approaches challenge the view that there is “one best way”
The style of change will vary, depending upon the scale of the change and the receptivity of organizational members for engaging in the change.
In the Dunphy-Stace model the style of change varies from collaborative to coercive
What are the implications of this?
Why are almost all large scale changes seen as coercive (by top management and employees)
How does this knowledge change your step-model?

8. Processual Approach
Draws on a navigator approach and views change as a continuous process which unfolds differently depending upon the time and the context
It sees the outcome of change as occurring through a complex interplay of different interest groups, goals, and politics. Only some outcomes will be able to be achieved given the “messiness” of change
This approach does not provide a list of “what to do” steps as in the change management approaches.
Rather it alerts the change manager to the range of influences which they will confront and the way in which these will lead to only certain change outcomes being achieved

9. Rules of thumb for change agents Shepard (1975)
Stay alive
Learn to greet absurdity with laughter
Use your skills, emotions, labels, and positions don’t be used by them
Don’t get trapped in other people’s games
Start where the system is
Understand how others see themselves (empathy)
Never work uphill
Work in the most promising arenas
Don’t build hills as you go
Build resources
Don’t over organize
Don’t argue if you can’t win
Don’t drift – remain focused on your purpose

10. More rules of thumb Light many fires
Load experiments for success
Innovation requires a good idea, initiative, and a few friends
Find the people who are ready and able to work, introduce them to one another, and work with them
Those who need to rebel or submit are not reliable partners
Keep an optimistic bias
Capture the moment
timing is everything

11. Quinn’s logical incrementalism
Key propositions
Proceed experimentally and flexibly
Conceal true goals and intentions
Build awareness and credibility to legitimize new viewpoints
Tactical shifts, partial solutions
Use serendipity to promote supporters, replace opponents, fund pet projects
Broaden political support and overcome opposition
Encourage others to trial new ideas and create pockets of commitment (but don’t be associated with failure).
Why is this a navigator/processual view of change?

12. Questions
Do you work with a one size fits all approach to managing change?
To what extent do you match your change approach to the scale timing and readiness of your staff to the change?
Is their a dominant change mode in your organization?
How appropriate is it? Does it need to change?
How do you deal with multiple changes that are simultaneously present but at different stages and phases?

13. BA Swipe Card Case What did management do wrong?
How would you advise BA to avoid such a situation in the future?
Is there one change perspective, or a combination of change perspectives, that provides the best way of understanding the swipe card issue? Why?
What broad conclusions emerge from this analysis?