DEBRE BERHAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND

ECONOMYICS DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT

THE NATURE OF CHANGE

CHANGED PLANNING FOR PLANNED AND UNPLANNED CHANGE,
STRATEGIES FOR PLANNED ORGANIZATION CHANGE,
REVOLUTIONARY VS. EVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATIONAL
CHANGE, THE PROCESS OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT, AND
RESPONSIBLE FOR MANAGEMENT CHANGE,

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Nov, 2018
Debre Berhan
Introduction
Nature of change
"Change is no longer an irregular outing, an inconvenient upheaval to be undertaken

once every ten years. Change is something we have to learn to live with, to structure

and to manage. Change is here to stay, and the winners will be the ones who cope

with it." (Bainbridge, 1996,p.4).

Change is an organizational reality(Stephen P.Robbins and Mary Coulter,2002,p.338).It is

any alteration in the current work environment.This shift may be in the way things are
perceived or in how they are organized,processed,created,or maintaind.Every individual and
organizational experiances change (Warren R.Plunkett,Raymond F.Attner,Germany
S.Allen,2005,p-318).

Source of Change

 Eternal and
 Internal change

Eternal sources

Change may become from the political ,social, technological, or economic environment
Eternally motivated change may involve government action, technology, competition, social
values, and economic variables .Development in the external environment require managers
to make adjustments.

Internal Sources

Internal sources of change include managerial polices or styles ; systems and procedures;
technology; and employee attitudes. When managers change the standards by which they
measure job performance or when a new manager takes over a department or company,
employees must adopt their behavior to fit the new situation.

Types of change

Stractegic change

Structural change

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These changes have usually been made to make operations Nn more smoothly, improve over
all coordination and control, or empower individuals to make their own decisions. Because of
structural change has an organizational culture.

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change

UNPLANNED VERSUS PLANNED CHANGE

Definition: Planned change occurs when deliberate decisions are made in an

organization, while unplanned change is a result of unforeseen occurrences.
Ironically, the layoff was a planned change for Cheapo Toys, but an unplanned
change for Robert https://study.com

Unplanned change usually occurs because of a major, sudden surprise to the organization, which
causes its members to respond in a highly reactive and disorganized fashion. Unplanned change
might occur when the Chief Executive Officer suddenly leaves the organization, significant public
relations problems occur, poor product performance quickly results in loss of customers, or other
disruptive situations arise. Planned change occurs when leaders in the organization recognize the
need for a major change and proactively organize a plan to accomplish the change. Planned change
occurs with successful implementation of a Strategic Plan, plan for reorganization, or other
implementation of a change of this magnitude. Note that planned change, even though based on a
proactive and well-done plan, often does not occur in a highly organized fashion. Instead, planned
change tends to occur in more of a chaotic and disruptive fashion than expected by participants.
(http://www.authenticityconsulting.com)

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Strategies for planned organizational change

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REVOLUTIONARY VS EVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

Definition: The change occurs because “the boss says so.” Contrast that with an evolutionary
change. Evolutionary changes occur very slowly. A change agent helps the organization, often
person by person, understand the change. www.heitmanagement.com

Organizational change can occur quickly or slowly. I’ve found it useful to classify organizational
changes into two types–revolutionary and evolutionary–to call attention to two different, valid ways
of changing organizational culture. People less familiar with organizational change have a hard time
recognizing the validity of both approaches, particularly the evolutionary type. Many frameworks
say “you must have senior leadership buy-in,” and people then think the boss should tell everyone
and then we’ll do it.

That type of change–a high-pressure mandate from above–is what I call a revolutionary change.
Senior leadership says we must do this. Discussion may be tolerated or allowed, but the
improvement is going to take place. It could be a day, a week, or a month, but the change will
occur. The change occurs because “the boss says so.”

Contrast that with an evolutionary change. Evolutionary changes occur very slowly. A change agent
helps the organization, often person by person, understand the change. People comment and the
approach is built collaboratively. People have to buy in to the change. Senior leadership still needs
to be on board, but they are less the driver of the change and more a coach or cheerleader.

Let’s examine the advantages and disadvantages of revolutionary change vs. evolutionary change.

Aside: Political Capital

Every person in an organization has what I’ll call “political capital.” This capital is the ability to get
people to pay attention to you, follow you, and/or support your decisions. I don’t mean to be

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cynical; I only mean to present a helpful model for thinking about how people buy into
organizational change.

Political capital comes from your reputation. It’s built up when you reach out to people. It’s built up
when you “win” (not necessarily at the expense of others)–when you’re right about something, or
when you do something good. Political capital is built up when you help people. It’s gained when
you give people credit for their help.

Political capital is lost when you annoy people, frustrate them, or otherwise lose face. It’s lost when
you “lose”–when your idea doesn’t work out in a helpful way. It’s lost when you take credit for
other people’s work.

Political capital is spent–or perhaps, “betted”–when you stake your claim on a new thing. For
example, if I say “the future of higher education IT is in plastics,” and other people follow me in
that claim, I’m betting that’s true: if it is true, I gain capital; if it turns out false, I lose capital. The
thing is, the political capital is “locked up” while you’re pursuing the new thing.

Every person, up to and including the President and the Board of Trustees, has political capital
within the organization.

