Organizational change management: ITIL 4 Practice

Guide

PRACTICE

January 1, 2020 | 35 min read

Practice ITIL

This document provides practical guidance for the organizational change management
(OCM) practice.

Table of Contents

1. About this document

2. General information

3. Value Streams and processes

4. Organizations and people

5. Information and technology

6. Partners and suppliers

7. Important reminder

8. Acknowledgements

1. About this document

It is split into five main sections, covering:

general information about the practice

the practice’s processes and activities and their roles in the service value chain
the organizations and people involved in the practice
the information and technology supporting the practice
considerations for partners and suppliers for the practice.

1.1 ITIL® 4 Qualification scheme

Selected content from this document is examinable as a part of the following syllabuses:

ITIL Specialist: Create, Deliver and Support

ITIL Specialist: Direct, Plan and Improve.

Please refer to the relevant syllabus documents for details.

2. General information

2.1 Purpose and description

Key message
 The purpose of the OCM practice is to ensure that changes in an organization are implemented
smoothly and successfully, and that lasting benefits are achieved by managing the human
aspects of the changes.

OCM is a practice that serves the continually emerging wish and need for organizational growth,
improvement, and evolution.

To improve product and service portfolio, organizational structure or underlying technology,

people are essential for the transformation to be successful. Organizational evolution enables a
change in their capabilities, the way they work, feel, and behave. These changes should not be
forced upon people but should lead to a new valuable system, so people could willingly adopt new
ways of behaviour and work.

Key message

People are responsible for changes in behaviour as a response to changed circumstances (i.e.
Changes to the system in which we work).

OCM aims to build a value-driven environment across the organization and enable successful
organizational changes of a required scope. According to the organizational vision and need, all
stakeholders should adopt new ways of working, as well as minimize risks and possible negative
impacts of any change to the quality of service/products and consumer experience.

This is achieved by recognizing and understanding stakeholders’ expectations and values, having
the vision, co-creating plans and actions, communicating effectively, empowering employees, and
anchoring a new cultural approach.

OCM contributes to every part of the service value system (SVS). It incorporates three premises:

The practice is integrated into value streams and ensures that changes are effective, safe, and
meet stakeholders’ expectations.
The practice does not aim to unify all the changes planned and carried out in an organization
into one big picture: this is neither possible or required.
The practice should focus on balancing effectiveness, agility, compliance, and risk control for all
changes in the defined scope.
2.2 Terms and concepts

2.2.1 Change, transformation, evolution

Change is a different way of executing tasks. Doing it as it has previously been done, but in a more
efficient and productive way. Change uses external impact to modify actions.

Transformation is a different way of working. It involves changes in beliefs, values, and wishes.
Transformation results shift in the organizational system and as a result, in personal and
organizational behaviour. The transformation is based on learning from previous mistakes.

Evolution is a state of continual improvement through transformation and change. The foundation
of evolution is constant adjustments in values, beliefs, and behaviour, with the use of internal and
external feedback.

There is an important distinction between organizational change and transformation. Before any
organizational change is executed, stakeholders should consider the actions mentioned, as it will
change the attitude and may impact the result.

Defining an initiative as a change or a transformation, helps to select appropriate methods for its
management. It is also important to identify whether a specific change contributes to the
organization’s evolution.

To understand the evolutionary context and every change or transformation contribution to the
organization’s development, a high level of system intelligence from the stakeholders is required.
System intelligence enables organizations to move from personal growth to team growth and from
managed groups to creative and mature teams.

2.2.2 Emotional, social, and system intelligence

When people are involved in situations, the level of complexity increases, and it is important to be
ready to deal with unpredictable and unknown circumstances. Even though the OCM practice is
concerned with the people side of change, it is recommended to use the concepts and tools
provided by the change enablement practice. More information about complexity-based approach
to changes can be found there.

Dealing with changes related to people requires a high level of presence, consciousness, self-
leadership, and responsibility from all stakeholders. Through the whole organizational change
lifecycle, it is important to focus on all three dimensions: individuals involved in change,
relationships between them, and systems in general.

To create flexible, resilient, and fulfilled individuals, teams, and systems, organizations should aim
to support the development of three forms of intelligence1:
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to access, express, and use one’s emotions in an efficient way.
It describes having emotional self-awareness and the capacity to manage feelings by directing
them toward goals. It also ensures the ability to self-motivate, suppress impulsive actions, and
delay immediate satisfaction in order to achieve the goals.

Social intelligence builds on emotional intelligence. It is the capability to identify emotions of

other people by not making assumptions, being empathetic, and open to co-creative actions and
new ways of working in order to achieve common goals and build positive relationships. It also
includes knowing and using social roles and rules, effective listening, and conversational skills.

