Change Management

Introduction to the course content

Wooclap introduction

A.

Change projects are limited to good intentions, never applied:

- INTENTION → ACTION → ADDED VALUE AND POSITIVE RESULTS FOR

THE COMPANY: Sometimes you can have good intentions but the way to transform
them into real, concrete actions is difficult and it could lead to the absence of results.
We have to act, to plan things to transform the intentions into actions and the actions
into concrete results.

- Different projects, different things to achieve, how do we select the project that we want
to achieve? How do we manage the fact that there is a COEXISTENCE OF
SEVERAL PROJECTS? PRIORITIES?

- To transform the intentions into actions, we need concrete RESOURCES: human,

financial resources, time.

- In companies there are different actors, who have different view of the project  some
are going to be very supportive, but some will just try to slow it down. Actors have
different interest in an organization, and this has to be managed.
Informal life of the organization: lots of things happen that we don’t necessarily see
because there are not official: people behaviors etc and because of that there are a lot of
power game within the organization.
Everybody knows that we should pollute less but we also recognized that this is going
to costs us money as head of the production, so we want to change but it may be very
costly and won’t please the interests of the shareholders.

Change projects are immediately stopped by structural routines:

- RESISTANCE: some actors may be scared, or some actors could be resistant.

- COMFORT ZONE: some actors like their habits and don’t really want to adopt new
projects because they know that it will be a challenge.

1
 - STRUCTURE: the structure of some companies is not in favor of the implementation
of a change project. For example, structure where actors have to face lot a bureaucracy.
The CONTEXT, the ORGANIZATION is not in favor of the implementation of
change project.

- AGILE: we try to favor some agile structure where the implementation of change
project is easier because there is more flexibility in this kind of structure, there are more
opportunities to evolve.

- There are lots of EXTERNAL FACTORS that have to be taken into consideration,
there are lots of factors that we have to take into account before starting a change project
and these factors might stop the change project. But most of the time, external factors
will force you to implement new projects. There is a clear link between the environment
and the project that we will implement into the organization.

We think that we change, but actually, we don’t:

- EVALUATION: Sometimes we change some parts of the organization, but we can

wonder if this change has concrete impact on the result. How do we evaluate the success
or the failure of the change project?
- In some companies, the CEO changes every 2 or 3 years and they think they change but
really within the company things stay the same, the strategy, the way of doing things,
etc. The new CEO is just a façade. Sometimes people really want to change but it is not
easy to do in the short term.
Ex. It is impossible to have 100 electric cars within 2 years. Change may take time.

B.

The answer may depend on projects and on companies! Some projects are more difficult to
implement than others.
We don’t manage a project in the same way in a SMI, in a multinational, in the public sector
and so on.

Why are there predictable and unpredictable events?

2
 - CONCEPT OF RESISTANCE: you can predict or anticipate the fact that some actors
are going to be resistant but you don’t know the kind of behavior that they are going to
adopt to express this resistance.

- ANTICIPATION: one key aspect of a good strategy to manage change project is the
ability to anticipate things. We know that there are unpredictable factors but the more
we can anticipate unpredictable factors, the more we can manage the change projects.
Sometimes, the customer’s behavior can change, can you anticipate this ? If you’re in
the marketing department and make frequently surveys, it could be anticipated.
→ It’s much easier to manage an anticipated issue.

- We have to take into account the BUDGET and the EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
(=context), which may change (political situation, economical situation, cultural
situation, technological change, change in the consumer’s behavior, in the competitor’s
behavior)

- CONTINGENT APPROACH: it helps you understand the link between the

environment and the project that you want to implement. It will force you to take into
account the evolution of the external environment in the way you will implement your
projects.
We have to make sure that the project fit with the context, to take context into account
(ex : wars, Brexit, natural disasters, a supplier decide to cancel a contract, strikes). We
have to consider the impact that the context will have on our project : we will have to
change things in order to make it work.

We know that it is difficult to predict but we need a plan!

When you launch a project, we are going to plan different actions, different deadlines but this
plan has to be flexible! We cannot expect that this plan is going to remain the same, you need
some FLEXIBILITY because some of the ideas that you have at the beginning may change
because the external environment or the budget or the legislation has changed. You need to
adjust your strategy. You can also have new ideas that we didn’t plan before (new technologies
available on the market for example). It may ask you to reorganize your strategy regarding your
project. You have to adjust your plan by taking into account new ideas and by forgetting the
ideas that are not relevant anymore. This is what we call THE PLANNING APPROACH.
Difficult to predict but must be planned? Why do we have to plan even if there are things that
are unpredictable ?
We at least need to see the objective we want to achieve in order to go forward, we need to
have at least a plan to move from our initial situation to the situation we want. → have a vision,
know where we want to go

A change manager should be able to anticipate things and to have a plan B if an unpredictable
event happens → if the plan B is already in mind, we don’t to lose time and money.

C.

3
When we want to implement a project, we need to have a plan. The way we are going to
organize the activities may be adjusted depending on the concrete project that we want to
implement or depending on the context. We need some TOOLS but we also need a
METHODOLOGY. We need some guidelines to facilitate the implementation of the project.
And they have to be adjusted depending on different variables. Things don’t happen because
we want them to happen. We need tools to transform intentions into concrete actions.

You need a change manager, RESPONSIBILITIES should be clearly defined.

The difference between TECHNICAL SKILLS that are related to tools, plans, … and SOFT
SKILLS like communication is important. You also need some soft skills to be a change
manager.
We have to develop a communication plan (How are we going to present the project to the ≠
actors? How are we going to keep them informed?).
Why do you think that some people will react positively and some negatively to the project?
We have to listen to the different reactions. The best way to solve this problem, it’s to involve
them and co-construct the solution with them.

We have to convince the actors that the change is needed, and they have to change their habits.
If the change process is managed correctly, we don’t have to convince the actors, but they will
accept it by themselves.
There are different ways to conduct a change project:
• convince the actors (you don’t take into account their opinions about the project; you
impose the project → top-down approach)
→ You may have negative reactions.
• involve the actors in the process (you co-construct the project with the actors : you may
have an idea in mind but you recognize that I’ll have to work others to make it work,
you have to make compromises → bottom-up approach)
→ They will be involved and concerned so they will adopt the project progressively

Example: New building of HEC that is going to be constructed. There are two ways to construct
this one :
1. give the product to an architect to design it without asking advice to students
2. try to meet some students to understand their needs and expectations and to develop the
project according that → That’s what happened

4
We’re going to favor a bottom-up approach to implement the project. The success of a project
is very often linked to the capacity of co-construct with the right actors, even though most
people automatically go for a top-down approach.
➔ How can we avoid traditional approach of convincing the actors that they have to change ?
How can we co-construct the project with the actors ?

Some project don’t need to be managed ? Every change project has to be managed, however
the effort are going to be bigger for some projects, some projects are more ambitious and we’ll
have to manage them more.

D.

Resistance can be linked to the fact that people are afraid to leave their comfort zone, people
don’t like uncertainties, the unknown. We will have to take into account the fact that people
could develop resistant behavior.

Human is the most unpredictable part of any change project. The most unpredictable part of a
change project is the reaction people can have. It’s difficult to anticipate and to manage.

A concept that is important to keep in mind when you manage a project: ME-ISSUES concept:
very often, the first reaction of the actors (employees, managers, directors, clients) when we
want to implement a project is related to their own activities, habits. What could be the impact,
the consequences for myself, on my daily activities, my remuneration, my skills, …
Example: the staff of HEC located in the Sart-Tilman campus will move downtown because
there will be a new building, and everyone is going to be located at the same place. What are
the key questions that actors have right now regarding this change process? Parking space and
drive time for people living near the Route du Condroz.

Not everybody is resistant, some actors will find the project interesting for us. So, another
important concept is the concepts of INTERESTS. We try to understand the actor’s interests.

