STRATEGIES IMPLEMENTATION

& MANAGING CHANGE

Prof.dr.dr.dr.h.c. Constantin Bratianu

Faculty of Business Administration
Academy of Economic Studies
Bucharest
 PLANNED CHANGE

• The basic idea of this theory is that change can

be planned and managed as a controlled process.

• Since change has been considered at the

organization level, all research focused on
Organizational Development (OD).

• Kurt Lewin founded in 1945 the Research Center

for Group Dynamics, with a huge influence.
 MODELS OF PLANNED CHANGE

• The action research model

• The three-steps model

• The phases of planned change model

 THE ACTION RESEARCH MODEL

• Action Research has been designed to solve

social and organizational problems.

• It is research on action to make that action more

effective. Action refers to programs and
interventions designed to solve a problem or
improve a condition.

• The main idea is that effective solving of

organizational problems must involve a rational,
and systematic analysis of the issues in question.
 THE ACTION RESEARCH (I)

• The Action research comprises 3 components:

- the organization (top management)
- the subject (people where change is done)
- the change agent

• The 3 entities must agree to form a group, under

mutually acceptable and constructed terms of
reference.
 THE ACTION RESEARCH (II)

• The main difficulty is to gain the commitment of

both the organization and the subject of the
change.

• The strategy was to use top-down change

implementation based on top managers authority.

• This approach is not working well in large

organizations and where the distance to power is
relatively small.
 THE 3-STEP MODEL

• The basic idea was that change toward a higher

level of group performance is frequently short
lived. After some time, group behaviour may
revert to the previous pattern.

• This indicates that it is not enough to define

change as a target and to stop. It is important to
include also the group performance in the new
state of change.
How can you transform an ice cube into a cylinder ?
 Kurt Lewin’s Change Model

Proposed by K. Lewin (1958) for implementing change in an

organization through 3 stages:

Change

Unfreezing Re-freezing

Organizational Organizational
culture culture
 PHASES OF PLANNED CHANGE

• The concept of planned change implies that an

organization exists in different states at different
times and that planned movement can occur from
one state to another.

• For planned change it is important to understand

not only the change but also the states through
which the organization must pass.
 THE 4-PHASE MODEL

• Bullock and Batten (1985) developed an

integrated four-phase model for planned change:

1.Exploration phase
2.Planning phase
3.Action phase
4.Integration phase
 EXPLORATION PHASE

• Becoming aware of the need for change

• Searching for outside assistance (a consultant/

facilitator) to assist with planning and
implementing the change

• Establishing a contract with the consultant which

defines each party’s responsibility
 PLANNING PHASE
• Analysis and diagnosis of the problem to be
solved

• Establishing change goals and designing the

appropriate actions to achieve these goals

• Establishing priorities and sequence

requirements for change implementation

• Allocation of tangible and intangible resources

for each change sequence
 ACTION PHASE
• Identify all possible resistances to change and
their nature

• Evaluate the inertial forces of each resistance

• Choose adequate approaches to overcome each

resistance

• Evaluate the progress of change implementation

• Perform corrections to the initial plan if

necessary
 INTEGRATION PHASE

• This phase begins when the changes have been

successfully implemented
• It is concerned with consolidating and stabilising
the changes
• Reinforcing the new behaviours through
feedback and reward systems
• Diffusing the successful aspects of the change
process through the organization
• Train managers and employees to monitor the
changes and seek to improve upon them
 LIMITATIONS (I)

• The basic hypothesis that an organization exists

in different states at different times and that
planned change is a transition from one state to
another

• The dynamics of business environment imposes

organizational change to be more a continuous
and open-ended process, than a set of discrete
and self-contained events
 LIMITATIONS (II)

• Its emphasis on incremental change and its

inability to incorporate radical, transformational
change

• It assumes that one type of approach to change

is suitable for all organizations, all situations and
all times

• Turbulent times demand different responses in

varied circumstance
THE EMERGENT CHANGE APPROACH
• It is a new approach which lacks agreed methods
and techniques

• This approach stresses the developing and

unpredictable nature of change

• Change is viewed as a process that unfolds

through the interplay of multiple variables within
the organization

• There is no single prescription for managing

organizational transitions successfully
 BOTTOM-UP APPROACH

• Planned change is implemented more likely

through a top-down approach

• Emergent change is implemented more likely

through a bottom-up approach

• The bottom-up approach requires a major change

in the role played by senior managers. Instead of
planning, directing and controlling change they
must create adequate conditions for supporting
change
 IMPORTANT FEATURES

• Though the concept of universally applicable

rules for change are rejected, supporters of
emergent change stress 4 necessary
organizational features:
- organizational structure
- organizational culture
- organizational learning
- managerial behaviour
 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
• This is seen as playing a crucial role in defining
how people relate to each other and in
influencing the momentum for change

• The more flexible and flatter organizational

structure to increase the responsiveness to
change, by developing authority of all managers
and responsibility

• Organizational structure based on teams and

networks
 ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
• If change is developing in concordance with the
cultural values, organizational culture will
support the change

• If change is developing against the cultural

values, organizational culture must be changed
along with change implementation

• Creating a culture for change means that change

has to be part of the way we do things around
here
 ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING

• Change is an excellent opportunity to learn new

things and then to adapt the organization to the
new external business environment requirements

• Organizational learning is based on the double

loop model (single loop model = solving
problems in a programmed way)

• Organizational learning creates a pro-active

approach to change
 MANAGERIAL BEHAVIOUR(I)

• The role of managers is not to plan and to control,

but to create an internal environment able to accept
and to support change

• The key organizational elements are:

- Information gathering
- Communication
- Learning
 MANAGERIAL BEHAVIOUR (II)

• For supporters of the emergent approach, the

essence of change is to move from the known to
the unknown

• In this situation, it is essential for managers to be

able to tolerate risk and cope with ambiguity

• Managers must develop the skills of making

decisions in situations with high levels of
uncertainty
 ENVIRONMENT

Stable Turbulent

Planned Emergent

APPROACHES TO CHANGE