Change has Changed

Organisations need to adapt to the pace and complexity of change. Winners learn to adapt and act quickly; while losers try to control and manage change.

The major differences in current change from previous eras:

- the simultaneous nature of change (change is everywhere)

- the speed of change (linked with technology)

- the different types of change (revolutionary, radical, evolutionary, convergent, divergent, transformational, transactional, etc)

- complexity of change (ripple impact of change)

- the immediate communications (use of the Internet)

- increasing need for positive leadership (action more important than words, ie people learn through observation; importance of reinforcement, words and actions; motivation, etc)

- increasing need for impacted stakeholders to take ownership of the change Initiative (it becomes their project

"...Organisational leaders......are facing change that is unprecedented in terms of time, quantity, speed, span/reach, course, world -wide communications and implications, time available to address changes and expectations of performance……Also, they must simultaneously think and make decisions about future change, some of which are long-term and some which are immediate ..."

Mildren Pryior et al, 2008)

This involves preparing for contingencies, the unexpected, etc.

Major Research Themes in Change Management

- content issues (focused on the substance of contemporary organisational change)

- contextual issues (mainly deals with forces in an organisation’s environment - external and internal)

- process issues (assess implementation actions during the change)

- criterion issues (focus on assessing outcomes of the organisational change)

- behavioural issues (reviewing behavioural changes that occur during the change).