The Change Problem
At the
heart of change management lies the change problem, that is ...
-
some future state to be realized,
-
some current state to be left behind,
-
and some structured, organized process
for getting from the one to the other.
The change problem
might be large or small in scope and scale, and it might focus
on individuals or groups, on one or more divisions or
departments, the entire organization, or one or on more aspects
of the organization’s environment.
At a conceptual
level, the change problem is a matter of moving from one
state (A) to another state (A’). Moving from A to A’ is
typically accomplished as a result of setting up and achieving
three types of goals:
-
Transform
-
Reduce
-
Apply
Transform goals
are concerned with identifying differences between the two
states.
Reduce goals are
concerned with determining ways of eliminating these
differences.
Apply goals are
concerned with putting into play operators that actually effect
the elimination of these differences (see Newell & Simon).
As the preceding goal
types suggest, the analysis of a change problem will at various
times focus on defining the outcomes of the change effort, on
identifying the changes necessary to produce these outcomes, and
on finding and implementing ways and means of making the
required changes.
In simpler terms, the
change problem can be treated as smaller problems having to do
with the how, what, and why of change.
Certainly
they've not encountered
Kevin
Kelly ,
Charles Hugh Smith , or
Paul Gillin.
[You've just been
stealthily introduced to three Very Bright Minds on many
subjects.]
Pass them
by and you'll never know what you missed.
Paul Gillin has some interesting things
to say about "Changing The Rules".
[From Secrets of Social Media
Marketing", page 270. Font attributes added by G2F.]
Veterans of the information
technology market know that the industry tears itself apart
and rebuilds about once every decade.
It's hard for some people to
believe today that Cullinet Software and Lotus Development
corp. were once orders of magnitude larger than Microsoft or
that Wang Laboratories once had a stranglehold on the word
processing market.
Companies like Digital
Equipment and Apollo Computer went from industry leaders to
has-beens in two or three years.
In almost every case, these
companies posted their biggest profits less than three years
before they died or were acquired. Their seemingly
unassailable dominance was shattered by a change in the rules.
Their mastery of one evolutionary stage had no bearing on
success in another. Clayton Christensen documents this
phenomenon brilliantly in his book the Innovator's Dilemma.
Social media changes the rules
and history teaches that we can't even comprehend the ripple
effect of that fact. Businesses will learn to incorporate
customer conversations into everything they do. In the
past, their success was based upon anticipating customer
requirements and responding at just the right time.
In the future, success
will be a byproduct of continuous innovation and outstanding
customer service wrapped around a continuous feedback
loop.
We live in an age when a big
company's best ideas are quickly duplicated by overseas
competitors and sold at a fraction of the price. There's
no such thing as a barrier to entry anymore. Innovation
and service are the only sustainable advantages. That
means businesses need to be in constant contact with their
markets.
Big institutions often give lip
service to change while actually changing very little.
Their cultures and investors don't permit them that luxury.
Media companies are learning the
frightening consequences of this failure to change.
Newspapers are in the early
stages of an epic collapse that's driven by the fact that
the environment that defines their value -- information
scarcity -- has disappeared.
Record companies are learning
the hard way that the assets that used to define their value
-- recorded media and a network to distribute them -- have
no value in the age of digital download.
Business models sculpted
on the expectation of scarcity are irrelevant in an
environment of abundance.
Changes in customer behavior will
force everyone of our institutions to re-examine its values and
culture. Those that value secrecy and insularity will have
a hard time adapting to the new culture of openness.
Those that thrive on vigorous and
honest exchange will find the new online channels to be a gold
mine of ideas and innovation.
____
We quite
agree.
