Different Types of Change

Happened Change
This kind of change is unpredictable in nature and is usually takes place due to the impact of the external
factors. Happened change is profound and can be traumatic as it’s consequences are unknown and out
of direct control. This kind of a change happens when an organization reaches the plateau stage in its life
cycle and gets victimized by the environmental pressures or demands. For example, currency devaluation
may adversely affect the business of those organizations who have to depend upon importing of raw
materials largely. In certain cases, some political, as well as social changes, are unpredictable and
uncontrollable.

Reactive Change
Changes which take place in response to an event or a chain of various events can be termed as
Reactive Change. Most of the organizations indulge in reactive change. This kind of change usually
occurs when there is an increase or decrease in the demand for company’s products or services. It can
also be a response to a problematic situation or a crisis which an organization may be faced with. For
example, due to the advancements in technology or growing technological changes, an organization may
be forced to invest more in technology to stay ahead to face the stiff competition. Recreation can also be
regarded as a reactive change, which involves the entire organization and occurs during the stage when
an organization is undergoing a serious crisis.

Anticipatory Change
If a change is implemented with prior anticipation of the happening of an event or a chain of events, it is
called as anticipatory change. Organizations may either tune in or reorient themselves as an anticipatory
measure to face the environmental pressures. Tuning in essentially involves implementing incremental
changes which mean dealing with the subsystems individually or just with the part of a system.
Reorientation essentially involves changing the organization from the existing state to a desired futuristic
state as an anticipatory measure and then dealing with the entire process of transition.

Planned Change
Planned change is also regarded as the developmental change which is implemented with the objective
of improving the present ways of operation and to achieve the pre-defined goals. Planned change is
calculated and is not threatening as in this the future state is being chosen consciously. The introduction
of employee welfare measures, changes in the incentive system, introduction of new products and
technologies, organizational restructuring, team building, enhancing employee communication as well as
technical expertise fall under the category of Planned Change.

Incremental Change
Change which is implemented at the micro level, units or subunits can be regarded as incremental
change. Incremental changes are introduced or implemented gradually and are adaptive in nature. It is
based on the assumption that these small changes will ultimately result in a large change and establish
the basis for forming a much healthier and a robust system. It even offers an opportunity to an
organization to learn from its very own experiences and create the adaptive mechanisms for meeting the
ultimate organizational vision. The extent of damage due to a failed incremental change effort is expected
to be much lesser than the change which is implemented on a large scale or introduced universally.

Operational Change
This kind of change becomes a requirement or the need when an organization is faced with competitive
pressures as a result of which the focus is laid more on quality improvement or improvement in the
delivery of services for an edge over the competitors. Similarly, changes in the customer’s buying patterns
or demands or the internal dynamics of an organization equally necessitate the implementation of
operational change. Operational change as the name implies means introducing changes in the existing
operations for realizing the intended goals. This may include bringing in changes in the current
technology, improving/re-engineering the existing work processes, improving the distribution framework or
the product delivery, better quality management and improving the coordination at an inter-departmental
level.

Strategic Change
Strategic Change is usually implemented at the organizational level, which may affect the various
components of an organization and also the organizational strategy. A change in the management style in
an organization could be considered as an example of strategic change. A multinational organization like
Toyota has taken a step ahead in bringing in a change in the overall organizational philosophy for availing
the advantages of being a leaner organization structurally, flexibility, decentralized decision making and
functioning of organizations and equally allows a greater extent of freedom or autonomy in implementing
proactive decisions. This kind of change is expected to have a cascading effect on the entire organization
and accordingly would be having an influence on the overall performance.

Directional Change
Directional change may become a necessity due to the increasing competitive pressures or due to rapid
changes in the governmental control or policies, which may include changes in the import/export policies,
pricing structure and taxation policies, etc. Directional change can also become imperative when an
organization lacks the capability of implementing/executing the current strategy effectively or during the
circumstances when a strategic change is required.

Fundamental Change
Fundamental Change essentially involves the redefinition of organizational vision/mission. This may be
required during extremely volatile circumstances like volatility in the business environment, failure of the
leadership, a decline in productivity as well as the overall turnover or problems with the morale of the
employee.

