the development of a best practice model for change management

~ Pergamon European Management Journal Vol. 15, No. S, pp. 537-545, 1997

© 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain

PII: S0263-23 73(9 7)00033-9 0263-2373/97 $17.00 + 0.00

The Development of a Best Practice Model For Change Management ANGELA CLARKE AND JOHN GARSIDE, Warwick University, UK

This article looks at the development of a practical model for change management, based on a collation of best practices from several organisations. The model focuses on five key success factors thought to be the drivers for successful change: commitment, social and cultural issues, communication, tools and methodology and interactions.

The potential use of this model is explored, with the conclusion that it can provide any organisation with a structured and measurable method for improving the way in which it manages change. It can be applied at several levels within an organisation and, therefore, has the potential to help everyone involved in change. © 1 9 9 7 Elsevier Science Ltd

Introduction

One area which has created interest in recent years is Best Practice Benchmarking, which involves looking at the practices of organisations regarded as best in their field and learning from them. The principle of ben&marking is that, in order to improve, an organisation needs to be able to measure its current performance against that of others as well as against its own previous performance. 1 However, problems arise when the organisation has nothing against which it can measure itself. It needs a benchmark or standard and a way of measuring itself against that benchmark.

In change management there has been an absence of tools to help do this. Whilst a wealth of information has been published on the philosophies and practices of benchmarking i tself-- as a generic tool - - little is available on actual techniques or methods to allow businesses to measure their performance in change management.

It should be possible by looking at the practices of a number of organisations who have undergone successful

change to understand how they achieve their success. As well as learning from what they do well, it should be possible to learn from their mistakes and what actions they would take to prevent these mistakes from being repeated. All these practices in change management could then be combined into one model to direct organisations towards more effective change.

The aim of this article is to look at the development of a Best Practice Model for Change Management and explore how it might be used in practice. It will investigate both best practice benchmarking and change management, assessing what factors or issues might be considered useful or important in the creation of such a model.

Best Practice Benchmarking

Reference is often made in the literature to best practice companies. In reality though, there are no 'best practice' companies who excel in everything, z'3 There are companies who, by the consistent execution of excellent activities and business processes, provide excellent products and services. 4 Also, in an industry that is changing continuously, there is unlikely to be one single practice or activity that works equally well for everyone. 5'6

Nevertheless, there are benefits to be gained by understanding another organisation's processes, practices and behaviours and tailoring them to suit. ~ Some organisations regularly take best practices from a variety of sources - - both internally and externally - - and adapt them to suit their own business needs. 7 For example, the Nationwide Building Society reports a synergetic effect from benchrnarking - - by capturing, codifying, validating and distributing 'nuggets' of best practice within the organisation. 8

Although benchmarking is often attributed to Camp, 9 its

European Management JournalVo115 No 5 October 1997 537

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A BEST PRACTICE MODEL FOR CHANGE MANAGEMENT

basis can be traced back to Revans: ° He developed a theory more than 20 years ago that managers learned more effectively from each other than ever they could from instruction or teaching• With this came a belief that sharing of learned knowledge was a key to improving performance within an organisation.

There are many different approaches to benchmarking. Some organisations believe in taking a top level approach, looking at business results - - market share, profitability, growth and reputation as a means of identifying who are the best practice companies. I~ They then look at how these companies achieve that success.

In practice, though, this information is very difficult to obtain. The more usual approach to benchmarking is to look in detail at common processes across a wide range of companies. This is usually done through consultancies with expertise in a specific area or, alternatively, by joining a club which specialises in benchmarking. It often results in a sharing of information and best practices between organisations who have something to offer each other, lz Although this approach has been used in many different industries and for a variety of processes, surprisingly little benchmarking has taken place in change management.

Change Management

There is a wealth of information on the 'ingredients' important to the change management process. As Figure 1 illustrates, there are a number of inputs to consider in any process, including the change management process, in order to develop a complete picture. 13

Advice on important issues in change management comes from a number of sources - - from practitioners of change management through to consultancies with experience in this field. In most cases, however, the information supplied is very generic. For example, numerous references are made to the importance of commitment in influencing change but little specific advice is given on what could prackically be done to improve an organisation. In order to be of practical use, it is necessary to gather information on specific tasks, activities, ideas or methods which drive successful change - - sometimes known as process enablers. ~4

