Framework 73 Choosing Strategy
Three general change strategies to choose from
- Force-Coercion
Uses power base for legitimacy, rewards and punishments as the main inducements to change. There can be 2 elements to this
- i) Direct forcing strategy - a change agent takes direct and unilateral action to command that change takes place
- ii) Politically manoeuvring - a change agent works indirectly to gain special advantage over other people so that the change happens
NB Force-coercion usually results in only temporary compliance and has negative impacts like freezing innovative thinking, encouraging group-think, blind obedience to superiors, etc
- Rational persuasion strategy
This pursues change through empirical data and rational argument
A change agent following the strategy believes people
- are inherently rational
- are guided by reason in their actions and decision-making
- communicating information and facts are enough
The likely outcome is eventual compliance and reasonable commitment
- Shared power strategy
This involves a collaborative approaches of identifying values, assumptions and goals from which support for change will naturally emerge
- process is slow
- most likely result in higher commitment
- stresses empowerment and is highly participative
- usually results in a long-lasting and internalised change
(source: Paul Davidson, 2016)
