Change Management In Practice Why Does Change Fail
Below is a MRR and PLR article in category Business -> subcategory Management.
Change Management in Practice: Why Does Change Fail?
Summary
Change management often encounters resistance, which can be active or passive, overt or covert, individual or organized, aggressive or timid, and at times, justified. Unfortunately, most significant changes fail to meet the expectations of their proposers. This failure is often attributed to resistance, but it's important to recognize that resistance can be principled and creative as well as driven by vested interests.
Article Body
Resistance to change can manifest in various ways: active or passive, overt or covert, individual or organized, aggressive or timid. Sometimes, it's even justified. Unfortunately, significant changes often fail to meet expectations, with resistance being the catchall term for failure. However, it's crucial to understand that resistance can be both principled and creative, alongside being driven by vested interests. Management often sets unrealistic expectations and timelines, overlooking the process they themselves underwent to initiate the change.
An effective change manager prepares an organization for change early on, during project definition and stakeholder review. By engaging managers in a sales-like process and addressing apparent resistance?"seen as creative conflict?"this approach can refine project definition and foster buy-in, making it clear when resistance shifts to vested interest.
It is often unrealistic for an independent change manager to confront vested interests directly, but a change director can use the situation to signal the organization. Such interventions should be strategic and impactful.
An independent change manager acts as both a foil and a lightning conductor?"deflecting positive energy to the right places and channeling negative energy away from the organization.
Avoiding Failure: Managing Resistance
Resistance is a critical factor in why change initiatives fail. An informal UK survey of 120 government transformation programs found:
- 15% achieved their objectives
- 20% didn't achieve their objectives but were deemed satisfactory
- 65% were unsatisfactory
A discussion forum on ecademy.com highlighted seven key reasons why change fails, echoing a list from Kotter at Harvard 15 years ago:
1. Lack of Clarity: The organization wasn't clear about the reasons for change and overall objectives, which benefits vested interests.
2. Failure to Act Quickly: Delays in moving from planning to action lead to mixed messages and give resistance more focus.
3. Unprepared Leadership: Leaders weren't ready to adopt a management style suitable for a changing business environment, viewing change programs as temporary rather than ongoing.
4. Inappropriate Methodologies: Organizations chose change methodologies that didn't fit their needs or overloaded themselves with conflicting approaches.
5. Cultural Pushback: The organization wasn’t prepared, and the internal culture resisted change.
6. Disjointed Change Efforts: Organizations changed one part of the process without considering the broader impact, often looking for quick wins or prematurely declaring success.
7. Remote Leadership: Leaders set strategic directions but remained distant from the change process, leaving it to less motivated individuals.
Addressing even one of these issues can make a change program inconsistent and exacerbate resistance. Advance planning and stakeholder management can help avoid these pitfalls. This list also serves as a diagnostic tool to identify and address the sources of resistance.
Conclusion
- Resistance can be healthy and lead to positive outcomes like a pearl from an oyster.
- Unanticipated, unquantified resistance is dangerous.
- Poorly thought-out processes and implementations increase resistance.
- An independent change manager provides the necessary objectivity to manage resistance effectively.
- Successful change is essential to fostering a culture of adaptability and growth.
You can find the original non-AI version of this article here: Change Management In Practice Why Does Change Fail .
You can browse and read all the articles for free. If you want to use them and get PLR and MRR rights, you need to buy the pack. Learn more about this pack of over 100 000 MRR and PLR articles.