The 'Soft' Change System

As humans are social animals, they will naturally form groups, either formal or informal. An organization can be seen as a collection of these various groups working together in balance. Any significant change to any part of any group cannot happen in isolation and will affect some or all of the other groups. This will inevitably change the balance within the organization and is therefore likely to draw resistance from some quarters. This degree of interconnectedness can also make it difficult to isolate the causes of problems, which may be entirely remote from their apparent source.

Senior recommends an organizational development (OD) approach to soft problems. OD seeks to create a ‘learning organization’, where personal and organizational development are goals in themselves. It is essentially the application of knowledge about human behavior to produce win-win situations for both personal and organizational success.

Soft problems will normally require a longer-term perspective and a collaborative, participative approach, to bring those affected by change along for the ride. Part of this process must include the opportunity for goals to be questioned and, where appropriate, reassessed.

Action Research-Based Change Model

While acknowledging there are a number of approaches to Soft Systems Change, Senior recommends an Action Research-based OD model to address ‘messes’. [2]

Source: Barbara Senior & Stephen Swailes, Organizational Change (Pearson Education, 2010) p 328.

The model has five stages, with Stage 1 split into Stages 1a and 1b. This is because they have distinct identities, but can be approached from different directions. They could be done separately, one after the other, or together, as one comprehensive process. Either way, they are about defining the present and creating a vision for the future.

The Change Agent is central to the implementation of the model. He or she is responsible for driving forward each aspect of the process and is essential to its success or failure.

Stage 1a: Diagnose Current Situation

This stage should involve a comprehensive assessment of both the external environment and the internal workings of the company. In particular, in order to form a fully-rounded picture of the organization, the assessment should examine:

• organizational purposes and goals
• organizational structure and culture
• leadership styles and approaches
• recruitment practices, career paths and opportunities
• reward structures and practices
• individual commitment and motivation
• learning and development
• relationships within and between groups

Not only should these elements be defined, but data should also be collected regarding how people perceive and feel about them. This can be done through interviews, questionnaires or observation, for example. The objective is to create as full a picture as possible of the current organizational status. One method suggested by Senior is the use of ‘rich pictures’, where one or more people draw a picture to represent the current state of the organization. These, she says, can sometimes be more telling than discussions and are particularly useful for uncovering how people think and feel, their relationships with each other, their ways of working and what they do within their role.

For the external environment, a PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental) analysis should give a well-rounded picture of the situation. Recently, some people have also added Ethics and Demographics to this model, creating STEEPLED.

Stage 1b: Develop a Vision for Change

Stage 1b is where you imagine an ideal situation for the organization. This is a creative process and, again, should involve as many people as possible who will be affected by the change. Fixing a ‘mess’ may well involve changes not only to processes, but to products, services and markets as well as management and leadership practices. In short, any aspect of the company could require change. Ideas for the company’s change vision may well require you to seek out more information than was already obtained in Stage 1a, which may in turn lead to further amendments to the vision.

The ultimate aim of Stage 1 is to ascertain the difference between the organization’s current state and its ideal state, both objectively and subjectively.

Stage 2: Gain Commitment to the Vision

Completing this stage should be much easier if people throughout the organization have been involved in Stage 1. Particularly important here will be a strong communication network. This must run both ways, so that people feel they have a say and are being heard. There are many strategies for overcoming resistance to change and a strong change leader must understand people’s motivations for resisting change. If he or she can understand the root causes of resistance, it should be easier for them to mitigate negative effects, negotiate an acceptable compromise or convince people of the merits of the change.

Any change program that goes ahead without the support and commitment of the organization’s employees stands little chance of success.

Stage 3: Develop an Action Plan

Carrying on the effort to engage employees in the change process, Stage 3 asks them to help decide how the change can be brought about and to formulate an action plan. In order to do this, Senior recommends the use of a responsibility chart, to identify who has responsibility for required actions, who will act as a support to that person, who has the authority to approve or veto the issue and who simply needs to be informed. Getting agreement on these criteria from all parties may be difficult, so it is important that a strong change leader is available to negotiate, where there are disagreements over responsibilities and authorities.

Source: Barbara Senior & Stephen Swailes, Organizational Change (Pearson Education, 2010) p 343.

The finished action plan should only be used as a ‘road map’ toward the final objectives, as the nature of ‘messes’ dictates that the methods and, ultimately, the objectives of the change may have to adjust as new information or circumstances arise.

Stage 4: Implement the Change

Senior identifies two things as essential in a successful implementation. The first is to build in short-term wins, which will boost morale, increase support and buy-in from team members and the larger organization, and counteract resistance. The second is to ensure that the implementation comes with a process of ongoing engagement with all stakeholders. This could take many forms, including consultations and surveys. It is important that this is not simply an exercise in demonstrating the organization’s desire to hear from employees – their feedback must be taken seriously and assessed alongside more quantifiable measures like finance and performance. If the feedback identifies problems with the methodology or goals of the change, the change leader must be prepared to reassess these and make adjustments.

This is demonstrated in the Action Research model, which shows that across Stages 2, 3 and 4 there is likely to be a need to go back to a previous step before moving on to Stage 5.

Stage 5: Assess and Reinforce Change

Senior acknowledges that assessing the success of a Soft change effort is much more difficult than doing so for a Hard change. Because Soft changes often involve attitudes, behaviors and cultural norms, they are not only more difficult to quantify, but the change effort is likely to be an ongoing, evolutionary process, rather than one which comes to a definitive endpoint. As such, Soft changes require different assessment methods, such as:

• surveys or cultural audits at regular intervals
• interviews with individuals or focus groups
• comparing turnover and absence rates with pre-change numbers
• analyzing (through observation or by questionnaire) group performance levels
• redrawing the ‘rich pictures’ suggested in Stage 1

Reinforcing the change in order to make it permanent is also more complicated with Soft changes. Senior identifies middle managers as perhaps the most crucial group to the success of cultural change. They have a great deal of influence, but their position and experience could make them the most resistant to change. Getting them on board is likely to be crucial to success and reinforcement will have to come from all departments to ensure this. In particular, HR and L&D will have to ensure that the change is reflected in their own practices throughout the organization, including learning & development and reward & recognition. Senior emphasizes the need for employees to feel that they own the change, in order to maximize their commitment to it.

Conclusion

Barbara Senior acknowledges that an OD approach will not be right for every organization or situation and specifically may not work well for public sector bodies (though she believes this is changing as public sector organizations evolve). However, whatever the organization, the Soft Systems Change model is a basic framework for a skilled change leader to effectively address ‘messy’ issues.