CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Greg G. Wang and Judy Y. Sun

Change management is a systematic and structured process of developing and

implementing strategies and interventions for organizations transitioning from current state to a

desired state. Change management typically deals with incremental change, or first order change,

and transformational change, or second order change. Usually, first order change does not

challenge the established overall system and context of organization. It often associated with

changes in policies and procedures, individual needs, task and skill requirements, thus the change

is incremental. Sometimes, it is also called transactional change. On the other hand, second order

change involves changes in fundamental assumptions about reality coupled with a shift and

realigning of vision, values, culture, believes and attitudes, and core processes, thus called

transformational change. Change management is a process for managing the people-side of

change.

The Goal of Change Management

The primary goal of change management is to enhance organizational performance

ability and capability through proactive or reactive actions to cope with either internally induced

or externally imposed changes. The purpose is to respond to, or anticipate in, the changing

internal and external environments for achieving strategic organizational goals.

The Importance of Change Management

Change management has always been an integral part of organizational management. It is

often part of HRM process. Change management plays a critical role in today’s organization, not

only in maintaining variation of existing operations, but also in shaping the future directions of

an organization. Successful change management is able to lead and enable employees to accept
new vision, new behavior, and new culture. Regardless of dealing with proactive or forced

changes, successful change management can determine an organization’s future status on

survival, development, and strategic direction.

The Process of Change Management

A number of change management models or processes are available. While differing in

specifics, most models contain the following three phases.

(1) Preparing for the change, including analyzing, planning, and strategy development,

The purpose of this phase is to analyze the scope of the change by addressing the following

questions:

 How big is this change?

 How many people are affected?

 Is it an incremental or radical change?

 What is the value system and background of the impacted groups?

 How much change is already going on?

 What is the anticipated resistance?

 What is the expected outcome of the change?

(2) Managing change implementation

 Communicating the right message at the right time is critical in change management. It

involves in awareness building of the change and the risk of maintaining status quo.

 Communication plan need to be specifically developed for employees at all levels based

on their roles in implementing the change.

 Obtaining front-line managers’ buy-in. Because direct supervisor has more influence on

employees’ motivation to change than others, it is vital to gain the support of supervisors
 for building change leadership. Individual or group coaching is often necessary for

facilitating the buy-ins.

 Training and development can be part of the change implementation to build knowledge,

skills, behavior, and attitude required for the change.

 Managing resistance. Resistance from employees and managers is expected in any

change efforts. Persistent resistance, however, can threaten the change effort. It is vital to

identify, understand, and manage resistance throughout the organization.

(3) Consolidating and institutionalizing the change, including change review, feedback analysis,

corrective action, and stabilize the implemented change. This phase involves in the following

activities.

 Review and evaluate the successes and failures, and identify needed modifications for

improving and implementing desired change outcome.

 Establish processes for ongoing and continuous improvement.

 Establish necessary policies and procedures to institutionalize the change.

 Involving employees is an integral part of change management throughout the process.

 Feedback from employees is a key element of the change management process. Analysis

and corrective action based on this feedback provides a robust cycle for implementing

and improve change outcome.

Typical Criticisms of Change Management

Criticism on change management is often around the following issues. A first issue is that

change management is unnecessary and irrelevant to the core business. A second criticism is that

change management does not require a process as people will change when they are forced to. A

third issue is that change has become a constant in people’s daily life; therefore, no special effort
is needed to implement change. A fourth issue is that change only involves management teams.

Employees will follow if management decides to change.

Web Links:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_management_(people)

 http://www.odnetwork.org/

 http://www.businessballs.com/changemanagement.htm

Selected References

For more information, see

 Bartunek, J. M., & Moch, M. K. (1987). First-order, second-order, and third-order change

and organization development interventions: A cognitive approach. Journal of Applied

Behavioral Science, 23, 483–500.

 Beer, M. & Nohria, N. (2000). (Ed.), Breaking the code of Change. Boston,

Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press.

 Judson, A. (1991). Changing behavior in organizations: Minimizing resistance to change.

Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.

 Lewin, K. (1947). Frontiers in group dynamics. Haman Relations, 1, 5-41.

Contributor Information

Greg G. Wang, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Human Resource Development and
Technology at The University of Texas at Tyler. He also serves as Editor of Journal of Chinese
Human Resource Management. He has worked for and consulted with multinational companies
such as GE, IBM, and Motorola. His research interests include HRD policy, career development,
comparative HRD, international HRD, and economics of HRD.

Judy Y. Sun is a senior lecturer in the Department of Human Resource Development and
Technology, College of Business and Technology, University of Texas at Tyler. She has worked
for and consulted with multinational corporations such as Motorola and KPMG. She also served
as the Director of Career Development at a major business school in China. Her research
interests include career development, executive development, and organizational learning.
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