According to the Royal Spanish Academy, the word change comes from the late Latin “cambium”, and this from the French “cambion”. Change, therefore, would be an action or process through which we leave a given situation to place ourselves in a different one.
Talking about change inevitably refers us to the very origin of humanity, in fact we could consider the term "evolution" as a synonym for change. It would be interesting to ask the Swiss biologist Charles Bonnet who in the 18th century, in his work "Consideration sur les corps organisés", first described the term "evolution" as the set of transformations or changes through time that has originated the diversity of life forms that exist on Earth, or in any case, and why not, it would be interesting to know the opinion of Charles Darwin.
Well, despite its importance in the entire evolutionary path of the human being and life itself, despite the fact that the change has guided the oldest philosophical reflections, its appearance as an important variable in the stability and permanence of any organization is relatively recent..
Thanks to the immense range of situations in which change processes operate, the formulation of the correct meaning of the term and its scope of action has become a titanic task, in fact Rickards tells us: “There is no contemporary text that has convincingly solved the territory of change management ”
Despite this, we can ensure that high levels of competition, globalization and the emergence of new technologies are just three of the many factors that require a change in organizations and with it, a corresponding change in renewal processes, which they are based on continuous improvement of processes and permanent innovation.
New competitors, mobilization of capital, difficulty in retaining human talent, changing technologies and the economic, political and socio-political environment are just some elements that force the people who lead the organization to be attentive and prepared to the change, without forgetting the necessary ability to motivate your people to achieve the continuous and permanent renewal of your organization.
Well, in short, what do we understand by change management? To answer, I will rely on the most commonly used definition, which ensures that it is a set of processes that are used to ensure that significant changes are carried out properly. orderly, controlled and systematic for the purpose of organizational changes.
Excellent, but this is not the only question that we must necessarily answer:
What is the level of the proposed Change ?:
Ideological (vision and mission)
Organizational (management? Organizational structure?)
- At the process level At the project level At the service level?
Who formulates the need for Change?
Who authorizes the proposed change?
Is the proposed Change in tune with the Strategic Planning?
What is its impact on the Organization?
Is the Organizational and Psychological Climate of the Organization kept in mind to propose the change model to be used?
Do we have the necessary budget for the implementation of said Change?
Who will be in charge of monitoring and controlling the implementation of said Change?
Have we structured and planned the proposed Change in the different hierarchical levels in the organization, discriminated by organizational blocks (organizational units of the company, "Managements")?
Is there a risk analysis, both at the hierarchical levels and in the different organizational units of the company?
What is the impact of said Change on the environment (external user, community, environment) of the organization?
What is the expected time for the design and implementation of the proposed Change?
What is the role of Human Management?
What is the role of Change Management?
What is the role of the Executive, Manager and supervisor level?
Is external help required (possible hiring)?
In short, these, along with many more questions, make up the block of variables that should be put on the table when talking about a Change in the organization, otherwise we would be playing and experimenting with something very valuable: well-being, physical, economic, organizational and psychological of our company.
In the specialized literature on the subject, we find some models to study the processes of change, however, in subsequent articles, only the four most widespread will be described:
• KURT LEWIN model
• GREINER model
• ALBRECHT model (the “J” curve)
• ADKAR model
KURT LEWIN's model
One of the first and the best known model of change, it was developed by the American social psychologist and philosopher Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) of German origin, recognized as the founder of modern Social Psychology.
Model also known as the three-stage model: thaw, change, and again, freeze.
This model, according to Stoner, Freeman and Gilbert, was later perfected by Dr. Edgar Schein (a social psychologist, writer, teacher and consultant born in 1928 and currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts).
1. Defrost: It consists in trying to reduce the tension of the group based on the reduction of forces that come into action. This phase involves reducing the forces that keep the organization at its current level of behavior. Schein added: Lack of confirmation creates pain and discomfort, causing guilt and anxiety, which in turn motivates the person to change.
Thawing involves making the need to change so apparent that it can be easily seen and accepted by the person, group, or organization.
