Very often new projects involve change, either in terms of the organisation or to personnel within the organisation, and the project manager should be aware of this. Project management and change management are distinct but interwoven techniques.
As previously defined, project management is the application of knowl-edge, skills and techniques to execute projects effectively and efficiently, whereas change management refers to the process, tools and techniques to manage the people-side of change to achieve the required business outcome.
On occasions a separate change manager may be appointed, although in prac-tical terms change managers and project managers understand each other’s discipline and share critical common elements and therefore the project manager could take change management under their wing. Figures 1.5 and 1.6 compare the two disciplines.
Change management incorporates the organisational tools that can be utilised to help organisations and individuals make successful personal tran-sitions resulting in the adoption and realisation of change.
As shown in Figure 1.6, steps in the change management process are said to be:
• planning for change,
• managing change, and
• reinforcing change.
In the widest sense change management is a structural approach for moving organisations from their current state to a future state, with anticipated busi-ness and organisational benefits. It helps organisations to adapt and align to new and emerging market forces and conditions. Delivery and handover of a successful project may well involve organisational change. In order to get the maximum benefit from a project a well-managed handover is essential and project managers should be able to manage the process successfully.
The steps for an effective change management process in project manage-ment are:
• formulating the change by identifying and clarifying the need for change and establishing the scope of change,
• planning the change by defining the change approach and planning stakeholder engagement as well as transition and integration,
• implementing the change by preparing the organisation for change, mobilising the stakeholders and delivering project outputs,
• managing the change transition by transitioning the outputs into busi-ness operations, measuring the adoption rate and the change outcomes and benefits and adjusting the plan to address discrepancies, and Figure 1.5 Project management lifecycle
Figure 1.6 Change management lifecycle
• sustaining the change on an ongoing basis through communication, consultation and representation of the stakeholders, conducting sense-making activities and measuring benefits.
A project manager can influence the culture to change by:
• assessing stakeholder change resistance and / or support for change,
• ensuring clarity of vision and values among stakeholders,
• creating an understanding among the various stakeholder groups about their individual and interdependent roles in attaining the goals of the change initiative, and
• building strong alignment between stakeholder attitudes and strategic goals and objectives.
Change management models Lewin’s change management model
This change management model was created in the 1950s by psychologist Kurt Lewin. Lewin noted that the majority of people tend to prefer, and operate within, certain zones of safety. He recognised three stages of change:
• Unfreeze – most people make a conscious effort to resist change. In order to overcome this tendency, a period of ‘unfreezing’ or ‘thawing’
must be initiated through motivation.
• Transition – once change is initiated, the company moves into a tran-sition period, which may last for some time. Adequate leadership and reassurance are necessary for the process to be successful.
• Refreeze – after change has been accepted and successfully imple-mented, the company becomes stable again, and staff refreeze as they operate under the new guidelines.
While this change management model remains widely used today, it is takes time to implement. Since it is easy to use, most companies tend to prefer this model to enact major changes.
McKinsey 7-S Model
The McKinsey 7-S model offers a holistic approach to organisation. This model, created by Robert Waterman, Tom Peters, Richard Pascale and Anthony Athos during a meeting in 1978, has seven factors that operate as a collective agent of change:
• shared values,
• strategy,
• structure,
• systems,
• style,
• staff, and
• skills.
The McKinsey 7-S model offers four primary benefits:
• It offers an effective method to diagnose and understand an organisation.
• It provides guidance in organisational change.
• It combines rational and emotional components.
• All parts are integral and must be addressed in a unified manner.
The disadvantages of the McKinsey 7-S model are:
• when one part changes, all parts change, because all factors are interrelated,
• differences are ignored, and
• the model is complex and companies using this model have been known to have a higher incidence of failure.
Kotter’s 8 Step change model
Created by Harvard University professor John Kotter, this model causes change to become a campaign. Employees buy into the change after leaders convince them of the urgent need for change to occur. There are eight steps involved in this model:
• Increase the urgency for change.
• Build a team dedicated to change.
• Create the vision for change.
• Communicate the need for change.
• Empower staff with the ability to change.
• Create short-term goals.
• Stay persistent.
• Make the change permanent.
Significant advantages to the model are:
• The process is an easy step-by-step model.
• The focus is on preparing and accepting change, not the actual change.
• Transition is easier with this model.
However, there are some disadvantages offered by this model:
• Steps can’t be skipped.
• The process takes a great deal of time.
• It doesn’t matter if the proposed change is a change in the process of project planning or general operations.
Adjusting to change is difficult for an organisation and its employees and using almost any model is helpful to the project manager, as it offers a guide-line to follow, along with the facility to determine expected results.