How much control or influence people feel they have over the change. This is why involving people as early as possible, and as deeply as possible, improves the prospects for successful change. Note that this may go a long way towards explaining the relatively small disturbance that follows ‘positive changes’; in many cases these are changes that we have initiated ourselves and feel more in control of. The change curve is a function of time. Some apparent ‘resistance’ simply reflects a difference between the position of those announcing a change and those receiving it. Those announcing the change have had a greater involvement in the process to this point, so their personal change curve is shallower and shorter. They have also had more time to process the impact of change on themselves, so are typically further through the curve. At the point of announcement those receiving the change are right at the start of their curve. Judging their early reactions too harshly as ‘inappropriate resistance’ simply fails to recognize the natural process of human change. The length and depth of the personal change curve can be anything from a brief and minor ‘wobble’ (fluctuation) to a major ‘roller-coaster’ lasting for months. Some factors that tend to affect this length and depth – and the probability of emerging successfully on the upside – include: really fail? IBM (2008b ) Making Change Work King, S and Peterson, L (2007 ) How effective leaders achieve success in critical A plan that is credible, and that gives people a clear route to success in implementing the change.

thinking in specifically human motivation is known as ‘expectancy theory’. The orig-inators of this theory include Edward Tolman and Victor Vroom, and a clear outline of their thinking is set out in Huczinsky and Buchanan (2007). Advising leaders and managers on change, Bridges suggests that making new begin-nings into a reality requires: It is important to note that this characteristic pattern of human response to change remains true for the positive changes in life as well as for unwelcome ones. Most people who have accepted a new ‘dream job’ will be able to trace their experience over the fi rst six months through this curve! Of course not everyone will experience these things in exactly the same way, but many will recognize – from their own experience – elements of these descriptions. They also found that the success rate of change projects using a dedicated change manager rose by 19 per cent compared to those that did not. DiversityHow homogeneous is the organization? Is diversity amongst people an obstacle to achieving alignment? Is inadequate diversity an obstacle to creativity and change? (Section E and Chapter 12)The Effective Change Manager's Handbook helps practitioners, employers and academics define and practise change management successfully and develop change management maturity within their organization. SummaryThe human change-wisdom of William Bridges brings together many elements of practical advice found in other writers on change, and is a sound basis for coaching business change leaders on effective approaches. Bridges summarizes his thinking like this: What Herzberg and his colleagues noticed was that ‘dissatisfiers’ were different in kind to the ‘satisfiers’. Dissatisfiers were all about the context of the job (‘extrinsic’), whilst the satisfiers were in various ways built into the job itself (‘intrinsic’). He also noted that beyond a certain level, the dissatisfiers could no more create positive motivation than good drains could create positive health. If in poor condition they lead to poor outcomes, but in themselves they do not create good ones. Satisfiers, on the other hand, were directly associated with job satisfaction and increased motiva-tion to work. The implications of Herzberg’s work caused some large organizations to restruc-ture jobs. They moved away from production-line thinking towards autonomous work groups that followed a product through the production process, seeing the completed results of their work. For our present purpose it is important to consider the impact of change initiatives on both satisfiers and dissatisfiers. Will the outcomes for key stakeholders increase dissatisfaction? Will they promote positive satisfaction?

Making a new beginning is a risk time. It means committing to a new kind of future. Bridges recommends four things that encourage such commitment. He suggests that people need: Personal support and empathy remain important. An effective response will include effective line management, sharing concerns in peer groups and opportunities to contribute to planning how changes are implemented. Good active listening can be a powerful tool to help people deal with any unwelcome consequences of change. A paper on the change management of IT service management projects (Ferris, 2013) points out that project management as such is not the reason why many such initiatives fail. She writes: ‘There is no consideration given to the need for an organisational change management (OCM) capability on the project that will ensure the changes being brought about through the introduction of new technology become truly embedded into the organisation.’ Ferris says that for these initiatives effective change management delivers improved adoption speed, utilization rate and employee proficiency. She stresses the importance of effective preparation for change, disciplined management, clear reinforcement and careful handover.The interaction between one change and another in the life of an individual. Someone who possesses a stable and strong network of friends and family may cope with redundancy better than another person who is currently undergoing a messy family breakup. Again, if supervisors and line managers know their people well, they can help to asses such impacts. The Effective Change Manager’s Handbook, Essential guidance to the change management body of knowledge – Edited by Richard Smith, David King, Ranjit Sidhu and Dan Skelsey, is the official guide to the CMI Body of Knowledge, designed to help practitioners, employers and academics define and practise change management successfully, and develop change management maturity in their organisation.