Change, Part 3
Change is ever-present in our lives, both personal and professional. There are many theories of change and in an earlier posting I suggested a website that presents many such theories. One that I like very much was developed by Rosabeth Kanter, called the Big Three Model of Change. I will very briefly summarize the model as I think it may be interesting for you to consider:
The Big Three Theory of Change
•Three kinds of movement
•Three forms of change
•Three action roles in the change process
Kinds of Movement
• Macroevolutionary – historical, related to whole industries, the movement of an organization as it relates to motion in its environment; the environment is always shifting due to geographical, political, economic, demographic, and social realties
• Microevolutionary – developmental, related to the movement of parts of the organization as it grows, ages, and progresses through its life cycle; momentum is created in organization as they increase in size and its members, values, and practices change
• Revolutionary – the manipulation and struggle for power and control to make decisions or attain benefits from the organization; over time different stakeholders advance their own interests and make claims on the organization’s resources
Forms of Change
• Identity – changes in the relationships between the organization and its environment; its assets and market, its relationships to customers and other organizations
• Coordination – changes which involve the internal parts or configuration of an organization; the problems of shape and structure as it grows and ages
• Control – changes that stress the political dimension; which coalition is dominant in the organization, which set of interests predominate, who governs and sets strategy; ownership
Action Roles
• Change strategists – concerned with the organization’s direction and the connection between the organization and its environment; usually found in top leaders at the beginning of a change sequence
• Change implementers – responsible for the change effort itself, concerned with internal organizational structure and coordination; usually the mid-level managers in the middle of the change sequence
• Change recipients – those most strongly affected by the change and its implementation but without the opportunity to influence those effects; organizational staff at the end of the change sequence
Kanter, R. (1992). The Challenge of Organizational Change: How Companies Experience it and Leaders Guide it. Free Press: New York.