Managing Business Change

Professor Lynn Crawford (Bond University)
Geoff Rinaldi, Managing Director, Tranzform Group, Sydney, Australia
Completion Date: 2010

While it’s common knowledge that Australia is rapidly ageing, knowledge – especially empirical knowledge – about accommodation options for Australia’s ageing population, is not so common.
 

About this research project

Business change projects have become a common way for organisations to change the way they operate. However, it is difficult to find practical examples of organisations that are consistently able to achieve the benefits of change they originally set out to achieve. Evidence suggests that change is more difficult to achieve than most managers realise. A survey of 134 project professionals from all project sectors across the world confirms a high failure rate for organisational change projects, with only 44% of change projects coming close to achieving their goals (KPMG, 2003).

One reason for failure of business change projects is that regardless of the type of change − whether an IT change, a framework change, a policy change, a cultural change, or a strategic change − organisational change requires people to do their everyday job differently. This calls for a behavioural change, and behavioural changes require specific interventions. Ability of managers to plan, implement and influence changes and poor management of human factors are further concerns. The aim of this research is to obtain insight into management of business change initiatives with a view to identifying areas for improvement in terms of effectiveness, use of resources, achievement of business outcomes and sustainability.

The research approach is to interview senior executives in major organisations, in both public and private sectors, about drivers of change, context, the nature of business change initiatives being conducted and how they are being managed across the organisation.

In order to obtain more detailed information in terms of governance, capability to implement change and achievement of desired business outcomes, senior managers are than asked to nominate two change initiatives or programs currently being conducted in their organisation. Managers of these initiatives will then be interviewed to elicit further detail in terms of governance, capability to implement change and achievement of desired business outcomes.

This research is being conducted with the support of the Tranzform Group.