Change Management | White Paper

The structured process for guiding individuals and organizations through transformation and continuous improvement

Change management within business organizations is necessary to implement transformations such as:

• new technologies and work tools to be implemented (for example: Digital Transformation, a new ERP system, Lean Manufacturing…)
• adoption of a new corporate culture (e.g., Lean, Agile, Sustainability…)
• appointment of new managers
• acquisitions, mergers, and divestitures of business units
• periods of crisis (corporate or global)
• …

Change becomes necessary because only agile and responsive companies thrive by adapting to changing market conditions

What Is Change Management, Really?

Asking what Change Management really is means questioning the meaning of a term that is so generic, yet so widely used and deeply rooted in managerial vocabulary, that it has almost lost its specific meaning. This lack of specificity actually illustrates a concept that, in its general terms, is common and applicable to countless situations within a company.

Let’s simply define change as the set of activities and tools through which an organization implements a structured approach to change in individuals, groups, and organizations, focusing on People, Organizational Model, Processes, and Technologies.

Change Management is the management method for achieving successful change.

Some concrete examples of change projects:

• Reorganizing the structure following an acquisition
• Introducing new management software
• Rethinking business processes from a Lean perspective
• Launching an Industry 4.0 digital transformation

At its core, therefore, Change Management involves a transformation and, as such, very often requires stepping out of one’s “comfort zone” to enter a territory rich with new opportunities, yet unknown and therefore “daunting” and “challenging” to explore. This concept applies in theory to the entire organization involved in the change, but in reality, it plays out for every single person who will be called upon to modify their daily behaviors and the way they work.

It is not organizations that change; it is people who do. It is the cumulative effect of changes made by individual people that ultimately results in successful organizational change.