Discussion: View Thread

Dear Fellow Netters

I have a questions that I would like some input from those who are actively
involved in managing change efforts.

I have been in a discussion with someone, X, over the relative influence of
various factors on managing change. For example, the importance of the
change agent's style, or the exact nature of the change (e.g., merging two
organizations, introducing a new technology, etc), the capabilities of the
organization, the importance or scope of the change, the state of the
organization's health (e.g., lots of slack resources, period of growth,
high versus low profitability), etc. I hope you get the idea.

What I would like if feedback from those who have been involved with
multiple change efforts, both successes and failures, (the factors
associated with these may be different) to give me their two cents.

So that I don't clog up the airways, you may email me directly at:
odkbb@ttacs.ttu.edu. I recognize this is as unscientific pool, but I only
want to get a feel of what those who manage change for a living think.

If any of my colleagues know of any "academic" study of this issue, I would
appreciate the reference.

Tot homines, quot sententiae

Kim Boal
--------------------------------
Kim Boal
College of Business Administration
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX 79409
(806) 742-2150
KimBoal@ttu.edu

When it comes to change, any type of change, I believe the most important
factor in it's success is communication. The organizations existing
philosophy of communication will deeply influence how the change proceeds.

Examples....

If communication is very poor or nonexistent, GOOD LUCK. It will be very
difficult to change that philosophy quickly enough to make a difference.

If the organization likes to whitewash their communication so that everything
has a positive, "fairy tail" spin to it, employees will quickly disbelieve
anything they hear and rely instead on the grapevine (which is often the most
reliable source of accurate communication in today's organizations.)

Companies that are used to communicating honestly and often with their staff
AND that encourage two-way communication have the best chance of succeeding
with major change efforts.

Of course, there are many other variable, as well, but in my experience, this
has been the most important.

Nancy