2. Change or movement: Moving to the new level (conflict resolution). Once the intervening forces are reduced, there is a movement towards another level. This stage consists of moving to a new state or new level within the organization with respect to behavior patterns and habits, which means developing new values, habits, behaviors and attitudes. Schein added: the person goes through a cognitive restructuring.
Change involves discovering and adopting new attitudes, values, and behaviors. A specialized change agent guides individuals, groups, or the entire organization through the process. During it, the change agent will promote new values, attitudes and behavior, through the processes of identification and internalization. The members of the organization identify with the new values, attitudes and behaviors of the agent, internalizing them, when they have received their effectiveness for the results
3. Freezing: It basically consists of freezing the new situation, causing a deterioration or decrease in the previous forces, in order to consolidate the new change. In this step the organization is stabilized in a new state of equilibrium, in which it frequently needs the support of mechanics such as culture, norms, policies and organizational structure. Schein added the primary task in stage 3, to refreeze, is to integrate the new behaviors into the personality and attitudes of the person.
Freezing means securing the new pattern of behavior in place, through supportive or reinforcing mechanisms, in such a way that it becomes the new norm.
Furthermore, Lewin argues that these three stages can be achieved if and only if:
- The problem is determined Your current situation is identified The goal to be achieved is identified The positive and negative forces that affect it are identified A strategy is developed to achieve change in the current situation by directing it towards the goal.
The objective of the first stage is to analyze and evaluate the current situation and reduce resistance so that the second stage is reached, in which change occurs. The third stage is to “freeze” the new situation, achieved in the previous (second) stage, in order to stabilize it.
KURT LEWIN's model
GREINER Model
Originally published by Larry Greiner in the Harvard Business Review in 1972 under the name "Evolution and revolution as companies grow", it is based on five factors: age of the company, size of the organization (measured in number of employees and level of sales), evolution phases (understood as long periods of time in which no major transformations occur in company practices), revolution phases (periods of time in which significant changes in business practices do occur) and finally rate growth of the organization (in general the competitive context in which it is involved).
Age of the organization: Time influences certain moments in the life cycle of an organization to contribute to the institutionalization of administrative styles, the tendency is that with the passage of time attitudes and behaviors are institutionalized. Both corporate practices and managerial attitudes change or should change over time, to allow the growth of the company. Like the human being, the age of the company is associated with a learning process. In practice, this learning can occur or mistakes can be formalized and perpetuated over time.
Organization size: Unquestionably, time is not the only determining factor in structure. Both the problems (difficulty of coordination and communication) and their solutions (new functions, new levels of hierarchy) tend to change when the number of employees and the volume of sales increases, and as a secondary effect, coordination and communication problems also grow., new functions emerge, levels in the administrative hierarchy multiply, workers become more interrelated. In general, it is believed that when the size of the company exceeds a certain threshold, practices become routine and decisions tend to show a greater degree of formalization, in large organizations, several decision-making processes usually follow a protocol.
Organizational growth rate: The speed at which a company experiences the stages of evolution and revolution is also influenced by this dimension. Shorter evolutionary periods correspond to rapidly growing industrial sectors. Likewise, lagged revolutions can be observed if you are facing moments of high profitability. The speed with which an organization experiences phases of evolution and revolution is closely related to the environment and the market that circumscribes the organization.
Stages of evolution: These are the periods of quiet that follow one of crisis, during which, just by maintaining a management style, it collaborates with the continuity of growth. They are periods of sustained growth where no serious problems occur. As time passes, another phenomenon becomes evident: prolonged growth, called the evolutionary period. Companies have two forms of growth: by evolution, which are stages of growth, slow and continuous, and by revolution, constituted by short periods of turbulence, originated, when by the size of the organization, the prevailing forms of management and direction in a period of evolution they are no longer the most convenient, and thus a period of crisis called stages of revolution arises.
Stages of revolution: They reveal a serious disorder in administrative practices. Maintaining traditional styles and not making the necessary changes at a certain age / size of the organization can have negative effects on both the continuity of the company and the people within the organization. The previous management was fine for a smaller size and a previous time, now they are obsolete and require an update according to the moment.
