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WHY SOME ORGANISATIONAL CHANGES PERSIST,
WHILE OTHERS DECAY
Abstract
This report has studied the theory and practice of change management and its constituent
elements that are essential for change sustainability in an organization.
The work is focused on the study of people and their resistance to change as one of the
integrated elements of the five categories influencing change sustainability: managerial;
leadership; cultural; political; temporal.
In this study, an attempt was made to observe options to reduce this resistance, which
basically means changing human behavior by creating a teamwork environment, motivation and
participating in the change themselves.
Introduction
Traditionally, organizations are created for stable, long-term activity and any organizational
changes are not an end in the business, but are based on the fundamental principle of business -
to make a profit for its owners. Thus, any change in the business must meet that purpose.
Each organization is unique in its goals and ways to achieve these goals. Traditionally, they
are formulated in the mission, objectives and strategies.
The ability to flexibly adapt to changes in the external and internal environments is a competitive
advantage of each company
Change in the company can be anywhere, such as: organizational structure, products, technology,
staffing, and so on.
For example, (McKinsey 2013) research findings show that most change initiatives are
oriented to reinforcing organizational performance in a market
Figure 1. Source: (McKinsey 2013)
However, estimates made by (Bunney 1992) and later by (Meaney and Pung 2008) show that only
30% of organizational change initiatives were considered successful.

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In fact, organizational change or Change management encompasses much more than
merely organizational performance; it also includes creating rules and procedures to stimulate all
stakeholders to carry out activities efficiently.
In order to understand the nature of Change management as an essential part of the
concept of management, to reveal the mechanism of functioning, and to reveal the features of its
various components, I am going approach it from a broader perspective.
As recently stated in (DBS 2012a) “Change management does not have any clear
boundaries, as a discipline, and is based on a number of social sciences, including psychology”.
In my opinion, its multidisciplinary nature enables it to be adapted more efficiently to
changing internal and external environments to which business is exposed
1. Theory of Change management
A practical approach to Change management was proposed by (Lewin 1951), who suggested a
simple three-stage process of Unfreezing-Moving-Refreezing.
Then, (Beckhard, 1969) suggested a change program based on a following actions a)
setting goals to be achieved as a result of the changes; b) diagnosis of existing conditions with
respect to these objectives; c) developing actions for a transitional period; d) developing strategies
and action plans.
Currently, Kotter's 8-Step Change Model (Kotter, 1995) is widely used by organizations.
Kotter's change model consists of sequential stages for implementing Change management in an
organization: 1) Create Urgency; 2) Form a Powerful Coalition; 3) Create a Vision for Change;
4)Communicate the Vision; 5)Empower People and Remove Obstacles; 6)Generate Short-term
Wins; 7) Build on the Change Initiative 8) Incorporate Cultural Changes..
Despite the fact that the model is widely used, it has its critics, for example, (Appelbaum
2012), who indicates that the model can only be a starting point for change, but it requires
adaptation to each specific case and also that more successful implementation is only possible by
combining it then with other Change management methods.
(Mintzberg 1998) proposed a "Change Cube", where he suggested a basic principle, stating
possible success in changing a product or personnel (people), but failure to replace its vision or
structure. He also proposed a map in which two dimensions of change are contrasted with basic
approaches to change.
Also worth mentioning is the work of (Warr 2002, p. 399), in which the structure and main
components of organizational change are proposed. Strong points are made in an attempt to
categorize organizational change, and the causes and catalysts of change, leaders and change
agents and stakeholders. The work explains the form, duration and nature of organizational
change, where there are several types of change: episodic, continuous, transformational and
incremental.
The book also proposed a framework for analyzing organizational change.

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feedback
Figure 2. Adapted from (Warr 2002, p. 403)
An obvious benefit of this structure is that it shows the inextricable link between the
elements of Organizational change. Moreover, successful implementation of Organizational
change is only possible when all mechanisms are working correctly and there is no failure
anywhere.
It is also important that each of the elements is balanced relative to each other and the
system as a whole. And the link in the whole process is feedback, or in other words,
communication.
However, this framework has some deficiencies; in particular, it does not have an actuator
in charge of executing the changes. It should probably be placed between “Management of the
change process” and “Outputs & outcomes for stakeholders”, or it may be correct to move
“Leadership & Change agents” there.
These amendments make the framework similar to the traditional scheme widely used in a
business (Leadership
).
Figure 3. Some form of Deming’s PDCA
Context
EXTERNAL
INTERNAL
Leadership
Change agents
Management of change
process
Strategy & vision of
change
Engagement of
stakeholders
Structural& cultural
change
Timing & phasing of
change
Outputs &
outcomes for
stakeholders
INTENDENT
UNTENDENT

