A journey to learn about journeys : a practical examination of the nature of the relationship between the change manager and his change project

This research is concerned with finding out about the nature of the relationshipbetween the change manager and the change project. An action learning approach tothe investigation and analysis was adopted throughout in order to achieve a'practitioner's perspective' in a range of inter-related learning environments.The research tracks the progress of six change managers. To attempt to minimise thevariables, six smaller organisations (i.e. those employing fewer than 250 employees)from the manufacturing and production sector were recruited; all were based within a20 mile radius; and all were attempting to change to meet the key indicators of anational performance standard from a similar starting point. Please see Table 1 belowfor further details.From the work with the change managers and the action learning set, all of whomacted as co-researchers during the analysis phase, some conclusions were drawn. Themost significant being that the relationship between the change manager and thechange project could be described as being essentially symbiotic in its nature, insofaras the change project impacted directly and indirectly upon the change manager, andthe change manager's direct and indirect actions influenced the degree of success ofthe change project.From the conclusions drawn, and as might be considered to befit an action learningapproach to research, a practical solution was proposed for achieving more successfulorganisational change outcomes - a framework to enable the change manager todevelop, within the context of the demands of the change project. The frameworkwas not intended to be a constant, but rather a guide for action. Some conclusionswere also drawn about the form of the development which might be required by thoseadvising on change, as a consequence of the findings