Planned organizational change can be defined in many different ways, and characterized on many different levels. The common denominator listed after reviewing two related Internet articles, indicates that change cannot take place for "change's sake", but must be implemented to accomplish a specific goal or task. Another common statement states that change must also be accepted and embraced before the desired outcome is achieved.
Planned Organizational Change
Planned organizational change can be defined in many different ways, and characterized on many different levels. The common denominator listed after reviewing two related Internet articles, indicates that change cannot take place for "change's sake", but must be implemented to accomplish a specific goal or task. Another common statement states that change must also be accepted and embraced before the desired outcome is achieved.
The first Internet article reviewed was titled "Planned Organizational Change as Cultural Revolution" (Izumi and Taylor. n.d.). This article was particularly interesting because of the broad statement provided indicating that organizational schemes often fail because of poor reception by those involved. The article states:
Organizational schemes "gang aft a-gley" during the implementation stage because the corporate culture does not change enough to allow the new ideas, procedures, and structures to take hold. There may not be the "cultural buy-in" necessary to sustain the current change effort. If planned change is to be successful, it must include, as an integral and critical part of the change process, the seeds of the new values, beliefs, and attitudes the organization is trying to grow. Unfortunately, change programs are often set up to fail because the change methods only perpetuate the old way of doing things.
This statement rings particularly true for this author. Over the past 20 years in business I have witnessed many organizational changes that have failed