TABLE OF CONTENTS After studying this chapter, students should be able to describe:
the external environmental factors that can influence change;
the motivations for change within organisations;
the types of change that take place in organisations;
the various attitudes to change that are evident among employees;
a range of models that explain how to analyse and manage change.
Change has been a feature of organisational life for as long as organisations have existed, but the pace of change has accelerated to a significant extent over recent years. Changes in external environment have brought about the need for organisations to adapt their internal attitudes, strategies, structures and operations to meet the demands of new external conditions. Hence, the study of internal change has increased both in academic circles and in organisations themselves.
The first distinction we need to understand in this area is that of the two principal sources of impetus to change.
Reactive change is change forced upon an organisation arising from a need to react to a change in the organisation s environment. This can apply to an individual as well as an organisation, for example, you must change your lifestyle if your main source of income is suddenly reduced or discontinued. There are a number of environmental changes that can precipitate reactive change, but they usually have in common an element of necessity, of being unexpected or an element of surprise.
Proactive change, in diametric opposition to reactive change, is planned...
