OCM Revisited: Change Management Strategy

Whenever I’m consulting on IT Transformation, the topic of Organizational Change Management arises, either directly or indirectly. For folks who have read my blog for some time, it is a familiar topic, as it is a particular passion of mine.

In recent consulting engagements, some confusion has arisen between two elements of OCM:

•    Process of change at the individual level
•    Change strategy at the organizational level

This post will focus on the delineation between the two and briefly discuss change strategy.

For a transformation to be successful, it must have three characteristics, all of which require a robust OCM program. Let’s define success as follows:

1.    The Transformation has achieved the outcomes that it set out to accomplish. (ref. BCC #1).
2.    The Transformation has not done significant harm to the remaining transformed organization, to other functions, or to the business.
3.    The Transformation is sustainable and able to endure for a period of time that justifies the investment in the program.

The supporting OCM program deals with both the:

•    Needs of the individual in moving through the change process
•    Strategy that is used by leadership, which drive tactics at the organization level

There are four major change strategies defined in The Planning of Change by Bennis, Benne and Chin (Holt, 1969). They are quite useful in framing what different approaches look like and are very descriptive in their names:

1.    Rational-Empirical (people will act in their own self-interest, therefore key tactics are communication and incentive-based)
2.    Normative-Reeducative (people will follow the herd on redefined norms and values, therefore key tactics are participative and group-based)
3.    Power-Coercive (people will do what they are told to, therefore key tactics are authority and sanctions-based)
4.    Environmental-Adaptive (people will adjust to new situations, therefore land them in the new world and burn the ships)

It’s interesting information and I highly recommend reading the book. In real-life organizational transformations, however, it is not practical or advisable to use only one strategy. Each transformation will have a unique set of tactics from each strategy, depending on:

•    Scope and Scale
•    Degree of Resistance
•    Size of Organization
•    Degree of Risk
•    Time Frame
•    Internal Expertise
•    Current Staff Dependency

The “amount” of each of these considerations will drive the selection of strategies and tactics employed for the organizational transformation. There is no “one size fits all” strategy/solution set and getting it right will either position your transformation for success or doom it from the outset.

There are a number of change management frameworks that help transition the strategy to the tactical level. A discussion of these models will be the starting point for my next post on the process of change at the individual level.