The logic of this discontinuous growth model is that in each growth phase the company must adopt a specific configuration, which is determined by the relationships between size, age, strategy, organizational structure and environment.
This model describes a process based on the Hegelian dialectic, where a hypothesis is raised that becomes thesis, and this, in turn, creates its own antithesis. Greiner states that every organization grows and this same growth forces it to change both its leadership and its structure. Each phase is divided into two stages that Greiner called evolution (prolonged periods of growth in which there are no major changes in the organization); and revolution (foreseeable periods of considerable change in the organization).
Thus, each stage of growth will be affected by a crisis generated by the same conditions that allowed the immediate previous growth. If the organization does not overcome this crisis, it will not grow and must inevitably prepare to disappear. On the contrary, if it overcomes the crisis, it will continue to develop and grow until it generates another new crisis, which by overcoming it, in turn, will allow it to move forward, or will put its existence in question.
Each stage of growth is characterized by a management style, and each stage of revolution, characterized by a problem.
GREINER Model
- Creativity phase: At birth, with fluid and informal communication, the emphasis is on entrepreneurial orientation and with it, the creation of new products and the search for new markets. It is characterized by the individualism of the entrepreneur and by the strong presence of creative activity; As the company grows, the founder of the company can no longer carry out a solo job, so a leadership crisis occurs and with the need for a general manager and the entrepreneur's willingness to step aside, causing the transition to the next stage Direction phase: After successfully overcoming the previous stage, with a functional organizational structure, a clear division of labor, with incentives, plans and budgets,formal communications and with inventory and sales systems, some companies experience a period of sustained growth; As the company matures, the human team is acquiring more experience and knowledge, which is why it wants a greater dose of responsibility; This claim leads to a crisis of autonomy that is resolved through delegation. Delegation phase: This stage is characterized by the formation of a decentralized organizational structure thanks to the delegation of responsibilities to middle management, there are bonuses and cost centers. According to Greiner, in this phase problems may emerge due to the fact that senior executives feel that they have lost control over operations (control crisis), Coordination techniques and teamwork should be adopted. Coordination phase:The previous crisis of control can be solved with the implantation of formal systems of coordination. Generally, decentralized units are merged into product groups, formal planning and staffing are institutionalized. In this phase, companies tend to reach a high degree of bureaucratization, becoming large and complex organizations, a situation that leads to a new crisis Collaboration phase: It is characterized by the fact that it emphasizes spontaneity in business management team-based and strong interpersonal relationships. This phase is characterized by a more flexible management, interdisciplinary work teams are implemented, matrix organization, simplification of control mechanisms, advanced information systems.Alliances phase: Greiner in 1998,added a sixth phase, which consists of seeking solutions outside the organization through mergers and acquisitions, networks or alliances.
ALBRECHT model (the “J” curve)
Drawing on Lewin's model, Karl Albrecht (1920, business consultant, writer, expert on the concept of total quality service and lecturer, is a specialist in service management, business and organizational strategies who has developed in recent years the idea of «Internal customer service», supported by the motto «If you want things to work outside, you must first make them work inside the company») in 2002 introduced some improvements to the model, in fact already in the 1992 in his book «Internal Customer Service», Ediciones Paidós, recommends that we bear in mind that:
- Change can cause service quality to decline at first Mistakes are made There will be resistance from the habit of doing things the old way There will be skepticism and confusion until the benefits of change are realized and new habits and mechanisms are learned.
Although more than a decade ago, Karl Albrecht and Jack Carson popularized the term internal customer in their books "The Excellence of Services" and "The Revolution of Services", its use has not matured, perhaps due to the fact that it is not evident that the partner, that the worker of the same company, the salaried employee, laborer, worker, analyst, specialist, in short, someone within the organizational structure of the company turns out to be my client (user). Unfortunately, those who reason this way affirm "client (user) who pays" and they do not pay but charge.
As Domínguez mentions: “The client is not only the one who has a commercial relationship with his company and towards whom a perceptible added value must be manifested, if not another, of a similar or more important category for the company, which serves support and that helps you increase your profits and position the business and its products; the internal customer ”.
