Chapter 12 - Sustaining Change

Chapter 12

Sustaining Change
Learning Objectives
On completion of this chapter you should be able to:
Recognize the difference between the appearance of change and change that
has is sustained within an organization.
Identify a range of actions that can assist the sustaining of change.
Be alert to a number of pitfalls that can be encountered when seeking to
sustain change.

Chapter Summary

Images How Sustaining Change is Viewed

Director It is the responsibility of the change manager to design the change process and
direct people to comply such that the change objective is achieved as planned.
Navigator The change manager designs the change process so as to best fit the conditions
faced, recognizing that modifications will almost certainly need to be made en
route and that the final outcome may not be as originally envisaged.
Caretaker To the extent to which intended outcomes are achieved, this is primarily the result
of environmental factors, not management intervention.
Coach If intended outcomes are achieved, it is because the change manager has been
successful in helping organizational members develop within themselves the
capabilities necessary for success.
Interpreter The change manager plays a central role in the development of an understanding of
the meaning of outcomes, in particular with regard to what is taken as a successful
resolution of the change process.
Nurturer Change processes will have outcomes, but these are in continual state of flux and
are largely out of the hands of managers.

Once implemented, change is not always embedded in an organization. Actions that can
help this embedding to occur include:
Redesigning roles
Redesigning reward systems
Linking selection decisions to change objectives
Acting consistently with advocated actions
Encouraging voluntary acts of initiative
Measuring progress
Celebrating en route
Fine-tuning

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At the same time that they are seeking to consolidate change, managers should also:
Expect some unanticipated outcomes
Be alert to measurement limitations
Not declare victory too soon
Beware escalation of commitment
Recognize productive failure

Case Study Discussion:

The Challenger and Columbia Shuttle Disasters

1. What aspects of NASA practice revealed in the aftermath of the Columbia disaster
suggest that the changes sought in the aftermath of the Challenger disaster were
not sustained?

The sustainability of change shows how change has stuck in an organization. By

analyzing the situation at NASA, the difficulties in this process are highlighted for
students. Some aspects of NASA practice that have not changed are:
Post-Challenger NASA underwent management reforms but the main
elements that needed to change remained the same. These included the
culture that was not overly concerned with safety and instead
conformed to schedule pressure.
There were still organizational barriers that stifled communication and
overlooked differences of opinions. NASA management was still not
listening to dissenting and minority voices.
There were informal decision making processes that were still in place
that ran outside the official chain of command and disregarded the
organizations rules.
NASA was still dependent on federal funds, and therefore there were
external controls that were beyond the influence of NASA management.
They were still not basing their assumptions of safety on scientific
proof, but rather on what they chose to believe.
The vision for the organization was being facilitated through a Faster,
Cheaper, Better program. The focus did not appear to consider the key
areas for change.

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2. This chapter provides a discussion of actions that can be taken to sustain change.
Which of the following do you see as most applicable to addressing the situation
described in this case?

Students should be able to highlight many instances where change was sustained,
or thought to be sustained at NASA between the time of the Challenger and
Columbia disasters. Some of the issues that may arise are listed below.

a. Redesign roles.
To tighten controls at NASA they created task groups after the Challenger
disaster to find and track hazards relating to flight safety. The workforce was
also downsized and many of the shuttle programs responsibilities were
outsourced. In light of the Columbia disaster it can be assumed that this
redesign was not as effective as was originally hoped.

b. Redesign reward system.

If the reward system was redesigned in any way it is not addressed in this case
study. The external funding for NASA, however, was still provided by federal
sources and to truly sustain change at NASA this may be an area that needs to
be addressed.

c. Link selection decisions to change objectives.

This issue is not directly mentioned in the case study but could be a factor
when choosing sub-contractors for NASA.

d. Act consistently with advocated actions.

NASA staff and management thought they had sustained the changes which
would increase the importance of safety in their culture. However, the latter
remained a blind spot in the organization. NASA set up quality and safety
assurance programs with an increased number of personnel dedicated to this
area. However, there was still insufficient deference given to technicians and
others who highlighted safety issues which impacted the cost or schedule of
NASA operations.

e. Encourage voluntary acts of initiative.

