The Importance and Nature of Change

Change management plays an increasingly important role in modern organizations. Change management focuses on the ‘people side’ of change, whereas project management focuses on delivering the ‘product side’ of things.

Project management delivers technologies and systems into organizations. Change management ensures these technologies are used by the people working within them.

Change management is becoming an increasingly important role within organizations and Change Management training is a popular training ground for a successful change management career.

Change management is important for several reasons

1. External factors

External factors play a big role in organizational change. Globalization and the rapid developments in new digital solutions are forcing organisations to respond. Ignoring such external factors is likely to jeopardise your organisation’s success.

Nokia was once the biggest mobile phone company in the world, but it almost went out of business. That’s because it didn’t keep up with changes in mobile technologies. As a result, Nokia’s products didn’t appeal to consumers and its market share rapidly declined.

2. Making ideas succeed

Many organizations use change management methodologies to enable ideas to succeed. Working alongside project managers who deliver new capabilities into an organization, change managers and change agents help ensure staff are able to fully utilise the new capabilities.

3. Enabling cross-functional changes

Almost every functional unit within a modern organization relies on change management to enable it to:

• Align the change plan to the business’s overall strategy;
• Improve internal and external services and requests;
• Track and resolve issues.

4. Engaging people with the change process

A key part of managing change in an organization is to engage those people affected by a change initiative. Staff will be involved in the change process eventually, therefore communicating and engaging with staff about a change plan early helps lay the groundwork for its later success.

5. Preparing for organizational transition

Change managers are often appointed to make organizational change go smoothly. They use change management models to make changes such as:

• Restructuring job roles;
• Restructuring business processes;
• Implementing new technologies.

6. Decreasing resistance to a change initiative

Resistance is inevitable in any change initiative because people often find it unsettling being asked to work in new and different ways. So, change managers can often expect a denial reaction from staff.

It takes time to overcome those reactions. When change managers are transparent from day one, the less resistance they are likely to face.

7. Improving performance and productivity

When an organization adapts improved ways of working, it tends to increase productivity. At the same time, it encourages innovation.

As a result, it guarantees improved performance and places an organization in a healthier environment better able to succeed.

8. Reducing costs

When positive change is applied correctly, it helps to reduce waste and therefore reduce costs. Effective change management helps an organization make smart choices. It increases productivity, decreases risks, and helps to improve the profitability of an organization.

Nature of Change

1. A Dynamic process, rather than a Series of Events

We often talk of Stone Age, agricultural age, machine age and the current information age. The ‘ages’ indicate that society has been constantly changing over time. This suggests that change is, and always has been a continuous process. ‘Every moment the time changes every second, millisecond, microsecond, nanosecond and attosecond.’ It is this continuity, an indicator of dynamism.

2. Change can be exciting and bring about the best work of a life-time

Change always gives hope for the betterment, and this hope brings out the best of a person.

3. The Pace, Amount, and Complexity of change only Continue to Rise, with no signs of let up

We have seen within last one decade that the speed of change has increased many folds. The change is all round. And, there is no likelihood of any slowing of it. Thus, change is also changing.

4. Change does not take place in a vacuum

Change is when someone is there to feel and something is there to change. Change occurs in a system.

5. Change is an accelerating constant universally

Change, like death and taxes, is permanent. Somebody has rightly said that nothing (except God) is as permanent as change. Process of change is not restricted to one country or organization. It is pervasive.

6. Change will generate other changes

Change always follows systems approach. Hence a change at one place requires simultaneous changes in related aspects as well.

7. Change is not new

Change has been here for times immemorial, and hence, it is not a new thing.

8. Change is a Natural Phenomenon

As sunrise and sunset are natural, so is also change.

9. Change is a continuum

The transition from night today is called dawn whereas the transition from day to night is called dusk. But no one can tell when the day ceases to be day or night ceases to be night. No one can! Since change is a continuum.