Systems intelligence is the ability to understand, reflect upon, express, and incorporate the wider
context of the system(s) a human interacts within into actions. It combines sensitivity about the
environment with system thinking. In regards to the ITIL guiding principles, it is based on the ability
to think and work holistically, while focusing on value, in the context of adaptive complex systems.
It is the capability to see oneself as a part of a system, identify system characteristics, be aware of
system rules and patterns, and be able to contribute to a system development consciously.

2.2.3 Values-based organizational change

Values are deeply held principles, ideas, and beliefs that people use when displaying behaviour. It
is an important foundation for decision-making and any potential changes.

If the culture of an organization is supported with personal values, it encourages people to bring
their best effort and commitment to work. If personal and organizational values are aligned, any
resistance to change will be viewed as an additional source of information and resource for
improvement. Managing resistance will not be needed.

Organizational culture can be described as a set of values that are shared by a group of people,
including ideas, beliefs, practices and expectations about how people should behave. More
information can be found in ITIL® 4: Direct, Plan and Improve.

Recognizing the distribution of values through the levels and identifying those that enable or limit
the organization’s evolution, will generate sources of information for organizational change,
planning, and execution.1
Figure 2.1 Value based organizational change

“Organizations that focus exclusively on the satisfaction of the lower needs, are not adaptable and
do not empower employees. Consequently, there is little enthusiasm within the workforce, and
there is little innovation and creativity. These organizations are often ruled by fear and are not
healthy places to work. Employees often feel frustrated and complain about stress.” Organizational
changes are usually not successful in this type of organizations.

“Organizations that focus exclusively on the satisfaction of the higher needs lack the basic business
skills and capabilities necessary to operate effectively. They are ineffectual and impractical when it
comes to financial matters. They are not customer oriented, and they lack the systems and
processes necessary for high-performance.”

“The most successful organizations are those that have mastered both their “deficiency” needs and
their “growth” needs. They create a climate of trust, have the ability to manage complexity, and can
respond or rapidly adapt to all situations.” These organizations present environment for
transformation and evolution.2

2.2.4 Organizational change principles3

Due to the latest findings in neuroscience, technologies (such as artificial intelligence, big data,
robotics, and so on), and human emotional evolution, there has been a big shift in management,
leadership, and motivation approaches. These changes enable organizations to reconsider the
ways organizational changes are implemented. Many of the conventional models of change
management are based on obsolete ideas about human motivation and behaviour.
The OCM practice should include approaches to situations of different complexity. Organizations
define the changes, the level of control, and the principles that should be addressed by the
practice. Change definition considerations can be found in the change enablement practice.

An example of a set of principles that can help guide the organizational changes to be successful
through designing an adaptive environment is shown below. Leaders in an organization must
translate these principles to suit the specific requirements of their business if they are to achieve
the target of their change.

Clear and relevant objectives

The objectives of the change must be based on the vision and values of the organization, and
clear for the stakeholders. The change must be of real value.

Strong and committed leadership

A well-designed process uses leadership capabilities anywhere within the organization. Anyone
can contribute or lead a change initiative at any stage. The potentially complex and dynamic
nature of a transformation or change should be considered, and leadership should be flexible
and open rather than fixed.
This practice should aim to create an environment where people may participate in change
leadership as a shared practice.

Willing and prepared participants

The employee’s strengths should be the focus. Organizations should shift from overcoming
employees’ resistance towards encouraging and supporting human intellectual capital for the
purpose of organizational improvement.

Change stakeholders are valuable change agents: they can make vital contribution to an
organizational transformation. People are naturally problem solvers with a unique capacity to
adapt to a continually developing environment.
Human-centred design of the OCM process. The needs and values of stakeholders should be
understood.
Map stakeholders’ and organizational values.
Base a change on intrinsic motivation, rather than extrinsic reinforcement. Autonomy,
competence, and relatedness.4

Sustained improvement

Keep co-creation as the centre approach for organizational change. Therefore, every area of an
organization is open for feedback and improvement. Co-creation is a choice that joins different
parties to produce a mutually valued outcome.
 To maintain the achieved good result for organizational change, systems should continually
evolve depending on organizational needs and vision.

2.3 Scope

The scope of the OCM practice includes:

designing, implementing, and continually improving an adaptive approach for a developing

environment in an organization
planning and improving organizational change approaches and methods
scheduling and coordinating all ongoing changes through the whole lifecycle
communicating change plans and progress to relevant stakeholders
assessing change success, including outputs, outcomes, efficiency, risks, and costs.

This practice supports all value streams and can be used with any other practice as they can all
initiate organizational changes. However, organizations usually limit the application of the OCM
practice to a finite number of changes, where behaviour, capabilities, responsibilities and/or roles
are to be changed.

