Improving Organizations: Guidelines, Methods and Resources for Organizational Change Agents
Much of the content
of this topic came from this book:
|
Suggested Pre-Reading
Organizational Performance Management
Sections of This Topic Include
Overview of Organizational Change
Description
Understanding the Nature of Organizational Change
Major Types of Organizational Change
Why Change Can Be Difficult to Accomplish
Requirements for Successful Organizational Change
Various Organizational Change Models
Major Roles During Successful Organizational Change
Do Most Organizational Change Efforts Fail?
Undergoing Organizational Change
Collaborative Consulting Skills for Accomplishing Significant
Change
How to Choose Which Strategies (Interventions) to
Use for Change
Categories of Possible Strategies (Interventions)
to Use for Change
- - - Human Process Interventions (Group and Individual
Human Relations)
- - - Technostructural Interventions (Structures, Technologies,
Positions, etc.)
- - - Human Resource Management Interventions (Individual
and Groups
- - - Strategic Interventions (Organization and Its External
Environment)
Implementing Strategies for Organizational Change
-- Finish Phases in Consulting
General Resources
Additional Perspectives on Change
Also See These Closely Related Topics
Overview
of the Field of Organization Development
General Resources
- - - Service Organizations Focused on Organizational
Change and Development
- - - Online Groups
- - - Toolkits, Etc.
- - - Bibliographies of Books About Change Management
Description
(Be sure to read the description in Organizational Performance Management to understand where organizational change typically fits into the cycle of activities in ensuring strong performance in an organization.)
Organizations are rapidly changing like never before. Numerous driving forces are causing these changes, including increasing markets and associated competition, increasing expectations of transparency and accountability, and an increasingly diverse workforce.
As a result, leaders and managers are having to learn about guiding and supporting significant change within their own organizations. It is difficult to find a management book today that does not include the topic of change.
The purpose of the first section in this topic is to give you a broad overview of organizational change so that you will have a meaningful context in which to undergo your own change efforts. The next section is more of a "how to" in understanding how to plan and implement a change effort.
However, that new information will not evolve into actual knowledge and skills unless you continue to practice applying it. That next section refers to a process called collaborative consulting that has been proven to be successful in guiding and supporting others to successfully implement systems for long-lasting, successful change.
OVERVIEW OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
Understanding the Nature of Organizational Change
What is a Change Agent?
A change agent is the person or team who's currently responsible for the overall change effort. It could be different people at different times during the change. For example, it could be a champion for change who encourages the change. Then it could be an expert on change who plans the change. Then it could be the leader in the organization who drives the change.
Clearing Up Terms and Language About Organizational Change and Development
There are several phrases regarding organizational change and development that
look and sound a lot alike, but have different meanings. As a result, there
seems to be increasingly different interpretations of some of the phrases, while
others are used interchangeably. Without at least some sense of the differences,
communications about organizational change and development can be confusing
and frustrating.
Cleaning Up the Language About Organizational
Change and Development
Why the Word "Change" is Heard So Often
| See a video about various driving forces causing major changes in organizations, including in their cultures and structures, and in how they are governed, led and managed. This affects consultants, as well. From the Consultants Development Institute. |
Many people argue that organizations are changing like never before. Some of those changes are planned to be accomplished over a long period. However, organizational change is often provoked by some major driving force, for example, a public relations crisis, sudden opportunity in markets, dramatic reduction in profits or new Chief Executive Officer with a very different leadership style.
The subject of organizational change has reached evangelical proportions. There is seemingly an explosion of literature about the subject and an accompanying explosion in the amount of consultants who offer services in this general area.
| See a video about language about change, types of change, barriers to change, overcoming barriers, phases in change, priorities in each phase and models for change. From the Consultants Development Institute. |
When people struggle to accomplish successful organizational change – whether in for-profit, nonprofit or government organizations – it is often because they do not understand the nature of organizational change, types of change, barriers to change, how to overcome the barriers, major phases in proceeding through change, various models for planning and guiding change, and types of approaches (interventions) to implement successful change. That is the focus of this topic in this Library.
Factors of Change
Factors
That May Cause Change in an Organization
Factors
That May Cause Change in an Organization: Planned and Unplanned
Nine
Reasons Why Organizations Need to Change
Major Types of Organizational Change
Organizational change can seem like such a vague phenomena unless you can think of change in terms of the various types of change. There are different types, including the scope, pace, urgency and style of the planning for change.
