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Change Management Dissertation Topic Ideas

Published by Owen Ingram at January 2nd, 2023 , Revised On August 18, 2023

Choosing a relevant and interesting thesis topic can often be a troublesome experience. The topics you propose to the supervisors and advisor should be innovative and creative, cover both theoretical and practical aspects, and add something new to the field.

The fact that change is a part of our lives in practically every aspect makes change management a fascinating and diverse topic for dissertations . Subjects related to change management are easy to find.

Here are a few intriguing change management thesis topics and ideas to help you get started on your change management dissertation. Make sure you choose subjects that meet your requirements and are related to your interests. In addition, you can create your own dissertation topics based on your interests and preferences.

The Best Change Management Dissertation Topics & Ideas

• An examination of the methods and instruments used by British organizations to study and manage change
• A study to comprehend the scholarly viewpoint on change management in global firms. What does it do, and how is it controlled?
• How can firms in the UK recreate themselves in the COVID-19 era?
• A study of the change management techniques used in the UK’s health care industry.
• A critical analysis of the technological methods employed for efficient management.
• A comparison of first- and third-world countries’ approaches to managing changes in natural resource usage patterns.
• Comparative examination of industrialized and developing nations’ approaches to change management pitfalls.
• Highlighting the methods for change management used in the public sector. A case study involving the UK.
• Assessing the elements that influence change inside an organization. An examination of the British textile industry.
• A systematic review of IT industry best practices for change management. A Facebook case study.
• Examine the difficulties and obstacles in change management for new businesses in the UK.
• Internal control elements are crucial to the effectiveness of change management strategies.
• A study to ascertain how data modelling techniques are used to start changes in the UK manufacturing industry.
• Social capital techniques’ contribution to the evaluation of change management initiatives.
• An innovative study to better understand how organizations might reinvent themselves to fit the new norms and how change management works in times of financial crisis.
• An investigation of the effects of policy input on organizational change culture. A case study of financial institutions and banks.
• Examining leadership, ethics, and values in the context of change management.
• An exploration of the impact of change management during the coronavirus epidemic in the UK’s public sector.
• An analysis of the conceptualization of travel and tourism in poor countries using change management.
• Examining the connections between information sharing, coherence in the curriculum, and change management in education
• An investigation on the things about people who resist change. What are the ways to get over these management and adoption phobias of change?
• management of climate change’s role in balancing rising energy demands
• Planning for sustainable development and climate change control: a descriptive approach.
• Examining the adoption of western methods for change management by Asian organizations, with a concentration on welfare groups.
• What effects are there from developments in the auto manufacturing sector? A tesla case study
• An examination of how data modelling is being used to spark change in the American manufacturing sector
• What adjustments have companies had to make as a result of coronavirus outbreaks? An examination of the UK.

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Free topics for a change management dissertation – what is better than that? Here are some free topics for change management dissertations. It is possible for you to personalize your change management dissertation based on your interests and preferences. For this reason, our top-notch dissertation writers have created this free list of the best change management dissertation topic ideas for you.

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• Explore employee perspectives.
• Select a topic aligning with your field and curiosity.

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Change Management: From Theory to Practice

Jeffrey phillips.

1 University Libraries, Florida State University, 116 Honors Way, Tallahassee, FL 32306 USA

James D. Klein

2 Department of Educational Psychology & Learning Systems, College of Education, Florida State University, Stone Building-3205F, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4453 USA

This article presents a set of change management strategies found across several models and frameworks and identifies how frequently change management practitioners implement these strategies in practice. We searched the literature to identify 15 common strategies found in 16 different change management models and frameworks. We also created a questionnaire based on the literature and distributed it to change management practitioners. Findings suggest that strategies related to communication, stakeholder involvement, encouragement, organizational culture, vision, and mission should be used when implementing organizational change.

Organizations must change to survive. There are many approaches to influence change; these differences require change managers to consider various strategies that increase acceptance and reduce barriers. A change manager is responsible for planning, developing, leading, evaluating, assessing, supporting, and sustaining a change implementation. Change management consists of models and strategies to help employees accept new organizational developments.

Change management practitioners and academic researchers view organizational change differently (Hughes, 2007 ; Pollack & Pollack, 2015 ). Saka ( 2003 ) states, “there is a gap between what the rational-linear change management approach prescribes and what change agents do” (p. 483). This disconnect may make it difficult to determine the suitability and appropriateness of using different techniques to promote change (Pollack & Pollack, 2015 ). Hughes ( 2007 ) thinks that practitioners and academics may have trouble communicating because they use different terms. Whereas academics use the terms, models, theories, and concepts, practitioners use tools and techniques. A tool is a stand-alone application, and a technique is an integrated approach (Dale & McQuater, 1998 ). Hughes ( 2007 ) expresses that classifying change management tools and techniques can help academics identify what practitioners do in the field and evaluate the effectiveness of practitioners’ implementations.

