Caution of Change Management

When you make beyond your fear, you will be free.

Change management is really necessary for every organization, and it needs to be carefully and thoroughly done. It is acquired to study both human and organization so that change management can be effectively and efficiently put into practice. However, when change management is employed, some of the following words of caution have to be taken profound consideration (Palmer et al, 2009):   

1. Expect some unanticipated outcomes: Although there is a link between action and outcome is very controllable and predictable, there are likely to be some unanticipated consequences reinforcing outcomes and counteracting outcomes.

2. Be alert to measurement limitations: Assessing success of innovative practices is an inherently complex and ambiguous challenge, and that is why it is required to be wholly and watchfully studied and researched.  

3. Don’t declare victory too soon:  Do not declare the victory too soon because the result can be changed, but we can celebrate a win. As one said “Declaring the war won can sometimes be catastrophic”. 4. Beware of escalation of commitment: Escalation means intensification, and there are four factors that can lead to escalation, and these include (a) Project determinants, (b) Psychological determinants, (c) Social determinants, and (d) Organizational determinants. According to Keil & Montealegre, they identify seven practices that can help reduce escalation: (A) Don’t ignore negative feedback or external pressure, (B) Hire an external assessor to provide an independent view on progress (C) Don’t be afraid to withhold further resources/funding; as well as limiting losses, it has symbolic value in that it is a fairly emphatic signal that there is concern with progress, (D) Look for opportunities to redefine the problem and thereby generate ideas for courses of action other than the one being abandoned, (E) Manage impressions. Frame the “de-escalation” in a way that saves face, (F) Prepare your stakeholders because if they shared the initial belief in the rationale for the change, their reaction or an announcement of the abandonment of the change may be resist, and (G) Look for opportunities to deinstitutionalize the project.

Sam Aun (Andy)