Other practices may significantly contribute to the organizational changes in the four dimensions
of service management. These are listed in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1 Organizational changes in the four dimensions of service management

Dimension of Areas subject to potential Scoping considerations

service organizational change
management

Information and Hardware and software
technology Service architecture
Service design
Technical and user
documentation
Usually addressed by the change enablement
practice in conjunction with the project
management, service design, and
architecture management practices. Some
OCM activities may be used to support
training, design, and so on
 Organizations Organizational structure
and people Roles and responsibilities
Culture and rules of work
behaviour
Personal competencies
Usually addressed by the OCM in conjunction
with the project management, workforce and
talent management, and relationship
management practices

Value streams Value streams architecture May be addressed by the change enablement
and processes Work processes and together with the OCM practice and/or other
procedures practices
Process documentation

Partners and Service dependencies on May be addressed by the change enablement

suppliers third parties at the practice in conjunction with the supplier
architecture level management, OCM and/or other practices
Contractual arrangements
with third parties (new
suppliers, change of
responsibilities, and so
on.)
Contract and other
documents (version
changes, prolongation,
and so on.)

There are several activities and areas of responsibility that are not included in the OCM practice,
although they are still closely related to change. These are listed in Table 2.2, with references to the
practice guides in which they can be found. It is important to remember that the ITIL practices are
collections of tools to use in the context of value streams; they should be combined as necessary,
depending on the situation.

Table 2.2 Activities related to the OCM practice that are described in other
practice guides

Activity Practice guide

Organizational change initiation All other practices

Organizational change plan and adaptive environment Relationship management

design and realization Workforce and talent
management
Strategy management
Continual improvement

Change of IT infrastructure related to the organizational Change enablement

change Release management
Business analysis
Deployment management
Software development and
management
Service validation and testing
Portfolio management
Service catalogue management

Change risks assessment and control Risk management

Costs control, financial evaluation of changes SALLY

Management of projects Project management

Definition of vision and strategic objectives Strategy management

Continual improvement in all four dimensions of service Continual improvement

management

2.4 Practice success factors

A practice success factor (PSF) is more than a task or activity, as it includes components from all
four dimensions of service management. The nature of the activities and resources of PSFs within a
practice may differ, but together they ensure that the practice is effective.

The OCM practice includes the following PSFs:

creating and maintaining a change-enabling culture across the organization

establishing and maintaining a holistic approach and continual improvement for organizational
change management
ensuring organizational changes are realized in an effective manner, leading to stakeholders’
satisfaction and meeting compliance requirements.

2.4.1 Creating and maintaining a change-enabling culture across the organization

A change-enabling culture is a set of beliefs, attitudes, values, common knowledge, and

expectations about change shared by people within an organization. It determines whether people
can identify, understand, openly discuss, and act on change in a way that leads to organizational
evolution. Additionally, it differs between organizations and may become a competitive advantage,
if implemented wisely.

OCM technics and instruments can only be effective when they are used in the right way and
moment, and with commitment from change stakeholders.

An organization that adapts changes can be established by creating an atmosphere where people
are encouraged to speak up, challenge the way things are done, and listen and communicate
effectively. Adaptive environments stimulate discussions and input for changes, considers agile
vision, and new ways of operation. This culture may not only impact internal communication within
an organization, but also cooperation with partners and suppliers.

To assist OCM practice with creating and maintaining an efficient change-enabling culture, it is
important to use the following practices:

workforce and talent management

relationship management
strategy management
continual improvement management.

2.4.2 Establishing and maintaining a holistic approach and continual

improvement for organizational change management

Identifying opportunities to improve organizational changes, principles, and methods are

important. Improvements can also be initiated in areas such as the practice’s processes, tools, or
other resources; and should aim to improve the practice and the experience of the stakeholders.
It is important to ensure that service improvements are not only initiated, but also effectively
implemented. An approach to implementing improvements is described in the continual
improvement practice guide. Also, it is vital to use multiple practices in the context of value
streams, to maintain the progress of the continual improvement of services.

2.4.3 Ensuring organizational changes are realized in effective manner, leading to

stakeholders’ satisfaction and meeting compliance requirements

Organizations should specify and execute a process to manage organizational changes. The OCM
practice ensures that the most suitable process for organization’s values and vision is in use. Many
stakeholders have an interest in organizational changes. This includes:

service provider teams

users
customers
sponsors of service provision
sponsors of service consumption
suppliers and partners.

This practice ensures that stakeholders are identified and that their values and expectations are
captured, considered, and met as appropriate. This is done in combination with the relationship
management, risk management, and business analysis practices.

Organizations should focus on the continual monitoring of stakeholder engagement and

satisfaction during change planning, realization, and after the change is complete. Ongoing
communication, status updates, and feedback collection are important components of managing
satisfaction and the workforce and talent management practice.

Many change-related governance and compliance requirements affect the OCM practice. It is
important that organizations capture them, understand them, and ensure that they are met. The
practice supports this by:

including required controls in change plans, processes, and procedures

providing required information
initiating improvement to prevent or correct non-compliance.

