2. Definition
■ A person from inside or outside the organization who helps an organization transform
itself by focusing on such matters as organization effectiveness, improvement, and
development.
3. Skills required for the role of a change
agent
■ Leadership at all levels
■ Manager as catalyst
■ A sensor of the business environment
■ Vertical to horizontal functioning
■ Shorter time-frame horizon
4. Areas of expertise change agent needs
■ Strategy formulation
■ Negotiation/conflict resolution
■ Human resource management
■ Marketing and sales
5. Change agents can broadly be classified
as:
■ External change agents
■ Internal change agents
■ External-internal change agents
6. External, Internal, and External-Internal
change agents
■ External – outside consultants who are temporarily employed in the organization to
remain engaged only for the duration of the change process
■ Internal – individuals working for the organization who know something about its
problems and has experience of improving the situation in the organization
■ External – internal – Individuals or small groups within the organization designated to
service with the external change agent so that intervention could be implemented
effectively with their help
7. ChangeAgent Roles
■ Consulting –The manager places employees in touch with data from outside the
organization or helping organization members to generate data from within the
organization.
■ Training – help organization members derive implications for action from the present
data and to provide organization members with a new set of skills – the ability to
retrieve, translate, and use new data to solve future problems
8. Contd.
■ Research – the manager may train organization members in the skills needed for valid
evaluation of the effectiveness of action plans that have been implemented
9. 5 ways to be an effective change agent
■ 1. embrace the resistance
■ 2. co-create the vision
■ 3. get buy-in
■ 4. create a track record
■ 5. make change normal
10. Conclusion
■ A change agent has a clear mission, is patient yet persistent, asks tough questions,
leads by example, and has strong relationships built on trust.