Resistance has no link with the position that you have in the company and it’s not related to the
age or the seniority.

E.

5
We need tools, methodology to implement a change project. We need a vision, objectives, we
need to know where we want to go, we need to know the results that we want to achieve. We
need to have deadlines, but we also know that a lot of unpredictable events could happen, and
it could lead to adjust the plan so respecting a strict timescale is often difficult. Things
sometimes have to be postponed.

Can we manage a change process just with communication? No, we need communication, it’s
important to implement a change project. But it’s not enough to convince actors.

When you have an external consultant, he will be able to see things that you might not see inside
the company because you don’t have time or because you are too much implicated within the
company. So, the consultant has another point of view and it is useful. Moreover, it requires a
lot of time to implement a change project and it is a full-time job.

The consultant doesn’t necessarily know the specificities of the company, this is the
disadvantage. Sometimes they might want to copy-paste the change project that he has already
used in another company and that has worked. Copy-paste strategies are bullshits. This is
something that we should avoid. Practices that works in the private sector doesn’t necessarily
work in a public company, …

We could say that change management needs every answer of this question. All these
dimensions are important and have to be combined to manage a change project.

 Change is a process that has to be:

• Described
• Explained
• Evaluated
• Anticipated and Managed

6
Chapter 1 - description of a change process

How can I describe a change process?

- 3 key questions to answer:

1. What is/are the object(s) of change?

What is/are the main variable(s), or component(s), submitted to change? What
is being changed? What is the content of the change?

2. What is the scale of change?

What is the level, or “importance”, of the change process (strategic, managerial,
operational)?

3. What are the temporalities of change?

What are the key steps, or key periods, of the change process? When does it
start? When does it end?

1. The object of change

- What do/can private businesses and public institution change?

o Strategy
o Work organization/Work processes
o HRM policies
o Culture
o Production Technologies
o Information Systems
o …

- How can we easily characterize changes in strategy, work organization, HRM, Culture,
IS, etc.?
The use of ideal-types (=we have well-known, shared, theories we can use to describe
the content of a change project) may help to :
▪ Qualify significant evolutions of each dimension
▪ Share a common language among several stakeholders
You have to be able to explain your project and by using those ideal-types, you
know that the project is going to be understood in the same way. It helps you to
understand the project exactly the same way !

▪ Identify latent dimensions of change

7
 You’re able to anticipate consequences or impacts on the project (see AF
example).

Example: Change in the strategy of Air France.

Air France decided, some years ago, to launch a new company, called Transavia.
The traditional strategy of Air France is a differentiation strategy: they target clients,
who are ready to pay more to have more quality in the services. This business model
faces some difficulties because of the pressure of the low-cost companies that have a
business model of low-cost strategy (cost leadership) meaning that they try to be the
cheapest of the market to target clients that are price sensitive.
So, Air France decided to launch a new low-cost company based on another strategy
(cost-leadership) to compete on the market. How can we make sure that it will not lead
to confusion and mismatches for the clients?

Consequences:
o There will be 2 different HRM policies (one for each company) : less services
so less on board people for the low-cost company and employee have to do
more tasks.
o Two different brands → two different targets → readjust the marketing
strategy (two ≠ marketing strategies).
o They have to buy new planes to develop their new strategy. They have to invest
to launch this company.
o Services are important in the differentiation strategy and are less important for
the cost leadership strategy. The activities of the stewards will be different.

Example: Change in Culture And Value:

Before being Proximus, Proximus was RTT (“Réseau des télécommunications”). It was
a public company own by the state with totally different values and today Proximus is a
private company.

• There are different theories to deal with these changes:

Change in strategy → Porter’s business strategies typology

Cost leadership Goal : offering the cheapest prices on the market

Seek to minimize the expenditures, to generate economies of
scale, and to decrease costs as much as possible
Differentiation Goal : offering the best price-quality ratio
Seek to make the product/service particularly attractive, by
innovating, by offering additional packages, and/or by working
on the brand image and on the global presentation

Change in work organization → Mintzberg’s organizational configurations

8
Change in HRM policies → Pichault’s HRM models

Change in cultures and values → Boltanski and Thevenot’s polities typology

9
 Change in production technologies → Woodward’s manufacturing technologies
distinction

Unit-based technology - Production by the unit

- Specific orders / Customized products
- High human intervention
Mass production - Large scale production
technology - Usually through assembly lines
- Human intervention reduced to fragmented and repetitive
tasks
Continuous technology - Process automation

10
 - Human intervention confined to process monitoring tasks

Change in information systems → Castells’ IS architecture evolution summary

Centralisation Deconcentration Integration Openness

central unit with increased number of local networks, internet, e-
centralized data entry local applications for intranet, shared commerce, virtual
pool or “distributed” PC, compatibility databases, ERP platforms, social
terminals problems media, open
innovation

- When you want to change the Culture or the HRM policies, there are dimensions that
are abstract and not easy to see the consequences of the change project. It’s not the same
when you change your information system or your production technologies where you
can easily see the differences.

- Can the before-mentioned dimensions really be “isolated”? Could we apply a

change in strategy without changing the HRM policy or the work organization?
It’s quite difficult because there are lot of interactions between the different concepts.
• All change processes have multiple transversal dimensions!
 Change Management is consequently a multidimensional process!
• DOMINO EFFECT: when we launch a project, we have to try to identify all
the consequences of the project on the multiple dimensions. We have to identify
all the impacts that this project could have. We have to try to anticipate all the
difference consequences on all the different dimensions.
→ Our project has a lot of potential consequences !
• Me-issues: what could be the consequences of the project on the employees, on
their daily activities? How will they react to this change?

1 - For example, when we implement a new information system, the main dimension is
related to the technology, to the information system. But what could be the consequences
on the other dimensions?
o HR policies: you probably will have to train the employees so that they can use
this new information system
o Work Processes or Organization: a key challenge related to the implementation
of a new IS is mainly the reengineering of the business processes. You have to
make sure that all the internal activities are suitable with the new IS.

2 - Another example, when we launch a new product, it will have an impact on the
marketing department (they will have to target audience…). But it will also have an
impact on the HR department (you may need new sales representatives, new workers to
product… do the company has the right skills to produce this new product?), on the
strategy and on the values of the company (is the new product suitable to the values of
the company?). It will also have consequences in terms of production (production
technologies), have an impact on R&D, after sales services, on all the supply chain.
What will be the impact on the existing products? Do we keep it or will we replace it by
the new product? How are we going to combine products, to manage our portfolio?
What could be the consequences on workers, on the members of the marketing dept., on
the sales representatives, …?

11
 3 - Let’s talk about the concept of IPO (Initial Public Offering). You become public, you
want to enter the stock market. What could be the consequences of this project? Is it just
a financial project that aims to have new investors? No, this project will have impacts
on the work processes and organization. You will also have to communicate lots of
information to your shareholders. You will need to implement KPI (key performance
indicators). All the activities of your company are going to be monitored.

2. The scale of change

- Strategic level:
Major orientations that fundamentally mark the organizational life (nature of its
activities, key objectives to pursue, target audience, etc.)
Ex : AirFarnce which launch a new low-cost company, it will have an impact on all the
organization.

- Managerial level (or coordination level):

Decisions in terms of resource allocation, staff management, procedures to follow, ways
of performing controls on the work that has been done, etc.
Ex : new ERP system (it doesn’t affect your clients, products, etc → not a strategic
change) but this will have on impact on the structure and the workflow of the company.

- Operational level:
Daily decisions that may affect the usual way of working
Ex : change the half of the lectures

 When you have a strategic change, it will affect the manageirial level and the operational
level ➔ CASCADE EFFECT

3. The Temporalities of Change

- How to recognize, assess, and understand the stages and milestones of any change
processes?
o Often difficult to objectivize change stages.
o Temporal landmarks (pre-change with early warning signs, beginning per se,
key steps, etc.) taking into account the mental representations of the different
stakeholders (more than just those coming from the board and the management
team).
o End of the process = methodological decision, with a sufficient period of time
allowing the analysis and the assessment of the change process.