As the IT world is constantly changing, many organizations do not have a static end state of the
change it requires. Therefore, it should maintain flexibility in structures to support constant
improvement according to recent needs; this will lead to a change adaptive environment and
enable capacity to fulfil them in the most beneficial way.

2.5 Key metrics

The effectiveness and performance of the ITIL practices should be assessed within the context of
the value streams to which each practice contributes. As with the performance of any tool, the
practice’s performance can only be assessed within the context of its application. However, tools
can differ greatly in design and quality, and these differences define a tool’s potential or capability
to be effective when used according to its purpose. Further guidance on metrics, key performance
indicators (KPIs), and other techniques that can help with this can be found in the measurement
and reporting practice guide.

Key metrics for the OCM practice are mapped to its PSFs. They can be used as KPIs in the context
of value streams in order to assess the contribution of the practice to the effectiveness and
efficiency of those value streams. Some examples of key metrics are given in Table 2.3.

Table 2.3 Key metrics for the OCM practice

Practice success factors Key metrics

Creating and maintaining a change-enabling Awareness of the organizational change,

culture across the organization
principles, and methods across the
organization
Attitude towards organizational changes
across the organization Level of resistance to
changes
Alignment in attitude to changes at different
levels of the organization

Establishing and maintaining a holistic Stakeholder satisfaction with the procedures

approach and continual improvement for
organizational change management
and communications
Amount of improvements initiated by the
OCM practice
Stakeholders satisfaction with knowledge
about up to date transformational methods
and tools
 Ensuring organizational changes are realized
in an effective manner, leading to
stakeholders’ satisfaction and meeting
compliance requirements
Change initiators’ satisfaction with change
outcomes Change success/acceptance rate
over period
Compliance with formally stated
requirements, according to audit reports
Change initiators’ satisfaction with change
timeliness
Stakeholder satisfaction with realization of
individual changes

The correct combination of metrics into complex indicators will make it easier to use the data for
the ongoing management of value streams, and for the periodic assessment and continual
improvement of the OCM practice. There is no single best solution. Metrics will be based on the
overall service strategy and priorities of an organization, as well as on the goals of the value
streams to which the practice contributes.

3. Value Streams and processes

3.1 Value stream contribution

Like any other ITIL practice, the OCM practice contributes to multiple value streams. It is important
to remember that a value stream is never formed from a single practice. This practice combines
with other practices to provide high-quality services to consumers. The main value chain activities
to which the practice contributes are:

design and transition

engage
improve
plan.

The contribution of the OCM practice to the service value chain is shown in Figure 3.1.
Figure 3.1 The contribution of the OCM practice to the service value chain

For more detailed description of OCM’s contribution to value streams, see ITIL® 4: Direct, Plan and
Improve, section 7.3.1.6.

3.2 Processes

Each practice may include one or more processes and activities that may be necessary to fulfil the
purpose of that practice.

OCM activities form two processes:

organizational change lifecycle management

management of change adaptive environment.

3.2.1 Organizational change lifecycle management

This process includes the activities listed in Table 3.1 and transforms the inputs into outputs.

Table 3.1 Inputs, activities, and outputs of the organizational change lifecycle
management process

Key inputs Activities Key outputs

 Change request Understand need and
Organization vision and strategy scope
Financial guidelines and constraints Create change team
Risk information Create change vision, plan,
Policies and regulatory quick wins
requirements Communicate change
Lead to change, enable
operation
Anchor new state of the
system
Sustain system
New organizational
structure
New behaviour in a
system
New roles
New capabilities
Role descriptions
Guidance materials
Change review reports
Lessons learnt

Figure 3.2 shows the workflow for organizational change lifecycle management.

Figure 3.2 Workflow for organizational change lifecycle management

The process may vary depending on the change type and scope. Table 3.2 provides examples of
the activities in two different scopes of change5.

Organizations should embrace the diversity of architectures and approaches to management to

ensure the flexibility of services and meet stakeholder expectations.

