Change Agents

Organizational Change Management & Business Process Improvement by Joe Rothman

The world doesn't fear a new idea, what it fears is a new experience. - Anonymous

Numerous studies have shown that many strategic changes fail to be implemented on time and within budget. For example, 50 – 75% of all implementations of integrative technologies or methodologies, e.g., CRM, Business Process Improvement, Lean Manufacturing, etc., fail to achieve the financial results which justified their investment.

Many organizations now believe that the ability to react quickly to change is critical to their survival. Yet, the inability to implement these changes, whether through cancelled projects, or projects that are late, over budget, or miss critical business requirements hinder the organization’s ability to keep pace with its competitors. The implications of these issues go beyond the obvious short-term, direct results of wasting resources and not achieving stated goals. As a result of these implementation problems, the organization may miss key financial or market targets which reduce its ability to invest further. Additionally, internal confidence and morale can weaken. Both of these lead to future difficulties in implementation.

At the same time, the pace of change is increasing. The technology landscape is evolving at an ever-increasing rate, with security, compliance, CRM and accommodation of mobile devices all being in the forefront in 2006. In addition to pure technology advances, organizations continue to reorganize and focus on improved or new business processes for greater efficiencies and effectiveness in a changing marketplace.

All of these projects share a common underpinning as involving changes in process, technology and people. A large number of research projects that have studied project success and failure come to the conclusion that the issue is usually not with the technology, methodology, etc. Rather, the direct cause for “failure” in many cases is the lack of planning for the human and organizational response to change.

The probability of successful implementation can be accomplished by utilizing a structured approach to the human and organizational aspects of change coordinated with the standard project plan. These structured approaches to change incorporate the same degree of attention and discipline which is currently employed with the technical aspects of these projects.

In many cases, the change management strategy that accompanies a business process improvement project is focused almost entirely on development of new documentation of procedures and training of personnel on the new process(es). While these components are of considerable importance, there are other key factors that should be addressed, including the following:


Sponsorship – Sponsorship is management’s visible and consistent commitment to the project. Many projects have encountered difficulty when management has not been aware that their role is central to convincing the organization that the project is key to the organization’s achievement of critical business objectives. Because sponsors are typically involved with many simultaneous initiatives, as well as their day-to-day operational responsibilities, it is common for sponsors to help kick-off a project, and then expect it to proceed smoothly without additional effort on their part. Good sponsorship, however, is exemplified by constant appropriate communication throughout the organization on the criticality of the project. Additionally, good sponsors ensure that their management team is all committed to the project, and that all required resources (people, time, money) are made available when the project requires them.

Change Agent / Project Manager – The past few years have seen an increasing appreciation of the role of the project manager, as evidenced by the creation of the Project Management Book of Knowledge and the certification of the Project Management Professional. One of the many roles that a Project Manager must handle is that of the Change Agent, the person responsible for ensuring that the people component of the project is identified and managed as part of the project plan.

Culture – For organizations with strong cultures, any change that runs counter to that culture will have additional barriers to success. A key component of any change program is an assessment of cultural barriers to success; if these are significant, it may be worthwhile to determine how to reduce the conflicts. If this is not possible, it may be necessary to address the cultural issues prior to undertaking the project.

Resistance – It is often difficult to accept that resistance to change is natural and inevitable. The most effective strategies attempt to understand the potential sources of resistance, create opportunities for people to voice their concerns, and effectively (and honestly) address these issues.

Perhaps the most critical lesson, however, is that change management is not an “add-on” or separate activity from the rest of the Business Process Improvement initiative. For greatest effectiveness, Change Management should be an integrated part of the project team, and the change management activities must be incorporated into the main project plan for execution and monitoring.