The Theory and Practice of Change Management
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The Theory and Practice of Change Management John Hayes (ed.) Palgrave, New York, 2002, 240pp. ISBN 0-333-98796-9 Asian Business & Management (2006) 5, 153–155. doi:10.1057/palgrave.abm.9200152
Change promotes and catalyzes a healthy economy, and this was the central theme of ‘dynamic disequilibrium’ in Schumpeter’s (1911) theory of economic dynamics. As explained in this text, change is necessary if an organization is to be competitively effective. Hayes’ broad-based mechanistic approach in delivering the sort of variables or determining factors that can have a bearing on the change process presents a systematic discourse on change management that captures theories and practices. The organization of the text resembles Lewin’s (1958) ‘unfreeze-changerefreeze’ theory of change management, albeit with a general bias towards systems theory, or Open Systems theory (von Bertalanfy, 1971) in particular. ‘Unfreeze’ prepares the behavioral setting and readiness for change, whereas ‘change’ is actually acting to bring about a new level of operation or behavior, and ‘refreeze’ is stabilizing changes to prevent reversion. The theme of ‘unfreeze’ — about collective paradigms or shared mental model-shifting, or enlightened awareness — is explained in Part I (Core Concept). ‘Change’, or the implementation stage, is introduced in Parts II (Recognizing and Diagnosing the Need for Change), III (Managing the People Issues), IV (Intervention), and V (Shaping Implementation Strategies and Managing the Transition). A total of twelve chapters demonstrate the author’s effort in explaining the mechanisms and tools for use in the practice of change management. Lastly, Lewin’s ‘refreezing’ theme (1958) is explained in Part VI (Keeping the Change on Track), through practical methodologies. Part I presents a context for change management by first defining change management as a way to transform organizations in order to maintain or improve their effectiveness. Chapter 1 lays out the context for change management and four change strategies, in response to anticipative and reactive approaches to incremental and discontinuous change, namely reorientation, re-creation, tuning, and adaptation. Chapter 2 outlines the objective of change management, which is to bring about sustained efficiency in resource usage in achieving company objectives, that is, organizational effectiveness. Chapter 3 begins discussion of the degree of alignment, adaptability, congruence or fitness of structural, process, and strategy elements of an organization within and across its boundary to the external world as key
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determinants to the process of change management, while Chapter 4 further explains that to maintain fitness and alignment, an organization must engage in higher-order learning, possibly altering shared mental models of organization, rules, and behaviors. The models of change narrated in Chapters 3 and 4 are diagnostic, explaining the ‘what’ of change management. Chapter 5, on the other hand, outlines a process model to change management or
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