Table 3.2 Organizational change lifecycle management process activities

Activity Merge two IT teams Implement a new role of

business analyst in a small start-
up
Understand The program manager of an IT project
need and scope identifies the need to change
organizational structure and the
change lead is nominated by
management team (change sponsor).
Change lead together with
management team answers the
following questions:
Is the change needed?
Is it needed right now?
Is it aligned with the vision and
targets?
What problem(s) will it help solve?
What are the opportunities and
threats it may bring to the system?
Which inputs are needed before a
final decision is made?
Who is responsible for the inputs?
Will it impact the strategy?
Are new priorities emerging?
What is the desired future state of
the system?
What are the risks of obtaining the
future state?
How will success or failure look like?
What are the alternatives to this
change?
Create Change Change lead and management team
team answer the questions:
Who is responsible for the final
decision?
Who can make decisions if there are
doubts or disputes through the
change?
Who are all the stakeholders?
Who is impacted by change?
Who may resist the change and
how can they be heard and
supported?
Service owner introduces the need
for a new role.
Relevant Service Stakeholders
discuss and decide:
Why this change is needed?
Is it aligned with the company
vision and targets?
What are the opportunities and
threats?
How will successful
implementation or failure look
like?
What are the alternatives to the
change?
How will it impact the system?
Relevant service stakeholders
discuss and decide:
Who is responsible for the final
decision?
Who will design and create the
role description?
Who will play the role?
Who else will be impacted by a
new role?
 Who will contribute the most to
change?

The change team is nominated,

created and announced on the basis
of the answers.

Create change Change team creates change vision
vision, plan, and a plan:
quick wins What actions need to be done
How will all four dimensions of
service management be covered in
a change?
How will change be communicated?
How can change be absolute?
How can the change be managed
through the journey?
What are the possible quick wins?
How can any positive or negative
progress be identified?
How will change be measured?
Relevant service stakeholders
discuss and decide:
How change will be executed?
How will all four dimensions of
service management be covered in
a change:
Is there a need for new
technologies for the role?
How will the person learn to take
a role?
Are processes or instruction
updates needed?
How can the role be introduced
to the partners?

Employees who will be impacted by

changes are involved in the discussion
and plan review as early as possible.
Their ideas, fears, and resistance are
heard and considered.

Lead to change Time is invested to present and Change executed as planned

discuss the answers to the before.
questions above to change leaders. Plans and approaches of
Use different channels to trainings and communication
communicate change (in person, can be agile and be adjusted
corporate and social networks, through the ongoing change.
newsletters, and so on.)
The planned actions are executed
with the project management
actions.
Progress iteratively with feedback.
Anchor new The change progress and results are All service stakeholders, including
state of the measured: the person who plays a new role,
system organizational health metrics observe the operation and share
(employee survey, new capabilities their feelings and feedbacks about
review) a change.
business performance metrics
(related service quality, customer
satisfaction)

Data is analysed and presented to all

stakeholders to map results to
feedback.
The change team celebrates the
change with all the stakeholders and
the management team acknowledges
all achievements.

Sustain system Management and change team Corrective action plans are
ensures that prioritization of tasks is implemented if required, lessons
set up and clear for all stakeholders to learned are captured and
be able to distinguish time between knowledge is shared within the
ongoing operation and change organization.
actions.
For some time, after the project is
over, change lead still uses monthly
pulse to check feedbacks from the
new department team and
consolidates information about
opportunities to correct/improve
system.
Corrective action plans are
implemented if required, lessons
learned are captured and knowledge
is shared within an organization.

Communicate The communication strategy is All other roles who are in

change executed and maintained to sustain communication with business
ongoing awareness. analyst are open for any
questions. Joined quick
 Leaders refocus operation to improvement discussions are held
connection with the change once or constantly in a formal and informal
twice a day: way.
How can it work in a planned future?
How the change will help solve this
issue?

3.2.2 Management of change adaptive environment

In adaptive organizations, change is not a forced event, but rather a part of organizational culture.
This process includes the activities listed in Table 3.3 and transforms the inputs into outputs.

Table 3.3 Management of change adaptive environment process activities

Key inputs Activities Key outputs

Individuals and Understand internal Adaptability improvement plan

organization’s values organizational system Change requests
assessment Identify external factors Updated instructions and
Organizational changes and influences guidance for organizational
implementation reports Optimize response change lifecycle management
Previous improvement Create adaptability Requirements and information
results improvement plan and for knowledge management,
Policies and regulatory initiate improvement workforce and talent
requirements within OCM management, relationship
Financial guidelines and management
constraints
Employees surveys
Improvements proposals
from relationship,
workforce and talent
management practices
Recent trainings and
capability development
reports and results
Risk information
Figure 3.3 shows a workflow diagram of the process.

Figure 3.3 Workflow for management of change adaptive environment

Table 3.4 Activities of the change adaptive environment

Activity Example

Understand OCM includes leading together with the management team, service
internal owners and other relevant stakeholders review and analyse:
organizational The current organizational values and the way they are precepted by
system employees. As well as analysing the individual values of people.
Factors, influences Results and progress of recent organizational changes and requests
and challenges for organizational structure improvement from other practices.
Employees and customers surveys.
 Other data that may help to understand if the organization is flexible
and competitive enough to meet the vision and strategy.

This is done regularly, for example once a year, or as a response to a

significant change of the external factor.

Identify external OCM includes leading together with the management team, service
factors and owners continually review and analyse:
influences external factors that impact organizational system by using the PESTLE
model or other relevant frameworks
world best and latest practices for emotional, social, and system
intelligence development
requirements and recommendations for organizational structure in
related industries
change handling technics and methods
other valuable information for supporting the adaptable environment.

