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3. What is the purpose of change management?
The goal of the change management process is to ensure that
standardised methods and procedures are used for efficient
and prompt handling of all changes, in order to minimise
the impact of change-related incidents on service quality,
and consequently improve the day-to-day operations of the
organisation. Failing to adopt a structured approach to change
will yield negative results and will lead to project failure.
4. What are the benefits of a formal change
management process?
The benefits of change management allow you to assess and
understand the need and the impact of change. It allows you
to align resources within the business to support the change
at implementation level and ensure a much higher success
rate. It also allows you to manage the diverse cost of change.
If change is not managed, it can impact your business on
many levels.
5. What is the ultimate goal of change management?
Change management is an overarching, guided process to
transition individuals, teams, or organisations from one state
to another. The goal of change management is to achieve
the desired change with the maximum of positive benefits
and efficiencies, and a minimum of negative effects on all
stakeholders and the business.
The responsibility of managing change in a business is that
of the owner, but this is often assigned to a specific person
to champion the process and to manage it. These people are
often referred to as change managers.
The change manager plays a key role in ensuring that
projects (change initiatives) meet their objectives on time
and on budget by increasing employee adoption and
usage. This person will focus on the people side of change,
including changes to business processes, systems and
technology, job roles, and organisation structures. This role
is key to the success of all projects.
The final step in the change management process is the after-
action review. It is at this point that you can stand back from
the entire programme, evaluate successes and failures, and
identify process changes for the next project. This is part of the
ongoing, continuous improvement of change management for
your organisation and ultimately leads to change competency.
These elements comprise the areas or components of a
change management programme. Along with the change
management process, they create a system for managing
change. Good managers apply these components effectively
to ensure project success, avoid the loss of valued
employees, and minimise the negative impact of the change
on productivity and a company’s customers. PA
May 2019 Volume 25 I Number 3