What kind of evidence does it provide?
Many readers will ask whether individual models of change management work. This review aims to help answer that question as far as the literature allows. But before proceeding it is important to appreciate that neither the question nor the answer will be simple or straightforward. There are problems associated with gathering and reviewing evidence about the efficacy of change programmes. These include the following.
1. For all but the very simplest of changes the impact is multidimensional. The measures of the effectiveness of any change intervention must capture all these dimensions or the picture presented will be incomplete.
2. Change programmes involve analysing the causes of the presenting problem, designing the change programme, implementing and evaluating it. Often this is an iterative process, with information gained during the implementation phase informing a review of the analysis and/or of the design. In addition, a valuable tool may be applied in a situation for which it is not appropriate, or it may be applied sub optimally. Distinguishing between the outcomes of the different stages, and also between the skillfulness of the application and the underlying value of a tool, requires the development of a sensitive set of measures.
3. Different people involved in the change programme will have different views of the precipitating event, of the underlying causes of the problem, and of the desirable outcomes of the programme. They will therefore measure different outcomes, and measure them differently. The evidence must consider whose measures are to be used.
Perhaps because of these difficulties, the literature is dominated by descriptions of the various models and approaches, prescriptive advice and anecdotal accounts of organisational change. A major problem in this field has been the dominance of gurus who prescribe courses of action without any basis in evidence. The recourse to such prescriptions should be seen as part of the problem, not the solution. Articles based on empirical research are, however, relatively rare and are predominantly single-site case reports, often conducted by a member of the target organisation. Many of the most useful studies are well-conducted qualitative studies.