cameron and green making-sense-of-change-management

Organizational changeC = [ABD] > XC = ChangeA = Level of dissatisfaction with the status quoB = Desirability of the proposed change or end stateD = Practicality of the change (minimal risk and disruption)X = ‘Cost’ of changingFigure 3.4Beckhard's formulaBeckhard and Harris say:Factors A, B, and D must outweigh the perceived costs [X] for the change tooccur. If any person or group whose commitment is needed is not sufficientlydissatisfied with the present state of affairs [A], eager to achieve the proposedend state [B] and convinced of the feasibility of the change [D], then the cost[X] of changing is too high, and that person will resist the change.… resistance is normal and to be expected in any change effort.Resistance to change takes many forms; change managers need to analyzethe type of resistance in order to work with it, reduce it, and secure the needfor commitment from the resistant party.The formula is sometimes written (A x B x D) > X. This adds somethinguseful to the original formula. The multiplication implies that if any onefactor is zero or near zero, the product will also be zero or near zero and theresistance to change will not be overcome. This means that if the vision is notclear, or dissatisfaction with the current state is not felt, or the plan is obscure,the likelihood of change is severely reduced. These factors (A, B, D) do notcompensate for each other if one is low. All factors need to have weight.This model comes from the organism metaphor of organizations,although it has been adopted by those working with a planned changeapproach to target management effort. Beckhard and Harris emphasizedthe need to design interventions that allow these three factors to surfacein the organization.Our viewThis change formula is deceptively simple but extremely useful. It can bebrought into play at any point in a change process to analyse how things117