Chapter 1

Change Management - Overview

 WHAT IS CHANGE?

• To make or become different (v)

• The act of making or becoming different
(n)
• Synonym: alter, shift, convert, transform
• What to change?
– Perspective towards life: fixed-static? Or fluid?
• Can change be taught? Is it inherent?
 WHAT IS CHANGE?

• ‘Change is a planned or unplanned response

to pressures and forces’
(Jick & Peiperl, 2011)
• ‘change is an ongoing process’
(Lawler, 1986)
• Change is something that :
– happens continuously,
– has numerous causes (for a reason:
external/internal/own initiative)
– needs to be addressed all the time
WHAT IS CHANGE MANAGEMENT?

• “Change management is a structured

approach to transitioning individuals,
teams, and organizations from a current
state to a desired future state.”
 ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
MANAGEMENT

• “It includes processes and tools for

managing the people side of the change
at an organizational level. These tools
include a structured approach that can
be used to effectively transition groups
or organizations through change. When
combined with an understanding of
individual change management, these
tools provide a framework for managing
the people side of change.”
 THE CONTEXT OF CHANGE

• OPEN SYSTEM THEORY

– The premise of the theory is that organizations are
social systems which are dependent upon the
environment in which they exists for inputs (Katz &
Kahn, 1978).
– Open system theory allows for repeated cycles of
input, transformation (throughputs), output, and
renewed input within organizations
– A feedback loop connects organizational outputs
with renewed inputs
• System
– A set of things working together as parts of
an interconnecting network.
– A system is a prescribed and usually
repetitious way of carrying out an activity or
a set of activities.
The organization as a system
 Managing Change

IMAGES OF MANAGING
CHANGE
Assumptions and Theoretical
Underpinnings

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 Images of Change Managers
•Six images of change managers
–Director, Navigator, Caretaker, Coach, Interpreter, Nurturer

Images of Managing

Controlling . . . Shaping . . .
(activities) (capabilities)

Intended DIRECTOR COACH

Images of
Partially NAVIGATOR INTERPRETER
Change
Intended
Outcomes
Unintended CARETAKER NURTURER
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 Images of Managing Change
• Images of managing change are developed
based on these dimensions:
– Two key images of managing
• Management as control…
• Management as shaping...
– Three key images of change outcomes
• Intended change outcomes
• Partially intended change outcomes
• Unintended change outcomes

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 Images of Managing Change
• Management as Controlling
– Top-down management
– Organization being perceived as a machine
– It is based on controlling the activities in the
organization.
– It can be illustrated by Fayol’s
characteristics of management – planning,
organizing, commanding, coordinating and
controlling.

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 Images of Managing Change
• Management as Shaping…
– A more participative style of management.
– Organizations being treated as living,
breathing organism
– Molds change outcomes through
encouraging a variety of players within the
organization to be involved in the various
stages of change.
– Focuses on improving the capabilities of the
organization.
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 Images of Change Outcomes
• Intended Change Outcomes:
– Regards change is a result of planned action
instigated and influenced by a change manager.
– Can be achieved through three broad strategies
(Chin & Benne):
• Empirical-rational strategies (rational, address
self interest)
• Normative-re-educative strategies (attitude &
values)
• Power coercive strategies (legitimacy of
authority)
 Images of Change Outcomes
• Partially Intended Change Outcomes:
– Only some change intentions are achievable
– there is often a discrepancy between the change that
is planned and that which occurred
– Affected by
• Power
• Processes
• Interest
• the different skill levels of managers
– The intended outcomes of change may need to be re-
modified during the implementation process, so the
result is partially intended change outcomes. 2-17
 Images of Change Outcomes
• Unintended Change Outcomes:
– Managers often have great difficulty in
achieving intentional change outcomes
– Forces beyond the control of the change
manager that greatly influence the outcomes
of change
– these can impede any attempts to achieve
intended change within an organization.
– There are a plethora of internal or external
factors that prevail over the impact of the
change manager.
 Images of Change Managers

Director
 Image of management as control; change
outcomes as being achievable
 Assumption:
 Change is a strategic choice that manager
make and the survival and general well-being
of the organization depends on them
 Supported by the n-step models and contingency
theory.

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 Images of Change Managers
Coach
 Assumption:
 Change managers are able to intentionally
shape the organization’s capabilities in
particular way
 Relies upon building in the right set of values,
skills and “drills” that are deemed to be the best
ones to be drawn upon in order to achieve
desired organizational outcomes.
 Related to OD approaches.
 Images of Change Managers
Navigator
 Control is the heart of management action, although a
variety of external factors mean that managers may
achieve some intended change outcomes and others will
occur over which they have little control.
 Assumption:
 Change unfolds differently over time and according to the context in
which the organization finds itself
 Supported by the contextualist and processual theories of
change.

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 Images of Change Managers
Interpreter
 The manager creates meaning for other
organizational members, helping them to make
sense of various organizational events and
actions.
 Manager need to be able to provide legitimate
arguments & reasons
 Supported by the sense-making theory of
organizational change
 Images of Change Managers
Caretaker
 The manager’s control is severely constrained
by a variety of internal and external forces
beyond their scope.
 The caretakers have a limited role on whether
change will occur or not.
 Have little influence over the direction of change.
 Supported by life-cycle, population-ecology and
institutional theories.

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 Images of Change Managers
Nurturer
 Assumption:
 even small changes may have a large impact on
organizations: and
 managers are not able to control the outcome of these
changes but may nurture their organizations.
 Managers may nurture, facilitates organizational qualities
that enable positive self-organizing to occur.
 Have little ability to influence the direction of change
 Related to chaos and Confucian/ Taoist theories.
Three Core Uses of the Images
• These six images of change managers
have three core uses:
– They highlight a variety of assumptions that
change managers make about change and
increase the awareness of different
interpretations of change.
– They draw attention to the dominant images of
change within an organization.
– They highlight a range of perspectives
available to change managers.

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