Organization-wide Versus Subsystem Change
Examples of organization-wide change are an organizational redesign and change in overall strategies. Experts assert that successful organization-wide change requires a change in culture – cultural change is another example of organization-wide change. Those examples change the entire organizational system.
Organizations have many subsystems, as well. Examples of a change in a subsystem include removal or addition of a product or service and reorganization of a certain department.
Transformational Versus Incremental Change
Transformational change is a radical and fundamental shift in the way the entire organization operates. Transformational change is sometimes referred to as quantum change. An example is changing the culture from the traditional top-down, hierarchical style of leadership to a network of self-directing teams. Another example is using Business Process Re-engineering to take apart all the parts of the organization and then put them back together in a more optimal fashion.
In contrast, incremental change is making small adjustments over time to improve the performance of the organization usually by increasing efficiencies in various processes, such as in refining product development and delivery and in reducing labor costs through attrition.
Remedial Versus Developmental Change
Change can be intended to remedy a current situation, for example, to improve the poor performance of a product, reduce burnout in the workplace, become much more proactive and less reactive, or address large budget deficits. Remedial projects often seem quite focused and urgent because they are addressing a current, major problem. It is often easier to determine the success of these projects because the problem has been solved or not.
Change also can be developmental – to make a successful situation even better, for example, to expand the amount of customers served or duplicate successful products and services. Developmental projects can seem more diffuse and long-term, depending on how specific and important the goals are for the change.
Unplanned Versus Planned Change
Unplanned change can happen when a sudden crisis occurs in the organization that can cause its members to respond in a highly reactive and disorganized fashion. Examples are when the Chief Executive Officer suddenly leaves the organization or a significant public relations problem occurs.
Planned change occurs when leaders in the organization recognize the need for a major change and proactively organize a plan to accomplish the change. Examples are strategic planning that is focused on truly strategic topics and succession planning for key leaders in the organization.
Additional Perspectives
Types of
Organizational Change
The
Three Shades of Change
Coping
With Type I Change
Managing
Type II Change
Why Change Can Be Difficult to Accomplish
Change can be difficult for you and your client to accomplish for a variety of reasons.
- People are afraid of the unknown. They communicate their fear through direct means, such as complaining about the plans for change. Or, they communicate their fear indirectly, for example, coming late to meetings and not taking agreed-upon actions.
- People think things are just fine. This might occur if the executives in the organization have not adequately communicated the need for the change.
- People are inherently cynical about change. This cynicism often occurs if earlier attempts at change were unsuccessful and it was not admitted to the employees.
- People doubt there are effective means to accomplish successful change. They may have read publications in which writers assert that most organizational change efforts fail.
- There may be conflicting goals in the organizational change effort. A conflicting goal might be, for example, to significantly increase resources to accomplish change, yet substantially cut costs to remain viable. That conflict can occur, especially if employees were not involved in the plans for the change.
- Change often goes against values held dear by members in the organization. For example, they might disagree that the organization should maximize profits more than contribute to their community. This situation is not uncommon, particularly in nonprofit organizations.
- People get burned out during the change effort. Organizational change usually takes longer to achieve than most people expect. This problem can occur if the question "Is this realistic?" was not continually asked and if an insufficient number of staff were not involved in the planning.
- Key leaders leave the organization. Especially in smaller organizations or organizations with very limited resources, leaders might not believe they are receiving sufficient value for what they are investing in the organization. They might conclude that it is better to just leave. Or, the change may not be going as expected, and the leaders are asked to leave.
- Participants do not understand the nature of planned change. Frequently, participants expect the change to be according to a well-designed, well-organized effort that has few surprises. When surprises do occur, they lose faith in the change effort and seek to abandon it.
- The relationship between the consultant and the client “sours.” The relationship can deteriorate, especially if the client does not want to change or if the project struggles because of one or more of the above-listed barriers to change.
You can overcome many of those barriers if your consulting project meets the requirements for successful change listed below.
Requirements for Successful Organizational Change
Cummings and Worley, in their book Organizational Change and Development (Fifth Edition, West Publishing, 1993), describe a comprehensive, five-phase, general process for managing change, including: 1) motivating change, 2) creating vision, 3) developing political support, 4) managing the transition and 5) sustaining momentum. That process seems suitable for organizing and describing general guidelines about managing change.
Whatever model you choose to use when guiding organizational change, that model should include the priorities and areas of emphasis described in the following five phases of change.
