Managing change and organizational development

According to the first great political philosopher of the Renaissance, Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 - 1527), there is nothing more difficult to carry out, more doubtful of success, or more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things. And, according to at least one report you'll find highlighted here, the odds are three to one against pulling off a successful initiative aimed at re-engineering a process or making related changes.

That dreary prognostication offers a perfectly good reason to dive into the morass we call the Web in search of zero-cost, non-commercial, registration-free resources. This time we'll be looking for practical information about the organization, people and processes undergoing some form of transformation, adjustment and transition designed to allow the final result to function more effectively.

Before we get too far into this, take this challenge: name one business, regardless of size, product or service, that's immune to change. When you think about it, change is perpetually the immediate reality of life in the business world.

People's fear of change often surfaces in the form of obstructionism. Getting evicted from your comfort zone and the change that goes with it are spooky, unpredictable events. Yet, sometimes progress and taking control of the future demands we make a change. And change is something many people simply would prefer to avoid. The Psychological Management of Change by Johnson and Outcalt of Retail Strategists, LLC, offers five reasons why resistance to change is so great. They also offer some suggestions for defusing those objections. Although the article is directed at owners of retail stores, human nature being what it is makes me think some of this content would work in your plant as well as it would in the neighborhood dollar store. If you're curious, bop over to http://www.retailowner.com/owner_article3.htm for the details.

Grad students are a consistent source of research. It seems a shame to reduce the countless hours they devote to a given topic to a few pages of printed material. Nevertheless, I'd like to direct your attention to one piece of research, United Parcel Service and the Management of Change, a report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of a graduate level management course at the College of Business and Public Administration, University of Louisville, Louisville, Ky. The purpose of the project, according to authors Decker, Engleman, Petrucci and Robinson, is to highlight change efforts within UPS, show how UPS identified the need for organizational change, and explain how it started and managed the change process. It's a long read, but for someone responsible for changing something, a good read. Visit http://cbpa.louisville.edu/bruce/cases/ups/htm/ups.htm for the view from academia.

This field of study also is aimed at making companies better. OD is a planned, organization-wide effort, the intent of which is to increase organizational effectiveness and health. It's managed from the top, relies on planned interventions and uses behavioral-science knowledge to achieve its ends. Organization development: The management of change by Robert H. Rouda and Mitchell E. Kusy, Jr., defines organizational development, explains why it should be done and describes who should be doing it. The document also explains how to tell when a company is ready for an initiative. If you want the details about the nine steps to action research, click over to http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~rouda/T3_OD.html.

Change Management Guideline, published by the Office of Information Technology, which is part of New South Wales Department of Information Technology and Management, is a Web document that addresses changes in work practices and business processes associated with information and communications technology projects. It details objectives and scope, the six concepts that ensure project success, 17 key issues to address and the five major activities common to every project of this type. Read all about it at http://www.oit.nsw.gov.au/pages/4.3.19.Management-of-Change.htm.

The next Web reference is not a recipe from the change cookbook. Rather, it's a treatise on the psychology and philosophy of change in a culture with which few of us ever have significant contact. In the manufacturing world, The Management Of Change In Police Organizations by James M. Hart probably would have value to the designated agent of change in an organization. Hart's writing seems a bit stiff and a bit heavy on the passive voice. That's not to denigrate the article. On the contrary, it makes some interesting points. For example, it introduces the idea of "openness" and its value as an impetus to change. A system closed off from its environmentone that lacks opennesshas minimal impetus to change or evolve. It's worth reviewing as background. When you check it out, be sure to read and heed the section discussing sunk costs. Point your 357 mousie to http://www.ncjrs.org/policing/man199.htm to get this report.