There is little empirical evidence that supports a preferred change management model (Hallencreutz & Turner, 2011 ). However, there are many similar strategies found across change management models (Raineri, 2011 ). Bamford and Forrester’s ( 2003 ) case study showed that “[change] managers in a company generally ignored the popular change literature” (p. 560). The authors followed Pettigrew’s ( 1987 ) suggestions that change managers should not use abstract theories; instead, they should relate change theories to the context of the change. Neves’ ( 2009 ) exploratory factor analysis of employees experiencing the implementation of a new performance appraisal system at a public university suggested that (a) change appropriateness (if the employee felt the change was beneficial to the organization) was positively related with affective commitment (how much the employee liked their job), and (b) affective commitment mediated the relationship between change appropriateness and individual change (how much the employee shifted to the new system). It is unlikely that there is a universal change management approach that works in all settings (Saka, 2003 ). Because change is chaotic, one specific model or framework may not be useful in multiple contexts (Buchanan & Boddy, 1992 ; Pettigrew & Whipp, 1991 ). This requires change managers to consider various approaches for different implementations (Pettigrew, 1987 ). Change managers may face uncertainties that cannot be addressed by a planned sequence of steps (Carnall, 2007 ; Pettigrew & Whipp, 1991 ). Different stakeholders within an organization may complete steps at different times (Pollack & Pollack, 2015 ). Although there may not be one perspective change management approach, many models and frameworks consist of similar change management strategies.

Anderson and Ackerman Anderson ( 2001 ) discuss the differences between change frameworks and change process models. They state that a change framework identifies topics that are relevant to the change and explains the procedures that organizations should acknowledge during the change. However, the framework does not provide details about how to accomplish the steps of the change or the sequence in which the change manager should perform the steps. Additionally, Anderson and Ackerman Anderson ( 2001 ) explain that change process models describe what actions are necessary to accomplish the change and the order in which to facilitate the actions. Whereas frameworks may identify variables or theories required to promote change, models focus on the specific processes that lead to change. Based on the literature, we define a change strategy as a process or action from a model or framework. Multiple models and frameworks contain similar strategies. Change managers use models and frameworks contextually; some change management strategies may be used across numerous models and frameworks.

The purpose of this article is to present a common set of change management strategies found across numerous models and frameworks and identify how frequently change management practitioners implement these common strategies in practice. We also compare current practice with models and frameworks from the literature. Some change management models and frameworks have been around for decades and others are more recent. This comparison may assist practitioners and theorists to consider different strategies that fall outside a specific model.

Common Strategies in the Change Management Literature

We examined highly-cited publications ( n  > 1000 citations) from the last 20 years, business websites, and university websites to select organizational change management models and frameworks. First, we searched two indexes—Google Scholar and Web of Science’s Social Science Citation Index. We used the following keywords in both indexes: “change management” OR “organizational change” OR “organizational development” AND (models or frameworks). Additionally, we used the same search terms in a Google search to identify models mentioned on university and business websites. This helped us identify change management models that had less presence in popular research. We only included models and frameworks from our search results that were mentioned on multiple websites. We reached saturation when multiple publications stopped identifying new models and frameworks.

After we identified the models and frameworks, we analyzed the original publications by the authors to identify observable strategies included in the models and frameworks. We coded the strategies by comparing new strategies with our previously coded strategies, and we combined similar strategies or created a new strategy. Our list of strategies was not exhaustive, but we included the most common strategies found in the publications. Finally, we omitted publications that did not provide details about the change management strategies. Although many of these publications were highly cited and identified change implementation processes or phases, the authors did not identify a specific strategy.

Table ​ Table1 1 shows the 16 models and frameworks that we analyzed and the 15 common strategies that we identified from this analysis. Ackerman-Anderson and Anderson ( 2001 ) believe that it is important for process models to consider organizational imperatives as well as human dynamics and needs. Therefore, the list of strategies considers organizational imperatives such as create a vision for the change that aligns with the organization’s mission and strategies regarding human dynamics and needs such as listen to employees’ concerns about the change. We have presented the strategies in order of how frequently the strategies appear in the models and frameworks. Table ​ Table1 1 only includes strategies found in at least six of the models or frameworks.

