APM webinar 21st October 2013. Presentation by Jim Dale, Secretary of the Programme Management SIG

1. Using Research to Improve the Delivery
and Effectiveness of Change
Programmes & Projects
Change
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Change
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Part 1: Setting the Scene : Jim Dale

2. Pressures and Pace of Change
The pressures for change are unrelenting and all
organisations are in at state of flux as they
respond to technological advancements,
competitive pressures, government policy and
the economic downturn (CIPD, 2013).

3. A few words of introduction

4. Lets ensure we are talking about the
same things
Plan
Implement
Consolidate

6. APM’s Model of Change Delivery

7. Lets kick off with a Poll
✔

8. What is the failure rate when
delivering organisational change?
A 30%
B
40%
C
50 %
D
60% and higher

9. The answer is D
60 % and higher!
Sources:
CIPD, 2013
Beer & Nohria, 2000
Balogun & Hope Hailey, 2004
IoD, 2012

10. Gaius Petronius Arbiter
It appears to have been ever thus….
“We tend to meet any new situation by reorganising. And what a wonderful method it
can be for creating the illusion of progress while
producing confusion, inefficiency and
demoralization”
The Satyricon, Ist Century AD

11. Achieving Change is NOT easy
“It must be remembered that there is
nothing more difficult to carry out, more
doubtful of success, nor more dangerous
to handle, than to initiate a new order of
things”
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 – 1527)
Extract from ‘The Prince’

12. “Alarmingly and despite the warnings
and lessons learned, up to 80% of all
changes fail to deliver the planned
benefits”
Office of Government Commerce (OGC), 2005

13. Gateway Lessons
Insufficient recognition
and attention to
change management
issues is a recurring
finding from the UK
Government’s Gateway
Review Scheme

14. Another Reason?
“Change is often viewed as something
to be overcome, controlled and a
disruption to this known world, rather
than the new ‘norm’ that needs to be
managed.”

15. My own on-going doctoral
research: methodology
1:1 Semi Structured Interviews / Focus Groups
Literature
Review
Survey: Self completed questionnaire
Action orientated Research with an ongoing Strategic Alliance Programme

16. A snapshot of comments
• “Success and failure is not absolute”
• “We don’t use the term failure but most change
programmes achieve a sub optimal outcome”
• “All our projects are doomed to succeed. We can
implement new systems but nothing changes”
• “I am struggling to think of a successful change
management programme”
• “Even the successful initiatives contain huge areas for
improvement”
• “Given our track record, employees have every right
to be sceptical and suspicious”.

17. Why?
1 of 3
• Poor research. Many change models and
frameworks appear flawed or have no
evidential base.
• Out dated research: We still use and rely
on research undertaken in a different era.
• Knowledge about the discipline of change
management matters appears ‘sketchy’
within the PM community.
• There is no common agreement on what
works and what does not.

18. Why?
2 of 3
• Too many senior managers consciously
or sub-consciously subscribe to
Morgan’s (1997)metaphor of
organisations acting as machines.
• Real life pressures often result in good
theory and practice being jettisoned
(The hypocrisy of change
management)

19. Why?
3 of 3
• Folklore and current thinking needs
to be challenged. Is change always
resisted and does a desire to create
strategies to overcome resistance
create an appropriate mind-set?
• Managers continually under-estimate
the costs, time and challenges
involved in delivering effective
organisational change.

20. We need your help…..
Please complete the Major Change Survey
available on-line at:
http://goo.gl/zKSGm6

22. Session Two Rod Willis

23. References
•
Balogun, J., and Hope Hailey, V. (2004) Exploring Strategic Change. (2nd ed.).
London: Prentice Hall.
•
Beer, M., and Nohria, N. (2000) Cracking the Code of Change. Harvard Business
Review, 78:3, 133-143.
•
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. (2013) Factsheet: Change
Management. London: CIPD.
•
Change Management Institute (2012) Organisational Change Management
Maturity: 1-20. Available: http://bit.ly/16Xssak
•
Institute of Directors (2012) Leadership. London: IoD.
•
Morgan, G. (1997) Images of Organization. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
•
Office of Government Commerce. (2005) Business Benefits through Programme
and Project Management. Norwich: TSO.
•
Office of Government Commerce (2008) The Eleven Gateway Lessons. Norwich:
TSO.

24. Jim Dale
Contact Details
ProgM (APM)
Email
Linkedin
http://bit.ly/progm1
james.dale@btinternet.com
http://bit.ly/jdale