12
 ➔ The idea is that the beginning of the project can be seen in very different ways
depending on the actors.
Example: HEC is going to construct a new building. The students probably don’t know
the start date of this project, students don’t have a lot of information regarding this
project, for them, the project hasn’t start yet.
For the director of the school, the project has started 2 or 3 years ago when he had to
negotiate with designers, with the city, …
For the teachers, they received information about the project last year and now they are
involved in some work groups regarding the way they will organize activities in this new
building, for them the project is starting to be very concrete.
So, the start date can really differ depending on who you are talking to. It’s similar for
the end-date of the project.

- Diagnosis of a change process

• Understand the temporalities of change
→ Define the key steps/periods of the change process
• Characterize the object of change
→ Select the main variables submitted to change (don’t forget the “domino
effect”)
→ Refer to the ideal-types to describe the change content
• Assess the scale of change
→ Characterize, for each variable, the scale of change (strategic, managerial,
operational)

13
PRACTICAL CASES CHAP#1

Merger between two airline companies: continental and united airline.

a. Object: change in the strategy (merger between 2 companies) that is going to have impact
on all the others dimensions (HR, work organization: change our way of working to
integrate their work processes, IS,…)
b. Scale: strategic level that is going to have an impact on the operational level.

SONACA
a. Object: change in the work organization. They have implemented some work procedures,
they have changed the tasks, the way the different activities are coordinated, the way the
different actors have to realize their activities. They implement new procedures and
standardized organization. The goal is to develop a new organization based on the
machine approach (see, Mintzberg’s organizational configurations)
b. Scale: managerial because the idea is to develop new procedures for all the employees,
the way we defined different procedures to follow. And of course, it has impact on the
operational level.

Metcam continuous growth with the implementation of an ERP system

a. Object: they implement a new information system.
What are the consequences on the other dimensions (domino effect)?
Change in the work organization: they had to change work processes and define new
work procedures. They had to align the IS and the WO. They mentioned example related
to the supply change management. They have changed the WO in the production
department as well with a lot of KPI to monitor the activities and the quality of the
production. They also made change in the marketing and in the financial dept.
b. Scale: It’s not a strategic change, here we are not going to change the general strategy of
the company (product, market, target audience…). This is a managerial change because
it is related to procedure that we have to follow, … that has an impact on the coordination
between the different departments.

Hettich America
a. Object: they decided to switch from two different buildings to one single location: a new
building → change in the facilities. They have built a new warehouse instead of having
two small warehouses.
Consequences on the other dimensions: we can expect lot of me-issues since the workers
will have to move. It will have a lot of consequences in terms of HR management. It was
much easier to attract new candidates, workers because lot of people applied because of
this new, modern building. They had to change the work organization, it has impact on
the distribution, on the logistics (link between warehouses and the clients), on the work
habits, procedures, processes. They mentioned the fact that it has impacts on the corporate
culture because they want to implement one single culture among the employees whereas
before there were 2 different cultures due to the 2 different warehouses.
b. Scale: managerial since we change the resource allocation, the location of the activities,
the work organization within the company.

Amazon: robots that make amazon even faster

a. Object: they had changed the production technology: they use robots. Another way to
see it is a change in the work organization because they have replaced humans by robots

14
 but also in the HR department. It has increased the productivity. It helps in the
organization of the space inside the warehouse.
b. Scale: managerial because we changed the way we are doing the activities and it had an
impact on the operational level.

Starbuck: how Starbucks became an 80b business

link: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7vtefp
Key changes: 1970: creation of the company, 3 friends decided to launch Starbucks, first the
characteristics was to sell high quality coffee beans, they had 5 shops in Seattle. Then, in 82-
83, new CEO of the company—> he goes to Italy and he decided to sell coffee beverage drinks
(example: latte) —> new products —> so they had to change work organization (training
people), they had to buy new machine for the stores (need machine to make the coffee), new HR
policies.
1992: they decided to go public in the stock exchange—> they have new investors, they had
to change the work organization, to adjust communication strategy
Exponential growth during 15 years, they opened a lot of stores, also outside the US —>
consequences: readjust work organisation, standardized processes to make sure that the coffee
sold in Seattles is the same all over the world.
2007: Financial crisis —> consequences: loss, change strategy —> they decided to focus on
the customer experience—> growth
New product are reintroduced
2019: They opened a new model of store focus on the customer experience where people can
try new recipes,…

Liberty Case (see annex)

a. Object:
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3
Shareholders Family ownership Integration in the Family ownership
Hersant group → we go back to
the initial stage
Strategy Differentiation: high level Popular journal Back to step 1
papers; intellectual target; Mass market
quality information New activities
Organization Autonomy of the Freelancers Back to step 1
journalists Work procedures
Specialized journalists (less autonomy)
Reputed and experienced Centralized power
journalists (IT/Directors/Sales)
Decentralized power
Professional config. Machine config.

b. Scale: strategic level`

 Key words :
Ideal types, scale of change (strategic, managerial, operational), domino-effect,
content, temporalities

15
Chapter 2 - Explanation of a Change Process
How can I explain a change process?

- Use of various complementary approaches :

o Planning approach
o Contingent approach
o Political approach
o Incremental approach
o Interpretativist approach

 Integration of these explanatory approaches into a “five forces” model

 Basis of change management methodologies

1. Planning Approach

- We are going to list all the activities and anticipate the duration of all the activities to
link them all together. We know the objectives we want to achieve, and we plan the way
activities are going to be implemented. We are going to try to organize all the activities
and put them in the calendar in a step by step program. → Technique we usually use
in project management.
Advantages of this approach:
o It gives a clear overview of the project we work on, all the activities we have to
perform and the way those are organized. Moreover, the opportunity to have
clear deadlines to organize and check the activities.
Disadvantages of this approach:
o It might not be realistic because sometimes it can be difficult to anticipate the
duration and activities/steps of the process… That is why it could lead to delays.
o Managers have the control over the decisions and we usually forget the
stakeholders of the project. Managers use to prepare and anticipate everything,
that may give little room to stakeholders.
o We don’t have different point of view, interest to deal with. If we implement a
project during 2 or 3 years, everybody is keeping the same objectives for 2-3
years… The invariability of objectives is not correct.
We need to be aware of the limits of the planning approach.
Flexibility is a keyword we need to keep in mind while using the planning approach: it
is important to readjust what need to be readjust.
Added values and limits: is it enough to use this approach when we try to explain some
change projects? No, why? Planning approach is not going to explain you why you
decided to change some actions, why some initiatives have been introduced in the
project during the implementation etc… You need other theories to explain the realities
of the project. We have to combine it with other dimensions (involvement of the actors
for example).

- “Standard” design of the project

- Most frequently used approach in project and change management

- Design of the project:

o Final objectives and intermediary results you want to achieve

16
 o Actions
o Stages
o Deadlines
o Etc.

 Anticipation and predetermination: when we use the planning approach, we first prepare
or design the project (try to anticipate all the activities, stages, tasks, …) and then you
work on the implementation. So, if you have well designed the project, there will be no
worries with the implementation.
➔ You try to anticipate all the tasks you will have to do to achieve your objective : you
prepare all the dimensions of the project.

- Key principles and assumptions :

o “Exhaustiveness” principle
The decision-maker has access to complete information about the possible
solutions and their consequences.
In the real life, it is not possible to be able to anticipate everything. (As we
learned during the first session, there are predictable and unpredictable
consequences.)

o “Optimization” principle
The decision-maker always choose the best solution

o “Invariability of objectives” principle

No variety of viewpoints; all the actors share the same objectives, that remain
unchanged during the change process. Everybody has the same goal. The
decision-maker is going to build the project by making all the actors agree with
it.

o “Control” principle
The decision-maker has access to evaluation tools to monitor the completion of
the process

 Use of project management techniques and tools (GANTT chart, budget allocation,
KPIs, etc.)

