Change management From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article or section appears

to contain a large number of buzzwords. It may also contain tautologies and other obvious statements, or may be written in an excessively abstract style. Because: This article seems to contain many buzzword-style slogans and vague abstractions Please improve the article, attempting to remove buzzwords, tautologies and obvious statements, and make it more concrete; or discuss the issue on the talk page. Change management can take many forms and include many change environments. The most common usage to the term refers to organizational change management. Organizational change management is the process of developing a planned approach to change in an organization. Typically the objective is to maximize the collective benefits for all people involved in the change and minimize the risk of failure of implementing the change. The discipline of change management deals primarily with the human aspect of change, and is therefore related to pure and industrial psychology. Many technical disciplines (for example Information technology) have developed similar approaches to formally control the process of making changes to environments. Change management can be either 'reactive', in which case management is responding to changes in the macroenvironment (that is, the source of the change is external), or proactive, in which case management is initiating the change in order to achieve a desired goal (that is, the source of the change is internal). Change management can be conducted on a continuous basis, on a regular schedule (such as an annual review), or when deemed necessary on a program-byprogram basis. Change management can be approached from a number of angles and applied to numerous organizational processes. Its most common uses are in information technology management, strategic management, and process management. To be effective, change management should be multi-disciplinary, touching all aspects of the organization. However, at its core, implementing new procedures, technologies, and overcoming resistance to change are fundamentally human resource management issues. Contents [hide] 1 The psychology of change 2 Schools and Concepts of Change Management 3 Formula for Change 4 Management's role 5 Change management in information technology 6 Change management in industrial plants 7 See also 8 References

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The psychology of change Attitudes towards change result from a complex interplay of emotions and cognitive processes. Because of this complexity everyone reacts to change differently. On the positive side, change is seen as akin to opportunity, rejuvenation, progress, innovation, and growth. But just as legitimately, change can also be seen as akin to instability, upheaval, unpredictability, threat, and disorientation. Whether employees perceive change with fear, anxiety and demoralization, or with excitement and confidence, or somewhere in between, depends partially on the individual's psychological makeup, partially on management's actions, and partially on the specific nature of the change. An early model of change developed by Kurt Lewin (1951) described change as a three-stage process. The first stage he called "unfreezing". It involved overcoming inertia and dismantling the existing "mind set". Defense mechanisms have to be bypassed. In the second stage the change occurs. This is typically a period of confusion. We are aware that the old ways are being challenged but we do not have a clear picture to replace them with yet. The third and final stage he called "refreezing". The new mind set is crystallizing and one's comfort level is returning to previous levels. An individual's attitude toward a change tends to evolve as they become more familiar with it. The stages a person goes through can consist of: apprehension, denial, anger, resentment, depression, cognitive dissonance, compliance, acceptance, and internalization. This emotional framework is a derivative of work by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in her book "On Death and Dying" which dealt with the phases people experience when faced with the loss of family member or friend. Many employees, however, may not experience these phases, as their attitude toward change is heavily dependent on their view of the current state. When employees have a negative view of the current state they may anticipate and embrace change early in the process. The ADKAR model developed by Jeff Hiatt (1998, 2006] for individual change management presents five building blocks that an individual must obtain to realize change successfully. These include awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement. It is management's job to create an environment in which people can go through these stages as quickly as possible, including: [edit] Schools and Concepts of Change Management There are many theoretical attempts to explain what drives change in organizations. Most of them are based on one or more of these three principles: The constructivist paradigm, the systems approach and the quantum principle. The map is not the territory (The constructivist principle) Human beings create reality through language this is what we call mental maps. Our mental maps are a product of the individual life experiences and are constantly reinforced by unconscious filters determining the information we process. No two mental maps are identical. According to this principle, organizations are nothing but constructions in the minds of people. Communication in teams can be enhanced when people acknowledge this principle and try to explore other peoples maps. This principle is one of the main foundations of Neurolinguistic Programming, which provides Building awareness of why the change is needed Creating desire to support and participate in the change Developing knowledge of how to change Fostering ability to implement new skills and behaviors Providing reinforcements to sustain the change