Motivating Change
This phase includes creating a readiness for change in your client's organization and developing approaches to overcome resistance to change. General guidelines for managing this phase include enlightening members of the organization about the need for change, expressing the current status of the organization and where it needs to be in the future, and developing realistic approaches about how change might be accomplished.
Next, organization leaders need to recognize that people in the organization are likely to resist making major changes for a variety of reasons, including fear of the unknown, inadequacy to deal with the change and whether the change will result in adverse effects on their jobs. People need to feel that their concerns are being heard. Leaders must widely communicate the need for the change and how the change can be accomplished successfully. Leaders must listen to the employees – people need to feel that the approach to change will include their strong input and ongoing involvement.
Creating Vision
Leaders in the organization must articulate a clear vision that describes what the change effort will accomplish. It should readily convey the benefits to the employees, as well. Ideally, people in the organization have strong input to the creation of the vision and how it can be achieved. It is critically important that people believe that the vision is relevant and realistic.
Research indicates that cynicism is increasing in organizations in regard to change efforts. People do not want their leaders to promote an idealized vision that will completely turn the organization around and make things better for everyone all the time. They want to feel respected enough by their leaders to be involved and to work toward a vision that is realistic, yet promising and rewarding in the long run.
Developing Political Support
This phase of change management is often overlooked, yet it is the phase that often stops successful change from occurring. Politics in organizations is about power. Power is important among members of the organization when striving for the resources and influence necessary to successfully carry out their jobs. Power is also important when striving to implement a plan in which everyone is involved. Power comes from the authority of one’s position in the organization. Power also comes from credibility, whether from strong expertise or integrity.
Some people have a strong negative reaction when talking about power because power too often is associated with negative applications, for example, manipulation, abuse or harassment. However, power exists in all human interactions and is not always bad. It is how the power is used that determines how the power is perceived.
A strong mechanism for ensuring political support for the change effort is to develop a network of leaders at various levels who interact and count on each other to support and guide the change effort. Means to do that can include ensuring that all power-players are involved in recognizing the need for change, developing the vision and methods to achieve the vision, and maintaining organization-wide communications about the status of change. Any recommendations or concerns expressed by members to the leaders must be promptly recognized and addressed.
Managing Transition
This phase occurs when the organization works to make the actual transition from the current state to the desired future state or vision. In consultations, this phase usually is called the implementation phase. The ways that consultants and organizations go through this phase can vary widely, ranging from clearly delineated phases and steps to a continual mutual engagement with the client from which the project activities continue to unfold. See How Consultants Customize Their Approaches.
Conventionally, it includes implementing a variety of “interventions" designed to make the necessary change in the organization, ranging from strategic planning, leadership development and team building to whole-systems change, strategic restructuring and cultural change.
Ideally, the various interventions are detailed into associated actions that are integrated into one overall Implementation Plan. If the change is deep and extensive, then each action plan would includes specific objectives, or milestones, that must be accomplished by various deadlines, along with responsibilities for achieving each objective. Rarely are these plans implemented exactly as planned. Thus, as important as developing the plan, is making the many ongoing adjustments to the plan while keeping other members up-to-date about the changes and the reasons for them.
These changes might require ongoing coaching, training and enforcement of new policies and procedures in the workplace. In addition, means of effective change management must continue, including strong, clear, ongoing communications about the need for the change and status of the change.
Sustaining Momentum
Often, the most difficult phase in managing change is this phase when leaders work to sustain the momentum of the implementation and adjustment of plans. Change efforts can encounter a wide variety of obstacles, for example, strong resistance from members of the organization or unexpected changes in the environment outside the organization. Client resistance can be expected because organizational change requires a change in behaviors, which can be very difficult. Authentic responses to the resistance can be very effective. See Authenticity -- How to Remain Authentic With Yourself and Others.
The role of support cannot be minimized. Despite its importance during organizational change, the role of support is often forgotten. Strong, visible, ongoing support from top leadership is critically important to show overall credibility and accountabilities in the change effort.
Supervisors play a critical role in effectively delegating tasks to employees and providing ongoing support in the form of feedback, coaching and training. Employee performance management plays a key role in ensuring that the required actions are being taken at the right times and are being done with high quality.
At this point in a consulting project, it may be wise for the consultant to ensure he or she has ongoing support themselves (for example, from other consultants) who can provide ongoing objectivity, affirmation and other forms of support.