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Moreover, as an example, with the arrival of a new CEO or director, many changes take
place immediately, from the date the order or memorandum is issued.
Thus, the proposed framework is more suitable for continuous types of change, but not for
episodic ones. The framework also lacks empirical evidence and confirmation of its practical
applications in business.
Practice of Change management
One of the fundamental principles of management organization is ISO 9000, which outlines
the ideology of quality management principles (ISO 2012)
This ideology is the basis for the construction and development of a quality system in any
organization.
A quality management system is based on 8 principles (Customer focus; Leadership;
Involvement of people; Process approach; System approach to management; Continual
improvement; Factual approach to decision making; Mutually beneficial supplier relationships)
These principles can probably be fully attributed as the framework for implementing and
maintaining change, and progress measurement and monitoring.
In addition, there are many successful practical models that have been positively proven
over many years of use, where the most popular are:
Toyota Production System (TPS) or Lean
The name is associated with the company Toyota, and in the early 50’s was conceived by a
unique production management system ("kanban"), which allows the removal of all types of losses:
materials, time, production and capacity.
Later, the system was used in Toyota Group companies and has proven its effectiveness in
contributing to the company’s success.
Kaizen strategy
Ken strategy is based on continuous, light, small incremental improvements and on the
cultivation and identification of the need for change. Employees who were change initiators and
facilitators have a central role in this process. All employees’ proposals for innovation lead to a
revision of the organization’s standards and business processes.
This strategy ultimately increases staff motivation to change, because the sources of
change are employees of the organization.
Total Quality Management (TQM)
The strategy was associated with Edward Deming name.
Deming is the author of one of the most important tools of quality control, the so-called "
Deming Cycle", which is also known as the Deming wheel or PDCA cycle (Plan - Do - Check -
impact).
He emphasized the importance of the relationship between research, design, production
and sales in order to achieve higher quality satisfying the customer
Six sigma
Six sigma is a technique for tuning the business processes used to minimize the likelihood
of defects in operations. It was developed by Motorola Corp in the early 80's.

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Each of these practical models has proven its effectiveness through years of use; however
these various models and strategies show that there is no direct and clear solution for change
management and its sustainability in a particular business environment.
Change management is affected by different forces, which are often complex and
multifaceted, and therefore the ISO 9000 framework is more suited to it.
It could be outlined like this: make an initial assessment of whether the changes are
necessary for the end consumer/stakeholder, and then as a result of careful consideration of
internal and external forces and conditions, implement the most effective approach to Change
management
Forces influencing change sustainability.
(DBS, 2012 b) cited Kotter’s (1995) who have proposed five categories of influence on
sustainability: managerial; leadership; cultural; political; temporal.
The most frequently cited problem influencing the change process in a company is called
individual or group resistance to these changes, which may take different forms, such as suspicion,
mistrust, resistance and attachment to old ways.
Changing people is very hard. Leaders play a crucial role in initiating and implementing
change, as they are responsible for developing the strategy changes, planning, and
implementation.
Organizational change depends on how the people who work in organizations change their
behavior. Therefore, an imperative of change in an organization is to ensure the readiness of
employees to change.
Smith (2006) emphasized the importance of “people”- the human resources of
organizations - as both an essential factor in achieving change, as well as being the biggest
potential obstacles to change.
The reasons for people's resistance to change may be different; for example, they think
things are just fine already and don't understand the need for change.
Resistance to change is inevitable if people feel that the changes will worsen their status,
and if they do not see their place in the future of the organization.
A number of studies have listed the sources of resistance to change, which are mostly the
same, as well as the stages of personal resistance to change from the starting point, where
passivity and denial prevail, and finally adoption of change in case of its successful
implementation.
One of the successful approaches to overcoming such resistance proposed by (Armstrong
2000) is to identify groups or individuals who fully accept the changes and involve them in the
program at the initial phase of the change process.
There is also another view on minimizing resistance to change (Self, D.R. 2007, p. 12):
"People do not necessarily resist change out of hand. For example, individuals rarely reject change
that has obvious personal benefits." The first step is to understand the difference between
resistance and readiness.
This statement emphasizes the importance of wide and sustained communications. For
example, prior to the launch of any changes, the manager has to communicate with staff to explain
the reasons for the change, how it will generally be carried out and where others can get additional
information.
(Pfeffer and Sutton 2002) suggests that managers demonstrate: Predictability,
Understanding, Control, Sympathy - behavioral qualities that will help their subordinates to get rid
of fear and distrust of the changes.
However, the problem may not be only with staff, but with the managers who are
responsible for the changes.

