Change management: a survival kit?

Change management: a survival kit? Presentation by Dr Judith Broady-Preston, Department of Information Studies, Aberystwyth University (copyright retained) to the Joint HLG Wales & IFMH Study Day, Friday 8 May 2009, Angel Hotel, Cardiff

Introduction Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama, speech, Feb. 5, 2008 Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. Octavio Paz After you’ve done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion. And after ten years, throw it away and start all over Alfred Edward Perlman, New York Times, 3 July 1958

Outline • Nature of change • Change and emotion – resistance to change • “Public sector executives face unique obstacles in leading organisational change, in part because of entrenched civil service bureaucracies, procedural constraints such as managing performance and firing employees, and dealing with many different stakeholders with competing priorities” Fenlon – Financial Times, 22 November 2002 • Tools and techniques • Recipes and ethics

Change: categorisation CONTINUOUS (EVOLUTIONARY) vs DISCONTINUOUS (REVOLUTIONARY) VOLUNTARY vs ENFORCED PURPOSIVE vs CHANGE FOR THE SAKE OF CHANGE?

Discontinuous change “We are entering an Age of Unreason, when the future, in so many areas, will be shaped, by us and for us; a time when the only prediction that will hold true is that no predictions will hold true; a time therefore, for bold imaginings in private life as well as public, for thinking the unlikely and doing the unreasonable.” (Handy, C. (1991) The Age of Unreason. London: Random House.)

Change • Increasing pace of change • Change from within - baby boomers, skills obsolescence, ageing equipment/technology • Forces of change • Relationship with, and the impact of factors creating an increasingly volatile external environment • Increasing demands for quality and higher levels of customer service and satisfaction • Greater flexibility in organisational structures and management patterns • Changing nature/composition of the workforce • Conflict from within organisations

Forces driving change: creating conflict • Czerniawska study (2005) (adapted from and quoted in Mullins, (2007), Management and Organisational Behaviour, p. 734): • Outsourcing,together with continual redefinition of an organisation's core business • Fragmentation of work, together with distribution of work across different locations, people and organisations • Changing demographics and expectations, creating an employees, rather than employers’, market • Technology, described as a double-edged sword, enabling people to do more, but tempting organisations to do too much • All the above creates CONFLICT between organisations and individuals • NB May 2009 – add ‘TED’ (The Economic Downturn)!

Change and emotion • Responses to enforced change = emotional • Use of stories and analogies can create detachment: • Sources: - http://www.businessballs.com/stories.htm • E.g. the businessman and the fisherman (KitKat ad) • Aesop’s Fables:- http://www.businessballs.com/aesopsfables.htm • E.g. The Ass and the Mule (agree to reasonable change now or you can risk far worse enforced change in the future) • The Rich Man and the Tanner, (time softens change - given time people get used to things) • Nothing new! • F B Loughridge (1979) “Against the Self Image of the Trade: Some Arguments Against Computers in Libraries” Assistant Librarian

Resistance to change “an inability, or an unwillingness, to discuss or accept organizational changes that are perceived in some way damaging or threatening to the individual.” (Huczynski and Buchanan (2007) Organizational Behaviour, 6th ed., p.598) NB New edition due 1 July 2009.

Causes of resistance to change • Parochial self-interest (“I don’t want to be pushed out of my comfort zone”) • Misunderstanding and lack of trust (“Why are you asking me to do this?” Conspiracy theorists?) • Contradictory assessments (You might think this is good, but I don’t”) • Low tolerance for change (“I can’t cope with the uncertainty/anxiety”) (adapted from Bedeian, 1980, quoted in Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007, p.597-599)

ignorance (failure to understand the problem) comparison (solution is disliked because alternative is preferred) disbelief (feeling proposed solution will not work) loss (change has unacceptable personal costs) inadequacy (rewards from change = insufficient) anxiety (fear of being unable to cope with new solution) demolition (change threatens to destroy existing social arrangements) power cut (sources of influence/control will be eroded) contamination (new values/practices = repellent) inhibition (willingness to change is low) mistrust (suspicion of management motives for change) alienation (other interests more highly valued than new proposals) frustration (change will reduce power and career opportunities) 13 sources of resistance (Eccles, 1994)

