What we are saying is that successful Change doesn't happen by chance. Now that organizations are recognizing that frequent change may be a critical part of how they need to do business, Change Management is being seen as a new, critical organizational discipline. Some see the Change Management discipline as primarily a risk management tool to ensure that needed changes can be implemented most effectively and efficiently without major calamity. Others see disciplined Change Management as an offensive weapon of competitive strategy, giving the organization a winning capability in an ever-changing marketplace. Saying that Change Management is another organizational or management discipline is an idea that may need some explanation.
Organizations run their businesses today with a number of familiar disciplines.
While the other disciplines described above are all in play in the Running of the Business, Change Management is emerging as a key discipline for the Changing of the Business. Developing Change Management as a new organizational discipline requires a number of actions. Without these required actions, change management may continue to be basically an ad hoc exercise occasionally aided by anecdotal experience. The two basic actions that are required for the development of an organizational discipline are simple to say but tough to put into action. First, top management must come to agreement on the definition of the Change Management discipline as it will apply in their organization.