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Change Management, why it works and what model is the best fit for organizations in
a Project Management structure.
A Research paper Prepared for the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and
Treasurers of Ontario (AMTCO) Municipal Management Diploma Program by Student
# 209917.
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Executive Summary 3
Scope and Methodology. 4
Section One Change Management & Project Management
What is Change Management? 6
What is Project Management? . 6
Synergies between Project Management and Change Management. 6
The Change Curve 7
Why is Change Management necessary? 7
Benefits of Change Management 8
Section 2 - Change Management Models
Kurt Lewin- Three Stages of Change Freeze Transition Refreeze 10
John Kotter Managing Change in Eight Steps 11
Prosci-ADKAR Change Management Model. 13
Section 3 Change Management Success
Change Management Best Practices 16
Recommendation: Change Management Model for Project Management 17
Conclusion 18
Bibliography 19
Appendix a 20
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Executive Summary
In todays global economy organizations recognize that one thing is constant and that is
change. Private sector organizations seek aggressive ways to remain competitive in a global
economy - from reductions in workforce to radical restructuring. Public sector organizations
strive to be effective while meeting the growth demands in communities that are more
complex, while remaining cost effective and accountable as they deliver high quality services
to their communities and stakeholders.
As a result the industry of Change Management has seen significant growth since the early
1990s as organizations seek methodologies to help them adapt to or implement new
processes or changes. The focus of this paper will be on understanding Change Management
as it integrates with Project Management and what model may be the best for an organization
that is operating in a Project Management structure.
The first section of this paper will explore what change management is and if it is a necessary
discipline? How do organizations really know if they will get their return on their investment
in a change management program? It will also explore the synergies between change
management and project management two disciplines which are often required to drive
dramatic results in organizations.
The second section explores three popular Change Management Models that have evolved
within the industry; Lewins 3 steps to change, John Kotters 8 steps to change and the
Prosci-ADKAR model developed by John Hiatt. Each model has its strengths and
weaknesses however; I will explore further how one model is best applied to organizations
that are operating in a project management structure.
The third section looks at the factors that are required for successful Change Management.
What has been successful in organizations and what would they do differently on future
implementations. Organizations are diverse and not all aspect of any one change
management model may work for any singular organization. When implementing a change
management program whether it is based on one model or favourite elements from many
there are a number of best practices that organizations should consider.
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(consisting
of
requirements,
standards,
processes
and
For the purposes of this paper the following definition is used; Change Management: is an
approach to transitioning organizations, teams and individuals from their current state to a
new desired state for the future.2
Change management is both an art and a science that uses theories and methodologies, tools
and well-practiced structured approaches to manage organizational change efforts so that the
desired results of the change (and expected return on investment) are achieved.
Change Management plays an important role in any organization as managing change is not
easy.
Change in an organization or a project can be initiated both from within the
organization and from external forces. Externally, competition may drive an organization to
change a product or service to try and capture more of the market share.
Internally a
problem may be identified and change management is seen as the process by which a
solution can be implemented with the organization.
Most Change Management Models have three main characteristics:
Preparing for change. This is the time to get ready the organization has looked at
their current state and determined that change efforts are required to get to a
future state.
Managing Change. This is where detailed planning takes place determining what is
required, what tools and tactics the organization will use to implement the change.
Once a roadmap is defined, action is taken and implementation begins.
Reinforcing change successful change has occurred, either in whole or part and data
is gathered about the change on what has been successful and what areas can
improve. Celebrations of success as well as positive recognition of contributors to the
change efforts take place.3
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In Project Management the focus is on the technical side; this is where the solution is
designed, developed and delivered effectively. In Change Management the solution is on the
people side; the solution is embraced, adopted and utilized effectively. Project Management
and Change Management have a joint value proposition oriented toward driving business
results. 7
William R .Duncan, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (Newtown Square, PA: Project
Management Institute Publishing Division, 1996),11
5
Duncan, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge; 12
6
Haitt, Prosci Change Management Toolkit, 52
7
Haitt, ProsciChange Management Toolkit, 51
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We change for a reason: There are many reasons for change, revenue growth,
improved customer satisfaction, reduced costs, better product or service quality,
reduced risk exposure, improved quality of life and so on. Projects and initiatives are
undertaken not because they are fun and exciting, but because there is an opportunity
to capture or solve a problem.
Organizational change requires individual change: Change can only occur when
individuals in the organization begin working in new ways; displaying new behaviours,
using new tools, adhering to new processes and adopting new values. Individual shifts
in behaviour are the cornerstone of change. When numerous individual shifts are taken
together as a whole, the desired future state of the organization is achieved.