Total Change
A Total Change involves change in the organizational vision and striking a harmonious alignment with the
organizational strategy, employee morale and commitment as well as with the business performance.
Total Change becomes a requirement during those circumstances when an organization is faced with
many criticalities such as long-term business failure, incongruence between the employee and
organizational values, failure of leaders/management in anticipating the realities of business environment
or the growing competitive pressures and concentration of power in the hands of few. A new
organizational vision along with major strategic changes as well as complete organizational surgery can
be the only solution at this point of time.

Understanding the nature of the change you wish to effect and the context in which you are
working are important in determining an appropriate strategy. Entering uncharted change
territory without some sort of route map puts you at an immediate disadvantage from the start.
One of the first stages in charting the territory is to understand a little more about the type of
change you wish to make (broadly where you want to get to and how you plan to travel).
There are a number of ways in which change can be categorised, most are related to the extent
of the change and whether it is seen as organic (often characterised as bottom-up) or driven
(top-down).

Ackerman (1997) has distinguished between three types of change:

 Developmental – May be either planned or emergent; it is first order, or incremental. It is

change that enhances or corrects existing aspects of an organisation, often focusing on the
improvement of a skill or process
 Transitional – Seeks to achieve a known desired state that is different from the existing one. It is
episodic, planned and second order, or radical. Much of the organisational change literature is
based on this type
 Transformational – Is radical or second order in nature. It requires a shift in assumptions made
by the organisation and its members. Transformation can result in an organisation that differs
significantly in terms of structure, processes, culture and strategy. It may, therefore, result in the
creation of an organisation that operates in developmental mode – one that continuously learns,
adapts and improves.

Types of change
There are many issues to consider in managing business change - whether the changes you're
planning are minor or major. The first step in managing your people through change is
identifying the type of changes you are making to your business. This step will help you decide
how to plan your change process and support your people effectively. There are 3 major types
of change.

Developmental change

Developmental changes are those you make to improve current business procedures. As long
as you keep your staff well informed of changes, and give them the training they need to
implement process improvements, they should experience little stress from development
change.

Examples of developmental change include:

 improving existing billing and reporting methods

 updating payroll procedures
 refocusing marketing strategies and advertising processes.

Developmental change may be your first step to making further changes to your business that
will help you meet the demands of your market. Managing these small steps well demonstrates
to your team that you are taking a sensible, measured approach to change. When making
developmental changes, it's important for you to:

 explain to staff your rationale for the changes

 skill your staff to use new processes and technology
 show your staff your commitment to minimising the impacts of change on your business.
Transitional change

Transitional changes are those you make to replace existing processes with new processes.
Transitional change is more challenging to implement and can increase your employees'
discomfort.

Examples of transitional change include:

 experiencing corporate restructures, mergers or acquisitions

 creating new products or services
 implementing new technology.

The 'transitional' phase of dismantling old systems and processes and implementing new ones
can be unsettling for staff. When making transitional changes, you need to:

 clearly communicate the impacts and benefits you foresee as a result of your changes
 reinforce to staff that their jobs are secure
 capture the views and contributions of your staff in making your changes
 regularly update your staff on the steps you are taking to support them through the
change and train them in new systems.

Transformational change

Transformational changes are those you make to completely reshape your business strategy
and processes, often resulting in a shift in work culture. These changes may be a response to
extreme or unexpected market changes. Transformational change can produce fear, doubt and
insecurity in staff, and needs to be very well managed.

Examples of transformational change include:

 implementing major strategic and cultural changes

 adopting radically different technologies
 making significant operating changes to meet new supply and demand
 reforming product and service offerings to meet unexpected competition and dramatic
reductions in revenue.

Transformational changes will usually involve both transitional and developmental change -
where businesses recognise that they need to overhaul the way they do business. When
making transformational changes, it's crucial that you:

 develop and communicate a well-defined strategy that explains the approaches you are
taking to change and the goals you are setting
 continually reinforce your rationale for the changes
 plan and methodically implement new business systems and approaches
  involve your staff in all phases of change discussions and planning and communicate
regularly throughout the process.