Optimize response OCM includes leading together with the management team and
service owners on the foundation of two previous steps to identify the
optimal response of change adaptability level to organizational
strategy. The OCM leader uses knowledge management tools to share
the most valuable information within the organization.
The OCM team recognizes that not all best practices and new
approaches should be implemented and used. Even though the fear of
missing out may cause desire to use all the best approaches for
improvement, organizations should only use those that are best for its
interests and suits the vision.

Create adaptability The change leader registers everything required, initiates improvements,
improvement plan and processes it with the involvement of continual improvement
and run practice.

Improvement actions For example, to improve diffusion of changes in the future, an

within the OCM organization decided to implement and develop the organization
practice social network as a tool for communication.
Successful change depends of the time and quality of information
shared within change stakeholders. Diffusion of information (ideas,
values, practices, and so on.) benefits from intense networks.
 This will be implemented and part of the improvement plan combined
with knowledge management, relationship management, change
enablement, and continual improvement practice.

The OCM practice activities are performed by the service provider, as described in Tables 3.2 and
3.4. They may involve customers, suppliers, and partners. These activities are also supported and
sometimes partially automated by tools and technologies which are described in the following
sections.

4. Organizations and people

4.1 Roles, competencies and responsibilities

The practice guides do not describe the roles of practice owners or managers that should exist for
all practices. They focus instead on specialist roles specific to each practice. The structure and
naming of each role may differ from organization to organization, so any roles defined in ITIL
should not be treated as mandatory, or even recommended. It is also important to remember that
roles are not job titles, and that one person can take on multiple roles and one role can be
assigned to multiple people.

Roles are described in the context of processes and activities. Each role is characterized with a
competence profile based on the following model shown in Table 4.1.

Table 4.1 Competency codes and profiles

Competence Description
code

L Leader Decision-making, delegating, overseeing other activities, providing

incentives and motivation, and evaluating outcomes

А Administrator Assigning and prioritizing tasks, record-keeping, ongoing

reporting, and initiating basic improvements
 C Coordinator/Communicator Coordinating multiple parties, maintaining
communication between stakeholders, and running awareness campaigns

М Methods and techniques expert Designing and implementing work techniques,

documenting procedures, consulting on processes, work analysis, and
continual improvement

Т Technical expert Providing technical (IT) expertise and conducting expertise-

based assignments

Examples of the roles that can be involved in OCM activities, the associated competency profiles,
and required skills are listed in Table 4.2.

Table 4.2 The roles involved in OCM activities

Activity Responsible roles Competency Special skills

profile

Organizational change lifecycle management

Understand need and Change leader LAM Knowledge and

scope Management team understanding of
representative organization’s strategy and
HR specialist structure
Service owner Decision making
Product owner Analytical skills
Risk analysis

Create change team Change leader LAM Knowledge of

Management team communicational
representative intelligence and nonviolent
HR specialist communicational methods
 Workforce and Decision making
talent Risk analysis
management
specialist

Create change vision, Change leader LAM Knowledge of

plan, quick wins Change team organizational structure
Project manager and strategy
Service owner Knowledge of products and
Product owner services impacted by a
change
Risk management
Business impact analysis
Project management
technics

Communicate Change Change leader ACM Knowledge of

Change team communicational
member intelligence and effective
Knowledge communicational methods
management Understanding emotional,
specialist social, and system
HR team intelligence
Management team Knowledge of social
representative networks communication
Project manager methods
Presentational skills
Mentoring, consultancy,
and coaching
Lead to change, enable Change leader ACT Understanding of change
operation Change team vision
member Knowledge of
Project manager organization’s strategy
Service owner Knowledge of products and
Product owner services impacted by a
Management team change
representative

Anchor new state of Change leader LCM Decision making

the system Change team Analytical
Management team Understanding emotional,
representative social, and system
intelligence

Sustain system Change leader LCM Usage of activities

Change team prioritization methods
Management team Decision making
representative
Analytical skills
Mentoring, consultancy,
and coaching

Management of change adaptive environment

Understand internal Change leader CMT Analytical skills

organizational system Management team Knowledge of
representative organization’s strategy
HR specialist Knowledge of values review
Service owner and system assessment
Product owner methods
Knowledge of the services
and products
 Identify external Change leader TMC Analytical skills
factors and influences Change team
Management team
representative
HR specialist
Risk and
compliance expert
Service owner
Product owner

Optimize response Change leader LM Knowledge of

Management team organization’s strategy and
representative goals
Understanding emotional,
social, and system
intelligence
Understanding
organizational structure
Knowledge of the services
and products

Create adaptability Change leader ACM Knowledge of

improvement plan and Management team organization’s strategy and
initiate improvement representative goals
within OCM Service owner Knowledge of continual
Product owner improvement method
HR specialist
Continual
improvement
manager

4.1.1 Change Leader role

A change leader role is also known as change lead or change coach in different organizations. It is
common practice to assign the role to management, HR, or project management teams; but it can
also be successfully taken by a representative of any other team, who is capable of coordinating
actions around the change scope and requirements in the most efficient way.
The role of a change leader should focus less on pushing through a change project, and more on
creating the change-enabling environment, where stakeholders can choose to adapt for the new
required state of the organizational system.

