New types of organizations, new ways of doing business, new economic sectors – all these are happening.  And all these changes will be accompanied by new challenges, new learning needs, and new stresses, such as the following:

• Organizations will develop or die and it will take constant correction to find the course needed to survive.  Internet startups, new venture capital firms, e-commerce, and other new forms were according to some observers going to relegate traditional business to dinosaur status, but now some see these new types as in fact facing extinction. But however this works out, it is clear that organizational change is a given.

• Organizations will have to pay more attention to people problems.  Currently every employer has to face the reality that good employees cannot be hired and retained unless the organization appropriately involves and treats all its members. While in part this situation could be a temporary labor market trend, there can be no doubt that the concept of "a job" has changed and that, just as customers have become more aware and demanding, so have employees.

• Organizations will need to communicate better.  The speeded up pace of communication and the information overload that keeps growing have resulted in stress that negates much of the potential afforded by new technology.  It is hardly an exaggeration to say that in ten out of ten organizations communication is considered a big problem. 

• Organizations will be required to develop new management practices.  The future highly educated and informed workforce will take empowerment and continual learning for granted. The organizations that succeed will be those that promote the most involvement and the most challenges, not simply those that offer the most compensation and the most benefits.

These changes and needs necessitate a 21st century form of management consulting and organizational development. While traditional methods such as morale and motivation programs will still be needed, new methods such as whole system planning, reinventing work, and dialogue will also be needed. All employees will be more aware of, and become themselves skilled in, management tools, facilitation and consultation.

In addition, Change Management, as Kotter so well describes in his classic paper, "Why Transformation Efforts Fail," frequently, if not generally, fails because organizational development factors are an add-on rather than in control, because resistance to change is devalued, and because responsibility for the change is wrongly seen as belonging to only some levels of the organization. As we contemplate the lessons learned in the last two decades, the following principles will guide successful twenty-first century change management:

• Change management is ongoing. In this century, fast paced change is the norm. Conceptualizing change management as a specialized practice area or skill is therefore no longer valid. The need is not so much for campaigns to implement change is not what is needed, but rather for building a capacity for change into the organization.

• Change is for everyone.  Management is no longer the business of a specialized caste. Every job and every unit is subject to change. Hence everyone needs change management skills and everyone is a change agent.

• Change should be welcomed.  From a view of change management based on overcoming resistance, we have advanced to one that sees change as a negotiable process. The logical corollary is that resistance to change, while normal, need not be the key concern because the organizational culture views change as positive and because change is no longer carried out as something imposed from outside. Indeed, resistance should be seen not so much as a danger to be avoided but more as an indicator of issues that need to be faced.

• Change can have negative effects.  The "advertising" methodology of change management tended to delegitimize peoples' concerns by putting the focus on acceptance of the message rather than on employees' reaction to it. The history downsizing presents vivid and drastic cases of change with lasting negative results because organizational development factors and ethical considerations were ignored. A good organization has to be honest and proactive about the pain as well as the gain from change.

So, if you're hiring a management consultant because you are introducing new software or because you are reorganizing, your motives are very sound. Change management in the traditional sense is still a valid concern, though change management as integral part of day-to-day business ought to be the goal. However you conceive change, we would urge you to think broadly about what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how you are going to do it. 

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