Business Strategy MOD003337 (Level 6)

Week 9A: Strategic Change

Management
Session Focus
• Drivers of change
• Challenges related to organisational
change management
• Change management Vs strategic change
management
• Theories & Models for managing
organisational change
Background

• Strategy as a subject will be incomplete without the element

of managing change. This is simply because of a rapidly
changing business environment, particularly in contemporary
times (Burnes, 2004)
• However well planned and implemented strategy is, managers
must expect a need for aspects of business strategy to require
some form of change, including aspects such as approach,
systems, people, location, structure, culture, etc.
• The ability to effectively manage change, especially in a
proactive manner, plays a significant role in determining
organisational competitiveness and sustainability.
Organisational Change

The main objective of business is to develop in the long

term; but this target lately is more and more intensive
under the customer influences on organisational
requirements and the economic, social and political
context in which they operated. Such organizations
and their business models change and stakeholder
management, continuous adaptation of their
customers’ needs and demands.
(Reim et al., 2015).
Organisational change management is
necessary for:
• Minimising the impact of change
• Increasing stakeholder engagement
• Improving performance
• Reducing costs
• Enhancing innovation

Can you add to this list?

 Drivers of Change
Changes in business environment:
 Consumer behaviour including demand or preference
 Government regulations such as increased tariffs
 Technological advancement
 Environmental circumstances such as a pandemic
 Economic crash
 Etc

Globalisation of the Market – often drives locally based businesses to seek global
relevance

Increased aggressive industry competition – this may be caused by any of the

forces of competitiveness, meaning business must change tact, approach or strategy.

Change in organisation’s direction – often from the Board

Examples of organisational change

Physical – this may be as simple as re-organisation of office

structure e.g. From boxed offices to open plan; or it may be as
major as moving locations

Systems – this may involve change to mode of serving

customers, financial systems or HR policies, etc

Product – this may be to rebrand or diversify goods/services

People – this may be of leadership; employee resizing

up/down; culture; structure; etc.
Planned & unplanned forms of
organisational change

Planned - a change resulting from a deliberate decision to alter

the organization. It is an intentional, goal-oriented activity. This
may be:
 incremental (slow/first-order) – It does not often change the
core of the organisation and may occur over a period of time -
e.g. change from one form of IT system to a more up-to-date
one.
 sudden (radical/big-bang) – often transformational, affects
core of organisation and in short period - e.g. A business going
into administration as was the case of Thomas Cook.

What are some of the merits and demerits of incremental

or sudden change?
Planned & unplanned forms of organisational change

Unplanned - imposed on the organisation and is

often unforeseen prior to the need for change.
Responsiveness to unplanned change requires
tremendous flexibility and adaptability on the part of
organisations. E.g. changes in government regulations
or changes caused by environmental factors e.g.
Covid-19.

Are there any merits to this kind of organisational

change?
Organisational Change Management

Change management has been defined as ‘the process of

continually renewing an organization’s direction, structure, and
capabilities to serve the ever-changing needs of external and
internal customers’ (Moran & Brightman, 2001).

Managing organisational change has increasingly become a

highly required managerial skill as a result of the importance of
organisational change (Senior, 2002)

...but in spite of abundance of support for the relevance of

organisational change management the process still gets
challenged by numerous barriers.
Causes of resistance to organisational
change
 Lack of trust in leadership
 Poor communication or engagement/unclear purpose
 Fear of the unknown/Comfort zone
 Wrong timing
 Unavailability of time
 Fear of job loss
 Presumed increased workload or stress
 Status quo factor
 Financial cost
 Uncertainty of its reward
 ‘Not my idea’ attitude

Can you add to this list?

Change management Vs Strategic Change Management

Any fundamental difference?

One of them involves managing a change when the

need arises;
The other is more proactive and uses relevant tools
of environmental analyses to identify and engage
change necessities before the need arises.
Process of change management

The process of managing organisational change will hugely

depend on the model of change management adopted by
managers.

There are various theoretical approaches but a few

questions to consider:
 Is there enough force to support a desired change?
 Do the benefits outweigh the cost?
 Who are the stakeholders – who would this process affect?
 Who are the key agents of change?
 What is the most effective communication channel and process?
 When is the right/best time?
Theoretical models for change
management
Kurt Lewin’s Force-field Analysis
a technique that can be used for identifying, discussing
and documenting the factors (referred to as ‘forces’)
that support or oppose a change

 The side with the higher score is often the decider 

Some of the various theoretical
frameworks that can be
considered for effective change
management will be considered.
Break
 Lewin’s Change management model

This model consists of three main stages which are:

unfreeze, change and refreeze

See notes for additional explanation.

 Kotter’s Change management model

This theory presents eight stages where each one of them

focuses on a key principle that is associated with the
response of people to change.

See notes for additional explanation.

 ADKAR management model

An acronym used by managers of change to find out the various

holes or gaps in the process of change management so that
effective training can be offered to the employees. 

See notes for additional explanation.

Other models for change management – E.g.
Nudge’s, Bridge’s, Kübler-Ross’, etc

You should research these to further expand

your awareness and, more importantly, their
individual appropriateness for different
organisational change scenarios.
Questions?
End of Session.