It appeared that voluntary acts of were still not encouraged at NASA.
Communication feedback was still not being heard, and the lack of
consideration for safety was still the source of the problem. More effective
feedback channels may be needed here.

f. Measure progress.
The measurements of progress at NASA were still based on cost reductions and
did not reflect the desired change to increase the safety of spacecraft and their
crew. As there were no specific measures of change in the target area the
change does not appear to have been consolidated at NASA.

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g. Celebrate en route.
This issue is not mentioned in the case study.

h. Fine-tune.
This issue is not mentioned in the case study.

3. This chapter provides some words of caution in terms of what to be alert to in

regard to sustaining change. Which of the following do you see as most applicable
to addressing the situation described in this case?

a. Expect some unanticipated outcomes.

The nature of the work at NASA means that unanticipated outcomes generally
equal death of the crew of a space shuttle as with the Challenger and
Columbia disasters.

b. Be alert to measurement limitations.

The management team at NASA did not appear to be aware of the limitations
of the measurements for change that were being used. They focused on the
financial and cost efficiency side of their work and de-humanized the process.

c. Dont declare victory too soon.

One of the cultural traits at NASA was not to retest various parts of the shuttles
but rely on previous engineering tests. By assuming that the past evidence was
sufficient, NASAs team declared victory too soon and overlooked important
safety issues.

d. Beware escalation of commitment.

NASAs commitment to a large number of scheduled flights that were
unrealistic caused them to continually escalate their commitment without
considering the inherent problems.

e. Recognize productive failures.

By not recognizing, changing and sustaining on the failures that were
uncovered in the wake of the Challenger disaster, NASA failed to recognize
productive failures. They were unable to build on and redesign their internal
systems to learn from past experiences. This resulted in an almost identical
accident that occurred for similar reasons 20 years later.

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Tables from the Text

The following provides a brief summary of the key points in each of the tables in the text.

TABLE Table Heading Page

12.1 When the Momentum Goes Out Of Change: 356
this short case illustrates the difficulty of bringing change through to to
completion in an organization. 357
sustaining change is often more difficult than initiating change in the first
place.
12.2 Images of Managing and Sustaining Change
the six images of managing change each have differing views of 358
sustaining change, each stance has strengths and limitations.
how each image views sustaining change and influences the whole
process of change.
12.3 The Importance of Organizational Culture at IBM
a short story about how important culture at IBM was for the success of 358
change management.
this story brings to light the importance of embedding the desired
changes into the culture of an organization, otherwise the change wont
survive.

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12.4 Reflections on Change in the U.S. Postal Service

lessons on the unsuccessful change program at U.S. postal Services are 359
outlined. Refer to TABLE 12.1.
even unsuccessful change programs can yield valuable information for
the change manager.
12.5 Signals from Behavior
methods of communicating cultural values are often through situations 361
where the leadership demonstrates their priorities.
this often sends a more powerful message than the espoused values that
may be repeated and spoken of, yet are not the true situation.
students should be encouraged to think of a situation in their experience
where the cultural values were demonstrated in a similar way this could
be a situation from work or life.
12.6 Alan Lafleys Moment of Truth
this brief example shows that commitment to change can be more 361
powerful than financial results
12.7 Espoused Values and Actions at Falcon Computer
this short case shows some of the dangers of reality not matching the 362
espoused values of an organization.
Where the actions of the leadership of an organization are inconsistent
with the values they espouse, the result is often an increase in cynicism
and criticism in the organization, and the level of trust in the leadership
declines.

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TABLE Table Heading Page

12.8 Measures That Produced Change at Seers
measurement of business performance needs to both accurate and 363
appropriate; in this case the measurement methods used at Sears allowed
the organization to drift.
What gets measures influences how people act.
12.9 Metrics at Continental Airlines
what you measure is what you get. 364
the metrics chosen by an organization communicates their real values to
all stakeholders. One tool for embedding change is through the selection
of appropriate metrics that will enhance business processes and activities
for the required results.
12.10 Communicating Success at Sandvik
this example of communicating change shows that initially 366
communication is used to overcome doubts people may have about the
change. Then, when the results are achieved the message needs to be sent
that there is still work to be done.
Students can see by this example that images to reinforce sustained
change are important in promoting future change.
12.11 Fine-Tuning at Ford
fine-tuning needs to be sold to stakeholders as a laudable refinement of 367
the change process otherwise is may be misinterpreted as evidence of the
ill-advised nature of the change.
12.12 Unanticipated Consequences at FedEx
expect the unexpected; even the most expertly managed change process 367
cannot guarantee that all will go according to plan.

