Overview of Change Management

One constant we can all agree on is that change is a daily facet of our practice, and the rate of change is continuing to accelerate. The S&P 500 stock market index, maintained by S&P Dow Jones indices, measures performance of 500 large-cap American companies covering about 75% of the American equity market by capitalization. Consider that the life span of an S&P 500 company is down from 75 years in 1937 to just 15 years today.

When all of the challenges are considered, it is obvious that there is a greatly increased demand for new ideas and change. Organizations need all the help they can get and all the ideas they can gather to cope with these pressures and changes.

Change management is a methodology to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations to a required future state. Change management provides a competitive advantage, allowing organizations to swiftly and effectively implement change to meet market needs. Change management focuses on the “people side” of change and targets leadership within all levels of an organization including executives, senior leaders, middle managers and line supervisors. When change management is done well, people feel involved in the change process and work collectively towards a common objective, getting benefits and delivering results. Change can happen in an organisation’s internal or external environment. As a result, this process of change is constant. Change management looks at the drivers of change in the business environment.

Change management has at least three different elements, including: adapting to change, controlling change, and effecting change. A practical approach to dealing with change is central to all three aspects. For an organization, change management means defining and implementing procedures and/or technologies to deal with changes in the business environment and to profit from changing opportunities. In an information technology (IT) system environment, change management points to a systematic approach to keeping track of the details of the system (for example, what operating system release is running on each computer and which fixes have been applied). Successful adjustment to change is as vital within an organization as it is in the natural world. Just like plants and animals, organizations and the individuals in them will face changing conditions that they are powerless to control. Adaptation might involve establishing a structured methodology for reacting to change requests in the business environment or establishing coping mechanisms for responding to changes in the workplace (such as new policies, or technologies).

Organisational change takes place for a number of reasons. Often this is because of changes in the internal and external environment. An organisation executes changes to increase the effectiveness of the business. Change can be a complex process and there may be barriers to overcome. This is why implementing change programs within an organisation requires effective managers. Effective managers are proactive in creating solutions to improve the organisation’s performance. They must then manage and guide employees through the change process. It is in the interest of managers to try to forecast the changes that are likely to take place. In other words, they have to plan and drive change initiatives. This means managing the change process and making it part of an organisation’s strategy. Strategies aid a business in achieving its aims and objectives. This then helps businesses to develop in a more focused way to the environment in which it operates, whilst facing new challenges with more confidence.