(Background to Change Management cont. 16)

Managing Change
Introduction
Can change management be managed, ie is change manageable?
In an attempt to answers this question, managing is divided into 2 parts, ie controlling or shaping;
1. Controlling is characterised by planning, organising, commanding, coordinating, directing, etc, eg command and control, hierarchy, etc
2. Shaping involves a participatory form of management with actions designed to enhance organisational functional/operational capabilities like practices, routines, processes, systems, structures, culture, values, beliefs, behaviours, know-how, expertise, technologies, etc
Controlling and shaping is divided into 3 images of change outcomes:
i)  intended (happens as planned; change can be directed)
ii) partly or partially intended (not all intended change outcome happen; attributes like processes, interests, expertise, etc can modify the intended change outcomes)
iii) unintended (outcomes are outside the influence or control of the organisation and its management, ie usually external factors to the organisation)
Six approaches to handling change
i) directing (change achieved through deliberate management actions; usually used to achieve large-scale, transformational change using multi-step models but
"...the nature and direction depends on a range of organisational factors such as the scale of the change, the urgency of the change and the receptivity of organisational members for engaging in change..."
Ian Palmer, et al, 2002
Furthermore, the contingency theory applies, ie
"...That change evolves differently over time and according to the context in which the organisation finds itself......view change as a continuous process......a process that unfolds through the interplay of multiple variables (context, political processes and consultation) within an organisation..."
Ian Palmer, et al, 2002)
ii) navigating (as some factors will be outside management control, directing is not an option, ie
"...there is no simple description of managing transitions successfully. It's up to the change managers to navigate their way through this complexity, identify a range of options open to them, gathering and monitoring information and availing themselves of appropriate resources..."
B. Burnes as quoted by Ian Palmer et al, 2002
"...outcomes are often emergent rather than planned and result from a variety of divergent influences, competing interests, and processes..."
Ian Palmer, et al, 2002
The contingency theory, also, applies here.)
iii) caretaking (managers shepherd their organisation as best as they can; with some control as
"..the ability to exercise control is severely constrained by external actions which propel change relatively independent of the individual management intentions..."
Ian Palmer et al, 2002
Some examples of caretaking include
    -  life cycle approach (organisations pass through well-defined stages from birth to growth, maturity and then decline or death
"... Managers may engage in different activities at different stages but have a limited role, helping to smooth the various transitions rather than controlling whether or not they occur..."
Ian Palmer et al, 2002))
(for more details, see elsewhere in the Knowledge Base)
    - population ecology (drawing on biology, ecology, etc organisations' change is a result of ongoing cycles of variation, selection and retention, with managers having little influence; similarities (or isomorphism) occur through competition, the survival in the marketplace, etc)
    - institutional theory (managers have little influence over the change actions and outcomes; similar to population ecology; it assumes that the environment pushes organisation to change in similar ways, ie isomorphism occurs through pressure associated with the interconnectedness of organisation populations; there are 3 components: coercive, mimetic and normative)
(for more detail, see elsewhere in the Knowledge Base))
iv) coaching (involves shaping the organisation's capabilities to handle change.
An example is organisational development (OD) which is incremental and encourages staff to identify and solve their own problems better; the following steps are involved: problem identification, client consultation, gather information and problem diagnosis, feedback, joint problem diagnosis, change actions, monitoring and evaluating performance to determine outcomes of change and identify future action; this is a micro approach and needs to be supplemented with a more macro approach, ie aligning change to the strategic needs of the organisation.)
v) interpreting (providing meaning for what is happening, ie making sense of what is happening, eg sense making; however, there can be competing meanings which will confuse people.
One example is structuring processes and flow through which organisational work occurs so that organisational routines constantly undergo adjustments to better fit the changing circumstances.)
vi) nurturing (even small changes can have a large impact on an organisation with individual managers not in control; they can facilitate organisational qualities which enable positive self-organising to occur, ie future outcomes are shaped but not directly controlled, ie
"...specific outcomes of change are not intentionally produced but rather emerge from the positive qualities and capabilities of the organisation..."
Ian Palmer et al, 2002
Some examples:
    - chaos theory (its
"...perspective is that the organisational change is non-linear, fundamental rather than incremental and does not necessarily entail growth..."
B.B. Lichtenstein as quoted by Ian Palmer et al, 2002
(for more detail, see elsewhere in the Knowledge Base)
    - complexity theory (this involves organisations
"...continuously regenerating through adaptive learning and interactive structural change. These efforts periodically result in the spontaneous emergence of a whole new dynamic order, through a process called self-organisation..."
B.B. Lichtenstein as quoted by Ian Palmer et al, 2002
Self-organisation recognises the conundrum of having to engage simultaneously with both change and stability.)
(for more detail, see elsewhere in the Knowledge Base)
    - Confucius/Taoist approach (where change is viewed as
"...cyclical (constant ebb and flow), processional (harmonious movement from one state to another), journey orientated (cyclical state, therefore no end state), based on maintaining equilibrium (achieve natural harmony), observed and followed by involved people (who are constantly seeking harmony with their universe) and that it is normal rather than the exception......organisational change outcomes are not intended so much as produced through the nurturing of harmonious Yin-Yang philosophy in which each new order contains its own negation..."
R.J. Marshak as quoted by Ian Palmer et al, 2002)
NB there are variations within each approach, ie exceptions to the rule; managing and change outcomes are not necessarily mutually exclusive, ie there is a continuum from intended to unintended change outcomes; different assumptions can result in multiple images that are broadly representative.
Summary

(source: Ian Palmer et al, 2002)