Common strategies in the change management literature

A = ADKAR (Hiatt, 2006 ); AA = Ackerman Anderson and Anderson ( 2001 ); B = Bridges ( 1991 ); BB = Buchanan and Boddy ( 1992 ); BH = Beckhard and Harris ( 1987 ); C = Carnall ( 2007 ); CW = Cummings and Worley ( 1993 ); FB = French and Bell ( 1999 ); GE = GE CAP model (Neri et al., 2008 ; Polk, 2011 ); K = Kotter ( 2012 ); KSJ = Kanter et al. ( 1992 ); L = Lewin’s Three-step model (Bakari et al., 2017 ; Lewin, 1951 ); LK = Luecke ( 2003 ); M = McKinsey’s 7-S framework (Cox et al., 2019 ; Waterman et al., 1980 ); N = Nadler and Tushman ( 1997 ); PW = Pettigrew and Whipp (1993)

Strategies Used by Change Managers

We developed an online questionnaire to determine how frequently change managers used the strategies identified in our review of the literature. The Qualtrics-hosted survey consisted of 28 questions including sliding-scale, multiple-choice, and Likert-type items. Demographic questions focused on (a) how long the participant had been involved in the practice of change management, (b) how many change projects the participant had led, (c) the types of industries in which the participant led change implementations, (d) what percentage of job responsibilities involved working as a change manager and a project manager, and (e) where the participant learned to conduct change management. Twenty-one Likert-type items asked how often the participant used the strategies identified by our review of common change management models and frameworks. Participants could select never, sometimes, most of the time, and always. The Cronbach’s Alpha of the Likert-scale questions was 0.86.

The procedures for the questionnaire followed the steps suggested by Gall et al. ( 2003 ). The first steps were to define the research objectives, select the sample, and design the questionnaire format. The fourth step was to pretest the questionnaire. We conducted cognitive laboratory interviews by sending the questionnaire and interview questions to one person who was in the field of change management, one person who was in the field of performance improvement, and one person who was in the field of survey development (Fowler, 2014 ). We met with the reviewers through Zoom to evaluate the questionnaire by asking them to read the directions and each item for clarity. Then, reviewers were directed to point out mistakes or areas of confusion. Having multiple people review the survey instruments improved the reliability of the responses (Fowler, 2014 ).

We used purposeful sampling to distribute the online questionnaire throughout the following organizations: the Association for Talent Development (ATD), Change Management Institute (CMI), and the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). We also launched a call for participation to department chairs of United States universities who had Instructional Systems Design graduate programs with a focus on Performance Improvement. We used snowball sampling to gain participants by requesting that the department chairs forward the questionnaire to practitioners who had led at least one organizational change.

Table ​ Table2 2 provides a summary of the characteristics of the 49 participants who completed the questionnaire. Most had over ten years of experience practicing change management ( n  = 37) and had completed over ten change projects ( n  = 32). The participants learned how to conduct change management on-the-job ( n  = 47), through books ( n  = 31), through academic journal articles ( n  = 22), and from college or university courses ( n  = 20). The participants had worked in 13 different industries.

Characteristics of participants

( n  = 49)

Table ​ Table3 3 shows how frequently participants indicated that they used the change management strategies included on the questionnaire. Forty or more participants said they used the following strategies most often or always: (1) Asked members of senior leadership to support the change; (2) Listened to managers’ concerns about the change; (3) Aligned an intended change with an organization’s mission; (4) Listened to employees’ concerns about the change; (5) Aligned an intended change with an organization’s vision; (6) Created measurable short-term goals; (7) Asked managers for feedback to improve the change, and (8) Focused on organizational culture.

Strategies used by change managers

Table ​ Table4 4 identifies how frequently the strategies appeared in the models and frameworks and the rate at which practitioners indicated they used the strategies most often or always. The strategies found in the top 25% of both ( n  > 36 for practitioner use and n  > 11 in models and frameworks) focused on communication, including senior leadership and the employees in change decisions, aligning the change with the vision and mission of the organization, and focusing on organizational culture. Practitioners used several strategies more commonly than the literature suggested, especially concerning the topic of middle management. Practitioners focused on listening to middle managers’ concerns about the change, asking managers for feedback to improve the change, and ensuring that managers were trained to promote the change. Meanwhile, practitioners did not engage in the following strategies as often as the models and frameworks suggested that they should: provide all members of the organization with clear communication about the change, distinguish the differences between leadership and management, reward new behavior, and include employees in change decisions.

A comparison of the strategies used by practitioners to the strategies found in the literature

Common Strategies Used by Practitioners and Found in the Literature

The purpose of this article was to present a common set of change management strategies found across numerous models and frameworks and to identify how frequently change management practitioners implement these common strategies in practice. The five common change management strategies were the following: communicate about the change, involve stakeholders at all levels of the organization, focus on organizational culture, consider the organization’s mission and vision, and provide encouragement and incentives to change. Below we discuss our findings with an eye toward presenting a few key recommendations for change management.

Communicate About the Change

Communication is an umbrella term that can include messaging, networking, and negotiating (Buchanan & Boddy, 1992 ). Our findings revealed that communication is essential for change management. All the models and frameworks we examined suggested that change managers should provide members of the organization with clear communication about the change. It is interesting that approximately 33% of questionnaire respondents indicated that they sometimes, rather than always or most of the time, notified all members of the organization about the change. This may be the result of change managers communicating through organizational leaders. Instead of communicating directly with everyone in the organization, some participants may have used senior leadership, middle management, or subgroups to communicate the change. Messages sent to employees from leaders can effectively promote change. Regardless of who is responsible for communication, someone in the organization should explain why the change is happening (Connor et al., 2003 ; Doyle & Brady, 2018 ; Hiatt, 2006 ; Kotter, 2012 ) and provide clear communication throughout the entire change implementation (McKinsey & Company, 2008 ; Mento et al., 2002 ).