Additional Perspectives
The following links are to articles that together provide an increasingly comprehensive
and detailed orientation to change management.
Basic Overview
of Organizational Change
Biggest
Mistakes in Managing Change
Requirements for Successful Organizational Change
Change Management
101
Various Organizational Change Models
| See a video about models for change, roles during change, interventions, how choose them and principles for changing systems. From the Consultants Development Institute. |
The purposes of an organizational change model are to 1) provide guidance to leaders of the change effort and 2) give a common perspective and frame of reference for participants when communicating about their change effort. The following paragraphs provide a general overview of some of the more prominent change models. The purpose of the overviews is to increase your general knowledge about approaches to change and help you grasp the diversity of approaches. The overviews are not intended to provide you detailed guidelines about implementing any of the models.
Note that there are many other change models, many of them formed by modifying the well-known models, such as Kurt Lewin’s action research. Also note that, because there is no standard definition for a change model, some readers might consider some of the following to be standard management practices, rather than means to affect change.
Unfreeze, Move, Refreeze
Lewin’s model is probably the most well known. Its simple, but powerful, premise is that to change a system, you first have to “unfreeze,” or loosen up those structures and influences that currently hold the system together. Without attention to those factors, the actions to accomplish desired changes are not likely to be successful because they will continue to encounter strong resistance from members of the organization.
Structures can be loosened in a variety of ways. The means mentioned in the above section Requirements for Successful Organizational Change about motivating change and creating a vision are powerful for unfreezing an organization. The next general phase in this model is about moving the change along, including by developing political support as described in the above section. The final phase is about developing and implementing new structures, such as new plans, policies and procedures, which freeze, or hold, the current state of change in place. The means mentioned in the above section about managing the transition and sustaining momentum would be very useful in refreezing the intended changes.
Lewin's 3-Stage Model of Change
Action Research
Lewin’s action research model is based on an overall cycle of 1) clarifying the current problem in the system, 2) involving a specialist or consultant, 3) gathering data and diagnosing the situation, 4) providing feedback to people in the system, 5) incorporating members’ feedback to further clarify the problem and its causes, 6) developing action plans to address the problem, 7) taking those actions and 8) gathering data to assess the effects on the problem. The cycle can also generate tremendous learning for those involved.
Many models for consulting are based on action research and include various modifications. They include, for example, more involvement of members of the organization in the process, and less focus on “diagnosis” and more focus on joint discovery. There is also more focus on strengths and opportunities and less on weaknesses and problems, as well as more focus on learning.
Business Process Reengineering (BPR)
This method aims to increase organizational performance by radically re-designing the organization's structures and processes -- by starting over from the ground up. As with any major model for change, there are many proponents and opponents of BPR. BPR can require an extensive amount of detail, attention and time and can be quite demanding on employees.
Still, the process might be one of few that provides clear guidelines and procedures for carefully dissembling and assembling an organization. The model, like Future Search Conference (below) and Whole Systems Change, really forces leaders to take a complete, fresh look at systems in their organization and how to re-develop those systems anew.
Business Process Re-Engineering
Future Search Conference
Marvin Weisbord developed the future search approach, which can involve 30-100 people or more, usually over three days, to articulate a preferred future and develop the action steps to accomplish that future. It is an example of a relatively recent category of change models called large-scale interventions. Large-scale change is an example of transformational, organization-wide change.
In the approach, a consultant works with a small planning group to design the event. All key internal and external stakeholders are encouraged to attend. Participants examine the past, present and future of the organization from the perspective of the participants themselves, the organization and its industry. Participants discover their shared values and assumptions to clarify a preferred future or vision. The vision emerges from various scenarios, built from considering what has worked and what has not worked in the past -- but especially what has worked. Short-term and long-term action plans are established. Emphasis is on building to the desired future, rather than on solving problems.
Future Search Conference in Theory and Practice
McKinsey 7S Model
The model was developed by Watermann and Peters and depicts seven dimensions of organizations that must be considered when accomplishing organizational change. Imagine a circle of six circles with one circle in the middle. The middle circle is labeled “shared values.” Shared values represent the overall priorities in how the organization chooses to operate. The six outer circles include “strategy,” “structure,” “systems,” “skills,” “staff” and “style.” The point of the model is that an effective organization has to accomplish a fit between all seven S’s, and to realize that a change in any one of the seven dimensions will effect a change in all others.