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12.13 Gilbertson on the Timing of Measurement

cost savings and benefits from a change in metrics, business processes or 369
management direction, often take time to benefit the company. There will
often be a period before expected benefits emerge.
perceiving this period as a lead time before the benefits occur will be
more productive than labelling it as a lag time.
12.14 Productive Failure in McDonalds 371
failure of a known brand in new endeavors can work to the advantage
of a company. Here, McDonalds unsuccessfully tried to diversify
into hotels. This did not work but they were able to sustain the image
that they were prepared to try new ideas and learn from their
mistakes.
This shows students that failures can also be used to sustain change in
organizations.
12.15 Chapter Reflections for the Practicing Change Manager
the aim of this section is get students to reflect on the contents of the 373
chapter. This is done by personalising the issues covered in this chapter.

12.16 Additional Case Studies

supplementary cases for further study. 379
more details on these cases are provided below.

Video
Emirates Airline employees
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=leY2zI96YJ0

This video shows employees singing a short song about change. This concludes the
change journey by showing a group of employees supporting and sustaining change
though song.

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Exercises and Answers

EXERCISE 12.1 (p.365)

Testing for a Balanced Set of Measures1

Purpose
If change occurs in an organization it is important to be able to determine whether it has
been a success or a failure. Appropriate metrics are one way of monitoring the progress of
change, and the metrics that are used will impact the activities in the business. Students are
encouraged to start thinking through the type of metrics that could be used to measure
change in an organization and to learn how to select the most appropriate one(s) for a
given situation and desired outcome.

Options/Techniques/Requirements
Format:
Individually or in groups of three to four students.

Materials:
Section in Chapter 12 on Sustained Change: What are its Signs? (pp.355-359).

Time Required:
10-20 minutes for an individual; 20-30 minutes where group discussion is required. Add
20-40 minutes if individuals or groups are to report back to the class as a whole.

Undergraduate:
This exercise may need to be adapted if the majority of the students in the class do not
have any work experience. Students may need to be given a list of metrics for the exercise.
The instructor demonstrates how to allocate one or two metrics into the type categories
and then the students are to allocate the rest. The exercise could be extended for this
group, by requiring an explanation as to why they placed the measures in a specific
type(s).

MBA/Executive:
Many students with professional experience (and in particular positions in management),
will be used to working with metrics in the workplace. Nonetheless, it may still help to
give one or two examples in the class before they attempt the exercise.

1
This exercise is based on the discussion of measures in Price Waterhouse Change Integration
Team (1996).

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Potential Problems and Helpful Hints

Undergraduate students may not be conversant with metrics in a business. It
may help to have a class discussion about business metrics and have the
students (with the instructors help) work out a number of business metrics that
are appropriate for measuring change. These metrics are then used by the
groups for the exercise.

Debriefing
Business metrics are an important part of forming a view on the degree of success of a
change. They also provide a means for assessing performance for those accountable for
specific activities in an organization. Students should be encouraged to think through the
appropriateness of the metric they are using. Class discussion can extend to cover the
effect of inappropriate metrics.

Guidelines for Answers to Questions

The answers to the questions in the exercises will need to be assessed according to the
experience and education level of the students.

For any given change, it is useful to consider what would be the appropriate measures of
its success (or failure). List the proposed measure and note which type of measure it is by
placing an X in the appropriate column.

Note: Any one measure is likely to be classifiable in more than one category. For
example, brand image is likely to be lagging, external, and noncost.
Students need to assess the metric and determine the type that it is appropriate for, and
explain why it is in certain types and not others.

If the proposed measures do not cover all six categories, you should be clear as to why it
is not necessary to not have one (or more) category covered. If this cannot be clearly
explained, it suggests that additional measures may be required.

Students should select a number of business measures for this exercise, and then allocate
them into the different type of metrics, e.g., brand image, customer satisfaction, call
response rate, staff turnover, market share, ROI.