Involve Stakeholders at All Levels of the Organization

Our results indicate that change managers should involve senior leaders, managers, as well as employees during a change initiative. The items on the questionnaire were based on a review of common change management models and frameworks and many related to some form of stakeholder involvement. Of these strategies, over half were used often by 50% or more respondents. They focused on actions like gaining support from leaders, listening to and getting feedback from managers and employees, and adjusting strategies based on stakeholder input.

Whereas the models and frameworks often identified strategies regarding senior leadership and employees, it is interesting that questionnaire respondents indicated that they often implemented strategies involving middle management in a change implementation. This aligns with Bamford and Forrester’s ( 2003 ) research describing how middle managers are important communicators of change and provide an organization with the direction for the change. However, the participants did not develop managers into leaders as often as the literature proposed. Burnes and By ( 2012 ) expressed that leadership is essential to promote change and mention how the change management field has failed to focus on leadership as much as it should.

Focus on Organizational Culture

All but one of the models and frameworks we analyzed indicated that change managers should focus on changing the culture of an organization and more than 75% of questionnaire respondents revealed that they implemented this strategy always or most of the time. Organizational culture affects the acceptance of change. Changing the organizational culture can prevent employees from returning to the previous status quo (Bullock & Batten, 1985 ; Kotter, 2012 ; Mento et al., 2002 ). Some authors have different views on how to change an organization’s culture. For example, Burnes ( 2000 ) thinks that change managers should focus on employees who were resistant to the change while Hiatt ( 2006 ) suggests that change managers should replicate what strategies they used in the past to change the culture. Change managers require open support and commitment from managers to lead a culture change (Phillips, 2021 ).

In addition, Pless and Maak ( 2004 ) describe the importance of creating a culture of inclusion where diverse viewpoints help an organization reach its organizational objectives. Yet less than half of the participants indicated that they often focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Change managers should consider diverse viewpoints when implementing change, especially for organizations whose vision promotes a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Consider the Organization’s Mission and Vision

Several of the models and frameworks we examined mentioned that change managers should consider the mission and vision of the organization (Cummings & Worley, 1993 ; Hiatt, 2006 ; Kotter, 2012 ; Polk, 2011 ). Furthermore, aligning the change with the organization’s mission and vision were among the strategies most often implemented by participants. This was the second most common strategy both used by participants and found in the models and frameworks. A mission of an organization may include its beliefs, values, priorities, strengths, and desired public image (Cummings & Worley, 1993 ). Leaders are expected to adhere to a company’s values and mission (Strebel, 1996 ).

Provide Encouragement and Incentives to Change

Most of the change management models and frameworks suggested that organizations should reward new behavior, yet most respondents said they did not provide incentives to change. About 75% of participants did indicate that they frequently gave encouragement to employees about the change. The questionnaire may have confused participants by suggesting that they provide incentives before the change occurs. Additionally, respondents may have associated incentives with monetary compensation. Employee training can be considered an incentive, and many participants confirmed that they provided employees and managers with training. More information is needed to determine why the participants did not provide incentives and what the participants defined as rewards.

Future Conversations Between Practitioners and Researchers

Table ​ Table4 4 identified five strategies that practitioners used more often than the models and frameworks suggested and four strategies that were suggested more often by the models and frameworks than used by practitioners. One strategy that showed the largest difference was provided employees with incentives to implement the change. Although 81% of the selected models and frameworks suggested that practitioners should provide employees with incentives, only 25% of the practitioners identified that they provided incentives always and most of the time. Conversations between theorists and practitioners could determine if these differences occur because each group uses different terms (Hughes, 2007 ) or if practitioners just implement change differently than theorists suggest (Saka, 2003 ).

Additionally, conversations between theorists and practitioners may help promote improvements in the field of change management. For example, practitioners were split on how often they promoted DEI, and the selected models and frameworks did not focus on DEI in change implementations. Conversations between the two groups would help theorists understand what practitioners are doing to advance the field of change management. These conversations may encourage theorists to modify their models and frameworks to include modern approaches to change.

Limitations

The models and frameworks included in this systematic review were found through academic research and websites on the topic of change management. We did not include strategies contained on websites from change management organizations. Therefore, the identified strategies could skew towards approaches favored by theorists instead of practitioners. Additionally, we used specific publications to identify the strategies found in the models and frameworks. Any amendments to the cited models or frameworks found in future publications could not be included in this research.

