376 'mu' i Planning and Implementing Change Mark Twain once said, \"The only person who likes change is a baby witha Wet diaper!\" Like it or not, in the dynamic society surround ' ing today' s organizations, the question of whether change will oc- cur is no longer relevant. Change will occur. It is no longer a choice Instead, the issue is, How. do managers and leaders cope with the inevitable barrage of changes that confront them daily in attempt- ing. to keep their organizations viable and current? Although change is a fact of life, if managers are to be effective, they can no longer be content to let change occur as it will. They must be able to develop strategies to plan, direct, and control change. 4} In a survey of 400 executives from Fortune 1000 companies, 79 percent of the executives interviewed reported \"the pace of change at their companies as 'rapid' or 'extremely rapid' and 61 percent be lieved the pace will pick up in the future.\"1 In contrast, most execu' tives reported that they did not have formal plans for dealing with change. In addition, \"62 percent believed they have a conservative or reluctant approach to change,\" and \"more than 75 percent said that American managers resist change because they are 'too short- term oriented,' they 'don't like to lose control of people or events,' they have 'a vested interest in the status quo,' and they 'do not know what to do about change.' \"2 This resistance to change is Contradictory to the manager's pri mary role as a leader. You will recall that in chapter 1 we defined leadership as influencing the behavior of others, individually and exist if the problem were not present, then you have not solved the prob- lem or changed the situation. 2. The ultimate solution to a problem (the change effort) may not be pos- sible overnight, and, therefore, interim goals must be set along the path to the final goal (the solving of the problem). The end result of analysis (which includes determining alternative solutions) should be some recommended action that will decrease the discrepancy be- tween the actual and the ideal. Although action is the end result, you must re- member that action based on superficial analysis may be worse than no action at all. Too frequently, people want to hurry on to the action phase of a prob- lem before they have adequately analyzed the situation. The importance of the analysis part cannot be given too much emphasis-a good analysis fre- quently makes the action obvious. SUMMARY The focus in this book has been on the management of human resources, and, as a result, we have spent little time on how technical change can have an im- pact on the total system. Our attempt in this example was to reiterate that an organization is an "open social system"; that is, all aspects of an organization are interrelated; a change in any part of an organization may have an impact on other parts or on the organization itself. Thus, a proposed change in any part of an organization must be carefully assessed in terms of its likely impact on the rest of the organization ENDNOTES The survey was conducted by the Gallup Or- ton (Belmont, CA: Dickinson Publishing, ganization and commissioned by Proudfoot 1968). Reprinted in Industrial Management Re- Change Management, a division of an inter- view, 2, no. 2 (May 1961), pp. 59-77 national consulting firm. It was reported in 6. The mechanisms are taken from Herbert C. Barbara Ettorre, "Buddy, Can You Spare Some Kelman, "Compliance, Identification and In- Change!" Management Review, January 1994, ternalization: Three Processes of Attitude p. 5. Change," Journal of Conflict Resolution, (1958), 2. Ibid. II, no. 1, pp. 51-60. 3. Edgar H. Schein, The Corporate Culture Survival 7. Schein, "Management Development As a Guide (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc., 1999) Process of Influence," p. 112. p. 132. 8. See Kelman, "Compliance, Identification and Kurt Lewin, "Frontiers in Group Dynamics: Internalization." Concept, Method, and Reality in Social Sci- 9. Schein, "Management Development As a ence; Social Equilibria and Social Change," Process of Influence," p. 112. Human Relations, 1, no. 1 (June 1974), pp. 5-41. 10. Kurt Lewin, "Frontiers in Group Dynamics: 5. Edgar H. Schein, "Management Development Concept, Method, and Reality in Social Sci- As a Process of Influence." Page 110 in Behav- ence; Social Equilibria and Social Change," oral Concepts in Management, David R. Hamp- Human Relations, 1, no. 1 (June 1947), pp. 5-41. Chapter 17 Planning and Implementing Change 397