Organizational change

The art of choosing the right change approachThere is no single best way to change organizations. It is a delicate process with many dilemmas. The effort is to recognize these dilemmas and handle them in a positive way.

In organizational change, the challenge is to find an appropriate change approach that suits the situation, the organization and the people working there. Choosing an appropriate approach to change requires a view of the future and deliberate choices for the change strategy, the phasing, the players, the way of communicating and possible interventions.

In the search for an appropriate approach to change I enjoy working with others in achieving a desirable future.

There are countless methods for supporting people in processes of change. They can concern individual development, changes in organizations or cooperation in networks of organizations.

It is impossible here to give a full list of available change strategies and methods. An overview of change strategies is available here: Change strategies.

There is an abundance of good overviews, such as:
– Boonstra, J.J. (2004) Dynamics of Organizational Change and Learning. Chichester: Wiley.
– Cummings, T. & Worley, C. (2001) Organization development and change, 7th ed. Cincinnati: South-Western College Publishing.
– French, W.L. & Bell, C.H. (1999) Organization Development. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
– De Caluwé L. & Vermaak H. (2003), Learning to Change; A guide for organization change agents. Sage Publications

The art of changing is in choosing the most suitable method for a specific situation. That is usually not so easy. A current list of intervention methods is available here: Interventions for strategic and cultural change