Current Research: The Lane4 Change Framework
Research Question: Why do so many change programmes fail and what interventions facilitate successful change?
Lead Researcher: Katie Warriner, Lane4
Project Summary
An article in the January 1954 Harvard Business Review identified employee resistance to change as "one of the most baffling and recalcitrant of the problems" facing business executives (Lawrence, 1954, p.49). "Does it follow", the article continued, "that business management is forever saddled with the onerous job of "forcing" change down the throats of resistant people?"
Fifty years later and despite countless publications and case studies, research suggests that we are still baffled by the challenge of change. One review found that up to 85% of organisational change efforts fail to deliver their stated objectives (Anderson, Klein & Stuart, 2000).
The repercussions of unsuccessful change are substantial and include:
- Reduced profitability and market share (nearly two thirds of companies lose market share in the first quarter after a merger, by the third quarter the figure is ninety percent; Harding & Rouse, 2007)
- Loss of talent in the short and long-term (Krug, 2003)
- Reduced employee engagement (Hallier & Lyon, 1996)
Ultimately, failing to manage change is costly for the people involved and for the bottom line. There are many different theories to explain the high failure rate of organisational change initiatives but academics and practitioners alike are increasingly converging on the failure to attend to the human side of change.
Change is deeply personal; for change to occur, individuals need to think, feel and do things differently. Successful change therefore is contingent on the engagement of the people involved in it. Despite this, many approaches to change management rely on mechanistic principles that fail to connect with the psychological impact of change on an individual level.
This study aims to move beyond the linear step-by-step approaches to change, towards a more holistic methodology that is based on an in-depth understanding of the psychological impact of change on employees. It will therefore support change leaders to effectively engage with the human side of change and to work in a dynamic and emergent manner.
Status Update
We have now completed a comprehensive review of the performance psychology literature. The findings of this review have been developed further through 1:1 interviews with individuals in the middle of an organisational restructure, and focus groups with consultants experienced in the change domain.
This phase of research gave rise to the Lane4 Change Framework, a scientifically rigorous platform from which interventions that create successful change can be designed and implemented.
We are now in the validation phase of this project. This has involved partnering with a number of clients in the analysis of a wide range of organisational change initiatives. The qualitative and quantitative data that we have collected, and are now analysing, will inform further development and application of the Lane4 Change Framework.
For more information please contact katie.warriner@lane4.co.uk
Download Demystifying the Challenge of Change from The Lane4 Journal of Excellence below.
Katie Warriner | 2008-08-27