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(McCall 1998) investigated the causes of resistance to change managers.
Misunderstanding, according to McCall, is one of the most common reasons why people do not
change
In my opinion, among all of the above-mentioned theories, we need to pay attention to the
words (Kotter 1995, p. 2) "A paralyzed senior management often comes from having too many
managers and not enough leaders. Management's mandate is to minimize risk and keep the
current system operating."
Transformation through leadership and the contribution of HR to change management are
the strong points for overcoming resistance to change; in particular, (Kotter 1995, p. 35) says
"Transformation is impossible unless hundreds or thousands of people are willing to help, often to
the point of making short-term sacrifices".
According to (Burns 1978), transformational leadership creates significant change in people
and organizations and connects the follower's sense of identity and self to the mission and
collective identity of the organization.
This approach is extremely useful and makes it possible to successfully implement
changes; but unfortunately, practical implementation of transformational leadership is not always
possible.
There are many reasons for this, but mainly researchers say that not every manager has
the charisma, intellectual stimulation and individual consideration in the eyes of their staff.
Therefore, often in order to be a successful leader, a manager should at least have qualities
such as energetic, enthusiastic behavior.
In effect, given the above circumstances, a more widely used transactional leadership is
when people are motivated by reward and punishment. Some form of transactional leadership can
be found in all organizations, i.e., salaries and bonuses.
This form is based on an approach where leaders of this type carefully analyze the
performance of their subordinates
Of course, these two types of leadership complement each other; in particular, (Bass 1998)
noted that transactional leadership provides the basis for developing a more effective form -
transformational leadership.
Thus, management should try to use these leadership methods in order to maximize the
involvement of the company’s personnel and all stakeholders in change implementation and
sustainability.
An incomparable advantage of large enterprises is that over many years of activity of
corporate capital, they have gained skills and techniques for improving Change management.
Above all, it is based on cultivating their own leaders, or gathering and careful selection of
personnel for business purposes, including relocation of staff to address some clearly defined
objectives in areas of business for improvement or change.
In fact, these leaders have a “tool kit” system and procedures designed to maintain and
monitor these changes from initiation to implementation. In most cases, it is performed in the
presence of a so-called "coalition", i.e., groups of stakeholders (line manager, top management of
an affiliate, CEO) who are interested in the success of the project.
Teamwork
There is a vast literature on teamwork theories and practices (Kotter 1995 p.4) in his
fundamental work talked about creating a powerful coalition in an organization: "Sometimes they
have no history of teamwork at the top, and therefore undervalue the importance of this type of
coalition".
It is no coincidence that teamwork is significant in change management, because changes
should be made by people.

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In this case, it is worth referring to the classic work of (Belbin 2010, p. 22), where he
proposed roles depending on people’s traits, attitude and behavior.
The key advantage of this allocation is that it meets the functional role of Team roles and
responsibilities of the employee in the company, thus creating favorable conditions for the
disclosure of significant business and personal qualities of each employee in the workplace
(Figure3).
Figure 4. Source: (Belbin 2010, p. 22),
It would probably appear very easy to implement: just get the right person who has
leadership experience and charisma, appoint people according to personality, acquire toolkit
procedures and via continuous communication drive the staff to the target objectives.
However, in practice it is not so simple, and the theory and practice show significant
difficulties in the Change management process.
First and foremost, it is associated with people and interpersonal relationships and the
social environment and way of life of each staff member and their interests and reluctance.
In this case, it is appropriate to mention the book by (Armstrong 2009, p.424), where he
considers the three types of change: strategic, operational and transformational and the flexibility
required from senior management to apply them in particular cases: "It is important to bear in mind
that while those wanting change need to be constant about ends, they have to be flexible about
means.".
Thus, the point is that a manager, who is involved in the change management process,
should be wise enough and experienced in the use of theory and practice, and ensure that despite
some delay in the process, it is still on track to the target.