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EXERCISE 12.2 (p.371)

Managing Risk

Purpose
This exercise is designed to encourage students to think of a range of actions that are
likely to enhance the prospect of the change process being successful. The approach taken
in this exercise is to present this challenge in the context of risk, that is, the likely negative
effects of failure to take certain actions.

Options/Techniques/Requirements
Format:
Individually or groups of three to five students.

Materials:
Managing Change Text

Time Required:
30-50 minutes

Once the individuals or groups have completed the identification of actions and the
consequences of inaction, a combined discussion should take place within the class. The
students discuss any differences between their responses and also can be asked to create a
master list from all responses.

Undergraduate:
Students should have enough information at this stage of the course to complete this
exercise. These students should be asked to name a minimum of eight actions in the time
given to complete the exercise.

MBA/Executive:
Students with professional experience will have additional insights to bring to this
exercise. As a result the exercise for this group can be extended to asking them to provide
some specific examples from their experiences.

Potential Problems and Helpful Hints

No real issues other than those related to a lack of professional experience for
the undergraduate students.

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Debriefing
The debriefing should review the actions that students listed and link these back to the
issues already covered in the course. In particular, highlight any aspects of the
management of change that may have been omitted from the actions identified in the
responses/analyses of the students.

Guidelines for Answers to Questions

The answers to the questions in the exercises will need to be assessed according to the
experience and education level of the students.

One of the implications of many of the images of managing change that are presented in
this book is that change is a process where there is a complex, and not necessarily
predictable, relationship between actions and outcomes. Nonetheless, it is still likely that
certain actionor, taking the reverse, certain inactionwill affect the probability of
certain outcomes.

Based on the material in this book, provide a range of actions that you believe are likely to
enhance the prospect of a change process being successful. For each action, identify the
effects/outcomes that you believe are more likely to occur if that action is not taken.

There will be a variety of actions listed by the groups. Look for a good coverage of the
issues that have been raised during the course.

EXERCISE 12.3 (p. 372)

Reflection on Your Experience of Change:

Profile of Managers in General

Purpose
This exercise is for students to learn to assess the impact of actions on the change process.
Actions (and inaction) have an impact, and this is normally handled by the managers in
an organization. Students are given the opportunity to become more aware the impact of
actions/inaction, and the way managers are perceived to respond.

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Options/Techniques/Requirements
Format:
As used in Exercise 12.2.
Materials:
List of Actions/Likely Effect of Inaction from Exercise 12.2 Managing Risk
(p.371) from the individual/group.
Class list of actions (if completed from the debriefing in the last exercise.

Time Required:
15-30 minutes.

Undergraduate:
This exercise is not appropriate for most undergraduate classes because it relies on first
hand experience of the management of change (albeit as a recipient of change). If the
instructor wishes to use this exercise with such a class, the students can be asked to
speculate based on the basis of what they have read/discussed during this course and/or on
the basis of such sources as television/movies. Where the instructor has already used this
exercise with students who have had professional experience, the responses of the latter
could be used as feedback, ie, as a point of comparison with the speculations of the
undergraduates.

MBA/Executive:
Students with significant work experience will have no difficulty with this exercise as it is
an exercise which specifically asks for reflection on their experience.

Potential Problems and Helpful Hints

As noted above, this exercise may not be appropriate for many undergraduate
classes.
Students with work experience tend to list communications-related actions as
the ones most commonly performed poorly.
The exercise instructions specify that the list to use is that derived by the
individual/group in Exercise 12.2. An alternative approach is to use the
amalgamated list derived from the discussion at the end of Exercise 12.2 (i.e.,
the integrated list combining the inputs from the various individuals/groups).
Make it very clear to the class which of the lists you want them to use.

Debriefing
The debriefing should focus on the actions most commonly cited as being poorly
performed. Lead a class discussion of how performance in this regard might be improved.

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Guidelines for Answers to Questions

The answers to the questions in the exercises will need to be assessed according to the
experience and education level of the students.

In Exercise 12.2, Managing Risk, you provided a range of actions that you believed are
likely to enhance the prospect of a change process being successful.

