Transcript Change and risk management

Change management: a
survival kit?
Presentation by
Dr Judith Broady-Preston, Department of
Information Studies, Aberystwyth University
(copyright retained)
to the
Joint HLG Wales & IFMH Study Day, Friday
8 May 2009, Angel Hotel, Cardiff
Introduction
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some
other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the
change that we seek.
Barack Obama, speech, Feb. 5, 2008
Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic
between the two.
Octavio Paz
After you’ve done a thing the same way for two years, look it over
carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion. And after ten
years, throw it away and start all over
Alfred Edward Perlman, New York Times, 3 July 1958
Outline
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Nature of change
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Change and emotion – resistance to change
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“Public sector executives face unique obstacles in leading
organisational change, in part because of entrenched civil service
bureaucracies, procedural constraints such as managing
performance and firing employees, and dealing with many
different stakeholders with competing priorities”
Fenlon – Financial Times, 22 November 2002
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Tools and techniques
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Recipes and ethics
Change: categorisation
CONTINUOUS (EVOLUTIONARY)
vs
DISCONTINUOUS (REVOLUTIONARY)
VOLUNTARY
vs
ENFORCED
PURPOSIVE
vs
CHANGE FOR THE SAKE OF CHANGE?
Discontinuous change
“We are entering an Age of Unreason,
when the future, in so many areas, will be
shaped, by us and for us; a time when
the only prediction that will hold true is
that no predictions will hold true; a time
therefore, for bold imaginings in private life as
well as public, for thinking the unlikely and
doing the unreasonable.” (Handy, C. (1991) The Age of
Unreason. London: Random House.)
Change

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Increasing pace of change
Change from within - baby boomers, skills obsolescence, ageing
equipment/technology
Forces of change
 Relationship with, and the impact of factors creating an
increasingly volatile external environment
 Increasing demands for quality and higher levels of customer
service and satisfaction
 Greater flexibility in organisational structures and management
patterns
 Changing nature/composition of the workforce
 Conflict from within organisations
Forces driving change: creating conflict

Czerniawska study (2005) (adapted from and quoted in Mullins,
(2007), Management and Organisational Behaviour, p. 734):
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Outsourcing, together with continual redefinition of an organisation's core
business
Fragmentation of work, together with distribution of work across different
locations, people and organisations
Changing demographics and expectations, creating an employees,
rather than employers’, market
Technology, described as a double-edged sword, enabling people to do
more, but tempting organisations to do too much

All the above creates CONFLICT between organisations and
individuals

NB May 2009 – add ‘TED’ (The Economic Downturn)!
Change and emotion

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Responses to enforced change = emotional
Use of stories and analogies can create detachment:
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Sources: - http://www.businessballs.com/stories.htm
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Aesop’s Fables:- http://www.businessballs.com/aesopsfables.htm
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E.g. the businessman and the fisherman (KitKat ad)
E.g. The Ass and the Mule (agree to reasonable change now or
you can risk far worse enforced change in the future)
The Rich Man and the Tanner, (time softens change - given time
people get used to things)
Nothing new!

F B Loughridge (1979) “Against the Self Image of the Trade:
Some Arguments Against Computers in Libraries” Assistant
Librarian
Resistance to change
“an inability, or an unwillingness, to discuss or
accept organizational changes that are
perceived in some way damaging or
threatening to the individual.”
(Huczynski and Buchanan (2007)
Organizational Behaviour, 6th ed., p.598)
NB New edition due 1 July 2009.
Causes of resistance to change

Parochial self-interest (“I don’t want to be pushed out of my
comfort zone”)

Misunderstanding and lack of trust (“Why are you asking me to
do this?” Conspiracy theorists?)

Contradictory assessments (You might think this is good, but I
don’t”)

Low tolerance for change (“I can’t cope with the
uncertainty/anxiety”)
(adapted from Bedeian, 1980, quoted in Huczynski and Buchanan,
2007, p.597-599)
13 sources of resistance (Eccles, 1994)
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ignorance (failure to
understand the problem)
comparison (solution is
disliked because alternative is
preferred)
disbelief (feeling proposed
solution will not work)
loss (change has unacceptable
personal costs)
inadequacy (rewards from
change = insufficient)
anxiety (fear of being unable to
cope with new solution)
demolition (change threatens
to destroy existing social
arrangements)
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power cut (sources of
influence/control will be
eroded)
contamination (new
values/practices = repellent)
inhibition (willingness to
change is low)
mistrust (suspicion of
management motives for
change)
alienation (other interests more
highly valued than new
proposals)
frustration (change will reduce
power and career
opportunities)
Overcoming resistance (1)