Every organisation involved in change management has process enablers which help them achieve success. With so much information available, the problem arises of which information to include and which to ignore. Consequently, there needs to be a way of filtering out the most important elements - - the key success factors•

Key Success Factors

There is a belief that the success of any change is influenced by a number of critical or key success factors

P l a n t / e q u i p m e n t - -

Figure 1 Inputstoa Process

and that by concentrating on these key factors, successful change is more likely. ~5 Based on the Pareto or 80/20 rule, Juran coined this 'separating out the important few from

• • , 1 6 the trivial many. Key success factors have been described as the tasks or attributes that should receive priority attention because they strongly drive performance. I7 They are the things that must go right to ensure that goals or objectives are met) 8 Once these factors have been identified, the value of benchmarking then comes from drawing attention to those tasks and activities that are done well in order to achieve success. 19

Using a Model for Best Practice Change Management

The idea of using models to depict concepts and ideas is not new. Models have been used for many years to present success stories, lessons learned or even the latest thinking. They are tools which are often used to clarify, and simplify, complex theories. They can provide a useful structure for woolly concepts because they focus on the main elements, ignoring the lesser important elements or detail of a concept.

For these reasons, a model which focuses on the detailed practices in change management would be useful by providing:

• :" exposure to best practice in change management - - both in terms of what is achievable and also of how these best practices can be implemented;

• :. a measurable way for organisations to audit and benchmark themselves - - against their previous performance and against the performance of others;

• :" a means for identifying priority areas or where to target improvements;

• :- a tool which could contribute towards improving corporate learning by encouraging sharing of information across sites•

Approach and Methodology Used in the Development of the Model

In the development of a model for best practice change management, a structured three step approach was taken. This involved:

5 38 European Management Journal Vo115 No 50cto ber 1997


Bus'n°'ss'rate'Y l I Fo ro,,min. I "7 investigation

Decision to do project ~1 Initial background &

"1 information gathering

I Appoint project manager

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Team building, briefing, location

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I Figure 2 G e n e r i c M a p o f t h e Change Process

Step 1: Mapping out the change management process Step 2: Investigating tools and methodologies currently

in use for similar applications Step 3: Collation of information on best practice change

management from the literature and from a survey of companies involved in change.

Step 1 Process Mapping

As a starting point for benchmarking, an organisation has to understand its own workings and processes - - its logic, its strengths and its weaknesses. 21 Identifying weaknesses or gaps in these processes can then provide an opportunity for making step change improvements. Process mapping has been widely used for exactly this

2 2 2 3 . • purpose. ' It can provide clanty and help develop a common understanding of the process, whilst identifying critical processes and problem issues, z4,z5

However, there are some limitations to using process mapping. In reality, strong links and inter-relationships which would be too complex to show on a linear map

• 1 3 . exist between the processes. Changing one process usually impacts several others. Nevertheless, for simplicity and for the purposes of understanding more

about a specific process - - which is the intention here - - linear process mapping is useful.

A genetic process map for the change management process was developed in consultation with all the organisations involved in the survey. Companies in the survey were from a wide range of industries in the UK - - including aerospace, confectionery, telecommun- ications sectors. They had varying histories and experience in change management. Whilst there are distinct differences in the approach to change management taken by each of the survey companies, essentially, each company's change process could be fitted into the generic model shown in Figure 2.

Step 2 Tools and Methodologies in Use for Similar Applications

Although there are a number of tools and methodologies available for building models) 3 one useful tool for this application is the two-dimensional matrix model. It is used to outline inter-relationships, correlations between tasks, activities or characteristics. One example is the process quality management or PQM matrix, developed at IBM, which combines process steps with key success

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540 European Management Journal Vo115 No 5 October 1997


CHANGE PROCESS KEY SUCCESS FACTORS

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Figure 4 Two Dimensional Matrix Best Practice Model for Change Management

factors (see Figure 3). z6 It can be used at a number of levels to outline the inter-relationships and correlation between identified key success factors and results, processes or activities. For this reason, it has formed the basis of the best practice model for change management.

subsequently refined to produce a two dimensional matrix Best Practice Model for Change Management (see Figure 4).

The Model

Step 3 Collation of Information on Best Practices in Change Management

Information on best practices in change management was gathered from the literature and from all companies in the survey. For the survey, a questionnaire was constructed, based on the process map and good practices in change management identified in the literature. The main information from the survey (conducted with the change process owner in each case) was a collation of best practices, based on the main elements of the process map (see Figure 2) and also participants' views on their strengths and weaknesses in change management.

