Change Lenses
Change operates at different levels and in various locations in organisations. The key areas affected by change are:
These make up the acronym SIGN.
How these areas are affected depends on the change. It is important to undestand this, since it will affect how you apply the BASIC 8 method. For example, a new accounting application may affect systems, individuals and groups but have no impact on the norms that define the organisation's culture. However, a new customer service strategy may have little systems content but rely heavily on individuals, groups and norms.
When planning and implementing a change it is important to consult and check how it will affect any of these change areas. It might not be obvious from the perspective of planners and project managers but be very obvious to the people on the ground.
Systems
Some changes obviously deal with systems. It could involve new production plant or equipment, a new finance system, upgrades to IT, moving sales and customer service online or entering a new market overseas. From the Beginning phase through to the Consolidation phase, the systemic nature of the change is clear.
But in other cases the systems changes might not be so obvious. It might be an organisational restructure or a new customer service policy. However, closer inspection may highlight anything from a few minor changes in systems and procedures to some major reworking of how daily business is done.
Individuals
Some changes have a significant impact on individuals. The most obvious is organisational downsizing, which has its own lense below.
Changes that can have a high impact on individuals are those that relocate people, change role or career requirements, change their significant work relationships (peers, customers, supervisors) or require a new vision, business style or different priorities. Even a technical strategy, which may look like a systems and output change, can have intense personal change impacts if it affects a person's status, influence and technical relevance to the organisation.
Groups
While change is felt by individuals it is also open to group dynamics. Groups have identities and share experiences. They are network hubs, bringing together contacts, knowledge, skills and business opporutnities. People are more likely to feel loyal to their group in the form of a work unit then they are to an organisation. So the impact of change on groups is important as groups are, first and foremost, where organisations exist.
Changes that impact on groups are those that affect workloads, identity, who they deal with, their location, autonomy and self-control. Resturctures are an obvious threat to group stability as is organisational branding. The status of a group can be affected by uniforms, delegated responsibility and who it gets to deal with, from prestige customers to influence within the organisation.
A note about supervisors
There are very few changes that don't engage groups. For this reason, the role of the supervisor is critical for change. Supervisors deal with people on a daily basis, they have highly detailed and invovled conversations with them, they are entrusted with confidential information about people's health and families. The intensity and influence of supervisor relationships greatly exceeds the capacity for executives or senior managers to engage people across the organisation. Investing in supervisors, getting them on board and equipping them to handle the change goes a long way toward helping a change succeed.
Norms
Norms sit at the heart of organisational culture. If culture is simply what is considered normal around the place then norms are the guiding principles behind that.
Norms are not absolute. They emerge at different points in time for an organisation and then continue until they fade out or are confronted. If they match current needs they are a helpful. If the don't then they can undermine performance and wellbeing.
Take, or example, a culture that promotes high energy and continuous action may rest on a norm that people who are not seen to be active aren't pulling their weight and are a drag on the team. It's corollary might be that people who are thinking about what they are doing are wasting time. In the short term, if the organisation is stable with a continuous demand for its products and services, this norm might be very valuable. However, if customer expectations change or competition increases then this norm may be a serious liability, preventing continuous improvement, innovation and customer focus.
Norms are often not spoken about. People are often not consciously aware of what the norms are or that they are conforming to norms. Frequently, there is a difference between what Chris Argyris calls the Espoused Theory and the Theory-in-use. In other words, what people say the organisation values may be quite different to what they do in practice. What is done is practice is the real culture of the organisation.
So when it comes to change that affects norms, the process can be complex and disruptive. This is because of the frequent gap between awareness and practice. Change of culture requires persistence and careful sequencing of change steps. While supervisors are important for all change, they are especially important for cultural change since they are the ones who can really see, monitor and influence what people do.
- Systems
- Individuals
- Groups
- Norms.
These make up the acronym SIGN.
How these areas are affected depends on the change. It is important to undestand this, since it will affect how you apply the BASIC 8 method. For example, a new accounting application may affect systems, individuals and groups but have no impact on the norms that define the organisation's culture. However, a new customer service strategy may have little systems content but rely heavily on individuals, groups and norms.
When planning and implementing a change it is important to consult and check how it will affect any of these change areas. It might not be obvious from the perspective of planners and project managers but be very obvious to the people on the ground.
Systems
Some changes obviously deal with systems. It could involve new production plant or equipment, a new finance system, upgrades to IT, moving sales and customer service online or entering a new market overseas. From the Beginning phase through to the Consolidation phase, the systemic nature of the change is clear.
But in other cases the systems changes might not be so obvious. It might be an organisational restructure or a new customer service policy. However, closer inspection may highlight anything from a few minor changes in systems and procedures to some major reworking of how daily business is done.
Individuals
Some changes have a significant impact on individuals. The most obvious is organisational downsizing, which has its own lense below.
Changes that can have a high impact on individuals are those that relocate people, change role or career requirements, change their significant work relationships (peers, customers, supervisors) or require a new vision, business style or different priorities. Even a technical strategy, which may look like a systems and output change, can have intense personal change impacts if it affects a person's status, influence and technical relevance to the organisation.