1. Repeat this list.

2. Based on your own experience of change, rate each action in terms of how well, in your
view, managers handle this action. For example, if you believe that a particular action
is almost always badly handled by management (bad handling could include rarely using
the specified action), rate the handling as very poor.
Check that the list being used is that derived in Exercise 12.2
3. Which are the actions that you have identified as most in need of attention (those you
rated poor or very poor)?
4. Where possible, discuss your ratings with others in the group/class. Are any particular
actions most commonly nominated as needing attention?
What could be done to improve managers capacity in this regard?

EXERCISE 12.4 (p. 372)

Reflection on Your Experience of Change:

Profile of Yourself

Purpose
To become a successful change manager requires a willingness to assess your own skills
and abilities, strengths and weaknesses. This involves a level of self-awareness and
honesty, along with the willingness to take action to improve ones capabilities in key
areas. This exercise moves the attention from a critique of other managers (Exercise 12.3)
to self-reflection by students in regard to their own skills and limitations.

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Options/Techniques/Requirements
Format:
Individually, and then follow up with pairs for discussion of Question 4.

Materials:
List of Actions/Likely Effect of Inaction from Exercise 12.12 Managing Risk
(Text p. 371) from the group.
Class list of actions (if completed from the debriefing in the last exercise.

Time Required:
10-30 minutes

Undergraduate:
For most undergraduates the answers will be speculative as they will not have yet had the
experience to allow experience-based reflection.

MBA/Executive:
Students with work experience will be the most likely to be able to benefit from this
exercise.

Potential Problems and Helpful Hints

Some students will find self assessment difficult or threatening. To respond to
this, the exercise can be run as a self-assessment exercise where it is left up to
each student to decide whether they will make their responses available as part
of classroom discussion.

Debriefing
The debriefing would best contain a review of the actions where people are struggling or
find it difficult to handle. If a class discussion is included in the debrief there will be
some students who do not want to contribute, as they feel uncomfortable, yet there
will be others who will ask questions or share from their own experiences. These
examples could yield some very valuable ideas for other students to help develop their
capacity in handling particular actions.

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Guidelines for Answers to Questions

The answers to the questions in the exercises will need to be assessed according to the
experience and education level of the students.

In Exercise 12.2, Managing Risk, you provided a range of actions that you believed are
likely to enhance the prospect of a change process being successful.

1. Repeat this list.

2. Rate yourself in regard to each action.
The students could use the list their group created for Exercise 12.2, or use the larger class
list for their self assessment.

3. Which are the actions that you have identified as most in need of attention (those you
rated poor or very poor)?
The answer to this section will depend on the rating they gave themselves on their list of
actions.

4. Where possible, discuss your ratings with others in the group/class. Are any particular
actions most commonly nominated as needing attention? What could be done to develop
your capacity in this regard?
To limit the difficulty that some students have in completing this section, the class could
be told that they only need to discuss two of the actions when they work in pairs.

Additional Case Studies (p. 379)

Lufthansa 2003: Energising a Decade of Change

Bruch, H. (2004) University of St Gallen, Switzerland
Since 1992 Lufthansa has undergone almost continuous change to become a responsive,
flexible and robust airline in an industry where margins are low and capital assets are high.
By 2003 the company had been through many changes. How does Lufthansa approach the
need for more change, and embed the changes that have already happened? Many of the
issues in the text are raised in this case.

GE's Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch's Leadership Multimedia

Case
Bartlett, C.A. & Wozny, M. (2000) Harvard Business School
This case addresses the issue of vision, leadership, and communication. After two decades
of change GE has been transformed through company re-structure, technological
development, cultural change and globalization. Jack Welch is seen to be the initiator of
many of the changes in the company. Where does GE go from here? How does the change
affect the company? Have these changes really been successful?

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Citigroup 2003: Testing the Limits of Convergence (A)

Applegate, L.M. (2004) Harvard Business School
Decisive CEO Sandy Weill has been replaced by Charles Prince as leader of Citigroup.
The issues in this company have been discussed in earlier cases. How does a new CEO
continue changes initiated by others? How can a new leader consolidate change led by
another CEO?

The New HP: the Clean Room and Beyond

Kind, L. & Perlow, L.A. (2004) Harvard Business School
Integration of two large companies is not easy. The merger of HP with Compaq has had
various challenges; especially in the area of culture. The emergence of a new company
culture from two old ones is necessary for the company to succeed. This case discusses the
steps taken to integrate these two companies, and addresses post-change issues relating to
mergers.

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