This role is typically responsible for:

The initial processing and verification of a change request by coordinating an action of

understanding the change need and scope.
Coordinating the identification, nomination, and creation of a change team.
Empowering, mentoring, and leading a change team through the whole change lifecycle.
Formally communicating decisions made through the change lifecycle to the stakeholders and
affected parties.
Monitoring and reviewing the activities of the teams that are involved in a change.
Conducting regular ad hoc practice analyses, and initiating improvements to the practice,
procedures, used methods, and tools.
Developing the organization’s expertise in the methods and approaches for the OCM practice.
Creating an environment that embraces psychological safety, mutual respect, and trust; where
employees can realize potential as self-initiating change agents.
Reinforcing conformity with the change mandate by holding the change team accountable.

The competency profile for these roles is LACM, though the importance of each of these
competencies varies from activity to activity.

4.1.2 Change team member role

Any organizational change methods and tools are flawed unless it acknowledges people’s capacity
for agency and co-creation. Today’s knowledge-based environment, often requires complex
problem solving and depends on the collaboration between multi-specialized contributors.

Shared leadership models support organization’s evolution by shifting from top-down one-hero
leadership to interdependent, coordinative leadership by a change team. A change team is a team
of people with different capabilities and skills who work together and lead change to achieve
mutually desired outcomes. The shared leadership is a set of shared practices that should be
executed by people at all levels of an organizational structure.

A change team and a change lead are responsible for defining, communicating, and executing the
change vision and plan. It is expected that the change team will apply its ingenuity and contribute
ideas and efforts to change.

When organizational change is a part of a big project or program, it is also supported by a project
management team.
A change team member should demonstrate the following types of behaviour to support change
processes:

taking risks
eager to learn new ways of working
unlearning old methods
assuming new responsibilities and letting go obsolete ones
gathering feedback
discussing errors
celebrating and acknowledging small and big wins.

4.2 Organizational structures and teams

It is unusual to see dedicated organizational structures for the OCM practice, although the change
leader role may be associated with a formal job title. This is typical for organizations with a
complex bureaucracy or when a very high level of change-adaptive environment is required for
organizational success.

Many organizations may include a change team and temporary teams assigned for a specific
change, especially if the change is treated as a project. For more details on project teams, please
see the management practice guide.

5. Information and technology

5.1 Information exchange

The effectiveness of the OCM practice is based on the quality of the information used. This
includes, but is not limited to, information about:

organizational strategy and values

organizational structure
reflection of employees’ values to organizational values
services and their architecture and design
partners and suppliers
policies and requirements which regulate organizational structure
methods and technics to run organizational changes
proposed changes, including:

expected benefits for the employees and the organization as whole

estimated time and cost of change realization
regulations affecting the change
 lessons learned from similar changes in the past
past and ongoing changes
stakeholder satisfaction with the practice.

This information may take various forms. The key inputs and outputs of the OCM practice are listed
in section 3.2.

One important success factor of any change is an efficient distribution of accurate, timely, and up-
to-date information. The distribution of information and ideas relies on the employees’ network
density. The more links between social-network modes, the more likely that information will
spread.

In bigger networks, people can benefit from the diversity of information channels, and the amount
of perspectives to see one change. Network density makes it more likely that change
understanding and acceptance will be achieved faster6.

5.2 Automation and tooling

In most cases, the OCM practice can significantly benefit from automation and using tools. Where
this is possible and effective, it may involve the solutions outlined in Table 5.1.

Table 5.1 Automation solutions for OCM activities

Process activity Means of automation Key functionality Impact on the

effectiveness of
the practice

Organizational Organizational change Organizational change Organizational

change lifecycle lifecycle management lifecycle management change lifecycle
management management