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Project Successes and Failures.
According to (Brady 2010), the primary reasons behind them were: a) Insufficient board-
level support; b) Weak leadership; c) Unrealistic expectations of organizational capacity and
capability; d) Insufficient focus on benefits; e) No real picture (blueprint) of future capability; f)
Poorly defined or poorly communicated vision g) The organization fails to change its culture; h)
Insufficient engagement of stakeholders
This fact corresponds with studies conducted by (IT Cortex 2013), where the most obvious
elements affecting the success of the projects were: a)breakdown in communication (57 %);
b)lack of planning (39%) and c) poor quality control (35%).
Figure 5. Source: (IT Cortex 2013.)
Thus, by analogy, it is possible to suggest that for project success and sustainability of
change management, we need to pay special attention to communication, planning and control
over the execution of plans.
Suggestions for success in change management.
Successfully implemented techniques such as Kotter’s 8 steps, Armstrong’s, (2000), TPS,
Kaizen Six Sigma, and others may have their supporters and opponents who can indefinitely
convince others of the advantages of one over the other.
One of the ways to assess success according to (Eaton 2010, p. 2)) is "Gleicher's Formula''
for determining whether an Improvement program will be successful,
Δ = DxVxF> R, where
∆ = Probability of change success
D = Dissatisfaction with the current state among the team
V = Clarity of the vision of what the organization is trying to achieve and what it means to
individuals
F = Clarity of what the first steps will be
R = the level of resistance to the change.
In fact, it is difficult to provide quantitative values of these parameters, but the positive side
is that this formula considers two opposing forces that need to be controlled and maintained in
change management

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Thus, the main focus should be on people, their attitudes, behavior and emotional state,
characteristics and the harmonious and gradual implementation of their involvement in change.
The success of this approach may depend not only on the theoretical basis of the chosen
strategy (Kaizen, TPS, Sigma, Kotter, etc.), but also on how the work plan takes into account the
motivation of staff and management in terms of: payment, promotion opportunities, working
conditions and job change programs.
As a result, it will help to develop positive emotions for all stakeholders. As previously
noted above, leadership, teamwork, efficient communication, planning and control are
prerequisites for a successful change management process; therefore, considerable attention must
be paid to maintaining and promoting it throughout the project life.
Stress and its consequences can be one of the potential risks for a project, so it is
necessary to develop adequate facilities and programs to overcome and reduce it.
It is important to identify the personality of each individual and to monitor the strengths and
weaknesses of the organization by continuous surveying.
Thus, continuous monitoring and surveying will make it possible to implement Belbin's
theories in practice to orient target persons to the appropriate team roles, and as a result increase
job satisfaction and work performance.
It is particularly important to monitor job satisfaction of the staff; for example, a person who
likes working in an organization may suddenly become negative toward that organization if, say,
their job is radically redesigned or a more autocratic senior manager arrives on the scene.
In my practice, there were examples where the range of employees esteemed their leader
and the working atmosphere was very friendly, but at the same time, this leader was unpopular
with his superiors.
Once a leader is replaced by one who is more suitable, but who lacks respect from
subordinates, it causes a breakdown in the overall working climate for some weeks until new
interpersonal behavior is adopted.
Summary and conclusions
It is preferable to overcome resistance before its occurrence. Management should assess
the likelihood of people’s resistance and take measures to prevent it.
A close look at the Kotter's 8-Step Change Model, reveals that all 8 steps are addressed to
people: first, identify their interests, make them listen, bargain and adopt.
People’s participation in the change process is a prerequisite for success.
The manager should know a lot about the people he works with in order to try to manage
them successfully. But the problem of managing a person in an organization cannot be reduced to
the interaction between the worker and the manager. The manager and HR have to be engaged in
continuous identification of the right person for the right job, his needs and taking into account his
capabilities and role on a team. This could stimulate the individual’s openness to his full potential,
work performance and motivation.
Therefore, management should take this into account and consider each employee as an
individual with a set of specific characteristics, as a specialist intended to perform a specific job,
and as a team member having a particular role in a team.
The HRM should play a major role and not be limited to the selection of staff and organizing
statistics on KPI's, but should also develop a training program for staff for transferring knowledge
and skills to people, and as a result changing their behavior toward change adoption and its
sustainability.

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