 GANTT chart : you list all the activities that you need to implement the project and
achieve your results.

You try to build your own schedule to organize the activities.

→ You anticipate all the activities.

You want to make sure that at the end your respect the final deadline.
→ You anticipate the length to realize the ≠ activities.

We try to link the activities that have to be linked : do we have to finish the first one
before beginning the second ?
→ You anticipate the links.

17
 With this tool, you can explain everything about the project, how it’s going to be
implemented.

Example: if you build a new building, it can be very useful to use a Gannt chart. You
have to wait for the authorization before starting the construction, …

- Is it possible to anticipate and plan everything?

No, context or other things could have changed and thus you will have to adapt you
plan…
➔ Limits of the planning approach

Multidimensional approach
- On en reparlera dans le chap3.

From a traditional perspective…

To a multidimensional approach…

- You have to be able to adjust the plan → flexibility question.

We know that the results we achieved are not the same as the results we expected. There
are things that you cannot anticipate, so there are elements that you are not able to put
in your plan at the beginning.

- Go beyond the classical planning approach!

▪ Very often, achieved results differ from expected results
▪ Unrealized ideas and emergent initiatives occur during the change process

- However, do not reject the planning approach!

▪ It is useful

18
 ▪ Combine it with other approaches to explain the reality of the change process

2. Contingent Approach

The context is the key word. When we implement a project in a company with its own
global environment and situation, the idea here is the fact that the context will influence
the project you would like to implement. It is the fact that we have to align the project
with the contextual elements. We have to respect the idea of consistency. The context
may change over time and we need to take the evolution into account.

- We try to understand the constraints and opportunities of the context. We try to

analyze the environment and then see how the external context may influence the
implementation of the project.

What are the factors of the environment that can lead to the implementation of a change
project?
The evolution of the market, new rules, new laws, new competitors, cultures, the strategy
of the company, the prices, technologies etc… (All those examples may lead to changes
in the way we wanted to implement/develop something new.)
Examples:
o If a competitor launches exactly the same product as yours, what do you do?
You have to know your competitors, their strategies, theirs products.

o Imagine we work for an airline company: the evolution of the market is now very
bad because of the coronavirus. If we had a project or a new product to launch,
we should maybe postpone the implementation of it… A lot of companies decided
to reorganize their priorities.

 These examples are constraints, but they can also be seen as opportunities to realize or
develop new activities.
That can come from the culture, the market (competitors), the technology, the customer
needs.
For example:
o If a competitor decides to leave the market, the company could make the most of
this opportunity.

- Influence of the context:

19
 o Organizations are open systems
o Context is an exogenous variable, over which managers have little control
o Search for coherence between the context and the change projects
o Importance of the managers’ roles and skills
▪ To adjust their organization to the characteristics if the context and its
evolution (concepts of “fit” and “alignment”)
▪ To take into account the diverse constraints and opportunities of the
(external and internal) context and to adapt their change processes
accordingly.

- Contextual fit: we have to take into account the potential impacts of the factors of the
environment, of the elements from the context (new technologies, laws,…) to adjust our
strategies.

- How can we understand the context, the environment?

o PESTEL analysis
o SWOT analysis (external and internal)

3. Political Approach

- In all the organizations, we have different stakeholders/actors with different interest,

rationalities etc.
Example 1: Imagine I am the CEO of a company; I have to prioritize the investment for
the next years in the company. How is it going to happen? Everybody in the company is
going to emphasize some priorities and the role of the CEO is to make compromises
and fix some priorities.
Example 2: Imagine I have 10 000EUR I would like to give to the student’s associations.
Stakeholders would probably defend their own interest: essential would say that they
need money for they human actions/trips etc., …

- Different actors, different rationalities, different interests

Example: some students just want to pass the exams, but some students want to really
develop their knowledge, their expertise. There is a difference between passing an exam
and really understanding the content of a course. Some students don’t just want to pass
the exam, some students are interested in really nice grades. For some students, the most
important thing is to have fun during the studies.

- Influence of “power games”

o Organizations are made up of different groups of stakeholders, with their own

rationalities and their specific interests

o Importance of the “informal” life within each organization, besides the official
structure, leading to power games, defense of interests, influences, trade-offs,
negotiations, conflicts, etc.

Official things = activities that you have to do, functions that you have = 20%.
Informal life = what we cannot see within an organization = potential conflicts

20
 between actors, some actors have some personal interests, objective are not
necessarily shared in the same way by everybody = 80%.

Example:
Imagine that I am a CEO and I have 1 million to give to the different
departments. All the heads of departments will negotiate and try to convince me
that I have to give them the most important amount of money. If people see the
project as threat for them, they will be resistant, and on the contrary, if people
see that the project could lead to opportunities for them, they will push its
implementation (me-issues).

 Stakeholders are going to adopt defensive or supporting positions regarding change

projects, in line with their own interests.
 Power games are going to impact the change project.

- Importance of the managers‘ roles and skills

o To identify the different groups of stakeholders who are directly concerned with
and indirectly affected by the change project
o To understand the stakeholders’ interests regarding the change project
o To understand the power resources the stakeholders can mobilize
o To anticipate the concrete behaviors the stakeholders can adopt to support or to
resist the change project
o To understand the strategic alliances the stakeholders can develop to support or
to resist the change project
o To manage power games and find out compromises

- Stakeholder analysis
Example: HEC is constructing a new building. If we really want to construct a new one.
The different actors/stakeholders who a potentially impacted are teachers, sponsors of
the school, students, neighbors, the state, the suppliers/entrepreneurs, …
It is very good to identify all the stakeholders; we try to list all their interests.
→ In this example, we would list and take notes of all the stakeholders of the project.
In the case of students, we should divide the category into two other categories because
they probably not have the same expectations. (Example: differentiate students from
bachelor or from master, differentiate teachers who have their office in town and
teachers who don’t, etc.)
→ Often people consider that the CEO and all the directors share the same
interests.

Stakeholders (interests): teachers (parking lots/rooms), researchers, administrative staff,

students (classrooms, enough space to work), neighbors (traffic, view), guest speakers,
the city, ULiège, educational sector, government, construction
companies/entrepreneurs, designers/architects, public transport (TEC), Investors, etc.

TUYAU → USE THIS TOOL FOR THE FINAL ASSIGNMENT!

Stakeholders Interest Resources Means of action Strategic alliances &

(behaviors) oppositions vis-à-vis the
change project

21
 • Stakeholders: internal and external actors attempting to influence the process
under way in order to align it with their own interests. All the actors who might
have interests or who might be impacted by the project. Customers are stakeholders
that we often forget when we launch a new project.
Objective: try to list all the actors that could be impacted by the project.

• Interests: the way each stakeholder perceives the risks and opportunities linked to
change, will they be resistant or supportive of the project ?

• Resources: critical power resources (expertise, boundary spanning,

information/communication, definition/application of rules, financial resources,
symbolic and linguistic resources, etc.)

• Means of action: concrete behaviors adopted either to support or to resist the

change project

• Strategic alliances & oppositions: temporary coalitions between stakeholders with

joint organizational interests

Stakeholders Interests Resources Means of action Strategic alliances &

(behaviors) oppositions vis-à-vis the
change project
Teachers Parking lots, rooms
Students Classrooms, enough
space to work
Neighborhood Traffic, view
Designers Creativity, money
ULiège Increase the number of
students, more lecture
rooms, cost

4. Incremental Approach

- A company where they work on 3 projects separately by 3 different project managers:

do you think it is the good way to manage those 3 projects? No, because the 3 are linked.