6 techniques (Kotter and Schlesinger, 1979)
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Education and commitment
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Participation and involvement (participative management and
change)
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Facilitation and support – counselling, therapy for staff

negotiation and agreement – negotiated, compromise change

Manipulation and co-optation – getting resistors ‘onside’ covertly

Implicit and explicit coercion – transfer, demotion, career
blocking, sacking strategies
Overcoming resistance (2)
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Stakeholder analysis
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identifying and addressing needs of ALL affected by change
Recognising different needs require different approaches
Process

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Compile list of all stakeholders affected by proposed change
Establish win/lose scenario of each one
Focus on potential benefits to strengthen support for change
Address concerns by negotiation and compromise
Overcoming resistance (3): Egan’s
stakeholder categories (1994)

partners – supporters of
your change

allies – supporters, if given
encouragement
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fellow travellers – passive;
committed to the agenda
but not you
fencesitters –not clear
where their allegiances lie
loose cannons –
dangerous; may vote
against agendas in which
they have no direct interest

opponents – oppose
agenda but not you
personally
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adversaries – oppose you &
your agenda

bedfellows – support
agenda but may not trust
you
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voiceless – those affected,
but who lack advocates and
power to promote or oppose
change
Leaders and resistance to change
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Hooper and Potter study (1999) good change leaders:
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effectively communicate change
develop open communications culture
champion innovation and creativity
set good personal example
avoid unnecessary stress by well-planned timing
Drucker view (1999):
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“one cannot manage change. One can only be ahead of it. We do
not hear much anymore about “overcoming resistance to
change”. Everyone now accepts that change is unavoidable.”
JISC InfoKit: Change Management (2008)
JISC InfoKit: Change Management (2008)
Change variables: change elements matrix
(JISC, 2008)

This tool provides decision-makers with a picture of the
potential consequences if the change is, is not, or is
partially implemented in each of a range of variables
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Examples of variables are shown in blue. You may wish
to tailor these to coincide with your own circumstances
(next slide).
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Available to download from:
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/tools/change-variablestemplate
What would happen if we
Variable
Strategy
Policies
Processes
Tasks
Services
Service delivery
Staffing issues
Financial resources
Training and development
Structure
Collaborative links
Culture
Do not change?
Partially change?
Change
effectively?
Managing the change cycle (based on Bryson,
2006)
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Denial (1)
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shock
relief
Resistance (2)
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negativity
self-doubt
Exploring (3)
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search
experiment
Commitment (4)
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new forms
new balance
Effective management of change
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Step 1: Acknowledgement and understanding of the
human element in an organisation
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Step 2: Appreciate the influence of organisational
structure and management style
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Step 3: Successful change is facilitated by consideration
of HRM concerns:
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Change and HRM - 4 areas:
 Communication and information sharing
 Staff involvement and participation
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Training and development
Job design
“Recipes”
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Mechanistic/planned vs. radical/dynamic
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Pundits identify recipes – the ‘n-step recipe for change’ approach
– e.g. Lewin’s three step model (1951):
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Unfreeze (current situation)
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Move (desired future state)
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Refreeze (embed and stabilise the change)
Relationship between change management and

project management
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leadership and conflict
Is it neat, tidy, rational, and logical?
Recipe approach
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Pros:

codifies what research and
practical experience
suggest are main factors
contributing to effective
change, even if much of this
= ‘common sense’

gives a framework/checklist
of requirements for those
planning change
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Cons:

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research and experience
confirm change is: - messy,
untidy, politicised,
seemingly irrational BUT
‘recipe approach’ assumes
logical linear process.
Presumption if change is
messy must be because
managers have failed to
follow the recipe.
theoretically weak because
looks backwards and not at
how organisational
processes may be changing
themselves
Ethical change?
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A contradiction in terms?
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Dodds, S. (2007) "Three Wins: Service Improvement using Value
Stream Design“ 2nd ed. is the story of how a small team of health
care professionals re-invented the way they worked. The book
charts the successful redesign of the Vascular Surgery Outpatient
Clinic at Good Hope Hospital, in North-East Birmingham from 20002004, which was subsequently rolled-out across the region during
2005.
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Claimed outcomes are:
 a better service to patients - Do you want a Win for QUALITY
 a skilled, motivated and enthusiastic team - Do you want a Win
for FUN?
 and a substantial cost saving in treatment costs - Do you want a
Win for COSTS?
(Source : http://www.three-wins.com/ (Accessed 1 May 2009)