We distributed this questionnaire in August 2020. Several participants mentioned that they were not currently conducting change management implementations because of global lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because it can take years to complete a change management implementation (Phillips, 2021 ), this research does not describe how COVID-19 altered the strategies used by the participants. Furthermore, participants were not provided with definitions of the strategies. Their interpretations of the strategies may differ from the definitions found in the academic literature.

Future Research

Future research should expand upon what strategies the practitioners use to determine (a) how the practitioners use the strategies, and (b) the reasons why practitioners use certain strategies. Participants identified several strategies that they did not use as often as the literature suggested (e.g., provide employees with incentives and adjust the change implementation because of reactions from employees). Future research should investigate why practitioners are not implementing these strategies often.

Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic may have changed how practitioners implemented change management strategies. Future research should investigate if practitioners have added new strategies or changed the frequency in which they identified using the strategies found in this research.

Our aim was to identify a common set of change management strategies found across several models and frameworks and to identify how frequently change management practitioners implement these strategies in practice. While our findings relate to specific models, frameworks, and strategies, we caution readers to consider the environment and situation where the change will occur. Therefore, strategies should not be selected for implementation based on their inclusion in highly cited models and frameworks. Our study identified strategies found in the literature and used by change managers, but it does not predict that specific strategies are more likely to promote a successful organizational change. Although we have presented several strategies, we do not suggest combining these strategies to create a new framework. Instead, these strategies should be used to promote conversation between practitioners and theorists. Additionally, we do not suggest that one model or framework is superior to others because it contains more strategies currently used by practitioners. Evaluating the effectiveness of a model or framework by how many common strategies it contains gives an advantage to models and frameworks that contain the most strategies. Instead, this research identifies what practitioners are doing in the field to steer change management literature towards the strategies that are most used to promote change.

Declarations

This research does not represent conflicting interests or competing interests. The research was not funded by an outside agency and does not represent the interests of an outside party.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Contributor Information

Jeffrey Phillips, Email: ude.usf@spillihpbj .

James D. Klein, Email: ude.usf@nielkj .

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Strategies for Change Management

Info: 5349 words (21 pages) Dissertation Published: 13th Dec 2019

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Tagged: Change Management

2. Literature Review

The previous chapter provided background information on the area of research that lead to the problem argument and research question. This section presents a summary of the key research findings that have been discovered in the literature relating to change management in association with the change agent. Essentially, this chapter will review previously published literature studies with respect to the research investigation. Finally, a conceptual framework, based on theory is illustrated.

2.1 Change is always with us

Hussey (2000) speaks of change as being one of the most crucial facets of successful management. Change is becoming increasingly common due to the chaotic and rather unstable business environment in which the majority of organisations operate. Furthermore the nature of change may be gradually more complex and thus is it often more widespread. Hussey (2000) also argues that most of the change situations that a manager may be engaged in are cumulative rather than fundamental. Fundamentally, firms are bound to embark on intricate changes with progressive pace, efficiency and success, so as to retain a competitive edge in the long term (Lilie, 2002). An array of diverse management theories have been developed over the last couple of years in an attempt to meet the challenges presented by such expeditiously shifting change in the business scenario. Whether it is reengineering, total quality management, reorganisation or an alternative reformation programme, the intention is to instigate or encourage the necessary change processes in the organisation (Pfeifer and Bisenius, 2002).

Several authors on leadership and change share the same opinion with Burns (1979) that the primary mission of leaders is to effectuate change and change necessitates proper leadership. Presumably the two most demanding challenges confronted by organisations nowadays are leadership and change: recruiting, retaining and, most decisively, developing managers as well as effectively managing change within organisations (Kanter, 1997; Mullins, 2002; Peters, 1997).

2.2 The nature of organisational change

According to Balogun et al. (1999), organisational change has three core elements as shown in Figure 2.1: the change context, the change content and the change process.

The change context is the why of change. The social, economic, political and competitive environment in which the organisation operates is referred to as outer context; whereas the culture, structure and capabilities of the organisation belong to the inner context. The latter also comprises the political context. Balogun et al. (1999), further argue that the change content is the what of change, and represents the selections that need to be undertaken about an organisation’s product range or service. It encompasses also the markets in which it participates, how it competes, and in what way it should be structured. Lastly, the change process is the how of change, which incorporates all means to deliver change.

De Wit et al. (2004) speak of the extent of change in organisations, varying from a high to low amplitude. High amplitude refers to a radical change of the newly reformed company set-up concerning the organisational culture, structural composition, procedural activities or individuals from the previous state. On the contrary, a low amplitude of change implies a reasonable transformation to the former environmental conditions through the intended plan.

Burnes (2003) speaks of three distinct types of organisational change which due to their recognised value, have attained significant consideration: the noticeable technological advancement in the 1980s, the application of total quality management (TQM) over the past 20 years, and the implementation of business process re-engineering (BPR) during the last 15 years. Burnes (2000) demonstrated that successful evidence in these fields is outstanding.

It is crucial when striving to undertake organisational change to comprehend the causes of failure and the guidelines for successful accomplishment.

