Understanding different types of change management
Intro: To effect change effectively, we must first understand the various types of change management. This article gives you some insight into this.
As people; our individual experience can be described as falling into one of four types of change management which are exceptional, incremental, pendulum and paradigm. Organisations on the other hand experience different types.
Of course, at one level; the change that any business undertakes is compromised of the sum of all changes that are experienced individually (by the people that work there) so it goes without saying that personal and business change management are inextricably linked. However, in an organisation; the change then takes on emergent properties of its own.
Pinning down the different types of change management can be a slippery business! Each can merge into the other or the different types can be confused. This can cause problems in terms of role expectation where managers are disappointed with what is delivered because the change has crossed the line into another remit and therefore; department.
In organisational change therefore we have 3 styles of change management:-
Evolutionary
This is the most common type and arises through natural selection made up of small adjustments in people’s behaviour, performance and the natural shifts and responses that take place in a changing environment. These changes are often too small to notice but when looked back on; it is clear that quite significant variations and progress has occurred.
Revolutionary
This usually happens as a result of outside forces – these can be welcome or not and if not – have people up in arms! This type of change, as the name suggests, often involves large shifts in power that can have a huge impact.
Directed
This directed or planned or managed change sets out to achieve a specific and desired purpose. The management, workforce and culture of the workplace need to shift in order to align with the practices and attitude necessary to achieve the directed change.
The trio of directed change
Within directed change management there are three different types of approach, because different kinds of change need different strategies and plans to encourage acceptance, engagement and the ultimate success of the project.
Developmental
This is where businesses improve on what they are currently doing and their existing skill set, processes and technologies. Examples could include developing increasing sales leads, interpersonal effectiveness training as per change management courses.
Transformation
An organisational change management specialist will tell you that this is a far more challenging type of change where the company imagines and works towards a future image of where they want to be but the change has to happen in an evolutionary manner due to the uncertainty of the future. With no predetermined outcomes, the success and exact destination of the project depends on a gradual change in belief and value systems and trial and error.
Transitional
This refers to replacing old things for new whereby employees have to let go of their old way of operating. This type of change could involve replacement of IT systems etc and is the ideal project for traditional change management tools.
