Successful Change Management

Abstract Experience shows many change initiatives fail to deliver. They do not always lead to total failure, but they get stalled, misdirected, or only partially achieve the required results. As the speed of change in the external environment increases by the minute the authors set out to identify the common success factors for managing change. The main purpose of the research was to examine the apparent gap between often seen approaches and ‘best practice’, the output being a helpful framework to support future initiatives. Senior management in 28 organisations from a variety of industries, including the public sector, were interviewed to gain their insights on how to manage change successfully. The research, which was conducted over a six-month period, examined a number of themes covering the triggers for change, planning for change, and implementing change. The forces for change, as experienced by the respondents, were also captured. A number of insights were identified through the research which showed that successful change focuses on both strategic and operational issues. The key links between the strategic objectives and operational improvement are through the core processes, which need to be understood, measured and improved. If the links are broken, then the change is largely ineffective. The research led to the definition of two main constructs of change management: readiness for change and implementing change. These have been shown diagrammatically in a framework which should be an aid to all organisations that are about to embark on a change programme, or are in the process of managing change and wish to improve their chances of success.