2.2.1 Why change fails?

At present, it is a commonly shared outlook that firms are changing rapidly and in a more radical fashion than in the past (Carnall, 1999; Cummings and Worley, 2001; Kanter, 1997; Kotter, 1996; Peters, 1997). The majority of critics seem to agree with Hammer and Champy’s (1993, p. 23) opinion that “… change has become both pervasive and persistent. It is normality”. Yet change is brought about in many variations. As Strickland (1998) remarks, occasionally change is progressive and barely recognised, such as the introduction of new machinery or computer application, or a new person becomes a member of the company. In contrast, change may be more widespread and remarkable: an absolute re-organisation, an amalgamation or a take-over, whereby each and every individual within the organisation is somehow affected. In view of these exhaustive transformations, Burnes (2000) poses a critical question: To what degree are these change efforts fruitful?

Unlike an organisation’s profitability or performance assessment, nobody compiles statistical information in connection with how successful industries are coping with managing change. Thus, even for highly conspicuous change programmes sustained by plenty of advice and assistance, the rate of failure is noteworthy (Burnes, 2003). As the following tables reveal, several critics have attempted to recognise the right sources of unsuccessful change transformations, whether these be faults, barriers or obstacles.

Although certain issues are common between the above tables, such as insufficient vision and excessive complacency along with an apathetic attitude, a number of dissimilarities are noticeable. Remarkably, nearly all of the items illustrated in the three lists denote unsuccessful management. This is evidently revealed in Table 2.3, which unambiguously exposes poor leadership and weak management (Burnes, 2003).

As Figure 2.2 illustrates, resistance to change takes place for several reasons. Some of which are attributable to individuals, whilst others concern the kind and structure of the organisation (Balogun et al., 2004; Dent et al., 1999). The amalgamation of these two sources of resistance critically hinder the change process. Thus, managers and staff are required to identify and comprehend the causes for resistance to change and its sources (Slocum et al., 2007).

2.2.2 Successful change

As well as recognising and distinguishing the plausible motives of failure, a number of authors have also attempted to determine the factors or actions which need to be undertaken to attain successful change (Dawson, 1994; Hardy, 1996; Kanter et al., 1992; Rye, 2001). Burnes (2003) states that one of the most valuable books in this regard is certainly Leading Change by Kotter (1996), which delineates an eight-step guide to championing change (Table 2.4).

Kotter’s eight steps are informative and inestimable in recognising the essential actions to accomplish successful organisational change. They also highlight the significance for change projects to be led by managers who have the predisposed managerial and personal skills in order to put them into practice (Burnes, 2003).

2.3 Strategic change

Machiavelli stated that:

“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new” (De Wit et al., 2004, p. 163).

According to Thurley et al. (1989), strategic management presents existing or future managers with structural frameworks and approaches to be able to develop and enhance their strategic views, as well as strengthen their skills and readiness to undertake strategic programmes. Ohmae’s (1982, p. 91) views of strategic management provide an understandable yet straightforward definition, whereby he refers to strategic management as the investigation for enhanced performance by means of a strategy that “ensures a better or stronger matching of corporate strengths to customer needs than is provided by competitors” (see Figure 2.3).

Pettigrew et al. (1993) emphasise the relevance of suitably associating strategic and operational transformations, derived from their comprehensive investigation of specific organisations. Pettigrew et al. (1993) further argue that strategic initiatives ought to be broken down into what they refer to as actionable items, each assigned to the responsibility of a change driver.

Inevitably organisations should change with the introduction of innovative technological development, ongoing economic transformation, inconsistent demographics, revolutionising political authorities, erratic consumer preferences and vigorous competition. Subsequently further consideration is given as to where, how and in what particular direction such firms must change. (De Wit et al., 2004). For ‘living’ organisations, change is an accepted fact. Essentially, they must continuously be aligned with their surrounding environmental factors, either by responding to external circumstances, or by proactively contouring the industries in which they partake.

De Wit et al. (2004) remarked that while change is widely spread, not all change in organisations is naturally strategic. As a matter of fact, most change processes transpire to be the progressive operational nature. Thus, organisations continuously make ‘fine-tuning’ adjustments to remain competent and efficacious, by means of enhancing established procedures, further developing projects, and relocating employees to a more suitable business environment. In contrast, strategic changes are aimed at instituting a redesigned type of alignment – an innovative relationship between the core set-up of the business and the distinctive aspects of the surrounding conditions. In essence, strategic changes significantly affect the way the business operates and the overall business structure.

2.4 Types of change

One prevalent and broadly recognised systematic classification of strategic change identifies forms or organisational change in relation to various dimensions. A first dimension is the magnitude of change, extending from no change necessary to major reorganisation of the firm (Fopp and Schiessl, 1999). In this perspective, Nadler (1994) distinguishes between incremental and radical change. The second dimension is the sequential order of the change. Dissimilar characteristics are noted between anticipative and responsive change processes.