- Temporalities, past experiences and previous projects

- They tried, they failed, they learned, they try again → incremental changes

Example: In October, November, the heads of departments in companies have to

prepare their budget for next year. They take their previous, existing budget and see
how they can adjust it, this is an incremental change.
It could be about the same project or about other projects. You take into account your
previous experiences and you adapt your methodology to implement new projects.

22
 - Influence of past experiences and projects
o Managers actions are dependent on previous choices and earlier decisions
o Change processes are continuous improvements of previous projects
(incremental changes), following an ongoing process of trials and errors
o Significance of the organization history, past experiences and current projects
on change processes
➔ Importance of coordination between the different projects
Example: HEC launched a new website 2/3 years ago but he didn’t know that
the university were going to change its logo so they already have to change their
website at its launch. This was due to a lack of coordination!

Another example: The prof had to manage a change project (in terms of process)
in a company and made interviews 4 months ago. He came back in the company
to make another interview, but employees don’t want to answer anymore
because 3 people were fired and they think it’s because of the change project.
In fact, the company implemented 2 ≠ projects in the same time : a
restructuration change and a process change. It would have be better to have a
better coordination between the 2 projects!

 Importance of the managers’ roles and skills to combine the temporality of the change
project with other current projects and with previous experiences

- We also have to take into account the other current projects that are managed within
the organization. How could they impact my new project? We have to manage the
temporalities of the different projects.

- With the Gantt chart, you can explain everything about the project, how it’s going to be
implemented so you can make sure that every actor understands everything.

5. Interpretativist Approach

- Sensemaking and shared meanings

- Influence of interpretations

o Actors develop different interpretations of the context and of the change projects
according to their personal experiences.
→ sensemaking

o Actors select relevant interpretations of the contextual elements and make them
effective within the organization
→ enactment (you understand thing differently depending on your interest and
backgrounds and the interpretation you made justify your behzvior/decision)

o Communication actions are key to favor a common understanding and a shared

vision of the change processes.

 We have to use communication actions to avoid a misunderstanding of the project.

- Importance of the manager’s roles and skills

23
 o To act as “sense makers” and “story tellers” (through dedicated communication
actions : poster, meetings, logo’s, a name for the project). They have to explain,
to make sure that people understand the project in the right way.
o To create a shared meaning and a common understanding of the change project
among the various actors (through the use of logos, visuals, pictures, speeches,
etc.)

- Examples:
• Example 1 to illustrate it: when you receive your grades after an exam: You see
you have 16/20 – how are people going to react? → probably differently. Some
may be happy and others not! A same situation is going to be interpreted in
different ways by different people.

• Goal of RSCA against Standard de Liège.

One specific question: is there a fault before the goal? Fans of Anderlecht will say:
no fault; fans of the standard will say: obvious fault!

➔ A same situation can be understood and interpreted in ≠ ways, depending on

what are our interests, our experiences !
➔ This is what it’s important to communicate well on the project and make sure
that everyone understands it.
➔ The same situation can be understood, seen in very different ways. That’s the
same when we implement change projects.

• Imagine that you have to implement new GPS in a company that have more than
100 trucks and you have to implement exactly the same GPS in all the trucks. How
the trucks drivers will react? They will think that the managers want to control them.
They could also think that it will be easier for them to understand all the
functionalities of the GPS (because it’s the same for everybody) and they will be
happy because they will better find their destination. There are positive and negative
reactions.

• The HEC director decide that, to be allowed to enter the lecture rooms or the
library, students will have to scan their student ID.
First point of view: good thing because people that are not registered in the
university will not be able to have access (increase the security of the campus);
another point of view: bad thing because there are a lot of students and there will
be queues. Another point of view: it will lead to some difficulties for the one that
have forgot their ID. Another point of view: it will give student some pressure to
attend the class (it is a mean of control of the course attendance of students).
➔ People are going to develop different understanding of the same project. And
considering the fact that people interpret the project in different ways, we have to
communicate about the right way to understand the project. (Sometimes it is useful
to create some sense to the project so that everyone can understand the situation,
the project.)
➔ We emphasize the importance of the communication.

6. Integrated multidimensional model

5 forces model

24
 Slide to keep in mind!!!
Political approach:
influence systemand
power games among
stakeholders
Contingent approach:
➡️ Process Incremental approach:
constraints and
progressive matching
opportunities of
of temporalities
context
➡️ Process
➡️Context

Planning approach:
Interpretavitist
design of the project,
with key steps and
Change approach: legitimacy
and shared meaning
expected results
➡️ Content
process ➡️ Process

“5 forces” model

o Planning approach
→ Structured project management methodology (key steps and expected outcomes)
o Contingent approach
→ Contextual fit
o Political approach
→ Different interests/Power games between actors
o Incremental approach
→ Adjustments/Matching of temporalities
o Interpretativist approach
→ Sensemaking/Shared meanings

25
PRACTICAL CASES CHAP#2
How can you explain this change process with one (or several) approach(es) of the 5 forces
model? What is (are) the main approach(es) you have detected in the video case study?

Ocean’s 11 – Extract

- Planning approach: everything is planned. He has an objective and he plans all the
tasks that have to be performed to achieve the objective. They have tried to plan
everything. This is the most important approach in the video.
It seems impossible in the way they say each steps of the plan without taking all the risks
into account.

- Interpretativist approach: the manager ensures the fact that all the team members
share the same understanding of the way the project will be realized. He explains the
way it is going to be managed. He acts as a story-teller.

- (Contingent approach): when he has planned the things, he has taken into account all
the external factors. They introduce the constraints of the casino into account. The plan
they developed is based on the contextual constraints → in that way we can say it is a
kind of contingent approach, but it is not the main one at all!!

(It is not a political approach because they do not consider the people interests or point of view
in the project.)

Digital Darwinism

Contingent approach :

Technological evolution, some companies were not able to anticipate and integrate the
technological evolution. → Contextual factors.
The fact that some companies were launched on the basis on this technology, some CEOs
created new companies based on it because they see these new technologies as an opportunity.

- Influence of the external environment → lots of new technologies and companies have
to take into account the fact that there are new technologies on the market and adapt
their strategies. Some companies were not able to understand the new context and they
died.

- New technologies have created new opportunities and some companies were able to
take the opportunities of the new context, to integrate new technologies to launch new
concepts, new activities. The contingent approach emphasizes the context
(opportunities and constraints) and says that companies have to adapt itself to the
context.

- Those companies (Google, etc) take the technological opportunity to develop new
products. They were able to integrate the technological innovation; without this
innovation, products like Google, Twitter won’t have been possible. It’s the same case
for EVS.

26
 - We saw in the video that companies as Alpha, Nokia which didn’t integrate the new
technology in their products die. If they wanted to survive, they had to integrate the
technological innovation.

Level up by HEC Liège

- Interpretativist approach: a logo, a video to illustrate the project.

Not a planning approach because the video shows the final result and it does not explain all the
steps to achieve this project.

American Airlines
We do not have planning; we do not have political one (we do not see different actors etc)

- Incremental approach: they had a logo and they decided to adjust, improve, change
this new logo. They decided to use the previous logo and see the adjustments that could
be made. It’s a way to modernize their identity but they took into account the previous
identity.

Domino’s Pizza

- Contingent approach: we received a client reaction; we have negative feedbacks and

we have to readjust our recipe. Customer satisfaction (element from the context) is
decreasing, we have to adjust our strategy.

- Interpretativist approach: to ensure the fact that all the employees see the importance
of launching their new recipe, they have lots of teambuilding’s sessions to make sure
that all the employees understand the necessity of the change. They emphasized the
importance to change → story telling.
To make understand, they have to set a communication strategy.
It’s not an incremental approach because they change the recipe and create a new recipe
from scratch; they don’t use the old one to improve it, they create a new one.