Strategy is the overall direction of the organization and how it is going to follow that direction. Structure is the organization of the company, defining its roles and lines of authority. Systems include the processes and procedures that guide day-to-day activities in the organization. These three are the hard S’s.
Skills are the capabilities of the organization. Staff includes the organization’s people and how their expertise is utilized. Style is how the organization is led. These three are the soft S’s.
Various Additional Models
Examples
of Organizational Performance Management Systems
Strategic
Management (systematic, explicit implementation of a strategic plan)
Plan Do Check Act (this approach also is quite common)
Lewin's Freeze Phases
McKinsey 7S Model
Kotter
8-Step Model
Bridge's
Transition Model
Embedding
Adaptive Change
Prosci ADKAR
Major Roles During Successful Organizational Change
The process of organizational change can include a variety of key roles. These roles can be filled by various individuals or teams at various times during the change process. Sometimes, individuals or teams can fill more than one role.
Change Initiator
It is conventional wisdom among organizational development consultants that successful change is often provoked by a deep “hurt” or crisis in the organization, for example, dramatic reduction in sales, loss of a key leader in the organization, warnings from a major investor, or even actions of a key competitor. It is not uncommon then that someone inside the organization reacts to that deep hurt and suggests the need for a major change effort. Often the person who initiates the change is not the person who becomes the primary change agent.
Change Agent
A change agent is the person or team who's currently responsible for the overall change effort. It could be different people at different times during the change. For example, it could be a champion for change who encourages the change. Then it could be an expert on change who plans the change. Then it could be the leader in the organization who drives the change.
After the project plan has been developed and begins implementation, the change agent might be an implementation team comprised of various people from across the organization. If the change effort stalls out, the change agent might be a top leader in the organization who intercedes to ensure the change process continues in a timely fashion.
It is extremely important for the consultant to always know who the real change agent is at any time during the project because that person or team usually has the most influence on the success of the project, and therefore is the most important role to be working with then.
Here We Are. Now What?: Tips for Change Agents in 2011
Change
Agents: The Who, What, Where, When, Why and How
Organization Change: Learning from the Best
Champion for Change
Change efforts often require a person or team to continue to sustain strong enthusiasm about the change. This includes reminding everyone of why the change is occurring in the first place, and the many benefits that could come if it is successful. The champion might be the same person as the change agent at various times in the project.
Sponsor of Change
Usually, there is a one key internal person or department that is officially the “sponsor,” or the official role responsible for the success of the change process. In large organizations, that sponsor often is a department, such as Human Resources, Strategic Planning or Organization Development. In smaller organizations, the sponsor might be a team of senior leaders working to ensure that the change effort stays on schedule and is sustained by ongoing provision of resources and training.
Leadership, Supervision and Delegation
Leadership could defined as setting direction and influencing people to follow that direction. A person can lead themselves, other individuals, other groups or an entire organization. Supervision is a leadership role and is guiding the development and productivity of their direct reports in the organization. Effective supervisors are able to achieve goals by guiding the work of other people – by delegating.
Note that supervisors exist throughout an organization, depending on its particular structure. For example, the Board of Directors supervises the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the CEO supervises middle managers and middle managers supervise entry-level supervisors.
The topic of leadership has become one of the most prominent topics in all of management literature today. It is almost impossible to find a general management book that does not include frequent mention of the topic of leadership. There are a variety of reasons for this, one of the most important being that successful organizational change requires strong, ongoing and visible leadership in support of that change. Leaders must model the type of behaviors that they want to see in their organization. Other reasons include:
- Leaders must ensure that desired results are clarified and widely communicated, including to define the vision and goals.
- Leaders in the organization must “walk their talk." They must behave according to the same values and behaviors that are needed during the change effort.
- Leaders must ensure the ongoing accountabilities, resources and support to ensure that actions are taken to accomplish the overall change effort.
There simply is no substitute for the role that leadership and supervision play in accomplishing successful organizational change. Thus, it is extremely important that leaders and supervisors in the organization have a strong understanding of basic principles of successful change in organizations.
Additional Perspective
How to Know When to Facilitate, Train or Coach
Do Most Organizational Change Efforts Fail?
Since the early 1990s, there has been a common assertion that 70% of change efforts fail. That statistic has been mentioned by prominent people and organizations in the field, including John Kotter, Michael Hammer and James Champy, Michael Beer and Nitin Nohria, McKinsey & Company and the Harvard Business Review.