models for change in individuals and teams, for example the Meta Model of Language. The principle is also described in the books of Paul Watzlawick and one of the foundations of Appreciative Inquiry. Organizations are ruled by laws of complexity (The systemic/complexity principle) Emerging evidence from systems thinking and complexity science indicates that large systems show a different behaviour than their single parts. System theory talks about organizations as "non-trvial machines" (like the human body, etc.) , whose behavior cannot be predicted or calculated by a computer. These new sciences are applied to organizational development and change, for example in Appreciative Inquiry, Open Space Technology, Systemic Constellations, etc. We are living in a field which is a whole (The quantum principle) Most of our day-to-day assumptions are still based on classical Newtonian mechanics, which usually are applied in the work with organizations. For example, most people would assume that if A is true, B is false. There is a growing number of thinkers who relate change in organizations to Quantum Mechanics, which teaches us that if A is true, B is equally true - just another side of the coin -, and that A could not exist without B. Observers (or consultants, or leaders) are always part of a field, which they influence but by which they are influenced themselves instantly. Some examples for application of Quantum Mechanics to Change Management: - Process Oriented Psychology by Arnold Mindell, talks about the field in which each human relationship exists. Its application field, Worldwork, intends to transform systems by shifting roles that people unconsciously hod in a system. - Dialogue (by David Bohm) is a new form of communication in large groups which is based on the suspension of assumptions, thus letting the common knowledge of 'container' emerge. - Appreciative Inquiry, one of the most frequently applied approaches to organizational change, is partly based on the assumption that change in a system is instantanously ('Change at the Speed of Imagination') Key Concepts Below are several well known concepts in which the Change Management practice is rooted. There is some overlapping in these concepts and its practice, the tools derived from these ideas are often used interchangeably. Process Oriented Psychology Theme Centred Interaction (Ruth Cohn) Transactional Analysis Systems Thinking / Family Therapy (Virginia Satir and all the new thinkers, including Bert Hellinger, Fritz Simon, etc.) Neurolinguistic Programming (Richard Bandler, John Grinder, Robert Dilts) Communication Theory (Paul Watzlawik) Whole Systems Change (Harrison Owen, Marvi Weisbord, and others) Total Quality Management ADKAR (a model used in Change management that connects organizational change management to individual change management). The ADKAR model is most commonly used to design change management plans and to coach employees through change. ADKAR is a registered trademark of Prosci at change-management.com

[edit] Formula for Change

The Formula for Change was developed by Richard Beckhard and David Gleicher and is sometimes referred to as Gleicher's Formula. The Formula illustrates that the combination of organisational dissatisfaction, vision for the future and the possibility of immediate, tactical action must be stronger than the resistance within the organisation in order for meaningful change to occur. [edit] Management's role Management's first responsibility is to detect trends in the macroenvironment so as to be able to identify changes and initiate programs. It is also important to estimate what impact a change will likely have on employee behaviour patterns, work processes, technological requirements, and motivation. Management must assess what employee reactions will be and craft a change program that will provide support as workers go through the process of accepting change. The program must then be implemented, disseminated throughout the organization, monitored for effectiveness, and adjusted where necessary. In general terms, a change program should: Describe the change process to all people involved and explain the reasons why the changes are occurring. The information should be complete, unbiased, reliable, transparent, and timely. Be designed to effectively implement the change while being aligned with organizational objectives, macroenvironmental trends, and employee perceptions and feelings. Provide support to employees as they deal with the change, and wherever possible involve the employees directly in the change process itself.

[edit] Change management in information technology Some definitions of change in IT: From Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute Software Capability Maturity Model: o The purpose of Software Configuration (Change) Management is to establish and maintain the integrity of the products of the software project throughout the project's software life cycle. o Software Configuration (Change) Management involves identifying the configuration of the software (i.e., selected software work products and their descriptions) at given points in time, systematically controlling changes to the configuration, and maintaining the integrity and traceability of the configuration throughout the software life cycle. The work products placed under software configuration management include the software products that are delivered to the customer (e.g., the software requirements document and the code) and the items that are identified with or required to create these software products (e.g., the compiler). From United Kingdom's Office of Government Commerce Information Technology Infrastructure Library: o Change Management is the practice of ensuring all changes to Configuration Items are carried out in a planned and authorised manner. This includes ensuring

that there is a business reason behind each change, identifying the specific Configuration Items and IT Services affected by the change, planning the change, testing the change, and having a backout plan should the change result in an unexpected state of the Configuration Item. See also Change Management (ITIL) This activity is closely related to configuration management and software configuration management. [edit] Change management in industrial plants Proper management of change to industrial facilities and processes is recognized as critical to safety, since complex processes can be very sensitive to even small changes. In the US, OSHA has regulations that govern how changes are to be made and documented. The main requirement is that a thorough review of a proposed change be performed by a multi-disciplinary team to ensure that as many possible viewpoints are used as possible to minimize the chances of missing a hazard. Change management in this context is referred to as Management of Change. Management of change is just one component of Process Safety Management. There were several large industrial accidents in the 60s and 70s that could be seen as the impetus for this regulation. As other examples, poor change management most likely played a part in the plane crash that killed John Denver, and was questioned in modifications to the fishing vessel in the book The Perfect Storm that may have made the ship less stable. [edit] See also [edit] References Change Management Forum Change Management Toolbook Article: What Blocks Support? understanding the nature of resistance to change A brief overview of change management Worren, N. A. M.; Ruddle, K.; and K. Moore. 1999. "From Organizational Development to Change Management: The Emergence of a New Profession," The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. 35 (3): 273-286. Beckhard, R. 1969. Organization Development: Strategies and Models, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA. Lewin, K. 1951. Field Theory in Social Science, Harper and Row, New York. Hiatt, J. 2006. "ADKAR: a model for change in business, government and our community", Prosci. list of human resource management topics Strategic change for change theories in strategic management Force field analysis Change management process