A new model for capturing the key attributes of organisations and driving change

It's a complex time to be in business - the world is volatile and uncertain, and the global business landscape is changing fast. Organisational change is at a crossroads as a result of the creative destruction caused by digital technology, which is radically developing the possibilities of the Internet. This creative surge is demanding new business models that can respond more effectively to expanded time dimensions, unprecedented ubiquity of information, new market behaviours, unparalleled access to global masses, more demanding consumers and the redesign of humans in organisations. Change management is trying to address this challenge with thousands of books, and the mountains of research articles published on the topic of change. However, we also know that over 70% of organisational transformations fail (Beer and Nohria, 2000), and that failure rate may even be increasing. It seems that, despite prolific output, the field of change management hasn't led to more successful change programmes. Most change programmes die a slow, lingering death, often destroying leaders' careers and hard-earned reputations in the process. This is because traditional business models and systems are no longer yielding the same result, existing change models are not dynamic enough to cope, and many leaders, in failing the change test, perish. Change however, is easier said than done. To many, change is experienced and viewed as an abnormal process that demands a response. This is leading to individuals and organisations seeking out new ways to normalise the change process itself. The purpose of this research is to provide a greater understanding of both the content and process of organisational change, and to represent that greater understanding in a new and more dynamic framework. Many theories and analyses of organisational change seek to explain why organisations change, as well as the consequences of that change. On reviewing the empirical research on both questions, the results were found to be at best fragmentary, and often contradictory. As an output of this process, many models and frameworks of change were examined within this research. Further the metaphors, characteristics that underpinned these models were examined to establish the critical dimension of organisational change and to establish a blueprint for a new model. This model was built to capture both the process and content of organisational change in a more dynamic way, which will ultimately lead to a more digital way.