Change Management - Strategy and Organization

Rally People Around a Vision	With the failure of many corporate initiatives and difficult economic times, people tend to smile at the very idea of proclaiming a vision for the future of their company. Nonetheless, organizations have a real opportunity to mobilize people in a world where citizens are more vocal in demanding their rights, and employees are increasingly disillusioned with their employers. The author of The Committed Enterprise explains why organizations should seize this opportunity, and how to do so successfully.
Hugh Davidson, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2002.

Charging Back Up the Hill	Restructuring – in the form of mergers or downsizing – invariably has a major impact on employee morale. In fact, the human dimension largely explains why the results of restructuring are frequently disappointing. Charging Back Up the Hill analyzes this phenomenon and shows why it is practically inevitable. However, the author proffers the encouraging message that although companies cannot avoid psychological upheaval altogether, executives still have means at their disposal to help employees “charge back up the hill” and get re-motivated. This book offers a structured approach centered around two dimensions, i.e. helping employees let go of the past and look forward to the future once again.
Mitchell Lee Marks Jossey-Bass, 2003.

The GE Work-Out	What company doesn’t dream of developing leaders able to launch and implement change effectively? Flexibility and resiliency are instrumental to success in today’s world. Yet, few large organizations manage to develop these qualities. The GE Work-Out provides readers with an inside look at GE’s success in this arena. In just ten years, Jack Welch turned a giant with feet of clay into one of the most agile companies in the world. This prowess was largely achieved thanks to Work-Out. The authors analyze this program in detail and share the secrets of successful implementation.
Dave Ulrich, Steve Kerr and Ron Ashkenas, McGraw Hill, 2002.

The Strategy-Focused Organization	It is not as difficult to develop an effective strategy as it is to get it implemented. The authors of The Strategy-Focused Organization show how an appropriate management system provides essential support in strategy implementation. They show how a Balanced Scorecard helps ensure that the different initiatives taken at all levels of the organization are aligned with corporate strategy. This tool also helps managers focus on long-term strategic thinking rather than short-term objectives.
Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, Harvard Business School Press, 2001.

Flawed Advice and the Management Trap	Advice is often ineffective when it concerns major behavioral change. Flawed Advice and the Management Trap shows that the problem is not so much that effective advice is not put into practice, but that subconscious and prevalent defensive reflexes prevent people from giving consistently effective advice. The author focuses on the traps that await advice-givers and receivers, and shows that they can be avoided through strict behavioral discipline. The organization's learning ability is thereby considerably enhanced.
Chris Argyris, éd. Oxford University Press, 2000.

Leading Change	This book describes the role of leaders in managing change programs, i.e., create a sense of urgency; form a strong coalition; develop a vision; communicate the vision; eliminate obstacles to change; demonstrate quick wins; build on initial wins to accelerate change; embed new practices into the corporate culture.
John P. Kotter, Harvard Business School Press, 1996.

The Challenge of Organizational Change	This book helps readers take a fresh look at the drivers of change, rather than serving them a ready-made approach. Numerous examples are used to illustrate that change cannot be planned, since the forces at work are often beyond executive control. Readers are therefore encouraged to analyze situations carefully, so as to take full advantage of the underlying change drivers. This book makes a good companion to “Leading Change.”
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Barry A. Stein and Todd D. Jick, The Free Press, 1992.

La stratégie du projet latéral	When leading a project that encounters stiff opposition, managers can call upon the specific approach described in this book, i.e.: how to understand the project environment; strategies to avoid; the four steps of the recommended approach.
Olivier d’Herbemont and Bruno César, Dunod, 1996.

Overcoming Organizational Defenses	Personal psychological barriers to change are examined in this book, which shows why individuals have a natural tendency to adopt counter-productive behaviors (hiding, lack of motivation, etc.) when confronted with situations perceived to be threatening (e.g. mistakes, changes to the status quo). The author then proposes an approach to help people overcome such defensive attitudes and start behaving more productively.
Chris Argyris, Allyn and Bacon, 1993.

