(Solved Homework): Is change management obsolete? If so, why do you say so? If you think it is still relevant, why do…

The traditional models of change management were developed in a simpler time where change itself was not a complex nonlinear phenomenon. In today’s organizations, the pace, complexity, and scope of change call for an approach that is pervasive, agile, complex, and integrated. In the earlier organizations, change used to happen in an incremental way, considering a particular theme at a time. But the present organizations, however, need to move from one fundamental change to another, continuously developing new capabilities for the complexity of the environments. Therefore, the earlier models of change management may not support the change management process in modern organizations.

The failures of the traditional change management models will be three-fold – First, they will fail to recognize the existence of a fundamentally never-ending change process where the focus of the required model would be to acquire the capability and not to implement a particular change in project mode.Second, the basic premise of the traditional models is the organizational hierarchy or the chain of commands. However, in today’s context, change needs to be implemented through networks and not using the hierarchy by the top management. Third, change in the traditional models was typically leveraged sequential activities to improve particular subsystems for a stable competitive advantage. In modern organizations, however, change will be observed as the source of effectiveness which needs to be embedded in agile designs.

So, in conclusion, change management itself cannot be obsolete. What is important is the choice of models. The traditional models will fail to give solutions in the modern organizations. A new form of adaptive, agile, engage & learn model is necessary to conduct change management effectively in today’s business environment.