Southwest airlines

Political approach:

- There are conflicts in the company: the employees complain about their working
conditions. On the other side, the management have a product and they want to decrease
the cost to improve the competitivity of the company, so they have to cut costs (working
conditions, for example). So, there are different actors with different interests (profit ><
better working conditions).

- Everywhere people have ≠ rationalities, points of view regarding a project. When we

implement a project, we always have people who support the project and people who
will be resistant to the project.

27
LAMPIRIS CASE

Lampiris case:
Last week, we had the presentation about Lampiris and we are going to debrief the assignment
we had to prepare.
The first part of the assignment:
The main changes:
- Foundation of the company
- Growth
- Increasing of the capital
- Acquisition by total
→ all the changes have domino effects.
Domino effect?
They had to structure different elements: lot of impacts on different activities of the company:
- HR policy
- Work organization
- Need for a new IT system
- Evolution of the culture of the company

Lots of consequences: They developed new KPI, communication, evolution of the culture,
reporting, more stability, decision making process etc.

Important to make distinction between changes and domino effect. Everything is not a change.
Make the difference between main variables submitting to changes and what are the
consequences for the different dimensions of the company.

The covid 19 is not a change in the company because they didn’t decide to implement it even
if it had consequences on the company.

The second part of the assignment:

Forces that can be emphasized:
- The main one is the planning approach because everything was planned.
- The second one is the interpretativist approach: The communication strategy was very
important. They communicated a lot concerning the changes and projects, they had
meetings within the organization but also with the clients.
- Contingent approach: Total adjusted the project and acquired Lampiris, which provides
green energy, to integrate the renewable energy market. By participating in
environmental protection, the company's old image is transformed into a green image.
Another example: they used different approaches to communicate with the different
kinds of clients they have.
- Political approach: we know there are different stakeholders, but it was not explained
in the case how they decided to align them.
- Incremental approach: examples: adjusting the IT system, managing core business in
parallel to the changes, etc

28
 Chapter 3 - Evaluation of a Change project
- Use of various complementary approaches:
Planning Contingent Political
approach approach approach

Incremental Interpretivist
approach approach

➔ Integration of these explanatory approaches into a complete, multidimensional

assessment tool.

- Change management … to a multidimensional perspective

Going from a current situation to an expected situation is possible thanks to an action plan.
Often when you compare the results you achieve; you do not have the expected situation
because you may realize some ideas are unrealized. Moreover, you may have emerging
initiatives.

From a traditional perspective…

To a multidimensional approach…

Take all those components and see how they impact the project!
Example:
If you want to develop your activities abroad: you for example have the project to develop it in
London but you did the project before the Brexit and you do not have integrate it in the project…
It will not be a success if you don’t take the context, external factors and new events into
account…
Moreover, it is also very important to integrate people reactions and expectations. Other
projects also need to be taking into account.

Approaches to change Evaluation methods

29
Planning approach To what extent are the initial objectives achieved at the end of the process?
Contingent approach To what extent is the change process consistent with the context?
We need to check if the results of the project are in line with the content of the
context.
Political approach To what extent are the diverging interest of the various stakeholders jointly
satisfied?
You have to take into account all the actors’ expectations. It is important to
involve actors in the project.
Incremental approach To what extent is the change process articulated with the other change
processes already/simultaneously led within the organization? (matching of the
various temporalities?)
Imagine if you work on your project without taking others into account → it is
not going to be a success… Logic!
Interpretavitist approach To what extent is there a shared vision of the change process, based of the stock
of knowledge and accumulated experience with the organization?
You need to make sure that everyone understands the project.
→ Integration of these explanatory approaches into a complete, multidimensional assessment
tool.

The KPI/indicators related to the 5 forces that we use to evaluate the success of a project can
also be used when you implement a project to monitor the process, to be sure you are still on
the good track. You also can use these indicators to realize if you communicate
correctly/enough or not… In conclusion, all the indicators can be used during or at the end of a
project.

If you really want to say that the project is a success, you need to take the 5 dimensions into
account. We do not always have a perfect alignment between the 5 forces, this is why we need
to nuance things and realize that a project can be a success according to a few elements and a
failure according to others.

Related to a student's question during the course:

Some approaches might seem to be more important but pay always attention!
For example: the political approach might seem to be more important that the planning one in
some cases only. The opinion of actors is indeed primordial. It would not be useful to continue
our project by respecting the plan with actors who do not agree with what we are doing! People
need to be happy and to be implemented with what we plan. Having said that, we can think
differently and realize that the opinion of the actors is less important than, for example, the
deadlines to be respected according to the planning approach. For example, if a company needs
to move to a new building before the end of the year… That action needs to be done on time
and people need thus to respect the planning approach even if actors need more time or
whatever…

Police Case (non vu)

• Planning
o Objective of becoming a paperless organization is not achieved.

• Contingent
o External Context: there are a lot of computers and It solutions and they don’t use
these opportunities

30
 → Failure because they don’t use the most of all the technological solutions that
are available, they don’t use this opportunity.
o Internal Context: they were able to understand, in the second part, the work
organization, centralized decision making process, bureaucracy structure, lot of
rules and procedure → took into account into the readjustment of the project
(second part of the case) ➔ They were able to integrate those elements in the
final decision
→ consistency between the results achieved and the internal context
o We have to nuance the analysis here.

• Political
o They were able to find a compromise, but can we consider that all actors are
satisfied?
▪ Who are the winners? Almost everybody: the document experts, the field
operators, the management team (hierarchy), and so on.
→ Reinforced
▪ Who are the losers? the PC suppliers that have lose a lot of money, IT
department who wanted to implement new technologies and become
more important in the organization, I.T consultants.
o We cannot say that it is a complete success, but it is not a complete failure either.
Some of the actors are considered as losers at the end of the process. Most of the
actors has been satisfied but not all of them.

 Try to see who the different actors are, what are their own specific interests and
see if they are reached.

• Incremental
o They decided to have incremental changes to adjust the habits and to take into
account the errors of the past experiences.

• Interpretativist
o Not enough information

Can we think that it is a success? NO. Can we see that it is a failure? NO. We have to nuance.
On some dimensions the project has to be seen as a success and on other dimensions it has to
be seen as a failure.
 All the answers have to be nuanced. It’s almost impossible to know if a project is a
success of a failure, it has to be nuanced! → OK mais le prof a quand meme dit que
l’alignement des 5 forces poussait à voir le projet comme un succès

For next class, we will focus the debate on chapter 5!

31
PRACTICAL CASES CHAP#3

Exercise - Video:
The 2 projects presented in the video about robots in a company.
a. Robotization
b. Reorganization of the logistic department (to decrease the cost related to the logistic)

How can we evaluate the success of the 2 projects with 4 out of the 5 forces?

Case 1: robotization
Planning approach:
- Quite a success.
- The company's objectives are better fulfilled due to the efficiency of the robots.
For example, they do not strike and do not take pauses. + robots improve working
conditions.
- The director also anticipates the possibly negative reactions on the implementation of
machines (regarding employment) → creates a plan to implement machinery alongside
human workforce.
Political approach:
- It is quite a success because almost everybody is satisfied with the process. The
company reaches goal sand the union is quite happy with the project as well. Almost all
the actors are satisfied.
Contingent approach:
- It is quite a success because robots help humans in the today’s business and make then
work easier.
Interpretativist approach
- No short vision of the project. To share the vision is not completed because we have
some workers who are not really on the same page as others and who don’t like the idea
of robotization.
Incremental approach:
- We do not have enough information to evaluate it.
→ We can conclude that the project is a success because of what we mentioned above.