One of the variables that justify resistance to change is precisely the mismanagement of the internal client (user), it is not understanding that my colleague's work depends on mine, that the quality of the final product depends on the quality of the product that I give to the colleague of the neighboring management. But this is not all, what happens with internal communication? As Albrecht points out: “People today are experiencing a crisis of meaning.”, “… People are not sure of themselves because they no longer understand the 'why' which is behind the 'what'. They no longer have the feeling that things are well defined ”. In this context, Albrecht, in his model, states that in any process of change, before things start to go well,It is normal for a decrease in the execution of processes to appear (the lower part of the J curve), to later start with an improvement in performance (rising part of the J curve).
ALBRECHT model (the “J” curve)
ADKAR model
ADKAR model
According to Hiatt, this is a model designed by Prosci (a world leader in change management research). ADKAR (acronym in English for: create awareness, motivate, develop knowledge, foster skills and reinforce changes in an organization) is the acronym for awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement).
This model consists of five stages:
- Awareness of change. Why is change necessary? This is the first key aspect of a successful change. An individual or organization has to know why a change or a series of changes are necessary, for this a Communication Planning is essential. In order to support participation in change. Well the individual or the members of the organization must have the motivation and desire to participate in the change or changes. Naturally, the desire to support and be part of change can only occur after full awareness of the need for change. Knowledge. To know how to change. Knowing why you have to change is not enough, a person or organization must know how to change. Two types of knowledge must be addressed:the knowledge about how to change (what to do during the transition) and the knowledge about how to continue once the change takes place. Ability - Ability. To implement the new skills and behaviors. Every person and organization that really wants change must apply new skills and behaviors to make the necessary changes crystallize. During and after the change, the person should be supported through practice, training, and feedback. Reinforcement. To keep the change. Individuals and organizations must be strengthened to stabilize and maintain the new situation, otherwise, they will probably return to the initial conditions, to their old behavior.To implement the new skills and behaviors. Every person and organization that really wants change must apply new skills and behaviors to make the necessary changes crystallize. During and after the change, the person should be supported through practice, training, and feedback. Reinforcement. To keep the change. Individuals and organizations must be strengthened to stabilize and maintain the new situation, otherwise, they will probably return to the initial conditions, to their old behavior.To implement the new skills and behaviors. Every person and organization that really wants change must apply new skills and behaviors to make the necessary changes crystallize. During and after the change, the person should be supported through practice, training, and feedback. Reinforcement. To keep the change. Individuals and organizations must be strengthened to stabilize and maintain the new situation, otherwise, they will probably return to the initial conditions, to their old behavior.the person must be supported through practice, training and feedback. Reinforcement. To keep the change. Individuals and organizations must be strengthened to stabilize and maintain the new situation, otherwise, they will probably return to the initial conditions, to their old behavior.the person must be supported through practice, training and feedback. Reinforcement. To keep the change. Individuals and organizations must be strengthened to stabilize and maintain the new situation, otherwise, they will probably return to the initial conditions, to their old behavior.
What is interesting about the model is the relationship between the change management of individuals and the change management of organizations and thus, by integrating the two processes, it ensures that the business results are achieved.
ADKAR model
Footnotes
- Rickards, T. (2001). Creativity and change management. México, DF: Oxford.http: //www.degerencia.com/staran.Lewin K (1951). Field Theory in social science. New York. New York; Harper & Row, Stoner James AF, Freeman R. Edward, and Gilbert Jr. Daniel R. (1996). Administration, Prentice Hall publishing house, 4th edition, Mexico, DFGreiner Larry (1972). "Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow". Harvard Business Review, July-August, vol. 50, no. 4. Greiner Larry (1998). "Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow". Harvard Business Review, May-June, vol. 76, nº 3.Domínguez, H. (2006). Invisible service: The foundation of good customer service. ECOE Editions. Colombia: Albrecht Karl (2002). The Power of Minds at Work: Organizational Intelligence in Action. Ameri-can Management Association: AMACOM.Hiatt, JM (2006). ADKAR:a model for change in business, government and our community. Loveland CO: Prosci Research.
