Shaping Implementation strategies

One of the paradoxes of organizational life is that success often sets the stage for

failure

The trap of success

EnvironmentalDisturbance

Poor external alignment

Outcomes

Decreased customer focus

Increased Cost

Less innovation

Domore of

thesame

Denial &

rationalisation

Decliningperformance

Death spiral

Learning disabled

Success Syndrome

Complacency

Arrogance

Codification

Internal focus

Prolonged period of success

Prolonged period of success

The trap of successSource: Nadler & Shaw, 1995: 11

Most organisations, at some point, will be faced with the need to transform themselves

in order to survive

Even organizations that invest heavily in continuous improvement can become victims of strategic drift.

While they change, they may not change fast enough to keep up with the pace of change in their environment.

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The trap of success

Effective change strategies• Beer, a leading US consultant and professor at

Harvard Business School, refers to two well tried change strategies (Economic and OD) but argues that the most effective strategy is a third way that combines the best of both.

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• Focus on the drive for economic value through tough, top-down, results driven action.

• They involve the imposition of technical solutions to problems that undermine organizational effectiveness.

• Solutions/interventions include:RestructuringReengineeringDrives for efficiencies layoffs

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Economic strategies

• Focus on creating the capabilities required to sustain competitive advantage and high performance.

• These capabilities include:Coordination and team workCommitment and trustCompetencies (technical and leadership)Open communicationsThe capacity for constructive conflictLearning

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Organization Development (OD) strategies

Beer’s third way – a combined Economic/OD strategy

Change strategies that are capable of delivering sustained high performance require:

1. The development of a vision that offers a compelling and balanced business and OD direction

2. The management of key stakeholders to buy time to develop organizational capabilities

3. The adoption of a socio-technical approach that involves the development of down-the-line managers.

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Top management are often reluctant to adopt a combined strategy

• Shareholder interests

• The assumption that the organization’s technical (rather than social) systems determine performance

• The assumption that there is little to be gained from dialogue with employees.

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Economic strategies tend to be favoured when the top team have a mind set dominated by:

THE THEORY & PRACTICE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT 3rd Edition, John Hayes, Palgrave, 2010

The main differences between economic, OD and combined strategies

1. Leadership2. Focus3. Process4. Reward systems5. Use of consultants

10THE THEORY & PRACTICE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT 3rd Edition, John Hayes, Palgrave, 2010

Shaping implementation strategiesImplementation strategies need to be internally consistent and compatible with key situational variables

11THE THEORY & PRACTICE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT 3rd Edition, John Hayes, Palgrave, 2010

Impact of situational variables

Urgent requirement for change. Non-urgent requirement for change.

Desired end state clearly specified from the start.

What needs to be done to resolve problem or exploit opportunity not clear from the start.

Little resistance anticipated Great resistance anticipated

Change managers have access to all the information they need

Change managers need information from other stakeholders

Others have high trust in change managers.

Others have low trust in change managers.

Implementation is not dependant on the commitment of others.

Implementation is highly dependant on the commitment of others.

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Directive Collaborative

THE THEORY & PRACTICE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT 3rd Edition, John Hayes, Palgrave, 2010

Summary1. Three approaches to implementation

• Economic (drive) strategies• OD (development) strategies• Combined drive and develop strategies

2. The strategies favoured by CEOs

3. Situational variables that need to be considered when shaping implementation strategies

13THE THEORY & PRACTICE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT 3rd Edition, John Hayes, Palgrave, 2010