Organizational outcomes are the collective result of individual change: The closer you
are to achieving 100% engagement with employees, the closer you are to achieving
100% of the desired outcomes.
Organizations are made up of people, and people are dynamic and harder to change because
each person has their own system of beliefs and values. The Change Curve created by
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (see illustration below) and her work on personal transition and grief
and bereavement, is a tool that helps us understand how individuals experience change. The
Change Curve identifies 4 stages in the grief cycle Denial, Anger, Exploring and Acceptance,
which assist Project Managers and Change Leaders to anticipate how people may react to
change and develop strategies to help them with their own personal transition.
When Managers and Change Leaders can anticipate individuals emotional reactions to change
they can target strategies to support the individual change experience.
Candy Lee, The Change Curve How do we react to Change? Available from Educational Business
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Suggestions include:
In the denial phase the natural reaction is for the individual to deny that there is a
need for change, typical sentiments might be that wont work here or we have tried
that before. Leaders can support employees by having face to face communication
with them which can help them understand why the changes are necessary and further
explain what it will mean for them.
In the anger phase some employees realize the change is not going away and display
anger and bitterness towards the new plans. Continual communication using a variety
of channels can help to give the individuals time to understand the changes and can
help to reduce the anxiety
In stage three exploring people will often try to compromise a favourable outcome to
the change i.e.: if we do this, then this will happen. Communicate the project
timeline, encourage participation and make clear that people know what needs to be
done.
In the final stage acceptance, the change has occurred and individuals are learning to
live with the change and even get involved.9
Faster response time to customer and market demands and increased competitiveness
in the market place. The time needed to implement change is reduced
Helps align existing resources within the organization. Change management allows the
organization to assess the overall impact of a change
Change can be implemented without negatively affecting the day to day running of
business and employee performance increases when staff feels supported.
Managed cost of change: change management helps contain cost associated with the
change. Increased return on investment (ROI).
Candy Lee, The Change Curve How do we react to Change? Available from Educational Business
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Effective change management supports a smooth transition from the old to the new
while maintaining morale, productivity, and even company image
Provides management and staff support for concerns regarding changes and correct
perception of the change for staff and public
A carefully planned approach to change reduces stress and anxiety and encourages
people to stay loyal to the organization
It is clear that both organizations and the people with in them have a higher likelihood of
success and job satisfaction with effective change management. Participants in the 2011
Prosci -ADKAR benchmarking study support the positive benefits and the 2011 research
showed that there is a greater awareness of the need for and value of change management,
greater value is being placed on change management and its contributions to the success of
projects and initiatives.
There is an increased use of established methodologies and
participants cited an increased use in the tools and language of change management including
an increase in the development of in-house competencies and programs. Finally change
management activities are being introduced earlier and more often into project management
process.10
10
Jeffrey M, Hiatt, Best Practices in Change Management. (Colorado: Prosci Learning Centre Publications, 2012),19
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11
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Lewin is most often criticized or seen as an outdated model for this final phase refreeze. In
this globalized economy it is argued that change is constant and happens so quickly that there
isnt time for people or organizations to Refreeze after a change management program has
been implemented. Critics of Lewin argue that to be competitive organizations need to
maintain a state of change, preparing, managing change and reinforcing the change cycle. 13
Lewins' model when applied to a project management setting lacks the structure, processes
and tools to effectively support an organization in project delivery.
Although simple in it
structure, it leaves an organization left to define what is required in each phase to keep in
cycle with the project delivery.
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Step Four: Communicate the Vision. Use every vehicle possible to communicate the new
vision and strategies for achieving it. Teach new behaviours by example of the change
coalition. These leaders should be walking the talk. Talk about the vision at every
opportunity and look for ways to keep it fresh in everyones mind so they will remember and
respond to it.
Step Five: Empower others to act on the vision. This means removing or altering
systems or structures that undermine the vision. Encourage risk taking and non-traditional
ideas, activities and actions. 18 This includes providing the training that employees need this
can be technical or soft skills training. At this stage, Kotter also notes that it is important to
recognize individuals who are resisting the change effort and confront them. If others see
that they are not confronted then they become discouraged and will slow down the change
momentum. 19
Step Six:
Create Short Term Wins.
Define and engineer visible performance
improvements. What this means is that organizations need to plan for goals that are easily
achievable in the short term and then celebrate their success. Recognize and reward
employees contributing to those improvements. These quick wins help the transformation in
a number of ways; they provide evidence to employees that the sacrifice is worth it. They
also help fine tune the vision and strategies; as the organization looks at the quick wins
results they identify opportunities to correct what did not work and reinforce in the plan tools
or strategies that were the most effective. This helps reinforce for the change coalition that
they are moving in the right direction. And finally, celebrating wins also help silence the
critics. Following the positive momentum, employees that were neutral to the change efforts
are often swayed to being supporters. 20
Step Seven: Build on the Change. Use increased credibility from early wins to change
systems structures and policies undermining the vision.