Case 2: logistic department

Planning approach:
- Cut the cost in the logistic department. If we compare the final result with the initial
objectives, we can conclude it as a success. However, we can also nuance a bit the
evaluation by saying that it was not the initial idea planned by the managers. We can
thus conclude it as a success because of the first vision explained above.
- This approach is not only linked with the plans/deadlines but also with the initial
objectives.
Political approach:
- Win-win situation: they cut the prices + they keep jobs. → success
Contingent approach:
- They are more competitive on the market → success.
Interpretativist approach:
- The workers were clearly aware of the change that was about to take place. (global
understanding) They were then able to give their ideas which were listened to by the
management.
Incremental approach:

32
 - We do not have enough information to use this one.
→ The project can be seen as a success.

33
Chapter 4 (chap5 in the book) - Management of a change project
1 - Introduction to Management Styles

- Management style
= the way in which the change process is concretely managed and monitored
= the only variable that can be used by a change manager to ease the change process
and to make the change happen

o Panoptical management: “predetermine, check, and control everything, in a top-

down perspective”
o Polyphonic management: “open the door to different voices, even if they are not
in line with yours”
! possibility of conflicts and resistances remains in both cases but are tackled in different
ways! *

- *Fake participative management style: give the impression that workers will be
involved and listened but don’t take into account their opinions in the final decisions.

How do you solve conflicts and resistances in the panoptical management style?
→ Convince the actors or ignore them.

How do you solve conflicts and resistances in the polyphonic management style?
→ Take into account the actors point of views, co-construct the solution with them.

Case: video → one man show (see on Lol@)

Video with one specific question.

Explain how he manages the projects. He is going to explain the mistakes he made.
→ Think about the keys mistakes he is talking about.

➔ Planning approach
➔ Panoptical management style (top-down) based on the planning approach

- Mistakes:
▪ No talk with local people, no participation, no involvement of actors
→ No use of the political approach
▪ Don’t take into account the context (the fact that we are in Africa), the
environment (river with hippo)
→ No use of the contingent approach
▪ Don’t communicate, don’t take into account the point of views of the actors
→ No use of the interpretativist approach
▪ Don’t try to understand if there were previous project, similar projects
→ No use of the incremental approach

As a result, they lose money and they couldn’t anticipate.

To involve the actors, they tried to pay them, but it didn’t work → they don’t necessarily
have the same vision and didn’t believe in the project. They already knew the project
would be a failure.
 He didn’t try to understand why

34
 The approach that is mainly used here is the planning approach → he had his goal in
mind, a solution and want to implement it ➔ without taking the context into account,
similar project implemented in the past = without taking anything into account
 Impose the project

- What could we’ve done to avoid these mistakes?

Take into account the specificities of the contexts, the interests of the actors, the fact
that there were previous projects
➔ GO BACK TO THE 5 FORCES MODEL
➔ USE THE ACTORS TO WORK WITH YOU ON A PROJECT

People who are on the fields know a lot of things about the
daily activities of the company → used those skills.
 Involve the actors
 Analyse the context and understand its specificities
 Check if similar projects were implemented in the past
and why they failed
➔ Communicate

→ Polyphonic management style

2 - Panoptical Management Style

- Management style based on the planning approach

o Change processes are managed in a sequential way, on the basis of
predetermined objectives
o Change processes are managed without taking into account the stakeholders’
rationalities and interests (cfr core principles and assumptions of the planning
approach)

- Top-down Management

- Change projects are “imposed”, “laid down”

- If you directly work on the implementation of the project → top-down approach.

3 - Polyphonic Management Style

- Management style based on the “5 forces model” : integration and combination of the
planning, contingent, political, incremental, and interpretativist approaches

35
- Main framework based on the political approach
o Recognition of the predominant role “power games” have in all change
processes
o Diversity of stakeholders, diversity of rationalities, diversity of interests are
taken into account
o Change processes are managed through multiple negotiations and search for
compromises between stakeholders’ rationalities and interests

- Bottom-Up Management

- Change projects are “co-constructed”, “co- implemented” through the stakeholders’

active mobilization, involvement, and participation

- Willingness to

o stimulate collective appropriations of the change projects

o favor smooth change processes for the actors

! Polyphonic management style is obviously based on participation

! But all participative initiatives are not necessarily polyphonic! Participative
management may be used in a panoptical way (e.g., in view of convincing people to go
in one specific direction)!

- Polyphonic management style is more than a simple participative approach: It means

that the change project initiator is ready to abandon his/her initial objectives and
to redesign his/her project according to the different stakeholders’ interests and
viewpoints.

- Polyphonic management style is more than just a political approach: It is the ability to
combine different perspectives and influences, based on the 5 forces model

!! We don’t forget the management and the shareholders → Take into account the point
of view of EVERYONE!!

Management styles - synthesis

- More control and homogeneousness
- Strategies of rationalization
- Formalization
- Reduction of uncertainty, predetermination
Panoptical
- Absolute rationality
- Top-down management

- Autonomy, diversity of interests

- Strategies of negotiation
- Valorization of informal circuits
Polyphonic
- Unpredictability, no predetermination
- Bounded rationalities
- Bottom-up management

36
Managing a change process in a polyphonic way

- Basic assumptions and core principles:

o The way in which change projects are managed (process) is more important than
their content to ensure their final success
o Innovations arise from controversies and opposite points of views
o "To adopt an innovation is to adapt it (...). And this adaptation generally results
in a collective elaboration, the fruit of a growing interessement" (Akrich, Callon
& Latour, 2002)

Example: Orchestra → hear the different actors and integrate everybody in the process to
make a symphony.

Contextualization

- Understanding the internal and external context → SWOT, PESTEL ANALYSIS

37
 o Business Strategy?

o Organizational Structure?
o Work Processes?
o HRM Policies?
o Culture?

o Production Technology?
o Information System Architecture?
o Laws and Regulations?

o Etc.

- Locating the contextual opportunities and/or constraints that are likely to

influence the change process
→ see if there is previous project(s)
o Business Strategy

o Organizational Structure / Work Processes
o HRM Policies

o Culture
o Production Technology
 CHANGE PROCESS
o Information System Architecture

o Laws and Regulations

o Etc.

- Identifying the main stakeholders

o Stakeholders = internal and external actors
▪ directly concerned with and indirectly affected by the change process
▪ attempting to influence the process under way in order to align it with
their own interests
o Identifying the different groups of stakeholders who are directly concerned with
and indirectly concerned by the change process
o Understanding the stakeholders’ interests regarding the change process
o Understanding the power resources the stakeholders can mobilize to align the
process with their interests
o Anticipating the concrete behaviors, the stakeholders can adopt to support or to
resist the change project
o Understanding the strategic alliances, the stakeholders can develop to support or
to resist the change project

➔ STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS!!

38
 • Stakeholders: internal and external actors attempting to influence the process
under way in order to align it with their own interests

• Interests: the way each stakeholder perceives the risks and opportunities
linked to change

• Resources: critical power resources (expertise, boundary spanning,

information/communication, definition/application of rules, financial
resources, symbolic and linguistic resources, etc.)

• Means of action: concrete behaviors adopted either to support or to resist the

change project

• Strategic alliances & oppositions: temporary coalitions between

stakeholders with joint organizational interests

- Analyzing internal and external mobilisation capacities

- Anticipating the means of action likely to be deployed

- Locating informal communication circuits

o Having a complete overview of the “parallel communication channels”, besides
the official ones, to have a good understanding of the “real” life of the
organization

- Why do we have to analyse those dimensions?