Many of the collated best practices were found to be common to more than one source and, therefore, could be regarded as generic. From this information, a prototype model was developed and tested a number of times in one of the survey companies. It was

The model combines five key success factors with the change process. All the best practices collated from the survey and from the literature can be grouped into one of these five areas, acting across the change process at various levels.

°:° Commitment - - includes recognising change as an integral part of the business strategy, level of ownership throughout the organisation but particularly at senior management level, formation of steering committees, the provision of adequate resources to allow the project to run effectively and the involvement of people at all levels in the organisation and at all stages in the project.

°:° Social and cultural - - mainly concerned with the 'people' element of change, i.e. issues involving people's behaviour, perceptions and attitudes towards all aspects of the change. It looks at the level of involvement and sustainment of the change.

°:° Communication - - covers all the issues associated with internal and external communication. This



includes timing, methods for communication and also content.

• ~o Tools a n d m e t h o d o l o g y - - although predominantly concerned with the use of project management methodology (including project teams and project managers), it includes the use of benchmarking, performance and process measurements. It also covers the underlying knowledge required to ensure that the change can take place effectively and the use of external input and training to facilitate this.

o~o In terac t ions - - looks at the methods in place for dealing with interactions within the organisation such as managing the balance between normal operations and other changes which may be happening in the organisation.

Using the Model

Figure 5 offers a way for using the model, in practice. Firstly, a business carries out an audit, using the maturity matrix (shown in detail in Figure 6) to obtain a score or rating. The results from the audit plus targets are plotted on a five-axis radar chart to show the two profiles. From the radar chart, areas where improvements are most needed can then be identified. Using a detailed checklist for each of the key categories in the model (this lies behind the maturity matrix), the business can see what best practices can be achieved in their identified areas of weakness. A priority action plan based on these practices can then be drawn up to reflect the needs of the business.

The aim is to achieve a balanced plot on the radar chart. However, what works for some organisations may not actually work for others because of the differences in the nature of the companies, the industries, their environment, cultures and histories. There may be practices shown in the model that would be ideal for one company, requiring minimum effort to implement but in another company would only work with a great deal of effort or modification.

Furthermore, every industry and every company has its own particular strengths and weaknesses. Each will have a different starting position, a different target in terms of where it wants to get to and also in how it intends to go about achieving its objectives.

In order to use the model most effectively, a company may have to 'cherry pick' from the model to achieve its desired aim, i.e. select those practices which are most appropriate to the organisation. The downfall of cherry picking is that the organisation may become expert in some of the areas shown in the model but neglect others. Consequently, it may not fully achieve its intended objectives. The full potential can only be achieved by taking a balanced approach. Historically, one of the problems with change management has been a failing to include certain elements - - such as the human and cultural issues. So, in summary, the aim should be to achieve a balanced score on the radar chart and ensure

that any improvements made do not result in the development of one of the key success factors at the expense of another.

Application of the Model within an Organisation

Within an organisation, the model could be used in several areas and at many levels:

°;" at a strategic decision-making level to identify and monitor longer term strategic actions required to improve the overall management of change within the business, planning change

olo to provide an important role in facilitating the exchange of information across the organisation

°;° for education and training - - as a tool for developing an awareness of all the issues important to change management

o:o at a business level to provide the business with a good appreciation of where its strengths and weaknesses are in change management, allowing it to focus on priority areas

o:, to provide a measurable way for the business to evaluate its progress overall in the change management process

°~° at a project level - - by auditing the progress of any ongoing change projects, identifying areas of weakness and action required to improve.

So, because this model can be used at a number of levels, it has the potential to help everyone involved in change. Although early days, this is proving to be the case in practice. In one of the survey companies involved in the initial survey, the model has been used successfully at many levels: at a strategic level in helping parts of the business identify their weaknesses in change management; as a means of auditing existing change projects; as a training aid to help people in the organisation about to embark on a major change to understand what is important in change management and how a tool such as this could be used to guide them.

Limitations

Currently, there is no system of weighting the best practices in the model. Although all practices can equally contribute to successful change management, in reality there are likely to be some practices which have greater leverage than others and so should be carried out first. However, with the view that all organisations have a different starting position, different priorities and different end results, a weighting system may be difficult to achieve in practice.

