Managing change is one of the most fundamental skills you need to succeed in an organization. It doesn’t matter whether you work in a private, a public or a non-governmental organization. Every time you want to launch a new product or service into the market, introduce a new IT system or just convince people to stick to a new process, you need change management skills. This is why in this blog post we summarize the top 12 reasons why change management initiatives fail and provide you some best practices on how to fix them.
One of the most powerful tools to manage change is language. Depending on how you use it, language can enable, block or drive organizational change. While the role language plays in organizational change has not yet been fully recognized in the practical domain, the social sciences have started the so called linguistic turn years ago.
Dynamic, vibrant organizations must be receptive to making big, necessary changes. Whether it’s undergoing a shift in goals to meet the changing nature of the economy, or altering work processes to boost productivity and other outcomes, change is essential, but difficult.
The great works of drama offer a wealth of lessons for business leaders. Shakespeare’s King Lear, for example, displays the dangers of a narcissistic, erratic leadership style. Moliere’s The Misanthrope warns against excessive, untactful honesty. This blog post focuses on Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. Building on a previous post on social systems theory, I will look at Chekhov’s play through the lens of Niklas Luhmann’s theory of society. I will look particularly at forms of social differentiation and the obstacles to cognitive processing of social system change and its implications for business leaders.
Management without goals? Impossible, if you believe the large number of popular science and specialized books about management topics. Goals, target agreements, and bonus systems connected to target achievement are all part of every manager’s toolbox.