Overcoming resistance (1) • 6 techniques (Kotter and Schlesinger, 1979) • Education and commitment • Participation and involvement (participative management and change) • Facilitation and support – counselling, therapy for staff • negotiation and agreement – negotiated, compromise change • Manipulation and co-optation – getting resistors ‘onside’ covertly • Implicit and explicit coercion – transfer, demotion, career blocking, sacking strategies

Overcoming resistance (2) • Stakeholder analysis • identifying and addressing needs of ALL affected by change • Recognising different needs require different approaches • Process • Compile list of all stakeholders affected by proposed change • Establish win/lose scenario of each one • Focus on potential benefits to strengthen support for change • Address concerns by negotiation and compromise

partners – supporters of your change allies – supporters, if given encouragement fellow travellers – passive; committed to the agenda but not you fencesitters –not clear where their allegiances lie loose cannons – dangerous; may vote against agendas in which they have no direct interest opponents – oppose agenda but not you personally adversaries – oppose you & your agenda bedfellows – support agenda but may not trust you voiceless – those affected, but who lack advocates and power to promote or oppose change Overcoming resistance (3): Egan’s stakeholder categories (1994)

Leaders and resistance to change • Hooper and Potter study (1999) good change leaders: • effectively communicate change • develop open communications culture • champion innovation and creativity • set good personal example • avoid unnecessary stress by well-planned timing • Drucker view (1999): • “one cannot manage change. One can only be ahead of it. We do not hear much anymore about “overcoming resistance to change”. Everyone now accepts that change is unavoidable.”

JISC InfoKit: Change Management (2008)

Change variables: change elements matrix (JISC, 2008) • This tool provides decision-makers with a picture of the potential consequences if the change is, is not, or is partially implemented in each of a range of variables • Examples of variables are shown in blue. You may wish to tailor these to coincide with your own circumstances (next slide). • Available to download from: http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/tools/change-variables-template

Denial (1) shock relief Resistance (2) negativity self-doubt Exploring (3) search experiment Commitment (4) new forms new balance Managing the change cycle (based on Bryson, 2006)

Effective management of change • Step 1: Acknowledgement and understanding of the human element in an organisation • Step 2: Appreciate the influence of organisational structure and management style • Step 3: Successful change is facilitated by consideration of HRM concerns: • Change and HRM - 4 areas: • Communication and information sharing • Staff involvement and participation • Training and development • Job design

“Recipes” • Mechanistic/planned vs. radical/dynamic • Pundits identify recipes – the ‘n-step recipe for change’ approach – e.g. Lewin’s three step model (1951): • Unfreeze (current situation) • Move (desired future state) • Refreeze (embed and stabilise the change) • Relationship between change management and • project management • leadership and conflict • Is it neat, tidy, rational, and logical?

Pros: codifies what research and practical experience suggest are main factors contributing to effective change, even if much of this = ‘common sense’ gives a framework/checklist of requirements for those planning change Cons: research and experience confirm change is: - messy, untidy, politicised, seemingly irrational BUT ‘recipe approach’ assumes logical linear process. Presumption if change is messy must be because managers have failed to follow the recipe. theoretically weak because looks backwards and not at how organisational processes may be changing themselves Recipe approach

Ethical change? • A contradiction in terms? • Dodds, S. (2007) "Three Wins: Service Improvement using Value Stream Design“ 2nd ed. is the story of how a small team of health care professionals re-invented the way they worked. The book charts the successful redesign of the Vascular Surgery Outpatient Clinic at Good Hope Hospital, in North-East Birmingham from 2000-2004, which was subsequently rolled-out across the region during 2005. • Claimed outcomes are: • a better service to patients - Do you want a Win for QUALITY • a skilled, motivated and enthusiastic team - Do you want a Win for FUN? • and a substantial cost saving in treatment costs - Do you want a Win for COSTS? (Source : http://www.three-wins.com/ (Accessed 1 May 2009)

Change management: a survival kit?