Revolutionary change

Revolutionary change is the change-by-mandate. You will often see this type of change in reaction
to (1) a leadership change or (2) a crisis. As examples: a new CIO comes in and reorganizes the
department, or the IT department fails an audit.

Advantages

 Low risk of the change failing to take effect.

 Change will occur quickly.

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  Change will have any resources needed.

 Political cover. For example if another department doesn’t like the change for some reason,
and they escalate to their management, whoever mandated the change feels ownership over
it and will be unlikely to back down. (Aside: this is not necessarily a good thing if the
change is at the expense of the larger organization.)

 Looks good on résumés and annual reports.

 Feels planned. Mandates that come from the same person often fit together–for example a
change this year to create a new Service Desk, followed by a change next year to implement
a new Service Desk tool.

Disadvantages

 Change may not become part of the culture before focus shifts. The change may roll back a
few months after leadership changes focus.

 Loss of political capital: because the change was less inclusive up front, political capital is
lost.

 Job security for the leader: if the change does not provide the benefit expected, or otherwise
fails, the people who mandated the change may lose their job. (Aside: setting this
expectation is definitely a bad way to manage, as it creates huge incentives for leaders to
make the change look like it worked.)

 Opportunity cost: other improvements may be needed but everyone is tied up working on
the mandated improvement.

 Not necessarily a “good fit” for the organization: the current situation was likely not
understood well, so the solution applied often leaves pain points or gaps.

 Often treats people like robots.

Evolutionary change

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Evolutionary change is change by convincing people. One or more “change agents” see an
opportunity for the organization to improve, and they pursue it by talking with other people and
building a proposal/prototype that is iteratively shopped around. (Again, if you’re interested in this
type of change see also “Riding the Maturity Model Wave,” which addresses how to conduct
evolutionary change.)

As examples: project management techniques that spread with use or changes to an incident
management process as teams figure out shortcuts. (Note: these changes are not necessarily
documented.)

Advantages

 Highly likely that, if the change is implemented, it will become part of the culture. More
people have been involved in the design. More people identify with the change.

 Likely that the change fits the organization, understanding the current situation.

 More brains around the problem, leading to more thoughtful solutions.

Disadvantages

 Very risky up front. High likelihood that people will not understand or will not buy in to the
change. Hard to build momentum.

 Haphazard. Changes may be introduced that do not move the organization towards where it
needs to go. This is compounded if there is not an organizational “True North” or target
condition.

 Can be “design-by-committee” where a sense of central direction is lost. Especially true if

there is not one clear owner/change agent.

 Hard to find people who are good at making evolutionary change. It is a skill. What’s more,
these people rarely take credit for their work so you might not know who they are.

Personally, I believe in IT organizations having a continual service improvement manager position,

where one of that position’s primary responsibilities should be to learn how to facilitate

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evolutionary change. They become the keeper of knowledge about people’s motivations and high-
level understanding of the organization’s current situation by team, so they know who to contact to
build the case for a change ( John Borwick In IT management) .

THE PROCESS OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Definition: Change management is the process, tools and techniques to manage the people side of
change to achieve the required business outcome. Change management incorporates the
organizational tools that can be utilized to help individuals make successful personal transitions
resulting in the adoption and realization of change. https://www.prosci.com

Throughout the change management process, performance must be monitored. Leaders who know
their employees well have an advantage over uninformed leaders. They have the ability to predict
who may have concerns and when issues may arise ahead of time. As leaders decide to transition to
a different approach of their organization (which can be anything including: resources, products,
services, equipment, location, company structure, personnel or anything significant/different to the
organization’s mission. When implementing change and to lead the new culture: start with the
senior leadership, continue with junior leadership and conclude with the rest of the team members.
 
There are many strategies to use when incorporating a change management process. Hence , we will
use the 7 step Problem Solving Process
1. Recognize and Define the Problem (Current) how things are done today
2. Gather Facts and Make Assumptions (Current)
3. Define End States and Establish Criteria (Current- Transition)
4. Develop Possible Solutions (Current- Transition) Establish future goals, prepare plan
5. Analyze and Compare Possible Solutions (Current- Transition) consult with subject matter
experts
6. Select and Implement Solution (Transition) Create policy letters; Determine timeline for
implementation; inform all members on changes to be implemented. Train personnel on
new standards
The Transformation Point

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 • Low stability: high chaos
• High emotional stress
• Control becomes a major issue

• High undirected energy

• Glorifying the past
• Conflict increases
• Resistance starts to build

7. Analyze Solution for Effectiveness (Future) Hold members accountable; monitor progress.
Supervise- Do not micromanage (https://www.prosci.com/change-management/thought-
leadership-library/change-management

Responsible for management change

Definition: The primary responsibility will be creating and implementing change management
strategies and plans that maximize employee adoption and usage and minimize resistance. The
change manager will work to drive faster adoption, higher ultimate utilization of and proficiency
with the changes that impact employees. https://www.prosci.com

What to Expect from Change?

1. No matter how positive , promising or proactive the change is, expect a sense of loss

2. No matter how competent and committed stakeholders are , expect a sense of confusion

3. No matter how loyal employees are, expect some initial skepticism and an increase in
“me” focus

“Positive” Response to Change

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 “Negative
Responses
to change”

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Recognizing the Individual Change Response

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