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THE AUTHORS

William W. Lee is the owner of Educational Technologies Consultants in Euless, Texas, which specializes in organizational change, measurement and evaluation, e-learning, and multimedia instructional design. Lee is the lead author of The Computer-Based Training Handbook: Assessment, Design, Development, and Evaluation (1995, Educational Technology Publishers) and Multimedia-Based Instructional Design (2000, Pfeiffer).

Karl J. Krayer is the president of Creative Communication Network in Dallas, Texas. His specialties include management, leadership, training and organization development, communication, and interpersonal relationships.

De la contraportada

Change is the only constant in any organization. The question is "How can the right people perform the right tasks that will produce a successful change initiative in an organization?"

Organizing Change shows you how to organize and activate a team process to accomplish a successful change initiative throughout your organization. The authors, William W. Lee and Karl J. Krayer, describe a model and outline a proven process for you to use to create inclusive and systemic change in your organization while maintaining productivity and results as your organization transforms itself. Lee and Krayer outline the practical steps needed at each phase of the change process and present two case studies to illustrate the steps. Organizing Change also describes the seven phases of the change process and specifies the exact roles and responsibilities of each of the stakeholders.

Written for organizational development consultants, human resources professionals, managers at all levels, and organizational change agents, this important resource is a valuable asset that contains a wealth of tools, ideas, as well as a wide variety of checklists, works heets, templates, and forms that you can use to assist you in organizing change initiatives. It also contains a CD-ROM that enables you to easily customize the tools in book.

Organizing Change will show you how to harness change and use it as a competitive advantage. Using the process outlined in this book, your organization will be able to respond quickly yet methodically to your organization's needs while your company maintains, and even increases, productivity and results throughout the change process.

De la solapa interior

Change is the only constant in any organization. The question is "How can the right people perform the right tasks that will produce a successful change initiative in an organization?"

Organizing Change shows you how to organize and activate a team process to accomplish a successful change initiative throughout your organization. The authors, William W. Lee and Karl J. Krayer, describe a model and outline a proven process for you to use to create inclusive and systemic change in your organization while maintaining productivity and results as your organization transforms itself. Lee and Krayer outline the practical steps needed at each phase of the change process and present two case studies to illustrate the steps. Organizing Change also describes the seven phases of the change process and specifies the exact roles and responsibilities of each of the stakeholders.

Written for organizational development consultants, human resources professionals, managers at all levels, and organizational change agents, this important resource is a valuable asset that contains a wealth of tools, ideas, as well as a wide variety of checklists, works heets, templates, and forms that you can use to assist you in organizing change initiatives. It also contains a CD-ROM that enables you to easily customize the tools in book.

Organizing Change will show you how to harness change and use it as a competitive advantage. Using the process outlined in this book, your organization will be able to respond quickly yet methodically to your organization's needs while your company maintains, and even increases, productivity and results throughout the change process.

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Organizing Change

Jossey-Bass

Chapter One

IN THIS CHAPTER, we introduce you to how our change model works and provide some information about its component parts. Henceforth, we use the term "model" when we discuss the interaction among three aspects: stakeholders, process, and communication. We use the term "process" when we discuss the seven phases of change. We use the term "initiative" to refer to any change project the organization chooses to undertake. In our model:

Stakeholders are the agents that drive change initiatives (Unit 2);

Process is the seven phases of change that an initiative proceeds through (Unit 3); and

Communication is the vehicle the agents use to gather and disseminate information about the change initiative throughout the process (Unit 4).

Purpose of the Model

We believe that people resist change for four basic reasons:

1. Lack of involvement in the process;

2. Lack of knowledge about the change;

3. Insecurity about the future as a result of the change; and

4. Feelings of powerlessness to control their own destinies.

The model we present in this book can remove much of the pain that organizations face during a change initiative. The model that you read about here:

Champions widespread involvement throughout an organization;

Centralizes gathering and disseminating information;

Provides a systematic, phase-by-phase process for change with defined roles and responsibilities; and

Uses a change steering committee as the driving force to represent the concerns of all participants at all levels of the organization.