Hire, promote and develop
employees who can implement the vision and reinvigorate the change process with new
projects and change events. 21 In this step Kotter argues that many change projects fail
because victory is declared too early. Real change runs deeper. Quick wins are only the
beginning of what needs to be done to achieve the long terms change. After every success
analyse what went right and what needs improving, continue to set goals to build on the
momentum and keep ideas fresh by bringing new change agents and leaders to the change
coalition.
17
John Kotter, Leading Change. (Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review Press), 74
Kotter, Leading Change, why Transformation Efforts Fail,5,9
19
Kotter, Leading Change, why Transformation Efforts Fail, 5,13
20
Kotter, Leading Change, why Transformation Efforts Fail, 5, 13
21
Kotter, Leading Change, why Transformation Efforts Fail, 5
18
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Step Eight: Anchor the Change in Corporate Culture. To make any change stick it needs
to become a part of the core organizational culture, the way things are done around here. A
corporations culture determines what gets done, so the values behind the vision must be
evident in the day to day operations.
Leaders need to continually communicate the
connection between new behaviours and corporate successes.
Kotters' method has many benefits; there are clear steps to guide you through the process,
he focuses on the importance of employee buy in and his model will fit well within a traditional
hierarchical organization. The disadvantages of Kotters model are that it is a very linear, top
down approach and once it is started it is difficult to change direction. The eight steps are
lengthy and may be frustrating from an employee perspective if there isnt enough time to
deal with individual needs and allow time for their stages of grief as identified earlier in the
cycle of change.
22
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Communications Plan
Training Program
Roadmap to Sponsorship
Coaching Plan
Resistance management Plan24
23
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26
Jeff Hiatt, ADKAR a model for Change Management; http//www.change-management.com/tutorial-adkaroverview.htm (accessed October 2, 2013)
27
Jeffrey M. Hiatt, ADKAR A Model for Change in Business, Government and our communit,y,37
28
Mark Connelly, Change Management Coaching.com ADKAR: Simple, Powerful Action Oriented Model for
Change can be found at http://www.change-management-coach.com/adkar.html
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Successful change is realized when two goals are met as shown in Figure 1. First the
business must realize the full implementation of the change so that the business objectives
are met (vertical axis) and the organization must integrate through each element of the
Prosci ADKAR model so that individuals are able to implement the change and
reinforcements are in place to sustain the change. In this way the failure to achieve either
goal can result in partially successful or failed changes. 29
Figure 1
30
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It is important to note that over the last 7 years of the benchmarking study Active and
visible sponsorship has ranked number one. Past studies have consistently highlighted the
importance of open communication and the importance of a structured change management
approach, see Figure 2.
Figure 2
33
33
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Bibliography:
1. Ayee, George, Managing Change in the Workplace CPM Team Lunch and Learn
Presentation Husky Energy. Calgary, Alberta, 2013.
2. Blanchard, Ken. Who Killed Change? New York City: William Morrow Publishing, 2009.
3. Candy, Lee, The Change Curve How do we react to Change?: Available from
Educational Businesshttp://www.educational-business-articles.com/change-curve.html
(accessed October 25, 2013)
4. Connelly, Mark, ADKAR: Simple, Powerful Action Oriented Model for Change.
Available from http://www.change-management-coach.com/adkar.html (accessed
September 20, 2013).
5. Connelly, Mark, Benefits of Change Management. Available from http://www.changemanagement-coach.com/benefits-of-change-management.html (accessed October 29,
2013).
6. Duncan, R William, The Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge.
Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute- Publishing Division, 1996.
7. Hiatt, Jeffrey M, ADKAR A Model for Change in Business, Government and our
Community, Colorado: Prosci Learning Centre Publications, 2006.
8. Hiatt, Jeffrey M, Best Practices in Change Management. Colorodo: Prosci Learning
Centre Publications, 2012.
9. Hiatt, Jeffrey M, Prosci Change Management Toolkit Using the ProsciADKARModel. Colorodo: Prosci Change Management Learning Centre, 2012.
10. Holman, Peggy, Devane, Tom, Cady, Steven. The Change Handbook. San Fransisco:
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2002.
11. Kotter, John. Leading Change. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review
Press, 2012.
12. Kotter, John, Leading Change - Why Transformations Fail. - Harvard Business Review
10 Best Reads on Change Management. Boston Massachusetts: Harvard Business
School Publishing, 2011.
13. Mankelow, James, Lewins Change Management Model: Available from Mind Tools
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_94.htm(accessed September 20
2013)
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