Page 273 - Managing Change in Organizations

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Chapter 14 ■ Change architecture
2 How systematic a process has been instituted for tracking implementation and
for making corrections while change is in process?

Capability

3 How completely have the resources required been identified and provided,
including financial resources, skills and time?

Inclusion

4 How strong is the commitment of relevant managers and employees to imple-
menting the change, including how credible do they view the change as being,
to what extent do they ‘own’ the approach, how can commitment be sus-
tained, etc?
5 How consistent and credible is the climate of accountability for the imple-
mentation period, including to what extent will those involved live up to their
commitments, what are the consequences of failure, will reward systems dif-
ferentiate between success and failure and how visible and consistent is lead-
ership behaviour?
Turning now to Figure 14.2, we can see how to put some ‘flesh’ on these ideas.
At its simplest the figure defines three stages of change: beginnings, focusing and
inclusion.

Stage 1: Beginnings
Here the problems are recognized, awareness raising begins, diagnostic studies are
undertaken, feasibility studies are begun, we look at the experience of other
organizations and so on. This begins to create a new perception of achievable per-
formance in what may be rapidly changing markets, technologies and so on. The
main focus of this stage therefore is that of creating awareness but, as we shall
see, awareness building continues long into the next stage.

Stage 2: Focusing
We show the first stage as including the establishment of a steering group taking
responsibility for the ‘problem’ and even agreeing the basic approach. The next
stage we call focusing. Here, effort at building awareness continues but also peo-
ple are moving towards decision and action. Task forces may be established. If
new skills are needed then the first attempts to seek them, or to attempt to cre-
ate them internally, will begin. Effort will be directed at building coalitions in
support of the changes, both through work with opinion leaders and through
other means. Pilot trials and experiments often will be undertaken. Visits will be
organized to sites and organizations which have already implemented the
changes. Early results will be used to further ‘shape’ and modify the change pro-
gramme. Much attention will be devoted to ‘selling’ the new ideas and dealing
with likely opposition.

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