Dear Bob ... Good article ("Bypassing process," Keep the Joint Running, 9/19/2005). But it leads to a follow-up question. In our company, following a major reorganization, the typical employee is getting tired of all the process and IT change. They say they cannot keep up with it. So here is the question: How does an organization measure when they are undergoing too much change? Obviously this is tricky since so
Dear Bob …
Good article (“Bypassing process,” Keep the Joint Running, 9/19/2005). But it leads to a follow-up question.
In our company, following a major reorganization, the typical employee is getting tired of all the process and IT change. They say they cannot keep up with it.
So here is the question: How does an organization measure when they are undergoing too much change? Obviously this is tricky since some organizations do not like change but really need it. Your article talks about how companies can only handle 3 to 5 major efforts a year. What about the small stuff?
– Done in
Dear Done in …
Tough question. It’s the difference between fatigue and laziness, and since both share the same metric – difficulty in getting off the sofa – I’m not sure how measurable “too much change” is.
I think maybe the question approaches the subject backward. Instead of asking how much change is too much change, ask where each division, department, and even workgroup is on the “change curve.”
The change curve works like this: In general, starting up a new way of doing business – a process, redefinition of customer or what-have-you – tires everyone out. It also makes them temporarily less effective. You don’t want to do it too often.
Once a group gets the hang of the new situation it should enter into a steady period of continuous improvement – the “small stuff” as you put it. Making sure it happens is part of effective process management. So long as it is happening, leave things alone – they’re going along as they should be. Starting another major change initiative for a group that’s engaged in healthy continuous improvement can lead to organizational thrashing – lots of activity but little real progress.
After some time passes, though, a group reaches the point of diminishing returns. Additional improvement becomes hard to find, things stagnate, and change stops happening. It’s right about then that a group is ready for a new, large-scale change initiative to shake things up.
That’s the glittering generality. The devil, as always, is in the details, and every situation is different. I hope this at least gets you started.
– Bob