Furthermore, the model is based on a limited number of companies and will improve with the addition of more. The principles of the best practice model for change and the method offered for its use, however, can be adopted

,542 European Management Journal Vol 15 No 5 October 1997


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European Management Journal Vo115 No 5 O c t o b e r 1997 5 4 3


Level Commitment People Communicat ion Methods Interactions

5 Full & visible commitment visible commitment from top and throughout the company at all stages of project - including post-implementation; everyone in the organisation buys in to the change

Good commitment but inconsistent or absent at times clear direction from steering commaRee; clear ownership of tasks; all those impacted by the change are involved

!nght from the start and throughout the project; virtually everyone across company buys into the change Some visible commitment

- often consistent but low level ; flail time project manager, project owner at senior level; many of people

i in project team own the change; few resource constramLs; all memben of team attend meetings; operational v project conflicts at times, those involved have input throughout the project; mo~ people buy in to the change

Limited & inconsbtent commitment no st¢¢nng committee; project owner not intereged or not senior enough; sporadic attendance at project meetings; operations take priority over project tasks; limited buy-in across company, few people completely buy in to project

Poor commitment project team members often ~lled offto operational duties; only select few people buy in to the change; few team members regularly attend meetings; resources (people & equipment) are • problem

No commitment little top level support; poorly attended project team meetings; people involved in chanse only when operational duties arc slacker, no support or buy in across the company

Culture which is fully committed to change those affected by change are involved from start and throughout, change seen a.s vital to the business, people issues are addressed throughout the project; tmpact of the change on individuals fully addressed; team works well together & team spirit is excellent

Culture which readily accepts change most of those affected by change are involved from start and throughout~ most people consider the change worthwhile; people issues are usually addressed; impact of the change on individuals widely understood ; team works well most of the time & team spirit is good

Culture which accepts change ; many of those affected by change are involved from start and throughout; change is regarded as important to business but inconvenient; impact of the change on individuals discussed; team works well but lacks teem spirit at times people issues are sometimes included

Culture which reluctanUy accepts change few of those affected by change are involved from sta~. and throughout~ change seen as necessary evil, few people understand implications of the change on them; limited team work with no real team spirit

Culture which is very wary of change virtually no-one affected by cha r~ is involved throughout~ few people believe the change is worth doing, the impact of the change on individuals has not been eddreasod; no real team work or spirit

Culture which does not readily accept change change considered waste of time; no-one in orgarnsation knows or has considered the implications of the project on ' them; few believe that the change is worth doing, no team work

Excellent communication everyone in organisation (including customers and suppliers) understands need for change, what is being done throughout the change, throughout the project to post-implementation and the =mpact the change will have on the business

Very good communication most people in the organisation at all levels understand the need for the change, what the changes arc and how it will impact on the business

Good communication all project team. most senior managers and many people throughout the company understand the need for the change, what the changes are and how it will unpact on the business

Limited communication most of project team, and some managers understand the need for the change, what the changns are and how it will impact on the business

Poor communication some managem und=ztand the need for the change, what the changes are and how it will impact on the business

I but only project team knows ,progress being made

No communication hardly anyone knows the unportance of the project, what is going on & how it can influence the business

Always used project management is used well & consistently throughout; everyone in team understands and can use it; benchmarkiog is always carried out; multi-disciplinary co-located project team with full time project manager; training identified and given before project starts and throughout the project

Usually used project management is used consistently throughout; many people in team understand and can use it; benchmarking usually done; project team is multi -disciplinary, often co-located with full time l:~rojcct manager; uaining identified and given at start of project

Often used most aspects of proJect management are used; one or two people in team can use it; multi-disciplinary project team with project manager, training identified and given at start of project

Sometimes used some aspects of project numagement are used; at le~.st one person in team uses it; multi-disciplinary project team with project manager, little vaimng carried out

Seldom used only ene or two aspects of project management used at ~ times in the project; no-one really knows how to use all of it; team approach used; no training given specifically to team before or during project

Never used project management never use~; bcnchmalking never used, no real project team.s, no [raining giv~ to people revolved in implementing change

Excellent management of interactions change is part of the business plan; senior person in the business full-6me on change management; good balance of long and short term change projects, good balance of operational work and change projects; resource management good

Very good management of Interactions changes are mostly in business plan, senior person with r=ponsibility for change management; good balance of operations and change )rojects; little consideration

to long and short term balance; occasional )roblems with resource

I management an issue

Good management of interactions

!changes are of tn part of the business plan but some unplanned, senior person in the business full-time on change management, operational work v change ~rojecLs conflicts, resource management sometimes an issue

