The nature of Change

• Patterns of Change• The process of Change Management

Patterns of Change

Patterns of change • The rate of change is not constant • The punctuated equilibrium paradigm

– Deep structure – Equilibrium periods – Revolutionary periods

• The gradualist paradigm • The nature of change confronting most organizations

– Incremental change – Transformation change

• The possibility of anticipating change • Typology of organizational change • Implication of these different types of change practice

– Focus for change efforts – The sequence of activities to achieve a desired outcome – The locus of change – New patterns of change

• Impact of change on organization members

The rate of change is not constant

• In 1970s, Tushman and his colleagues in Colombian university found evidence that as an industry evolves the rate of change in not the same– it follows a S shaped curve with a slope – Slow beginning (lag phase) associated with experimentation and slow market penetration– Middle period of rapid growth (log phase) as the product gains acceptance and as dominant

designs emerge– Finally a tampering off as more advanced or completely different products attract consumers

attention

• Gladwell (2000) noticed that only three years after fax machines were introduced over a million machines were sold – Many social changes do not occur gradually– They spread like a viral epidemic

The punctuated equilibrium paradigm

• Gersick (1991) studied models of change in six domains– Individual change– Group Development– Organisational Development– History of Science– Biological Evolution– Physical Sience

• Gersick (1991) found support for the punctuated equilibrium paraigm in every domain– Relatively long periods of stability (equilibrium)– Punctuated by compact periods of qualitative metamorphic change (revolution)

The punctuated equilibrium paradigm

• Deep Structure– fundamental choices an organization makes that determine the basic activity patterns that

maintain its existence (Gersick 1991) – They are highly stable (Gersick 1991)– Tushman and Romanelli (1985) indentified five key domains of organization activity

• Organizational culture, strategy, structure, power distribution and control systems • Equilibrium Periods• Revolutionary periods

– Weick & Quinn (1999) note that punctuated equilibrium theorists posit that episodes of revolutionary change occur during periods of divergence when there is a growing misalignment between organization’s deep structure and perceived environmental demands

– Inertia maintains the state that Lewin (1947) described as stable, quasi stationary equilibrium until misalignment reaches the point where major changes are precipitated

The nature of Change confronting most organizations

• Incremental Change– According to the punctuated equilibrium paradigm, incremental change is associated with

those periods when the industry is in equilibrium and the focus for change is ‘doing things better’ through a process of continuous tinkering, adaptation and modification

• Transformational Change– According to the punctuated equilibrium paradigm, transformational change occurs during

periods of disequilibrium

The possibility of anticipating Change

• Sometimes it is relatively easy to anticipate the need for change– Like companies operating in EU can anticipate changes being discussed in Brussels– Where margins are being squeezed there is an anticipation for the need of greater efficiencies

or to generate new income streams

• Some organizations are proactive• Some organizations are reactive• When change is forced

– There is less time for planning– There is unlikely to be sufficient time to involve many people– There will be little time to experiment– Late movers may have little opportunities to influence shifts in market and technologies

A typology of organizational change

Incremental Transformational

Proactive Tuning Reorientation

Reactive Adaptation Recreation

Implications of different types of change

• Focus of Change effort– Tasks, Structure, people and culture

• Sequence of activities required to achieve a desired outcome– Unfreeze– Move– Refreeze

• Locus for change– Intensity, that is the level of trauma and

dislocation, of the change

• New Patterns of Change– Speed of Change– Strategic Drift

Least intense Most intense

Tuning Adaptation Reorientation

Recreation

Impact of Change on Organizational Members

• Transience

• Novelty

• Diversity

– When diversity converges with transience and novelty we rocket society toward an historical crisis of adaptation. We create an environment so ephemeral, unfamiliar and complex as to threaten millions with adaptive breakdown. This breakdown is future shock.

– Managing and changing organizations appears to be getting more rather than less difficult, and more rather than less important. Given the rapidly changing environment in which organizations operate, there is little doubt that the ability to manage these successfully needs to be a core competence for organizations.

The process of Change Management

The process of change management

• Nature of change as a process• Models of stages in the process of managing change • Key steps in the change process

Nature of change as a process• Intentional management of change

– Force field

• Achieving lasting change – Unfreezing – Movement – Refreezing

Models of Stages in the process of managing change

• Lippitt et al (1958) expanded Lewin’s three stage model. After reviewing descriptions of change in persons, groups, organizations and communities, they felt that the moving phase divided naturally into three substages.– The clarification or diagnosis of client’s problem– The examination of alternative routes and goals, and the establishment of goals and

intentions for action– The transformation of intentions into actual change efforts

• Egan (1996) developed a model that is based on Lewin’s three stages, but it focuses most attention on the unfreezing and moving phases, with detailed consideration being given to the assessment of the current scenario (diagnosis), the creation of a preferred scenario (visioning) and the design of plans that moves the system from the current to the preffered scenario (planning for change)– The current scenario– The preferred scenario– Strategies and plans for moving to the preferred scenario

Key Steps in the Change Process

• Change is often managed less effectively than it might be because those responsible for managing it fail to attend to some of the critical aspects of the change process

• Steps in the change process