Page 26 - Managing Change in Organizations

Carnch01v3.qxd 3/30/07 4:08 PM Page 9

Change architecture
direction and future plans and targets – thus providing a vital process in which
people both engage in dialogue and in creating new plans – a genuinely problem-
oriented process. Much the same emerged in Greenly and Carnall (2001).
All of this suggests that the statement so often articulated, ‘the most important
resource of this business is its people’, is increasingly meaningful not merely as
rhetoric but also in practice. If we depend more and more on fewer people and if
the loyalty of those people, particularly managers, can no longer be assumed but
rather must be earned and retained, then clearly we need to be concerned about
how we utilize them, develop them and resource them and about the opportuni-
ties for rewards, promotion and success which we provide. If changes depend on
the people who implement them then one must be concerned to ensure that
those people possess the necessary skills. If those same people are motivated by
challenge and opportunity then we must provide that as well. But if the latter will
only follow if changes are successful then the introduction of changes which our
people view as being credible, as likely to succeed, becomes a paramount issue.
So ultimately what do we mean by change architecture? Not least we mean
that set of arrangements, systems, resources and processes through which we
engage people in ‘productive reasoning’ focused on creating a new future. The
principles through which the various techniques (strategy forum, communica-
tion cascades, ‘town meetings’, ‘open-space events’, balanced scorecards and
much more) are designed together are as follows:

1 We seek to clarify governance and accountability for strategic change.
2 We seek to engage key stakeholders in appropriate ways.
3 We seek to secure alignment for all or at least a critical mass of key stakehold-
ers in ways supportive of success, however defined.
4 We seek effective, credible and accessible performance measures provided on a
relatively transparent basis.
5 We need a balanced set of performance measures (i.e. covering finance, activ-
ity, quality, adaptability, markets, customer and employee satisfaction, etc.)
presented on a common platform.
6 We seek to acquire or develop the new skills and capabilities and to mobilize com-

mitment and resources.
7 We seek to leverage knowledge of relevance to the future out of the way we
operate and capture the results of our use of the techniques we apply, i.e. we
seek to use strategic change as a learning process.

CASE
STUDY KPMG

Thornbury (1999) relates how the global accounting and consulting firm KPMG imple-
mented a major culture change programme as part of its globalization process. As it
became global, KPMG utilized organization design and restructuring approaches as a
means of reconciling what is often ultimately problematic – the issue of organizing
around disciplines, functions, clients, regions, sectors and so on. ➔

9