In the context of these two dimensions, Nadler (1994) sets out a matrix illustrating the principal types of change strategies. Tuning refers to foreseeable circumstantial improvements to enhance company efficiency. On the contrary, adaptation denotes the acclimatisation of the organisation to the unstable environment. In both cases, change is referred to as evolutionary, and is triggered in divisions of the organisation. Alternatively, orientation signifies the restructuring of the entire company through fundamental transformation. In so-called reactive design, surrounding changes are reacted to which have already occurred.

Similarly Balogun et al., (1999) speaks of four key forms of change, characterised in two dimensions: the end result of change and the nature of change (see Figure 2.4). The end result concerns the degree of which change is demanded, whereas the nature of change is the chosen change approach, either all together straight away or in a gradual progressive manner.

Evolution relates to transformational change employed in stages through interdependent systems. Thus, it is a deliberate thought-out and practical change initiative in which direction is carried out by managers in reaction to their expectation of the necessity for the prospective change. Revolution is rudimentary change that is developed by making use of concurrent actions on several fronts, and generally in a rather short period of time. On the other hand, adaptation is less fundamental change realised slowly by means of more progressive phases, and reconstruction is change performed to realign the manner the business functions in a more striking fashion (Balogun et al., 1999).

2.5 Preparing change

2.5.1 instigating feeling for urgency.

If the requisite of change is not clearly recognised and comprehended, it will not be easy to organise a group which has sufficient authority and influence to instigate the anticipated change programme. In consequence, generating a sensation for the urgency of change is essential to acquire the necessary collaboration of all employees and managerial staff (Kotter, 1997). The major hindrance to bring about a feeling for the exigency of the current circumstances is the domineering power and complacency, which so often exists in organisations. According to Kobi (1996) the following conditions can assist to make the urgency of change blatantly evident:

• demonstrating the appeal of the change;
• challenging members of staff with understandable prospects;
• explaining it can be accomplished; and
• establishing a positive approach to the change

2.5.2 Forming leadership alliance

Notwithstanding the fact that remarkable transitions are habitually associated with a unique individual who is recognised by all members of the organisation, an influential leadership merger is crucial. Such formation is a fundamental element in preparation for the progression and succeeding realisation of a change programme (Pfeifer et al., 2005). The achievement of a successful leadership coalition is underpinned by a concoction of competent managers to supervise the change process and influential leadership personalities to drive the process forward. By and large, this change team is initiated with only one or two persons, and then expands in sizeable firms to comprise between 20 and 50 individuals (Kotter, 1997).

2.5.3 Convey vision and strategy

It is only when all company employees acquire a shared awareness and appreciation of their aims and direction that the actual potential of a vision is totally unleashed (Pfeifer et al., 2005). As a result, the impetus for and harmonisation of the required processes is underpinned by this mutual agreement on an enticing future leading to the envisaged changes. Thus, proper dissemination of vision along with strategy is of vital importance. Yet, studies reveal that management announcements lack certain information or are somewhat misconstrued, and in turn, the required quality of communication is overlooked (Schleiken and Winkelhoder, 1997). Pfeifer et al. (2005) further discusses that the absolute realisation of a new vision and strategy may be achieved over a number of years. Thus, a tool for monitoring and manoeuvring the change process is highly recommended during such a lengthy process.

2.5.4 Planning initial successes

Effectively, first achievements considerably contribute to the enthusiasm and driving force of those individuals engaged in and affected by the transformation. Such key employees demonstrate that the selected approach represents the correct way and that it is worth moving ahead with its implementation. Nevertheless, first accomplishments are meant to be though-out in advance. Schuh (1999) states that they must be designed into the development of the change programme altogether and coordinated appropriately. First successes ought to be comprehensible and noticeable for all company staff. In other words, they must absolutely prevent criticism and rumours.

Kotter (1997) explains that first successes allow the supports of the change to stop briefly for a moment and mull over and celebrate the outcomes realised to this point. Optimistic feedback boosts morale and stimulus, while such achievements neutralise sceptical and egotistical rivals.

2.6 Formulating changes

Supposedly, every innovative strategy endeavours to please and fulfil customers and staff members so as to assure the long-term company prosperity. Pfeifer (2001) remarks that in order to achieve this objective, collaboration between managing personnel and staff must be planned along the following features: awareness, desire, knowledge and ability.