It has been used a powerful motivator for further research in organizational change, more innovation in models for change, and more commitment from leaders in making change actually happen.
However, many are skeptical of that assertion. They cite the lack of valid research that concludes that finding. They mention numerous examples of success stories about change. Some assert that it is mostly independent consultants (those who are not employees of their client's organization) who believe that statistic, while internal consultants believe that change is mostly successful.
Regardless of the opinions about the validity of the statistic, it is a significant topic to examine when talking about organizational change. Here are a variety of opinions for and against the statistic.
Assertions That Most Fail
The
Truth Behind Why 70% of Organizational Change Projects Are Still Failing
Top
7 Reasons Why Organizational Change Fails
70% of Organisational
Change Efforts Fail. 8 Steps for Leading Change.
Cracking the
Code of Change
Why
Organizational Change Almost Always Fails
Doubts About Those Assertions
The
Most Misleading – and Exploited – Statistic About Change
It’s
Time to Abolish the 70% Change Failure Rate Statistic
Time
to Kill the Phantom 70% Failure Rate?
70%
of Change Projects Fail: Bollocks!
Do 70% of
Organisational Change Initiatives Really Fail?
UNDERGOING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
Collaborative Consulting Skills for Accomplishing Significant Change
Research over the years has found that the most successful approach to accomplishing
long-lasting, successful change in organizations is to use a highly collaborative
approach in working with the members of the organization to implement that change.
That approach, including its nature and various phases, is fully explained in
the Library's topic:
Collaborative
Consulting for Performance, Change and Learning
Before selecting appropriate strategies for change below, you and your client should have done the necessary activities in the contracting phase of the consulting process, especially to ensure the client's readiness for change. You also should have done the discovery phase, especially to identify the causes from the symptoms of the client's problem.
How to Choose Which Strategies (Interventions) to Use for Change
| See a video about where consultants should focus, where clients should focus, where projects should focus and core components of change plans. From the Consultants Development Institute. |
Preparation
There are a wide variety of strategies often referred to as "interventions" to use to guide successful change in organizations. There is no unique intervention to use for each different situation in an organization. However, there are some key considerations when selecting from among the many choices. (The term "intervention", unlike the term "strategy", has its detractors. Thus, this topic in the Library often refers to strategies.)
Also, before you and your client select the best type of strategies, be aware
of your strong biases about how you view organizations. Without recognizing
those biases, you might favor certain types of strategies primarily because
those are the only ones you can readily see and understand, even if other types
of strategies might be much more effective in your project.
Understand the Preferred
Lens Through Which You View Organizations
Now, Select the Best Category of Interventions
With your client, discuss the findings from your research in the discovery phase. For example, did it suggest problems primarily among how individuals and groups got along with each other? Lack of strong internal practices to support growth? Lack of performance among many employees and teams? Need for an effective response to rapid changes inside and/or outside the organization?
Then read the introductions to each of the four categories of interventions in the section below to find the most likely category of interventions to use. Then select the category that seems to most closely match the nature of your findings. (If you and your client had selected a particular change management model, then that model might suggest a certain strategy for accomplishing the change.)
The choice need not be the best one right away. If you and your client work collaboratively, always respectfully and honestly sharing impressions of the activities in the project and reflecting on what they are learning, then you will end up using the best interventions.
Categories of Possible Strategies (Interventions) to Use for Change
For the sake of clarity and understanding, the following interventions are categorized. The four major categories are from Cummings and Worley, in their book Organizational Change and Development (West Publishing, 1993). The following interventions are often highly integrated with each other during a project for change.
Before selecting your interventions below, it might be interesting now to consider
an alternative perspective about selecting categories of interventions. In the
article below, Edgar Schein, the developer of process consultation, a very meaningful
and widely respected process for collaborating with clients to guide and support
change, wonders how useful it really is to try categorize interventions. He
ventures that it might be most useful instead to reflect on what emerges from
continuing to help the client, rather than on which category of interventions
to choose from.
Can One Develop a Useful Typology of Interventions? (see the 3rd page)
Human Process Interventions (Group and Individual Human Relations)
The following human process interventions might be particularly helpful during change projects in organizations where, for example, there are many new employees, different cultures working together, many complaints among organizational members, extensive low morale, very high turnover and/or ineffective teams.
