Organizational leaders turn to people they trust when they want to create change, and sometimes that trusted person is an I-O psychologist. More and more often, traditional I-O work is linked to a major change initiative, and internal and external consultants get involved in the central change itself through their involvement with another project or process. Organizational leaders are learning that sustainable change requires ongoing reinforcement and support. There are many models of organizational change and how to manage those efforts. Here is a description of a basic approach to creating change that will structure this discussion of how our contributions can support successful organizational change initiatives.
Leaders create a vision and goals for how the organization can be successful.
This step would also include determining what it will take to sustain the change after the large-scale effort is completed. Below, I describe how some of these skills are applicable. Our challenge may be to think about our contributions in terms of the larger change process, and to link our work to the goals of the change. Our ability to observe, understand, and describe work can be critical to leaders who want to make careful, informed decisions about changing the way work is performed. Selection and Assessment Selection and assessment processes are most relevant to change efforts in two ways.