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STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Lesson 8
Managing Strategic Change

Hello and welcome to lesson 8 of your Strategic management module. In this lesson, we are
looking at managing strategic change within the organisation.
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Lesson 8 Contents

SECTION 1 The nature of change

SECTION 2 Change management
SECTION 3 Force field analysis
SECTION 4 Kotter and Cohen’s Step Change model
SECTION 5 Managing incremental and transformational change
SECTION 6 Helping employees cope with change
SECTION 7 Resistance to change

Specifically, we shall be considering briefly the nature of change and change management
along with several tools and models such as force field analysis and Kotter and Cohen’s Step
Change model which seek to assist in the management of change. Two distinct types of
change will be considered along with how to help employees cope with change and manage
potential resistance to change which they and other stakeholders may have.
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The nature of change

Changes can be large or small.
Change can be significant or insignificant.
Change is emotive

But let’s consider first what change is.

Change can be large or small, it can be significant or insignificant but, regardless as to the
nature of the change, it will be emotive.
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Change management

• Rational planning perspective – change is a process which can be

managed.

• Emergent strategies – change is unpredictable, environment can change

and alter original strategy.

• Change management models assume change can be managed in a rational

manner.

• Lewin – unfreeze, move, re-freeze.

• Balogun and Hope-Hailey – change is a constant state which leaves no

recovery time

The approach to change management presented by the theories leans towards one of a
rational planning perspective – it is a process which can be managed.
However, emergent strategies suggest that change is unpredictable, the environment can
change and therefore an organisation may continuously be changing their strategy.
Lewin’s Change model for example suggests that all you need to do is prepare people for
change, make the change and then allow time for that change to become permanent.
Balogun and Hope-Hailey, however, suggest that change is a constant state which leaves no
recovery time.
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Force field analysis

Analysing forces for and against change – can also be used to manage
resistance. to change

Managers can look to use a force field analysis to assist in planning for change. They can
analyse the forces for and against change and also possible areas where there may be
resistance to change. They can then highlight the opposing reasons and benefits of that
change for those affected.
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Kotter and Cohen’s Step Change Model

Kotter and Cohen realised some of the problems of the simplicity of Lewin’s model and that
the forces for change needed to be highlighted and developed a step change model to aid
managers in planning for and implementing change within organisations. However, whilst it
contains more detail than Lewin’s model, it still fails to suggest how managers may increase
the urgency for change, build guiding teams and get the vision right, for example.
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Managing incremental and transformational change

Incremental change Transformational change

• Change is open ended • Radical change

• Process of adaptation and • Requires a change in mindset and
learning behaviour of both managers and
• Organisations need to be ready employees
for change • Culture change
• Culture of knowledge sharing and • Culture change contentious –
collaborative working difficult to change behaviour, how
do you identify culture?

Of course, how you approach the implementation of change is also likely to depend on the
type of change being introduced.

Incremental change is about smaller changes where change is open-ended, as organisations

continuously make small changes through a process of adaptation and learning.
Organisations need to be ready for change and have a culture of knowledge sharing and
collaborative working.

Transformational or step change on the other hand is where organisations need to

implement more radical changes. This could require a change in the mindset and behaviour
of both managers and employees, frequently requiring a culture change. However, culture
change is contentious – it is difficult to change behaviour, and that is if you can identify what
the current culture is and precisely what you want to change it to become.
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Helping employees cope with change

• Leading and helping individuals through change is important
• Helps with their ‘acceptance’ of the change
• Transition curve or coping cycle to understand individual journey through
change
• Personality, individual circumstances and attitude towards change affects
response

Change is unsettling for employees and leading individuals through change is important.
Arguably, this can help them with their acceptance of the change. The transition curve or
coping cycle has been developed to understand the individual journey through change
although personality, individual circumstances and attitude will affect each individual’s
response.
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Resistance to change

If employees’ objectives are dismissed, change failure is blamed on each

other.

Employees resist for numerous reasons and not just because they don’t like
change – can be a reasonable and justified reason.

3 components to resistance:
1. Behavioural – manifests in negative behaviours
2. Emotional – seen as emotions e.g. anxiety and frustration
3. Cognitive – negative thoughts about change

If, however, employee objections are dismissed, change failure is blamed on each other.
Again, good examples of this are the NHS contract changes and the junior doctors’ strikes in
the UK in 2016. Employees resist change for numerous reasons and not just because they
don’t like change. There can be a reasonable and justified reasons.

There are three components to resistance:

Behavioural – manifests in negative behaviours.
Emotional – seen as emotions e.g. anxiety and frustration.
Cognitive – negative thoughts about change.
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THANK YOU

Change, the management of change, how and what to change and getting people to support
change is a huge topic for consideration and largely beyond your studies of this subject.
Indeed, entire modules in certain postgraduate programs can be dedicated to these separate
concepts highlighted. However, as part of your studies, you need to appreciate the
complexities and difficulties associated with the management of change, why the strategic
manager needs to consider this when determining the suitability, feasibility and acceptability
of proposed changes and appreciate what they may need to undertake to overcome these
issues in the implementation of any proposed strategy.

Do read the notes for this lesson on the learning platform as they contain links to further
reading and links relative to change management. A deeper and broader range of reading
will help you to understand these issues further.

Thank you for listening.