Guiding Individuals
Coaching
Counseling
Delegating
Leading
Morale
(Boosting)
Mentoring
Motivating
Group-Based
Conflict Management
Dialoguing
Group Facilitation
Group Learning
Large-Scale
Interventions
Search Conference
Self-Directed
Work Teams
Team Building
Virtual Teams
Technostructural Interventions (Structures, Technologies, Positions, etc.)
The following technostructural interventions might be particularly helpful in situations having, for example, rapid growth but few internal systems to sustain that growth, much confusion about roles, a strong need to soon learn a major new technology or process and/or many internal operational systems that must soon be implemented.
Balanced
Scorecard
Business
Process Re-Engineering
Downsizing and
Outplacing
ISO9000
Management
by Objectives
Organizing
Staff
Organizing
Tasks, Jobs and Roles
Six Sigma
Total
Quality Management
Work Design
Human Resource Management Interventions (Individual and Group Performance Management)
The following human resource interventions might be particularly helpful in situations where, for example, new organizational goals have been established, many new employees have been hired, individual and team goals do not get achieved, plans do not get implemented and/or there is rapid turnover.
Employee Performance Management
Career Development
Diversity
and Inclusion
Employee
Wellness
Establishing
Performance Goals
Evaluating
Performance
Firing
Employees
Observation
and Feedback
Performance
Improvement / Development Plans
Performance
Plans
Rewarding
Performance
Recognizing
Performance Problems ("Performance Gaps")
Staffing
Employee Development
Career
Development
Leadership
Development Planning
Management
Development Planning
Personal
Development
Personal
Productivity
Personal
Wellness
Supervisory
Development Planning
Training
and Development
Employee Wellness Programs
Diversity
Management
Drugs
in the Workplace
Employee
Assistance Programs
Ergonomics:
Safe Facilities in the Workplace
HIV/AIDS
in the Workplace
Personal
Wellness
Preventing
Violence in the Workplace
Safety
in the Workplace
Spirituality
in the Workplace
Strategic Interventions (Organization and Its External Environment)
The following strategic interventions might be particularly helpful in situations where, for example, there are rapid changes in the external environment, significantly increased competition, rapid expansion of markets, a likely merger or acquisition, and/or need for a comprehensive change throughout the organization.
Business Planning
Cultural
Change
Large-Scale
Interventions
Open Systems
Planning
Organizational Alliances
Organizational Transformation
Whole
Systems Change
Strategic Management
(effective implementation of a Strategic Plan)
Now Select the Best Strategy or Intervention in That Category
Now that you have selected the most appropriate category of strategies with your client, discuss which strategy most closely matches your findings from the discovery. Again, if your choice is not the best one right away, then if you and your client have been working collaboratively, you will end up using the best strategy. Consider the following questions about your selected strategy.
- Does the nature of that strategy match the culture of your client's organization? The best way to find out is to discuss the strategy with members of the organization.
- Do you and your client have the ability to implement that strategy? For example, the categories of technostructural and strategic interventions often require rather technical expertise in organizational design.
- Does the strategy suggest what actions are needed in order to implement it? For example, the strategy of strategic management might suggest a SWOT analysis, identifying strategic goals, developing action plans for each goal and then implementing the action plans.
- Does the strategy require more time to conduct than the time available to implement it? For example, a cash crisis requires immediate attention, so while a comprehensive strategic planning process might ultimately be useful, the time to develop and implement a strategic plan is impractical.
- Does your client's organization have the necessary resources to implement the strategy? Consider resources such as expertise, funding and facilities.
The following articles provide another set of considerations when selecting
strategies (interventions).
Four Change
Management Strategies (scroll to near the bottom of the article)
Management for You: Interventions for Change
Organization
Development (OD) Interventions: What Type of Organizational Development or OD
Intervention Do You Need?
Selecting
and Implementing Strategies for Change
Choosing
the Depth of Organizational Intervention
Other Organizations' General Lists of Interventions
The following are lists offered by other organizations and professionals in the field, and are not from those in the Cummings and Worley book, Organizational Change and Development (West Publishing, 1993), as listed above.
