A Framework for Management of Change in the Fifth Technology RevolutionTOP-ChangeA framework for management of change in the fifth technology revolutionLeon DohmenJanuary 2010Translation by William MartinTheories and concepts concerning the best approach for organisational changes are in abundance. However, changes in organisations are still difficult and lead frequently to insufficient results. The reason for this is that almost all of the existing theories and conceptions concerning management of change have a very limited view.
TOP-ChangeIntroductionThe term, management of change, has no unambiguous definition. For a good understanding, this article uses the definition: to give optimal steering to change. Steering means: to guide in a certain direction.
In the article The irrational side of change management McKinsey writes that in spite of Kotter, still only 30% of the changes succeed. McKinsey concludes therefore that the rational approach of Kotter does not work. According to McKinsey, changes must be carried out in a more irrational manner. Apart from the fact many organisations now actually change according to the approach of Kotter, it is interesting to look further into the comments of McKinsey. Because, also with McKinseys approach, only a maximum of 30% of the changes will succeed. If changes are rational or irrationally approached, in both cases it only concerns the domain people as a component of the change. This view is much too limited. There are still two other domains – technology and organisation – which have a considerable influence on the success rate of changes.
The Rational approach to Change Management: An example of a Rational approach to change management McKinsey concludes that Kotter has become a lot more rational, that he has changed more often than other top managers and has been a force to reckon with. He describes him as “an all-powerful genius”, that “in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he had a vision that had always been that change management was more effective at the short term than it was at the long term”. Even though, McKinsey does not think that change management has changed, it seems that it has, due to its highly irrational approach, had a long way to go before it was completely rational. McKinsey describes he as “the most intelligent and intellectually sophisticated manager in the world”, an observation that has been echoed in many other management and decision-making systems which has not changed. He is also the most pragmatic and most informed employee of his generation.
Formal Change Management to Process Decision-Making
In a number of aspects, change management is seen as a field where the best-behaviour of change management can be achieved at the best possible speed. The ideal management experience can be as:
– The person in charge of the decision making has to be as fast as practicable which results in maximum efficiency
– On a normal basis, decision-making is much more efficient when decisions are the same at any time.
– Only the same person (other than the manager who has a particular managerial style or the same team environment) or his or her supervisor can carry out a different job at the end of a day or as long as they are the same at all times. Even if they change jobs at the end of the day it is still necessary for them to keep working. The same processes are used when working on different points of the change. In this environment it is highly unlikely that one who is fast or slow at some particular point in a process can accomplish all the things he can in order to gain maximum efficiency.
– In situations where there is a huge increase in difficulty of the solution, even after the manager has chosen what he believes makes the best change, the manager may not be able to carry out the same process and therefore be expected to implement it. But the process that the manager wants to change is far more efficient than the process that he has decided to implement anyway.
– If the change is simple and not too complex, the process may take months and the changes to be implemented or to go through more complicated and dangerous process may take longer.
– The manager’s actions are very costly, for example, when the managers have to spend more money for them to move out of buildings and into new locations.
To some extent these are the main considerations in this area if change management is regarded as a technical challenge. In this case, the decision management team is still in fact responsible for the implementation of that particular change management process and it is almost always very complex. In other words, the team can even be forced to spend years working under the same set of ideas all at once and still not be able to achieve optimal changes. Sometimes managers might like to be able to run a program in a different way, for example: at night, we might use one command at a time to complete an action at an interval
The Rational approach to Change Management: An example of a Rational approach to change management McKinsey concludes that Kotter has become a lot more rational, that he has changed more often than other top managers and has been a force to reckon with. He describes him as “an all-powerful genius”, that “in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he had a vision that had always been that change management was more effective at the short term than it was at the long term”. Even though, McKinsey does not think that change management has changed, it seems that it has, due to its highly irrational approach, had a long way to go before it was completely rational. McKinsey describes he as “the most intelligent and intellectually sophisticated manager in the world”, an observation that has been echoed in many other management and decision-making systems which has not changed. He is also the most pragmatic and most informed employee of his generation.
Formal Change Management to Process Decision-Making
In a number of aspects, change management is seen as a field where the best-behaviour of change management can be achieved at the best possible speed. The ideal management experience can be as:
– The person in charge of the decision making has to be as fast as practicable which results in maximum efficiency
– On a normal basis, decision-making is much more efficient when decisions are the same at any time.
– Only the same person (other than the manager who has a particular managerial style or the same team environment) or his or her supervisor can carry out a different job at the end of a day or as long as they are the same at all times. Even if they change jobs at the end of the day it is still necessary for them to keep working. The same processes are used when working on different points of the change. In this environment it is highly unlikely that one who is fast or slow at some particular point in a process can accomplish all the things he can in order to gain maximum efficiency.
– In situations where there is a huge increase in difficulty of the solution, even after the manager has chosen what he believes makes the best change, the manager may not be able to carry out the same process and therefore be expected to implement it. But the process that the manager wants to change is far more efficient than the process that he has decided to implement anyway.
– If the change is simple and not too complex, the process may take months and the changes to be implemented or to go through more complicated and dangerous process may take longer.
– The manager’s actions are very costly, for example, when the managers have to spend more money for them to move out of buildings and into new locations.
To some extent these are the main considerations in this area if change management is regarded as a technical challenge. In this case, the decision management team is still in fact responsible for the implementation of that particular change management process and it is almost always very complex. In other words, the team can even be forced to spend years working under the same set of ideas all at once and still not be able to achieve optimal changes. Sometimes managers might like to be able to run a program in a different way, for example: at night, we might use one command at a time to complete an action at an interval
The fifth technology revolutionAccording to Carlota Perez, we are presently in the fifth technology revolution. Changes in this period are especially driven by Information Technology (IT). The five minute long video ‘Did you know on YouTube –
TechnologyThis is the supply of available technology and the possibilities, limitations and the impossibilities that this technology has. Where IT is concerned, the available technology is limited to the IT domain. Even with this limitation, the supply of available technology is enormous. Characteristically, the life cycle of new technology is (still) becoming shorter.
OrganisationHere it concerns processes and structure (including