Understand need Workflow systems, backlog Enabling and Medium, more

and scope management tools, and controlling workflow impact on
Kanban boards for changes; organizations with
prioritization of backlog large volumes of
and workflow changes
management; workflow
visualization
Create change Workflow systems,
team collaboration tools, and
human resource planning
tools
Create change Workflow systems, backlog
vision, plan, quick management tools, Kanban
wins boards, project
management tools, ideation
platforms
Communicate Knowledge management
Change tools, internal and external
social network tools, tools
needed to master the new
skills and capabilities
Lead to change, Workflow management
enable operation tools, collaboration and
reporting tools, Kanban
boards, and project
management tools
Anchor new state Reporting tools,
of the system presentational tools, and
knowledge management
tools
Formalization and Medium to high,
structuring of the especially for large
assessment, providing organizations with
more accurate and complex structure
solid data about
change stakeholders
and organizational
structure
Formalization and Very high,
structuring of plans especially for large
and required actions. volumes of
Quick and traceable changes
remote control
Enabling information Very high
and distributing ideas
through the
organization. Providing
easy access to new
skills and knowledge.
Visualization and Very high,
reporting for up-to- especially when
date views on the many changes are
ongoing changes realized
simultaneously
Analysing, summarizing Medium to high,
and presenting results especially when
to stakeholders regulations
require traceable
records
Sustain system Social network tools,
different communicational
channels and presentational
tools
Management of Management of change
change adaptive adaptive environment
environment
Understand Social network tools,
internal analytical and reporting
organizational tools, talent management
system and HR tools
Identify external Knowledge management
factors and tools, external analytical
influences information portals and
libraries, External
professional social
networks, Legal information
portals, Platforms for
experience exchange
between organizations
Optimize Analytical and solution
response modelling tools,
presentational tools, and
knowledge management
tools
Creating Project management tools,
adaptability communicational systems,
improvement and collaboration systems
plan and initiate
Providing easily Medium to high,
accessible, timely and especially in a big
relevant support, size organization
mentoring, consultancy with a complex
through the change structure
Management of change Management of
adaptive environment change adaptive
environment
data analysis, Medium to high,
information especially with a
presentation and complex structure
sharing
Collecting best High
practices, new
approaches, and other
information outside
the organization
Data analysis, decision Medium
making and
presentation to
stakeholders
Communicating and Medium to high,
initiating improvement especially in a big
actions size organisation
 improvement with a complex
within OCM structure

6. Partners and suppliers

Very few services are delivered using only an organization’s own resources. Most, if not all, depend
on other services. These are often provided by third parties (see section 2.4 of ITIL®Foundation:
ITIL 4 Edition for a model of a service relationship). Organizational change may impact agreements
that are already finalized and working patterns with partners and suppliers. Therefore, these
relationships should be considered while creating and performing a change vision and plan.

Relationships between organizations may involve various levels of integration and formality. (see
Table 3.1 of ITIL®Foundation: ITIL 4 Edition for more information about relationships between
organizations). The decision to involve partner representatives to change activities, present change
results or request input information to change, depends on forms of cooperation.

Where organizations aim to ensure fast and effective OCM, they usually try to agree close
cooperation with their partners and suppliers, removing formal bureaucratic barriers in
communication, collaboration, and decision-making (see the supplier management practice guide
for more information).

Some organizational change activities may be outsourced to the third parties such as training,
workshops facilitating, coaching, analysis, audits, and so on. The ownership and accountability for
OCM actions are usually not transferred to an external resource.

7. Important reminder

Most of the content of the practice guides should be taken as a suggestion of areas that an
organization might consider when establishing and nurturing their own practices. The practice
guides are catalogues of topics that organizations might think about, not a list of answers. When
using the practice guides, organizations should always follow the ITIL guiding principles:

focus on value
start where you are
progress iteratively with feedback
collaborate and promote visibility
think and work holistically
keep it simple and practical
optimize and automate.
More information on the guiding principles and their application can be found in section 4.3 of ITIL
®Foundation: ITIL 4 Edition.

8. Acknowledgements

Axelos Ltd is grateful to everyone who has contributed to the development of this guidance. These
practice guides incorporate an unprecedented level of enthusiasm and feedback from across the
ITIL community. In particular, AXELOS would like to thank the following people.

8.1 Authors

Antonina Klentsova.

8.2 Reviewers

Roman Jouravlev.

References

1. Based on articles and methods https://www.teamcoachingzone.com/wp-

content/uploads/2015/01/RSI-White-Paper.pdf and https://www.crrglobal.com/relationship-
systems- intelligence.html [Accessed 25th October 2019]
2. Quotations from https://www.valuescentre.com/wp-
content/uploads/PDF_Resources/Additional_Articles/Article_Importance_of_Values.pdf [Accessed
25th October 2019]
3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carstentams/2019/09/10/metamorphle-nine-principles-for-good-
design-of-organizational-change/#2a1851283d31 [Accessed 25th October 2019]
4. Self-Determination Theory, the leading motivational theory developed by Edward Deci and
Richard Ryan.
5. https://rework.withgoogle.com/blog/changing-the-change-rules-at-google [Accessed 25th
October 2019]
6. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carstentams/2018/04/23/it-takes-a-village-change-management-
as-community-building/#d1c52f85683e [Accessed 25th October 2019]
 Powering Best Practice

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