List
of Organization Development Interventions
Organizational
(OD) Interventions
Organizational
Development OD Interventions
OD
Interventions
Organizational
Development (OD) Interventions
Organization Development
Interventions
Organisation Development
Interventions: An Overview
Organization Development
Interventions and Teams
Three
Cubes of Interventions - Organization Development
Some
Types of Capacity Building in For-Profit Organizations (and how clients choose
them)
Some
Types of Capacity Building in Nonprofit Organizations (and how clients choose
them)
Implementing Strategies for Organizational Change -- Finish Phases in Consulting
Now that you and your client have selected a strategy to accomplish long-lasting, significant change in the organization, it is time to implement that strategy. One of the best approaches is to continue following the general phases in a collaborative consulting process. This topic assumes that you have already completed the contracting and discovery phases.
Next, you would evolve into the action planning phase in order to begin detailing how to implement the strategy that you and your client selected. While doing this, you would begin to integrate the principles for successful organizational change that were explained above in this topic.
After detailing the action plans, you would begin the implementation phase to implement the action plans, while concurrently managing the change. The guidelines in the description of that phase share some basics about managing change.
After the implementation, you would conduct the project evaluation phase to conclude if the client's problem had been solved; if the client had implemented the necessary systems to avoid that kind of problem in the future; and if the client did encounter that type of problem, then they would be able to solve it themselves.
If those indicators of success were achieved, then you and your client would evolve into the project termination phase in which you would work to accomplish both an administrative and ethical closure to the project.
GENERAL RESOURCES
Miscellaneous: Other Business and Management Topics to Round Out Knowledge
Advertising
and Promotion
Benefits and Compensation
Computers, Internet
and Web
Crisis Management
Customer Satisfaction
Customer Service
E-commerce
Ethics in the
Workplace
Facilities
Management
Financial Management
(for-profit)
Financial Management
(nonprofit)
Fundraising
(for for-profit)
Fundraising
(for nonprofit)
Insurance
Legal Information
(employee laws, etc.)
Marketing (all facets)
Operations
Management
Policies (personnel)
Product/Service
Management
Project Management
Program Management
Public and Media
Relations
Risk Management
Sales
Social Entrepreneurship
Starting
an Organization (for-profit or nonprofit)
Taxation
Volunteers (recruiting,
managing, etc.)
Consider
Free,
Micro-eMBA
Free,
Nonprofit-eMBA
Additional Perspectives on Change
Six Keys to Changing Almost Anything
Top Down or Bottom Up Approaches to Change
Implementing Successful & Sustainable Change
Change Management and Employee Communication Strategies
Four Ways to Increase the Urgency Needed for Change
Change Model 3: John Kotter's 8 Steps of Leading Change
7 Dimensions: Principal Skills of Change Facilitators
Change As Influence: How to Get the Attention of Deniers, Followers,
Dreamers, and Leaders?
You Don't Need an Empire to Build Strength for Change
Effective
Communication: Getting Everyone On Board The Change Train
Change
Management: How to Avoid Resistance Part 1
Change
Management: How to Avoid Resistance Part 2
Also See These Closely Related Topics
Overview
of the Field of Organization Development
Competencies
and Resources for Organizational Change Agents
All About Consulting
- Types, Skills and Approaches
Collaborative
Consulting for Performance, Change and Learning
Guidelines
and Resources for Contracting Phase of Consulting
Guidelines
and Resources for Discovery Phase of Consulting
Guidelines
and Resources for Action Planning Phase of Consulting
Guidelines
and Resources for Implementation Phase of Consulting
Guidelines
and Resources for Project Evaluation Phase of Consulting
Guidelines
and Resources for Termination Phase of Consulting
General Resources
Service Organizations Focused on Organizational Change and Development
International
Association of Facilitators
International Society
for Performance Improvement
Institute
for Cultural Affairs -- World-Wide
Midwest
Facilitators' Network
National OD
Network
Society for Human
Resource Management
Online Groups
Organizational Change Practitioners
(LinkedIn group)
Change Consulting (LinkedIn
group)
Organization Development
Network (LinkedIn group)
Online
groups (link to many different groups)
Toolkits, Etc.
Change
Management Resource Library
Organizational
Change Resources
Change
Management Toolbook
Bibliographies of Books About Change Management
Here's several lists of books about OD, some of them seminal and foundational
books.
Books
about OD and organizational change.
Learn More in the Library's Blogs Related to Organizational Change
In addition to the articles on this current page, see the following blogs which have posts related to organizational change. Scan down the blog's page to see various posts. Also see the section "Recent Blog Posts" in the sidebar of the blog or click on "next" near the bottom of a post in the blog.
Library's
Consulting and Organizational Development Blog
Library's
Leadership Blog
Library's
Supervision Blog