Limited management of intera=ttOns changes are often planned but seldom formalised; senior person with responsibility for change management, operational work takes ~riority; resource problems often arise

Poor management of interactions ; most changes are unplanned; no one specifically responsible for change management (shared), good balance of operations and change projects operations have to take priority;, changes are usually under.resourced

No management of interactions chang= are always unplanned; under-resourced and always take second place to openCions~ no-one responsible for managing change

F i g u r e 6 M a t u r i t y M a t r i x

by companies involved in change and will provide a positive way forward for ensuring more successful change.

Notes 1. M c M a n n , P. and A.J. Nanni (1994) Is y o u r c o m p a n y really

measur ing performance?, Management Accounting, Nov .

,544 European Management JournalVo115 No 5 October 1997


2. Smith G., J. Armstrong and A. Clarke (1995) Report on Business Process Re-engineering within the Aerospace Industry. An internal paper for the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC), London SWIH 9EU.

3. Goldwasser, C. (1995) Benchmarking: people make the process, Management Review, June.

4. Pryor, T. (1994) In search of a benchmark, Engineering Managment Journal, vol.6, no. 4, Dec., pp. 3-5.

5. Golden, K. (I994) Measurable Improvements, Insurance & Technology, vol. 19, no. 9, Sept., pp. 22-28.

6. McCune, J. (1994) Building blocks of a benchmarking program, Management Review, vol. 83, no. 4, April, p. I2.

7. Brown, S. (I995) Don't innovate, imitate!, Sales & Marketing Management, voI. 147, no. 1, Jan, pp. 24-25.

8. Hopkins, D. (1993) Retail practice nationwide, Executive Development, vol. 6, issue 5, pp. 9-11.

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11. Benson, T.E. (1992) IQS: Quality is not what you think it is, Industry Week, no. 19, Oct., pp. 22-24.

12. Houlder, V. (1944) Management, measuring up to success - - growing number so UK companies are turning to benchmarking to improve their performance, Financial Times, I Aug.

13. Oakland, J.S. (1989) Total Quality Management, Butterworth & Heinemann.

14. Allee, V. (1995) A passion for benchmarking, Executive Excellence, Jul.

15. Deierlein, R. (1994) Benchmarking, tough but worth the effort, Fleet Equipment, vol. 20, no.12, Dec., pp. 54-56.

16. Juran, J. Cited by Burr, J.T. (1990) The tools of quality: Part VI: pareto charts, Quality Progress, vol. 23, no. 11, Nov., pp. 59-61.

17. Keck, T. & Loller, (1995) Critical success factors in captive multi-line insurance agency sales, ]. Personal Selling & Sales Management, vol. 15, no. 1, Winter, pp. 17-33.

18. Bullen, C.V. (1995) Productivity CSFs for knowledge workers, Information Strategy, vol. 12, no. 1, Fall, pp. 14-20.

19. Bullen, C.V. (1995) Re-examining productivity CSFs: The knowledge worker challenge, Information Systems Management, vol. 12, no. 3, Summer, pp. 13-18.

20. Anonymous (1995) Big change fast is the theme of a new products conference, Marketing News, vol. 29, no. 6, April, p. 18.

21. Carey, R. (1994) The benchmarking advantage, Successful Meetings, vol. 43, no. 6, May, pp. 120--126.

22. Booth, R. (1995) Simple as ABC - - process mapping, Management Accounting, Mar.

23. Sharman, S. (1993) Are you as good as the best in the world?, Fortune, vol. 128, no. 15, Dec. 13.

24. Ross, A. (1994) Mapping success, Manufacturing Engineer, Dec.

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A N G E L A CLARKE, Warwick Manufacturing Group, International Manufacturing Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.

Angela Clarke is a research engineer at the University of Warwick, currently studying for an engineering doctorate in engineering business

management. Her principal area of research is 'improving the change management process', and she is sponsored by EPSRC.

J O H N G A R S I D E , Warwick Manufacturing Group, International Manufacturing Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.

John Garside is Principal Fellow at the University of Warwick. Formerly, he was Programme Director at Lucas Aerospace, where he had

policy and strategy responsibility for change management within the company. At the University of Warwick, his main role is providing strategic direction for companies involved in business process change.


the development of a best practice model for change management

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