Conquering Organizational Change: How to Succeed Where Most Companies Fail

Citation

Biegun, R. (2002), "Conquering Organizational Change: How to Succeed Where Most Companies Fail", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 15 No. 5, pp. 542-546. https://doi.org/10.1108/jocm.2002.15.5.542.3

Pierre Mourier and Martin Smith are consultants associated with a small consulting firm. Their book is not an academic discussion of change theory, nor does it provide many references to support their approaches. It appears to be based upon their own consulting experiences and a survey they conducted about why change efforts fail or succeed. Their survey is summarized in nine propositions, which they treat as “working hypotheses”. These propositions form a foundation for ten key tactical strategies for successful change. The authors then provide a formulaic approach to matching the appropriate tactical strategies (which they call tactics) to the significant positive or negative factors, which may influence a change effort. The formulaic approach has its limitations. However, it does provide a model for embarking on a change effort along with an understanding of the many complexities that could affect the outcome of the change.

General books continue to appear on change management. Some focus on corporate heroes, others explore the various theories, best practices, and still others try to oversimplify the issues surrounding change in organizations. Recent titles ranges from Change Monsters, through The Change Management Toolkit, to Managing Business Change for Dummies. It almost seems like we are dealing with a fragile product, constantly needing to sell new products to build or repair. When I initially saw this book, I had to chuckle over the title, Conquering Organizational Change. I thought, can we really “conquer” change? Do we really need another book to tell us how to manage change? We do, until we get it right.

In 236 pages, Conquering Organizational Change provides a concise perspective of the magnitude of issues that must be addressed during a change initiative, along with high level (strategic) approaches. I consider this book to be a good high level summary guide geared toward informing a leader who is considering a significant change initiative. An informed executive can then assign knowledgeable resources to the initiative and can be in a better position to continuously evaluate and support progress on the initiative. As an organizational consultant, I found this book to be a good process summary.

The authors point out that up to 75 percent of change efforts may end in failure. Appendix C provides a useful chart of the supporting literature with type of change, success rate, sample (size), and source. I found this to be an important step in “waking up” a leader contemplating serious change.

Chapter one, “Organizational change: a risky proposition”, is a brief one and provides a summary of each chapter. It also addresses the potential for failure in various change efforts. Chapter two, “Why change fails or succeeds”, summarizes what they consider to be “propositions” which are the “drivers” necessary to maximize the chances of “conquering organizational change.” They arrive at these propositions through a 15‐question survey, included in an appendix. There were very few specifics on their methodology. For example, there were no details on the number of respondents other than: “We asked 210 North American managers to complete a questionnaire … about why change efforts fail or succeed”. I would have liked more details on their methodology as they progressed from survey to proposition to tactics. This could have been included in an appendix.

Two significant outcomes of their research survey were lists of 17 positive and 19 negative factors that accounted for the success or failure of change efforts. These positive and negative factors become a basis for tactics planning, and are used throughout the book.

Chapter three, “Planning the tactical aspects of change”, builds on the propositions from Chapter two and provides a summary of ten key tactics for a successful change effort. A partly successful attempt is made to provide a formulaic approach to assessing the change effort in order to determine which of the tactics should be emphasized more than others. It provides a starting point.

Chapter four, the largest chapter in the book, “Tactics for successful change”, provides more contextual detail for each of the ten tactics in the previous chapter. I applaud the authors’ use of questions, rather than statements, in the many checklists. I believe questions provide a greater potential for meaningful evaluation and learning.

Chapter five, “What to do: planning guides”, briefly addresses the players involved in a change initiative (sponsors or executive team members, project team members, and change agents) and five suggested phases (assessment, planning, design, implementation and internalization). The first four phases are fairly standard project phases. The fifth phase, internalization, appears to be a form of performance measurement and feedback. I believe the authors could have said and done more with the internalization phase. Two well known Scandinavian researchers, Ingeman Arbnor and Björn Bjerke (1997), in their book, Methodology for Creating Business Knowledge, say: “Internalization stands for the element with which we accept a world in which others already live”. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines internalization: “incorporate within the self as guiding principles”. I believe it can be something that goes beyond an extension of the implementation phase. Could that be a learning organization?