Groups
While change is felt by individuals it is also open to group dynamics. Groups have identities and share experiences. They are network hubs, bringing together contacts, knowledge, skills and business opporutnities. People are more likely to feel loyal to their group in the form of a work unit then they are to an organisation. So the impact of change on groups is important as groups are, first and foremost, where organisations exist.
Changes that impact on groups are those that affect workloads, identity, who they deal with, their location, autonomy and self-control. Resturctures are an obvious threat to group stability as is organisational branding. The status of a group can be affected by uniforms, delegated responsibility and who it gets to deal with, from prestige customers to influence within the organisation.
A note about supervisors
There are very few changes that don't engage groups. For this reason, the role of the supervisor is critical for change. Supervisors deal with people on a daily basis, they have highly detailed and invovled conversations with them, they are entrusted with confidential information about people's health and families. The intensity and influence of supervisor relationships greatly exceeds the capacity for executives or senior managers to engage people across the organisation. Investing in supervisors, getting them on board and equipping them to handle the change goes a long way toward helping a change succeed.
Norms
Norms sit at the heart of organisational culture. If culture is simply what is considered normal around the place then norms are the guiding principles behind that.
Norms are not absolute. They emerge at different points in time for an organisation and then continue until they fade out or are confronted. If they match current needs they are a helpful. If the don't then they can undermine performance and wellbeing.
Take, or example, a culture that promotes high energy and continuous action may rest on a norm that people who are not seen to be active aren't pulling their weight and are a drag on the team. It's corollary might be that people who are thinking about what they are doing are wasting time. In the short term, if the organisation is stable with a continuous demand for its products and services, this norm might be very valuable. However, if customer expectations change or competition increases then this norm may be a serious liability, preventing continuous improvement, innovation and customer focus.
Norms are often not spoken about. People are often not consciously aware of what the norms are or that they are conforming to norms. Frequently, there is a difference between what Chris Argyris calls the Espoused Theory and the Theory-in-use. In other words, what people say the organisation values may be quite different to what they do in practice. What is done is practice is the real culture of the organisation.
So when it comes to change that affects norms, the process can be complex and disruptive. This is because of the frequent gap between awareness and practice. Change of culture requires persistence and careful sequencing of change steps. While supervisors are important for all change, they are especially important for cultural change since they are the ones who can really see, monitor and influence what people do.
Resizing and other significant disruptions generate their own particular change dynamics with issues to be managed in addition to the normal dynamics of change management. Some of the key things to look for are:
- Survivor Syndrome
- This is the impact on people who are continuing with the organisation after others have been made redundant. Some of the variables that affect its likelihood and severity are market conditions, identification with people who left, intensity of relationships and perceived fairness. If the organiation is to perform at its best after the resizing then these issuses have to be addressed.
- Financial Drivers
- Many resizing events are driven by financial crises. This means the drivers behind the change are not geared to improving systems and quality performance. The change must try to integrate systems, structural and performance issues in the face of an unrelenting requirement to balance the books.
- Organisational Degradation
- The data is quite clear that many organisations are worse off after resizing. This is because the nature of the drivers behind resizing are often external to the best way to redesign the business and help it to perform. This cannot be avoided, in the sense that the crisis that triggers the resizing is real and must be addressed. The challenge for the change is to design that so that the organisation, having faced the crisis, is still positioning itself to be a viable organisation on the other side of the change. Surviving the crisis in the short term often distracts from being viable in the longer term.
As indicated in the section The SIGNs of Change above, changing culture is a complex agenda. However it can be done and surprisingly quickly if the right attention and resources are dedicated to the process.
Changing culture is usually a leadership driven change rather than a project driven change. This does not mean it won't have dedicated resources. Rather, leadership is the key lever for changing culture.
To achieve cultural change it has to firstly be foremost on the leadership agenda. It has to be a key performance expectation for each leader along with their core business targets. Time has to be put aside to plan it, agree on it, implement it and review it.
Cutlure change relies on persistence and consistency. It is about changing norms and the practices, resources and structures that express them. For example, there is no point proclaiming that the organisation wants people to take greater responsibility for decisions in their roles if at the same time managers micro-manage and decisions are pushed up to senior managers. Such a culture change requires new policies, systems, risk management methods and professional development elements to enable the change to become real. Leaders have to monitor their own behaviours and repeatedly adapt their processes and decisions to cultivate the required behaviours across the organisation.
Changing culture is usually a leadership driven change rather than a project driven change. This does not mean it won't have dedicated resources. Rather, leadership is the key lever for changing culture.
To achieve cultural change it has to firstly be foremost on the leadership agenda. It has to be a key performance expectation for each leader along with their core business targets. Time has to be put aside to plan it, agree on it, implement it and review it.
Cutlure change relies on persistence and consistency. It is about changing norms and the practices, resources and structures that express them. For example, there is no point proclaiming that the organisation wants people to take greater responsibility for decisions in their roles if at the same time managers micro-manage and decisions are pushed up to senior managers. Such a culture change requires new policies, systems, risk management methods and professional development elements to enable the change to become real. Leaders have to monitor their own behaviours and repeatedly adapt their processes and decisions to cultivate the required behaviours across the organisation.