Big Change

Every year corporations spend billions in pursuit of change. Some are successful. Many are not. In this winner of the prestigious 1999 Management Consultancy Association Prize, Paul Taffinder casts a critical eye over the big change efforts of more than 30 organizations worldwide, and offers conclusions as unsettling as they are insightful and firmly supported by real-world business sense. "Paul Taffinder achieves what in many other books remains an empty promise. Brilliant insight...inspiring...A real eye-opener."--Dr. Siegfried Hoenle, Director, Warburg Dillon Read.Jahr für Jahr geben Unternehmen Tausende von Dollar für die Umsetzung von Neuerungen aus. Einige haben damit Erfolg - viele jedoch nicht. Hier ist die Neuauflage eines preisgekrönten Klassikers als Broschurausgabe! Top-Consultant Paul Taffinder (von Andersen Consulting) analysiert die Bemühungen von über 30 Organisationen weltweit bei der Durchführung des "großen Wandels". Er behauptet u.a., daß die beabsichtigte Eskalation eines Konflikts sogar Innovationen verstärkt, zu qualtitativ höherwertigen Produkten und Dienstleistungen führt und das Engagement für Veränderungen erhöht. Ansätze, die ein standardisiertes Konfliktmanagement vertreten, stellt er in Frage und spricht sich für die Ausnutzung der psychosozialen und organisatorischen Vorteile aus, die durch Konflikte entstehen. Hierzu gehören z.B. Motivation, Verbesserung von gegenseitigem Verständnis und Stimulierung eines Dringlichkeitsgefühls. Mit vielen praktischen Beispielen in Form von Anekdoten und Fallstudien sowie Interviews. (10/99) Foreword by Group Chief Executive of Lloyds TSB, Peter Ellwood

Big Change? Change to What...?

Big Change -
An Unnatural Act

The Leadership of Big Change

Systemic Innovation

Conflict Escalation

Awakening

Conceiving the Future

Building the Change Agenda

Delivering Big Change

Mastering Change

References

Index

"Readable and thought provoking; by an author who has considerable consulting experience at the sharp end. Justly the MCA Business Management Book of the Year (1998)."
—Long Range Planning, Vol 33, 2000

Paul Taffinder is an Associate Partner at Andersen Consulting. Formerly a director of Coopers & Lybrand until 1998, he joined Andersen Consulting to concentrate on helping clients with the leadership of complex change. Following a Master's degree and then PhD in organizational psychology - and what he describes as "a mercifully brief career in the mining industry" - he turned his attention to organizational research and consultancy, becoming passionately interested in the shape of corporations to come and the importance of the socio-psychological driving forces that underlie the world of business. His first book The New Leaders looked specifically at the role of leadership and change, an area in which he has years of in-depth experience consulting internationally. A provocative speaker at international conferences, he is emerging as one of the foremost thinkers on the psychology of organizational change, tenaciously challenging uncritical management orthodoxy, raising the ambition of business leaders, and is now the winner of the prestigious MCA prize. You can e-mail Paul Taffinder at: paul.a.taffinder@ac.com The Wiley web-site address is: www.wiley.co.uk From the Foreword: "Big change often redries taking momentous decisions ... and these decisions cannot be enacted incrementally. You cannot leap a chasm in two bounds." In an awe-inspiring read, Paul Taffinder seizes and pulls apart many of the conventional, but uncritical assumptions, of change - myths such as building consensus, the need for leadership vision, and the importance of conflict reduction. In doing so, he looks in detail at both the successes and failures of firms such as:
* IBM
* Novartis
* Revenue Canada
* ABB
* PTT Post
* Symcor
* Siemens Plessey
* Molson Breweries
* British Airways
* Sears Roebuck
* NASA
* Reckitt & Colman
* Metallgesellschaft
* Defence Evaluation & Research Agency
* Microsoft
The lessons of Big Change are both startling and profound. If you have ever asked yourself the questions:
* how do I kickstart transformation?
* how do I clear a path through the corporate mess of projects, initiatives and business-as-usual?
* how do I identify market discontinuities and grasp the new business opportunities they offer?
* when do I build new organizational values?
* how do I re-start change programmes that have stalled?
* how do I master change?
then this book will give you the answers. Winner of Britain's premier management book award. The Management Consultancies Association [MCA] 'Business Management Book of the Year' "A really important book ... enjoyable, well-written ... inspirational ... a wake-up call for business!" The MCA Prize Judging Panel

Every year corporations spend billions in pursuit of change. Some are successful. Many are not. Casting a critical eye over the big change efforts of more than 30 organizations worldwide, Paul Taffinder brings together the practical action steps needed for business leaders to develop a strategic and tactical route-map for transforming their firms. The route-map is developed from the S-curve principle popularized by Charles Handy and shows unequivocally that the time to initiate change is when you are at your most successful. He shows that real transformation demands an escalation of constructive conflict to produce and sustain the kind of radical change essential in organizations in a globalizing world. The executive actions to achieve big change across all sectors of business are constructed through detailed examples, international case studies and action lists. The author's conclusions are as original as they are insightful, and firmly supported by real world business sense.

"Excellent ... Spending some time reading this book could be one of the best investments you make." Peter Ellwood, Group Chief Executive, Lloyds TSB

"A must for CEOs. A powerful journey providing detailed lessons written in a clear and easy, readable style." Russell Evans, Group General Manager, GA Group

"With his route-map, Paul Taffinder achieves what in many other books remains an empty promise. Brilliant insight ... inspiring ... A real eye-opener" Dr Siegfried Hoenle, Director, Warburg Dillon Read

"Rich with practical lessons, this is a must read for all within organizations who are facing the daunting challenge of riding the many waves of change." Scott G. Isaksen, President of the Creative Problem Solving Group - Buffalo, Former Director and Professor, The Center for Studies in Creativity, The State University of New York

"As we approach the 21st century, this book delivers fascinating insights into state-of-the-art 'big change' and as such is essential reading for managers in today's frenetic business world." John Coleman, Director, The Change Partnership Ltd