Chapter six, “Case studies”, presents two very brief case studies: a bank merger and sales process improvement, and uses information from the prior chapters. The case studies had the potential to help tie the chapters together. There were numerous figures; however, the narratives were short and I did not get a good feel for how the processes in the book contributed to the change efforts. The authors also attempted to discuss what could have been done differently to improve the results in each of the cases; with both cases appearing to have problems during the change effort. This chapter would have been better placed as the last chapter in the book, or at least after the next chapter.

Chapter seven, “Reviving a stalled change effort”, describes ten recovery tactics with critical actions for each tactic. The authors introduce a simple, three‐step model:

1. 1.

   (1) Ascertain status and examine reasons for failure.

2. 2.

   (2) Evaluate options and select recovery tactics.

3. 3.

   (3) Monitor and adjust.

The most valuable part of this chapter are the ten recovery tactics with critical actions. However, choosing which tactics to use can be a challenge. The description of the process for ascertaining status and examining reasons for failure is brief, but adequate for a quick assessment. The weak point of this chapter is the absence of a process for evaluating options and selecting the recovery tactics. The directions for this step are, “If the completed analysis indicates that the change effort should be put on track, a group of executives and other stakeholders should meet and, from the list presented below, agree on the recovery tactics that are most appropriate for your situation”. The list contains the ten recovery tactics “originated in the research that we presented earlier, as well as our experience as management consultants”. No “formulas” are provided.

Chapter eight, “The first steps to conquering change”, is appropriately the last chapter and is about getting started. Three important strategies are briefly covered:

1. 1.

   (1) a compelling rationale for the change;

2. 2.

   (2) a committed sponsor; and

3. 3.

   (3) a broad plan of action.

I viewed this chapter as an important marketing and buy‐in “plan” for the change initiative. I found the “compelling rationale for the change” to be most intriguing. It is a method for capturing problems or opportunities to be addressed by the change, along with the corresponding consequences or benefits of change for the different stakeholders.

I recently used the compelling rationale during a planning session for a proposed reorganization directed by a new executive. The functional statements were consistent with the mission envisioned by a new executive. However, the planning team (comprised of the managers below the executive) was struggling with how to get started in successfully changing the organization. They said they did not understand what the new executive wanted.

After some visioning and discussion of obstacles, I engaged them in a process to elicit the problems to be solved and the opportunities to be addressed by the new organization. The team found this to be a powerful exercise. They exhibited a renewed confidence that there were good reasons and benefits to be gained with the reorganization; and it gave them a document to provide to the new executive for support and feedback. Ultimately, it would provide them with a “compelling rationale” to share with the entire staff. I believe it supported “buy‐in”, a necessary prerequisite for effective action.

The book does not adequately address cultural/behavioral issues that can affect change initiatives. It is essential for organizations to understand, acknowledge and prepare people for the losses they will encounter as part of a change initiative; and the organization must be able to deal with problems that arise as a result. William Bridges (1991), in the book Managing Transitions, stresses the importance of allowing for endings, and the losses and mourning associated with endings. The ending is separated from the new beginning by a “neutral zone”. I believe it is essential to create effective human bridges in moving from an ending through the neutral zone to the new beginning.

The reasons for organizational change are usually associated with the need for performance improvement (financial and other). With all these failures, I wonder what we have learned? We are in a rapidly changing world and I believe performance improvement must go hand in hand with the notion of a learning organization. A learning organization embraces more of the cultural/behavioral elements. I recall one of my professors at George Mason University encouraging us to not only question all norms, as in double‐loop learning, but to also reexamine the very ways and predispositions for how we think and learn.

In summary, the book provides a structure for starting effective planning in organizational change. The notion of a complete “how to” book on dealing with organizational change is wishful thinking. However, the book helps to make a daunting change initiative look more manageable and provides many good ideas for supporting successful outcomes. The authors appear to share much of their process knowledge and experience about change initiatives, and they attempt to provide real answers. They are successful in attempting to simplify a complex series of processes while providing an appreciation of how complex change really is.