EXTERNAL TRIGGERS FOR CHANGE

Developments in technology
Developments in new materials
Changes in customers’ requirements&
tastes
Activities & innovations of competitors
New legislation & govt policies
Changing domestic & global economic
& trading conditions
Shifts in local, national & international
politics
Changes in social & cultural values
INTERNAL TRIGGERS FOR CHANGE

New product & service design innovations

Low performance & morale, triggering job
redesign
Appointment of a new senior manager or
top management team
Inadequate skills & knowledge base,
triggering training programmes
Office & factory relocation, closer to
suppliers & markets
Recognition of problems, triggering
reallocation of responsibilities
Innovations in the manufacturing process
New ideas about how to deliver services to
customers
❚ In 1947 Lewin introduced the interesting
and valuable technique of FORCE FIELD
ANALYIS – a change management
technique.
He argued that the nature & pace of
change depended on the balance of
driving and restraining forces in relation
to a particular change , or “target”
situation”
DEFINITION
Force Field Analysis is a technique for
assessing the factors that encourage &
the factors that resist movement towards
a desired target situation, thus allowing
an assessment of the viability of the
change, & suggesting action to alter the
balance of forces, if necessary.
 PLANNED ORGANISATIONAL
CHANGE

Planned change: a planned movement

occurring from one organisational state
to another that has a commitment to
producing a specified outcome

Incremental Change - change that

aims to improve the existing systems,
policies and procedures
Strategic Change - Change that aims
to extablish new systems, policies or
procedures
Transformational Change - the
transfiguration from one state to another
that is fundamentally different
UNFREEZING

MOVE

REFREEZE
(Lewin 1951)
 Kurt Lewin

❚ Kurt Lewin considered

organisational change to
have 3 main elements:

Unfreezing
Transition
Refreezing
Unfreezing the current state of affairs

The transition into the new state/ Change

to the new behavior
Refreezing or stabilising the changes to make
them permanent.

(attitudes, beliefs, values)

Overall, planned change is not
impossible, but it is often difficult. The
key point is that change is an ongoing
process, and it is incorrect to think that
a visionary end state can be reached in
a highly programmed way (Lawler
1986)
To implement and sustain change, four
interlocking management processes must
take place

❚ Trigger Layer
❚ Vision Layer
❚ Conversion Layer
❚ Maintenance and Renewal
Layer
Trigger Layer
Opportunity, threat, crisis, clarify, express,
communicate
Vision Layer
Define the future. Challenges, excitement,
innovation
Conversion Layer
Persuade, recruit disciples, detail the
structure
Maintenance and Renewal Layer
Sustain and enhance belief, reinforce and
justify, regression avoidance (ritual)
 ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT
INTERVENTION

❚ Establish that there is a need

❚ Think it through thoroughly
❚ Discuss it informally with those likely to
be affected
❚ Encourage the expression of all
objections
❚ Make sure you are willing to undertake
change yourself
❚ Monitor the changes and reinforce them
at all points (adapted from Pugh 1978)
OD INTERVENTION
Phase 1: Entry
Explore issues & establish a rapport
Phase 2: Formalising the contract
A two way process
Phase 3: Information gathering &
analysis
Begin diagnosis phase. Crucial for
diplomacy & partiality
Phase 4: Feedback
Analyse data, summarise & organise it
into a format which can be understood
by the organisation’s members
Phase 5: Planning the change process
Action phase
Consultant is an idea generator & a
sounding board

Phase 6: Implementing the changes

Consultant should still be involved

Phase 7: Assessment
Evaluate
 RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

An inability, or an unwillingness, to
discuss or to accept organizational
changes that are perceived in some
way damaging or threatening to the
individual
(Huczynksi & Buchanan 2001)
 Bedeian (1980)
Four Common Causes of Resistance
to Organisational Change

❚ Parochial Self-interest

❚ Misunderstanding & lack of trust

❚ Contradictory Assessments

❚ Low Tolerance for Change

Buchanan, Claydon and Boyle (1999)

The Initiative Fatigue

63% of managers surveyed said that people
in their organisations were suffering from it!

Middle Management Burnout!

 Tony Eccles (1994): 13 sources

Ignorance
Comparison
Disbelief
Loss
Inadequacy
Anxiety
Demolition
Power Cut
Contamination
Inhibition
Mistrust
Alienation
Frustration
Top Ten Barriers to Change
Global Change Management Study 1997 based
on Price WaterhouseCoopers & MORI

Competing Resources
Functional Boundaries
Change Management Skills
Middle Management
Long IT lead times
Communication
Employee Opposition
HR Issues (people, training)
Initiative Fatigue
Unrealistic Timetables
 Top Ten Success Factors

Ensuring Top Sponsorship

Treating People Fairly
Involving Employees
Giving Quality Communications
Providing Sufficient Training
Using Clear Performance Measures
Building Teams After Change
Focusing on Culture & Skill Change
Rewarding Success
Using Internal Champions
 Stakeholder Analysis

❚ Draw up a list of stakeholders affected by

the changes proposed
❚ Establish what each will gain or lose if
the change goes ahead
❚ Use the potential benefits to strengthen
support for the proposals
❚ Find ways to address the concerns of
those who feel they will lose out, by
altering the nature of the changes
proposed, perhaps, or offering to reduce
losses in other ways.
 George Egan (1994)
Nine Types of Stakeholder

❚ Partners
❚ Allies
❚ Fellow Travellers
❚ Fencesitters
❚ Loose Cannons
❚ Opponents
❚ Adversaries
❚ Bedfellows
❚ The Voiceless
 Kotter and Schlesinger (1979)

❚ Education and Commitment

❚ Participation and Involvement

❚ Facilitation and Support

❚ Negotiation and Agreement

❚ Manipulation and Co-optation

❚ Implicit and Explicit Coercion

Preconditions for Successful Change
Tony Eccles (1994)

❚ Is there pressure for this change?

❚ Is there a clear & stated vision of goal?
❚ Do we have liaison and trust?
❚ Is there the will and power to act?
❚ Do we have enough capable people
with sufficient resources?
❚ Do we have suitable rewards & defined
accountability for actions?
❚ Have we identified actionable first
steps?
❚ Does the organisation have a capacity
to learn & to adapt?