Organizational change outcomes
It is useful for people involved in organizational change to pay attention to the nature of the change outcomes that they wil be dealing with. It’s a bit less straightforward than it might appear to be at first sight. My research and experience have shown that there are three aspects to the concept change outcome.
First, there is the issue of intentionality. Any planned change has objectives – these are shown in Powerpoint presentations. So managers undertake planned change initiatives with certain outcomes in mind – these are intended outcomes. However, the unpredictable nature of change processes means that there will be unexpected outcomes which were not predicted. These develop as the change initiative progresses.
Next, when a change outcome is classified as intended, there is the issue of how well it meets its goals, i.e. whether its intended results have been achieved fully, or not achieved at all – or something in between. In fact, there can be different views within the same organization about the extent to which an intended change outcome has been achieved. Read more
Unexpected or unplanned change?
Usually organizational change deals with planned change. But change management can also involve unexpected change. This article discusses what can happen when the owner of a Mittelstand company gets sick, is injured, or even dies: ‘Notfallplan – Wenn der Chef ausfällt’ :: Management Impulse
Organizations should have contingency plans in place, so that an unexpected change is not an unplanned change. It’s far easier to have successful change management with a planned change. All companies should plan for the unexpected, so that an unexpected change is actually a planned change.
