The Effective Change Manager's Handbook: Essential Guidance to the Change Management Body of Knowledge

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TimeIs the change urgent – the result of a crisis? Is it possible to take a long-term view? (Chapter 2) I imagine a lot of readers would think 'how could we do all this in the time we have' and realistically this book does make it clear the risk and cost of not doing things but from a practical point of view I imagine there will be times I think, 'this isn't working' and I'll remember a tip or pointer from the book that may suggest an approach or gap. The book is the course text for the APMG Change Management Foundation and Practitioner course but I think the book is an excellent resource for those not undertaking the qualification and for those engaged in supporting change in organisations.

They also found that the success rate of change projects using a dedicated change manager rose by 19 per cent compared to those that did not. Let people know what will not change. For example, a statement that existing workgroups will be kept close together in the new office configuration may make a big difference to the people in those groups. Maslow and the hierarchy of needsMany people have come across Maslow’s concept of the ‘hierarchy of needs’ (Maslow, 1943) either in academic studies or in business settings.

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work system to make my life easier. This allows people to try out new approaches, make new discoveries and eventually to integrate these into their new ‘way of being’. What Herzberg and his colleagues noticed was that ‘dissatisfiers’ were different in kind to the ‘satisfiers’. Dissatisfiers were all about the context of the job (‘extrinsic’), whilst the satisfiers were in various ways built into the job itself (‘intrinsic’). He also noted that beyond a certain level, the dissatisfiers could no more create positive motivation than good drains could create positive health. If in poor condition they lead to poor outcomes, but in themselves they do not create good ones. Satisfiers, on the other hand, were directly associated with job satisfaction and increased motiva-tion to work. These choices cannot be made appropriately if considering the change in isolation. The change exists in a particular organizational context, and there are many factors in that wider context that should shape the design choices for a change process. Factors listed by Balogun and Hope Hailey include: This is a time for empathy, and for helping people to consider realistically the impact that the changes will have on them individually. Don’t try to minimize the losses that people will experience – they need to know that the cost of the change to them personally has been well understood. A study by Laclair and Rao (2002 ) found a close relationship between 12 change management factors (at three levels: senior, mid- and front line) and the value captured from change initiatives. Companies effective at all three levels captured an average of 143 per cent of the expected value. Laclair and Rao measured general management factors that, followed effectively, contribute powerfully to success. Examples include executive and line management fulfi lling their functions effectively and providing training, resource and empowerment for the front line.

How individuals and teams can be supported through the change by good leadership, appropriate training and great facilitation. The way that change and project management practices are aligned and managed, making them appropriate to the size and structure of the organization. Describe the change in very specific terms, so that people are clear what precisely will be different.So as we begin our thinking about organizational change, we recognize the necessity of a restless searching for change that will enable the health and success of an organ-ization – and its people – to be continually renewed as it transfers from one sigmoid curve to the next... and the next. Don’t confuse problems that people raise about the content of the change with those arising from people going through the change process. Problems raised about the content are valuable input and will improve the change. The impact and influence of each of the contextual factors on the various design choices can be considered and documented. Informed and intentional decisions about the design choices form a strong foundation for any planned change. We have already seen that people respond to change through a psychological process of transition, and have noted that people respond differently, as individuals, to a given change. To explore these differences, we need to understand what drives or motivates people.