Mobilizing the organization	This book asserts that there are six key change management objectives: confront inertia; unite the organization around a vision; establish charters between corporate executives and company divisions; maintain credibility with those who expect results; create a favorable climate; initiate numerous change initiatives.
George H. Litwin, John Bray and Kathleen Lusk Brooke, Prentice Hall, 1994.

The Unwritten Rules of the Game	This book, written by an Arthur D. Little consultant, examines how unwritten rules affect corporate functioning, and offers a detailed methodology for defining and understanding their impact. The author also describes how to use these rules when implementing a change project.
Peter Scott-Morgan, McGraw-Hill, 1994.

Knowledge for Action	A sequel to Overcoming Organizational Defenses, this book relates the author’s experience working ona project to improve the ability of executives to learn and open up to change. Numerous concrete illustrations provide detailed explanations of the adopted methodology.
Chris Argyris, Jossey-Bass, 1990.

Intentional Revolutions	A major challenge in any change program is changing human behavior. This book covers the different methods that companies can use to accomplish this, such as communication, participative approaches, coercion, etc., and in what situations each of these methods is more or less relevant.
Edwin C. Nevis, Joan Lancourt and Helen G. Vassalo, Jossey-Bass, 1996.

Control Your Destiny or Someone Else Will	This book takes readers into the heart of Jack Welch's reorganization of General Electric in the eighties. One man--Jack Welch--was the driving force behind this «Welch revolution, » and the author makes a detailed description of the character traits that helped him lead it, as well the methods he used.
Noel M. Tichy and Stratford Sherman, Currency Doubleday, 1993.

Taking Charge and Letting Go	This book explains how companies can serve their customers better, starting with a review of the horizontal organizational framework, seen as the most appropriate model to respond rapidly to customer expectations, then listing the six key steps required to implement this framework.
Bert A. Spector, The Free Press, 1994.

Transforming the Organization	The authors postulate that good change management leadership requires corporate executives to perform four key functions in different combinations depending on the situation: redirect the corporate mission ; restructure the organization; revitalize the organization; regenerate the spirit of the organization. A model is then proposed to break these four functions down into specific tasks, which vary depending on which function the executive is performing.
Francis J. Gouillart and James N. Kelly, McGraw-Hill, 1994.

Leadership Without Easy Answers	Companies are often said to need visionary leaders, but this book offers a completely different perspective that merits some reflection. For the author, the test of a good leader is how well he helps his organization adapt its values and behavior to changes in the environment. This approach certainly has social merit and should help executives avoid common traps into which visionary leaders often fall.
Ronald A. Heifetz, Harvard University Press, 1994.

Leading Out Loud	This book is a guide for managers who must speak to convince an audience. The author explains how to build each part of a speech, how to communicate before an audience, how to establish credibility, and how to make a point through example, analogy, and metaphor.
Terry Pearce, Harper Collins, 1995.

Managing With Power	Jeffrey Pfeffer treats the question of power in management in this book, which explains that successful executives rely less upon their own skills than the status conferred by their position. The keys to getting and keeping power are then outlined and analyzed using supporting examples from political and corporate circles.
Jeffrey Pfeffer, Harvard Business School Press, 1992.

Visionary Leadership	The author, Burt Nanus, holds that leaders are primarily people who have forged a clear vision of the future of their company. He consequently offers a method to build a relevant vision of the future of a company, and proposes a scenario-building approach to accomplish this, starting with methods and tools to create and select target scenarios, followed by explanations on how to define scenario paths to attain desired goals.
Burt Nanus, Jossey-Bass, 1991.

Rejuvenating The Mature Business	This book analyzes the spectacular success of certain companies in supposedly dying industries, and shows that there is no such thing as a doomed industry, success being primarily a question of how well a company is able to innovate and invent new game rules regardless of context. The authors then describe approaches adopted by executives known to be successful in reviving supposedly declining companies.
Charles Baden-Fuller and John Stopford, Routledge, 1995.