History of Change Management (from 1990s to 2000s)
Up to the 1990s, research in the field of organizational change had previously focussed on content, context, process and outcome.
1. The “content” elements were the product of an organisation’s orientation, structure and environmental fit. These factors helped determine the organization’s mission and direction. Within this area, it was thought that transformational and transactional dynamics were relevant to successful change implementation.
a) transformational elements included employees’ responses to external and internal pressures;
b) transactional elements included psychological factors controlling the organizational “climate”.
Then, in 1990s, approaches were proposed for content research containing 8 facets:
- i) Strategic intent
- ii) Competencies
- iii) Processes
- iv) Resources
- v) Outcomes
- vi) Strategic responses
- vii) Challenges
- viii) Learning capacity
2. Contextual studies cover the impacts of internal and external factors on an organization, and how it responds to changes in its environment. From research of the loan industry, it was found that a quick response to environmental change, especially in technological areas, can “bring short-term profit and long-term survival”. Also, it was thought that using simulations of organisational responses to potential environmental changes could help alleviate issues such as inertia and stress.
Dimensions of research into organisational change before 2000
(source: Adnan Celik et al, 2016)
3. Process research has its roots in Lewin’s (1947) model: “unfreezing, moving and refreezing”. Much later this approach was followed by Judson (1991) and Kotter (1995) who developed models for implementing change.
i) Judson’s model identified 5 phases:
- a) Planning the change
- b) Communicating the change
- c) Accepting new behaviours
- d) Changing from past to new
- e) Setting up the new state.
ii) Kotter’s well-known model identified 8 steps involved in effective change initiatives:
- a) Establish a sense of urgency to change
- b) Form a collaboration within the workplace for changing
- c) Outline a strategic vision
- d) Enlist others willing to align their behaviours with the articulated vision
- e) Enable action by removing barriers
- f) Create short-term wins
- g) Change structures & sustain acceleration
- h) Institutionalize the new approaches.
4. Outcome research
Resistance, receptivity, commitment, cynicism, personal reaction…are the variables which provided the focus for outcome research. Prior to 2000, organizational change literature examined change across an organization’s structure, system and sub-system, and employees-managers’ behavioural position.
i) Before WW2 – the focus was on organizational structure
ii) After WW2 & during the Cold War period – focus on technology and human relations (using behavioural & system approaches)
iii) 1970s – 2000 – the clear focus became change agents, resistance to change, and then leadership (with employees’ and managers’ career path options in the frame.
(main source: Adnan Celik et al, 2016)