Overview of the Model

We assume that readers believe as we do-or that we can convince you of our belief-that change is inclusive, systematic, systemic, and proactive. The focus of the book is tactical and practical. There are many other books in the marketplace that show people how to manage, cope with, and deal with change. Very few works have attempted to harness and lead change in a proactive manner, and none with the systematic and systemic approach that we bring here.

We divide the model into three key aspects, each of which is a separate unit in the book: (1) Stakeholders, (2) Process, and (3) Communication. We have designed a three-dimensional diagram called a "cube" to demonstrate the interaction among these three key aspects (see Figure 2.1). Each chapter begins with a "slice" of the cube to ensure that you know where we are. Additionally, you can use the cube as an index to locate specific information that you need. For example, if your interest is in what a supervisor does in the Planning phase, the cube can direct you to the particular pages in the book that address those activities.

Stakeholders

Stakeholders are representatives from each affected group in an organization. Your organization may call them by different names, but their functions remain the same. Your initiative may not require all of these groups of stakeholders, but if you follow our model for determining the full scope of involvement, you will know which ones you need by the end of the Planning phase. We provide a general look at each group of stakeholders as the focus of Unit 2.

The various stakeholders we list, along with how to select them and their roles and responsibilities during each phase, are

1. Upper Management-Usually persons at the executive level who initiate or support the initiative with financial resources;

2. Supervisors-Line managers in charge of operational (staff ) groups;

3. Change Manager-The manager who will drive the initiative and lead the change steering committee;

4. Training/Performance Analysts-Members of the educational group who oversee learning, knowledge, skill improvement, and performance management for the organization;

5. Human Resources-Members from the group who deal with employee issues;

6. Staff-Employees from the areas of the organization that will be affected by the change; and

7. Management Information Services-Members of the group that oversees the technical infrastructure of the organization.

In addition, you will find references in the book to the following:

Change steering committee-The team that leads the change initiative in the organization;

Financial analyst-A staff member who specializes in budgeting, cost/benefit projections, and return on investment (ROI);

Communication specialist-A staff member who writes releases, memos, and articles about the change initiative for the organization, intranet, and media; and

Organization development analyst-A person who specializes in analyzing the interaction of the change steering committee.

Change Process

The change process we discuss in this book assumes an enterprise-wide initiative. You can apply these same principles and methods to smaller initiatives by simply deleting and modifying the roles and responsibilities for your own division or work group. Our focus in the process unit is on the change steering committee as the team that organizes and drives the initiative forward. One of the features that makes our model inclusive is that there are opportunities for input from staff members, as well as the creation and involvement of various task forces, subcommittees, divisions, and departments. Only you can decide what is best for your organization. The change process we discuss in Unit 3 has seven phases:

1. Planning-Identify the issue to investigate and assemble the change steering committee;

2. Assessment-Determine whether there is a gap for the organization between the present state and the desired state;

3. Analysis-Decide on the means to bridge the gap;

4. Design-Configure the objective for the change initiative;

5. Development-Prepare everything for the change: the systems, the people, the materials;

6. Implementation-Put the plan into effect; and

7. Evaluation-Track and measure the effectiveness of the change.

The book provides tools for you to walk through and record information for each phase of the initiative and to track decisions and activities. You will also find these tools on the CD-ROM that accompanies this book.

Communication

The third component is Communication, discussed in Unit 4. Communication ties the entire model together. We believe that it is the central and most important aspect in the success of any change initiative.

The two elements that we discuss are

1. Gathering information-How you collect information, using fact-finding skills, interviews, and focus groups, and

2. Disseminating information-How you distribute information among change steering committee members, other stakeholders, and the overall organization.

In order for a change initiative to take hold in a successful manner, you must keep the members of the organization informed of all aspects of the project. While the process is complex, communication refers to how participants in an organization collect and disseminate information during the life of the change initiative.

Advantages of the Model

The major advantage of our model is its ability to help organizations to "get it right the first time," because for many change initiatives there is no second chance. Another advantage to this model is that you can apply the principles and methods to an organization-wide change as effectively as to a departmental or group change initiative. The time to complete a project will depend on the scope. If it is an enterprise-wide change, it will take longer than a departmental change. When you use our model, you will work hard, but you will find you spend less time backtracking and making corrections to previously completed activities.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Organizing Changeby William W. Lee Karl J. Krayer Copyright © 2003 by William W. Lee. Excerpted by permission.
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