According to Lilie (2002), 70 per cent of change transformations fail at some stage in the implementation phase caused by unpredictably emerging difficulties. Subsequently, the identification of such constraints in the implementation stage is crucial to its success. In this context, the theory of constraints (TOC) by E. Goldratt (Dettmer, 1997) is an effective tool for recognising the constraints and evaluate methods to mitigate these restrictions. Similarly, Oakland et al. (2007) declares that an all-embracing organisational change necessitates significant investments in energy, time and resources. Oakland’s personal experience has demonstrated that numerous change projects do not succeed. Publicly available estimates reveal that success levels can be as low as 10 per cent. Other researchers cite an average of 30 per cent success rate (Oakland et al., 2007). Indubitably, the sustainable cooperation of many employees is fundamental to the successful implementation of noteworthy organisational changes. In spite of this, employees are not able to contribute to a change programme if they consider themselves rather powerless and having absolutely no liberty (Doppler and Lauterburg, 2002). Pfeifer et al. (2005) concludes that the participation of individuals affected by the change permits the maximum potential to be attained in a change programme.

2.7 Context-specific change

Despite of the fact that managing change is a specialised competence that can be thought and, in turn, acquired over time, it is invariably argued that there is no one best recipe to carry out change. As a result, a context-specific approach is the correct way for addressing change programmes. The design and approach of any chance process should be tweaked according to the particular environmental conditions of each particular company. (Balogun et al., 1999). Figure 2.5 illustrates the phases in the design process of a context-sensitive conceptual application.

Extensive research exists describing the implementation phase of change programmes, where the ensuing explanation is far away from a model based on a logical set of technological, economic and structural eventualities. (Senge 1990; Pettigew et al., 1992). Subsequently, sufficient supporting evidence advocates that common prescriptive concepts of change transformations are inappropriate to demonstrate the multiplicity of various approaches effectively employed by companies (Dunphy and Stace, 1993). Similarly, Balogun et al. (1999) refers to the “formulaic approach” to change management as being a precarious route. Thus, the inestimable value gained through previous experience or knowledge must be analysed in relation to the present environment.

2.8 The role of the change agent

According to Balogun et al. (1999), the change agent is the accountable individual for “making the change happen” in any company. In actual fact, such people are not officially labelled change agents. Various people may be appointed, formally or informally, to satisfy this specific role. Buchanan and Badham (1999, p. 610) defines the change agent as a manager who attempts “to reconfigure an organisation’s roles, responsibilities, structures, outputs, processes, systems, technology or other resources” with the intention of enhancing the organisation’s efficacy.

Buchanan and Boddy (1992) describe the skills required for successful change agents encompass communication and negotiation competencies, team building activities, simplicity of stipulating objectives, and influencing skills to achieve commitment to the ultimate destination. Balogun et al., (1999, p. 6-7) argue that change agents ought to extend their “analytical, judgemental and implementation skills”. In addition to these managerial abilities, change agents require particular personal skills, comprising the ability to deal with “complexity, sensitivity and self-awareness”. Burnes (2003, p. 631) remarks that those individuals who lead change projects must possess the appropriate “skills, competencies and aptitude” to put into practice the guidelines for success.

Saka (2003) argues that members of an organisation are not only prospective change drivers but also recipients of change processes, and are probably to inquire about its significance.

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• How a change management process can affect the performance of mega program projects?
• Change management and veterinary nurses: focusing on a theoretical framework.
• Change management pitfalls: comparative analysis of the developed and developing countries of the world.
• How change management affects performance of interorganizational systems for the public?
• Change management in Africa: focus on core values of Ubuntu.
• Investigating the effects of change management practices on the performance of project change cost.
• Combined effects of business and IT functions on effective change management in organizational setups.
• Decision-making in change management: how things have changed in the age of information?
• Investigating the use of cross-functional teams in change management in the public sector: a descriptive analysis.
• Importance of internal control components in the performance of change management processes.
• Relationship between organizational change management and cultural revitalization movements.
• Role played by organizational change management for achieving sustainable competitiveness in the manufacturing industry.
• Studying the behavioral and attitudinal benchmarking in the tracking of change management processes in organizational setups.
• Change management and health care nursing: a review of literature.
• Leadership in change management: comparing hexagonal and pentagonal models.
• Studying change management tools: focus on internal marketing in organizational setups.
• Role played by social capital approaches for the evaluations of change management interventions.
• Qualitative research in change management: importance of grounded theory approach.
• Change management and electrical contractors: potential challenges and opportunities for better performance.
• Studying ethics, values and leadership in the context of change management.
• Relationship between planning and change management.
• Role played by employees and organizational culture in change management for sustainable competitive advantages: a UK-based study.
• Role played by internal communication in organizational change management.
• Technology-driven change management: importance of motivation and stakeholder acceptance.
• Studying the correlation among change management, workforce remodeling and working practices in primary schools.
• Change management policies and fact-based enforcement: a systematic study.
• Investigation of the correlation among change management, curriculum coherence and knowledge sharing in schools.
• Public sector change management: potential challenges and interventions involved in public hospitals.
• Climate change management and carbon foot printing: focus on cities of China.
• Role of climate change management in the reconciliation of growing energy demands.
• Integration of climate change management and sustainable development planning: a descriptive approach.
• Studying the integration of western change management concepts into Asian organizations: focus on welfare organizations.

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