• To avoid some resistance from actors
• To anticipate the domino effect
• To position the project → it will have an influence on how you’ll manage the project
(for ex. You’ll not implement the project the same way in Europe or in Asia)
• …

Enrolment

- Mobilizing and enrolling spokespeople for the different stakeholders / Setting up a

39
 steering committee

o Steering committee = committee


▪ gathering the representatives of the different groups of actors (not the
competitors) who are directly or indirectly concerned by the project
(stakeholders)(supporters and opponents)

▪ making the key decisions regarding the change process

Why is it important to have representatives of the different groups of actors in

the committee? → DOMINO EFFECT
If you really want to anticipate the impact of the project, you need people form
the different departments!

o Representatives
▪ act as “spokespeople” for the groups they represent
▪ have to be seen as legitimate and credible by the groups they represent
and by the other steering committee members
▪ have to understand and be concerned by their role

- Designating a change manager

o The change manager (or “translator”)

▪ is responsible for the quality and the relevance of the change
management process
▪ plays a central role in the change process by taking into account the
various stakeholders’ interests and concerns
▪ favors the emergence of “compromises” between the various
stakeholders’ interests and expectations

o The change manager (or “translator”) has to be

▪ legitimate = seen by the actors as someone able to consider the various’
stakeholders interests and viewpoints
▪ credible = recognized by the stakeholders as someone who has the
necessary skills to fulfil his role (a.o. good knowledge of the
organization and of its business, analytical skills, managerial skills,
power of persuasion, ability to manage conflicts, respect of people, etc.)
▪ equidistant = perceived as distant and neutral regarding the stakeholders’
interests (no direct interests in the project)

o It can be useful to distinguish the change manager from the project manager
as the latter pursues his/her own specific interests in the change process

o The change manager’s role is often taken in charge by external actors, but it may
be also given to internal actors provided that they conform with the before-
mentioned requirements.

o The translator’s role can be held simultaneously and/or successively by several

individuals.

40
Problematization

- Proposing a common formulation of the problem to be solved

o Having a clear definition of the problem to be solved, that is validated and shared
by the steering committee members
o Proposing a first overview of the actions to undertake to solve the problem, that
is validated and shared by the steering committee members
o Evaluating the transversal dimensions and consequences of the change project
→ DOMINO EFFECT
o Measuring the gaps between the current situation ("as is") and the desired
situation ("to be") on the several dimensions of the project
AS IS SITUATION: how the activities are organized right now before the
implementation of the project
><
TO BE SITUATION: the way we anticipate things, we anticipate the domino
effect and the way we see what should be the organization after the
implementation of the project.
There is a gap between the current situation and the expected situation. ➔
How to move from the current to the expected one?
→ Role of the change manager
o Anticipating the organizational and HRM aspects of the change project
(main
actors’ reactions and concerns = "me-issues")

- Abandoning the myths of predetermining tasks and reforming current practices

in a panoptical way
o Collaborating with actors and field operators to understand their difficulties,
needs, and expectations
o Launching work groups to tackle specific issues and find out right solutions
o Avoiding the work group effects and biases

- Avoiding the search for consensus and favoring compromises

- Promoting unforeseen innovations

Convergence

You really start to act and to implement the project!

- Using project management techniques

o to set up a concrete action plan, with key actions to perform and obligatory
milestones to respect → GANTT Chart plan where you have the main tasks to
realize and the deadlines, it is useful for the planning approach but also for the
interpretativist approach.

o to favor a common understanding of the process and the actions under way
(shared references)

41
 - Communicating constantly about the change process
o Creating convergence and shared understanding of the project through explicit
name, symbolic logo and dedicated communication actions
o Putting regular and customized communication actions in place for the different
stakeholders
o Ensuring the change process is transparent in the eyes of the various
stakeholders
o Promoting interactive and taboo-free exchanges (fully top-down communication
may be counter-productive)
o Tools: meeting, e-mails, newsletters, conferences
o Things that are important to communicate on a change project: LOGO, NAME

- Involving actors in a participative way

o Launching thematic work groups
o Organizing interviews and focus groups

- Achieving quick wins to make the process tangible

o Quick wins = initiatives and actions that can be easily and quickly implemented
to show a first set of results regarding the change process

- Evaluating the process continuously through multidimensional indicators

o Achievement of (intermediary) objectives
o Respect of the (intermediary) deadlines Planning
o Respect of the budget
o Adaptation to contextual factors Contingent
o Stakeholders’ involvement and participation
o Relevance of the achieved compromises to meet Political
the various stakeholders’ interests
o Temporal concordance with other projects Incremental
o Relevance and coordination of the communication actions Interpretativist
o Etc.

Extension

- Socializing newcomers
o Moving from a project logic (with a limited number of involved actors) to a
routine logic (where all the organization’s members are concerned)
o Restarting a contextualization phase?

o Launching new actions to favor actors’ convergence?
o Working with the HR Department?

o Selecting key users "to train" newcomers?

- Anticipating the permanence and longevity of the project

o Making decisions in a long-term perspective

 How do we make sure that all the things that we have done to make the project are going
to continue in the future?

42
→ structure of the final assignment

10 key words of this chapter

- Actors
- Anticipation
- Participation
- Contextualization
- Polyphonic management style
- Enrolment
- Co-construction
- Involvement
- Problematization

→ Guest speaker next time !

43
 Schréder

Circular economy: It is to put the products as long as possible on the market. It is the
opposite of the linear economy. We try to stay in the same loop as much as possible. The goal
is using products as much as possible to produce something else after, for example… Until we
cannot do anything else with it.

Video: Life is a circle, but we have broken the circle with the linear economy model we
created. We use and consume and then we throw everything away. It would be possible to use
fewer materials and to use green energy. A circular economy is possible and interesting for
nature.

Origin of the project:

- Answer market request: They try to understand the customers and their needs.
- Build a differentiation advantage: They have a direct competitor called « signify » but
this company was the only one dealing with the circular economy. That is why
Schreder decided to enter the same market like them.
- Be ahead if future legal obligations

Missions:
Mission 1a: understand the circular economy:
- The products last for a long time. She realized she was dealing with products that
maintain for a long time. (It is not a t-shirt we throw away after a few years only).
- Aluminium is the main material of products and it is possible to recycle it.
Mission 1b: understand Schréder
- Organization of the company
- Interaction between departments
- Strategies in the company
- Ect
→ During her internship, a new CEO arrived. This man had a big impact in terms of strategy
and sustainable.
→ The company Schreder manufactures and designs luminaires.
→ Schreder decided to focus on consumers. They want to sell light and not only a luminaire.
Mission 2: choose a strategy
- They launched a survey to all the managers (from different countries) to know if they
would be interested in a circular economy. They asked them a different question to
learn more about how they approach the concept etc. They managed some workshops.
→ with all the information, they established a strategic plan.
- They chose to be one of the main actors in the industry in terms of circular lighting.
o Increasing the serviceability of the products
o Developing second life solution
→ To points, they decided to target.
Mission 3: mobilizing the organization
- They had to mobilize all the departments. Of course, some departments were more
important in the process: research and development team, marketing and
communication team and commercial team.
- They selected people from all these departments to explain to them what Schreder
decided to apply. The goal was to have a common understanding of the circular
economy.
The project is for our planet, for our community and our people.

44
Q&A:
Son projet a commencé en Janvier 2020 et elle va devoir montrer ou ils en sont ici en janvier
2021
For each track (3) they have project leader and the project leader are volunteer
They report together every month and to the CEO every three months
They do meeting also to make sure that they are aligned with one another and use ressources as
good as possible.
She is a project manager for Schreder
At the beginning of the project, what are the first things that you have to do at the beginning of
a project?
—> What is Schreder, what is circulaire understanding, what is the organization, objective of
the stakeholders —> have a good understanding of the company
Make sure that it is aligned because you have seen what is important for the company —>
important to understand the internal and external context of the company
Importance to involve the actors in the project, what is the added valu of it?
Not possible to construct the project without help of other actors for example engineers,
commercial experts...
C’est mieux de dire j’ai un projet et j’aimerais que tu travailles avec moi dessus que de dire tu
dois faire ca et ca.
—> important to work with actors who know the context of the company
Advise?
Making sure that you know where you are stepping in, that you understand the context Team
effort: important to listen to the others
Be open-minded

45