Change management principles

Change management principles

Name

DDBA 8120 - Information Systems: Global Management Strategies and Technologies

Walden

Change management principles

According to Sutton, R.I. (2006), managing organizational change will be more successful if the

project manager will apply these simple principles. Achieving personal change will be more

successful too if the manager use the same approach where relevant. Change management entails

much of this change can we achieve ourselves, and what parts of the change do we need help

with? These aspects also relate strongly to the management of personal as well as organizational

change.

The employee does not have a responsibility to manage change - the employee's responsibility is

no other than to do their best, which is different for every person and depends on a wide variety

of factors (health, maturity, stability, experience, personality, motivation, etc). Responsibility for

managing change is with management and executives of the organization - they must manage the

change in a way that employees can cope with it. The manager has a responsibility to facilitate

and enable change, and all that is implied within that statement, especially to understand the

situation from an objective standpoint (to 'step back', and be non-judgmental), and then to help

There may be one or many driving forces initiating change in your organization. Groups will

Change is more easily accepted by decreasing resisting forces rather than by increasing the

decrease the resisting forces to change in his organization.

Communication

The project manager will be required to provide adequate information to his members on the

need for change in order to gain their support. The manger will have to make the purpose of the

change clear. Fear of change can be as disturbing as the change itself.

Participation

According to Davies, P. (1999), the project manger will be required to involve everyone in

planning and making the change. It is much easier to support something you have a stake in. If

possible, committees using small groups of people should be set up to review and make

recommendations for change. Surveys and newsletters are also tools that can be used.

Support

The project manager must be prepared to spend extra time with members who have difficulty

accepting the change. He will ensure that, as the person initiating the change, are seen as

trustworthy and credible.

choose a professional change managing consultancy. Many consultants argue that it is difficult to

re-engineer an organization from within. Undoubtedly there is some truth to this claim.

Nevertheless choosing a change agent from outside can be problematic and in many cases

unaffordable.

According to Aquilina, (1997), there are change gurus who have very engaging rhetoric about

how to manage change. However more than rhetoric is needed for successful change to occur. It

is sometimes said that people in the change industry are there because they are hooked on change

and tend to be unable to handle stable or repetitive situations. Such a view is probably a little

unfair, but there are plenty of case studies where change agents have been monumentally

unsuccessful. It is important to check on the track-record of any change agent, especially if they

are brought in from outside. In this regard we can learn some valuable lessons from the corporate

Davies, P. (1999) asserts that there are management myths about change which can be very

compelling when presented by a person who has no doubts about their formula for success.

Unfortunately the connection between changing logos and increased productivity and

profitability was not causal. When the economic crash of 1987 arrived it became clear that it was

a strategy that only worked in boom times. A new logo strategy was not recession proof.

Change agents are different from agitators, their role is to assist in the management of the change

task greater in magnitude than it had ever experienced in its existence as a statutory body.

Build support among like-minded people however they are recruited

According to Aquilina, J. (1997) successful change to occur in this organization, it is essential

for the project manager to build social consensus among those affected by the change. This

means paying careful attention to getting those who are most agreeable to the direction of the

change on side and then using this base to expand the numbers on side. There needs to be clear

communication of the objectives of the change and agreement to resolve issues identified in the

consensus building process.

Among change industry consultants there is a common assertion that a clean slate is needed if

targeted for departure develop strategies to remain.

change process can aid success.

Identify those opposed to change and try to neutralize them

Those opposed to change should not be allowed to appropriate basic issues. The project manager

should remember that the old hands can claim history and tradition is on their side. It is vital to

engage them in early discussion so that issues that will need to be addressed can be identified

early.

According to Kohn, A. (2006) the project manager should not isolate the critics of change in the

process. If they are, then they can rightly claim privileged experience and can gain power to

disrupt. It is very wise to listen to critics carefully. There are two reasons for this. To begin with

there may be some important truth in their criticism that may have been overlooked in the initial

Alternatively if the criticism is not valid then in dealing with the critic one can rehearse the

If no effort is made to identify the critics and neutralize them they can grow in influence and

have more success in sabotaging the pathway to change.

process. According to Scarpetta, (2001) many plans for change are unrealistically future-

have an aspiration value and move thinking beyond the immediate problems. Perhaps the

greatest value in longer time frames is a sense of direction that allows individuals to see what the

future holds.

However the future rarely turns out as predicted. Kohn, A. (2006) asserts that we have become

opportunity for opponents to build support.

When change is planned there is an expectation that the disruption caused by the change has a

Summary

something new and unknown, the natural reaction is to resist it. Change strategies such as

communicating with resisting members and involving them, reduce resistance to change.

Use the attached working model to plan your strategy for understanding and dealing with

Conclusion

change is a necessary factor in management of all contemporary organizations. Education often

receives the frontal attack of change forces because it is so central to developments in public

policy. Change in an organiasations should be initiated swiftly but with regard of stakeholders’

welfare and personal interest. However, change that is implemented without consent of other

people automatically affects performance because those involved feel alienated and not part of

the organization.

Those opposed to change should be made realize the importance of that change through open

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