TYPES OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Change is a universal condition of every human. Though endless in its manifestation,
an individual’s experience of change can be described as falling into one of just four types of
change management.
Organisations, on the other hand, experience different types of change management – which
you can view if you would like to discover what are the different types of organisational change.
TYPES OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT – INDIVIDUALS

Exceptional change management – In ‘exceptional change’ an individual experiences an

isolated event in their life, it causes a difference, it may be important, but it does not spill over
into other parts of their life, so the impact is therefore relatively limited.

Incremental change management – A fairly common change experience for many people is
what is called ‘incremental change’. Often unnoticed at first, there is a persistent, gradual
introduction of factors and ‘newness’ that it may result in the complete replacement of a
previous state with a new one, but the insidious nature of the change means that defences to
protect the old way are never triggered.

Pendulum change management – The third types of change management experienced by an

individual is when there is a swing, often sudden, from one state to another. This ‘pendulum
change’ can result in an individual adopting quite an extreme point of view that can be the
diametrical opposite to what was held to before.

Paradigm change management – The fourth and final type is the one most often discussed as
being ‘proper’ change and is called a ‘paradigm change’. This occurs when information, tasks
and behaviours are, re-integrated and lead to the emergence of a new gestalt – a new belief
and value system. It is regarded as the ‘gold standard’ for individual change as because when
value systems of an individual are modified, the change is fully internalised and future
performance and attitudes can be predicted with some accuracy.
TYPES OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT – ORGANISATIONS
Organisations, on the other hand, experience different types of change management. At one
level organisational change is the sum of all the changes experienced by all the individuals in
the organisation. At another, there is an emergent property to the change. It is as though
through aggregation the change mechanism has taken on additional characteristics.

Organisational change is a slippery concept. Its meaning tends to metamorphose leading to

confusion as the different types of change are confused together. People – senior managers
and others in a company – may expect strange things from change agents, change managers
and change leaders when the boundary between one type of change into another is crossed.
Evolutionary change management – The commonest types of change management
experienced by organisations by far is evolutionary change. Evolutionary change has been
around since organisations of people formed. It is called evolutionary change, because it arises
through the process of natural selection: it is inevitable when small variations in performance,
tiny adjustments or shifts in response by people and groups occur in a changing environment.
Some results from this type of change will be random and insignificant; some tend to
accumulate as a continuous series of often minute impacts that alter what people do, how
organisations respond, and with whom, in a gradual manner. As with biological evolution, most
changes are too small to notice, though when reflected on later, the distance travelled may be
remarkable.

Revolutionary change management – A second type of change is revolutionary change.

Revolutionary change has also been around for a long time, and it is usually experienced when
organisations have change forced on them by external forces – sometimes welcome, mostly
not. This type of change is typically accompanied by large power shifts, and on occasion the
impact may be cataclysmic.

Directed change management – The third types of change management is called ‘directed’ or
‘planned’ change. Directed change was uncommon in the early part of the 20th century, but it
has become increasingly common in organisations over the past 80 years, and its incidence,
despite its complexity and relative lack of success is rising steeply. It is called ‘directed’,
‘planned’, or ‘managed’ change because it is designed to achieve a specific purpose. Making
this type of change happen involves moving the management and work force and the
organisational culture into alignment with the strategies, structure, processes and systems to
achieve the desired state (vision).
TYPES OF DIRECTED CHANGE
Within directed change there are three different types of change management: developmental,
transitional, and transformational. It is important to recognise this as the different kinds of
change require different strategies and plans to gain engagement, reduce resistance, and ease
acceptance.

Developmental change management – In its simplest form, a directed change can take the
form of developmental change. In this the business improves what it is currently doing:
improving existing skills, processes, methods, performance standards or conditions are all
developmental changes. Examples are; increasing sales or quality, interpersonal
communication training, simple work process improvements, team development and problem-
solving efforts. These are classic examples of continuous improvement, quality circle driven
changes, and ‘enhancement’ projects.

