Project Management

[ Project Management Topics ]

Change Management

Module 11 Theoretical and practical concepts of change management

What is change management?  The management of change and development within a business or similar organization.

Some people consider change management (otherwise known in some circles as change control) to be a part of scope management, and in a way this is very true -- the better the job done in defining and communicating scope, likely the less need there will be for changes later on. However, in reality in my experience, changes are inevitable, and thus are worthy of their own discussion.

A nice slide show about change management can be found at http://www.slideshare.net/wborges3/change-mgt-concepts 

Change Management in Business

While we just spent the first half of the term talking about how to encourage innovation and creative ideas, I am now going to talk about the importance of moderating and controlling change in a business setting. This is particularly important from the viewpoint of project management.   In projects, we work hard to define the scope, the project requirements and specifications, as well as it's time frame and costs.   A key success factor is pinning down the scope of what is to be done so as to not experience "scope creep" where a project never gets completed.  

In management, here it is in a nutshell: A change control process needs to be put in place once the project baseline and scope has been set and agreed upon.

This might be a form that has to be completed, a signature from a "higher up" that must be obtained, agreement by a committee, whatever. The most common is a Change Request Form that must be formally submitted and approved. Whatever you end up using, having something in place will deter or at least diminish "scope creep", "bleed", "tackons", "snowball effect" -- whatever you want to call it that makes your project perpetually grow larger with no additional time or resources or clarification attached. I am betting you all have some experience with this in one way or another...

Whatever you determine as your change control process needs to be put into place at the time of the scope baselines release--not later in the project. What you are trying to do is establish recognition of changes that may reduce or increase the project scope.

Here is what should happen:

• a change request is submitted
• a individual or group of individuals must authorize the investigation of the change itself
• the change request is evaluated for feasibility, impact on time/money/resources, necessity, etc (at a minimum should address cost, schedule and scope)
• if approved then the change needs to be communicated to all affected parties and needs to be incorporated into the project plan

In a way the change management process is sort of like a mini-project plan in itself. All of the things that must be done in planning a project must be done for project changes as well.

Change management is concerned with the following as described in the PMBOK guide:

1. influencing factors that create changes to ensure that changes are agreed upon
2. determining that a change has occurred
3. managing the actual changes when they occur.

Change Management Strategies

• Empirical-Rational - People are rational and will follow their self-interest — once it is revealed to them. Change is based on the communication of information and the proffering of incentives.
• Normative-Reeducative - People are social beings and will adhere to cultural norms and values. Change is based on redefining and reinterpreting existing norms and values, and developing commitments to new ones.
• Power-Coercive - People are basically compliant and will generally do what they are told or can be made to do. Change is based on the exercise of authority and the imposition of sanctions.
• Environmental-Adaptive - People oppose loss and disruption but they adapt readily to new circumstances. Change is based on building a new organization and gradually transferring people from the old one to the new one.

The Change Management Process

To have the process work requires that an individual submit information on the change to be considered. Anyone within the project team, user community, stakeholders, or contractors can submit a change request.

Often there is a form called a change request or change control form that is used to submit a change request. Below are some sample fields used in such a form:

Requestor information:

• Change request title
• Description and references
• Why change is proposed
• Impact statement if not implemented
• Alternatives

Review of request

• Initial review results and disposition (proceed, reject, or defer)
• Impact analysis
• final review results and change priority
• Sample change request/control database

Often there is a database used to track change requests. Here is a sample of such a database:

Problem Severity Descriptions. 

References

Project Management Institute (2000). A Guide to the Project Managment Body of Knowledge. Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute, Inc.