Managing Change Enquiry and Action

□ Introduction

In Part C of this book we engage with a series of chapters that draw on the earlier foundational and diagnosing concepts and explore enacting change in the workplace. This first chapter tackles the issue of choosing an approach to change. In practice, organisations do not only have to make decisions about where to focus their change efforts, but also the means by which to approach change. There may be a default approach to change within an organisation, but whether or not that approach suits the current and emerging context demands further consideration. In this interplay we see the diagnosis of contextual factors informing the enacting of change.

The marketplace of ideas and approaches for tackling organisational change is a crowded one. There are numerous schools of thought, frameworks, methodologies and practices related to change (Armenakis & Bedeian, 1999). Burnes (1996) argues that there is no one right way to approach change, but not all change options are suitable for an organisation's circumstances. Choice is unavoidable. Many change efforts fail. In this context of uncertainty and broad choice, organisations face a recurring fundamental decision – how to best tackle the immediate change challenges.

The key principles of rational decision-making and bounded rationality will be compared and contrasted to consider how critical choices related to change are influenced and determined. Decision-making theory will be introduced to provide a sound base on which to explore factors that aid or impede the decision-making process. We examine the difference between optimising choices and satisficing choices and the limitations of rational decision-making.

To gain a sense of the many different options available to organisations, we will examine alternative schools of thought, change models and popular business/change systems. We will pick up on the issues of context in relation to both change approaches and change choices. Organisations are often seen to jump on the bandwagon of popular change approaches. We consider the possible influence of brand effects on choice in relation to change. Burnes (1996) summarised these key themes of choice and approaches to change very well.