Leading and Implementing Business Change Management

Book excerpt: Being change capable is the "new normal" for today’s growth-minded organizations. The "do more with less" strategies of the past are no longer effective in preparing organizations to meet the increasing challenges for growth, competitiveness and innovation required of them in this new era. Business change challenges including customer and market shifts, legal and regulatory requirements, strategic redirection, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, and cultural transformation are demanding that organizations effectively and efficiently manage change across multiple dimensions. To reach this level of change capability, organizations must adopt an integrated, balanced and customized approach to change management. Change management is addressed from the unique perspective of both its foundational concepts as well as practical application. Using an integrated, scalable and flexible framework, this book provides tools which can be readily customized and applied to initiatives across or within stages of the business change management lifecycle, from assessing the need for change, through planning the change initiative, designing a balanced change solution which integrates the people, process, and project management elements, through deploying and institutionalizing the change. Common risks associated with failed or stalled change initiatives are presented with best practices and key topics associated with change management are explored and illustrated through real-life case studies. Aimed at both the professionals within organizations and post graduate students and researchers within business strategy, organizational behaviour and change management disciplines, this book will provide a conceptual understanding of change management and a roadmap with a supporting toolbox for leading and implementing change that sticks.