Transformational change management – A third, and far more challenging type of change is
called transformational change. In this, the future state though part of the vision of the future is
not, and cannot be known in detail – much of the final state arises from evolutions – the
outcome of trial-and-error as new information, new boundaries and new interactions are
integrated. It is partly for this reason that programmes and programme management disciplines
were developed. Unlike projects that require predetermined outputs and outcomes and a linear
trajectory of activity defined within a bounded plan programmes are designed to deal with
ambiguity and to unfold a tranche at a time. As with delivery so with adoption of the change –
though a vision and a strategy are fundamental, the actual change process, the sequence and
content and timing of changes will be determined less by planning and more by the rates at
which the underlying beliefs and value systems change.
This is a much more unpredictable and scary place than traditional projects and change
planning is accustomed to working in. Emotion as well as intellect will determine success as in
transformational change there is no one-for-one mapping between the current and future state
and a step change involving mindsets and behaviours, as well as influence and new
relationships has to be made by executives, managers and front-line workers alike. The future
under this type of change is invented than inhabited, with leaders and workers changing their
worldviews to make the required future, let alone operate in it. Examples are: complex mergers
and acquisitions, the transformation of traditional channels of business to virtual and
electronically-mediated one, and radical rebranding.

Transitional change management – A second form of directed change- transitional change –

leads to the replacement of what already exists with something different that is regarded as
‘new’ by the people involved. For the change to happen individuals have to emotionally let go of
the old way of operating, leading to the need for the organisation having to dismantle the old
while the new state is being put into place. In transitional change the final destination can be
completely visualised and in great detail before the transition. This means that this type of
change is an ideal candidate for being delivered through a project and traditional types of
change management tools, as the people are largely impacted at the level of skills and actions,
with the deeper-lying cultural values barely affected. Examples are re-organisations, simple
acquisitions, creation of new products or services that replace old ones, and IT implementations
that do not require significant shifts in culture or behaviour.
SUMMARY
Most change in organisations is either developmental or transitional change, and, though
important, without the shifts of mind and culture, the implementation of radically different
structures, systems, processes or technology it rarely produces the anticipated return on
investment. Many large IT implementations are styled as transitional, but they fail because to
get the true value requires a mindset and culture change, it requires people to share information
across boundaries, or alters the power bases between group: and this just does not occur.
1.Mission Changes
Did you know that the team who made Instagram had previously developed a product called
Burbn?  It was a check-in service similar to Foursquare except that it focused on hanging out
with your friends.  Needless to say, it never took off.  The team performed something that is
most visibly seen in the tech community: a company pivot.  They changed their business focus
and created Instagram.  Not long after Facebook purchased the tiny company of 12 or so for $1
billion.Sometimes companies need to change direction to survive.  For more on corporate
culture and the role of the mission statement, check out this article on shaping an authentic
corporate culture.
2. Strategic Changes
A strategic change is a change in how the company tackles a problem.  Going from print
advertising for your business to online, for example, is a strategic change.  As is targeting a
different demographic or selling a new type of product.  When Amazon launched the Kindle, that
was a strategic change.  When Microsoft revealed that Windows 8 had changed how the
company had approached operating systems, that was a strategic change.  Change
management in this case means convincing your team of the new strategy's value.
3. Operational Changes

An operational change is a change in the structure of your company.  That could be a

reorganization, lay offs, or just a team change due to a strategic or mission statement
change.Operational changes are some of the roughest for your employees because they never
quite know what to expect.  At least with a change in technology they aren't likely to find
themselves without a job.

4. Technological Changes

Technology is advancing inexorably, whether we like it or not.  That means we need to keep
upgrading or fall behind.  Often operational and strategic changes are driven by a change in
technology.  At the turn of the century, for example, it was rare to see a TV commercial direct
you to a website.  Now it is commonplace.A change in technology could mean a change that
affects all your employees.  If an operating system upgrade breaks a proprietary piece of
software, you are going to have to retrain your team with the new software.  Technological
changes don't have to be rough, though.  Switching to Intuit Quickbase is often quick and
painless.That said, people are stubborn.  Often technological changes cause the most trouble.
Make sure your team is trained for the software, though, and you should be able to avoid most
of it.