Is Change Management Just Plain Management?

Terrence over at Here We Are. Now What? offers this post called, Change: Management or Leadership. He makes the argument that the function of Change Management perhaps should really be Change Leadership.

I would like to take his question one step farther and ask, is change management a function at all or is it really just management?

To me, helping groups and individuals transition to new business conditions and challenges is a big piece of a manager's job. If you can't manage change, you ought not be a manager.

Change management became a separate OD function because we loaded our managers down with inane tasks, reports, and checklists. The work got further separated by the OD world, I think, who have convinced senior leaders they need change management professionals.

All companies need change management professionals and I call these people managers. Change management is not rocket science, but it takes time and care, and most of your managers are overloaded with other stuff. I think it would be most helpful if the OD world helped organizations fix the manager's role so they can do the work that will make the greatest difference.

But that's just me. Or is it? What do you think?

Comments

[Terrence Seamon]

Great point, Lisa. I couldn't agree more.
Regards,
Terry

[Jim Stroup]

It's not just you - there is a widespread tendency to emphasize the importance of a subject by describing it as not just important, but distinctly different, requiring specialized talents.

The truth is, every probem, from surveying the environment and setting strategic direction to execution, to anticipating and directing change are, at bottom, management problems susceptible to successful handling by managers applying universal management skills to particular challenges.

That's not to say that some organizations tend to face a preponderance of certain classes of issues, and their managers develop a facility with them - just that they are essentially management problems, and not some new category of endeavor, or a new specialty requiring a new cadre of gurus.

Of course, there are a multitude of other opinions - I hope to see them expressed here!

[Lisa Haneberg]

Yes - so many things have become separate when they are the same. I guess we consultants are partly to blame for this niche-etization of management. We are very good at create market where there was not market yesterday.

Think back 10 years - who cared about authenticity in the workplace?

[Ash]

Hi!
Sure change management is management, but only if you have a resonably simple organization structure and small size. I think it's all about numbers. If the change is impacting more than say 100 people, then you need to manage the change, and it will be a full time job. Hence, makes sense to have change managers, iff the impact is large scale (e.g. multi national firms with offices in 10 countries etc.).

best,
Ash

[Terrence Seamon]

Good point, Ash. I still wonder though if our now-ingrained use of the phrase "change management" sends us down certain pathways, to the detriment of other issues, i.e., the people issues that so often derail our best efforts. Terry

[Mike]

Hi Lisa,

The highlighted sentence says it all. Leading change is what a manager should be doing. Ash's point is well taken where the "change" spans multiple departments/groups, but sometime a dedicated change team allows managers to abdicate their responsibility to see that their group adapts to the new rules.

I recall having this sort of conversation recently.... ;-)

Mike

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