| In the contemporary business world only thing that | | | | change; however, one facet of the process that has |
| seems to be constant is change and the nature of the | | | | emerged in recent times of increasing globalisation is |
| competition is such that companies need to leverage | | | | that of organisational culture (Papers4you.com, 2006). |
| on the way they manage change to gain a | | | | The role of cultural awareness has become rather |
| competitive advantage. Moreover, the types of | | | | significant, be it international mergers, acquisitions or just |
| changes the companies experience vary in nature as | | | | internal business process changes. There has been a |
| well, for instance, as industries consolidate, there are | | | | barrage of literature detailing the ways of diagnosing |
| increasing number of mergers and acquisitions, the | | | | cultural changes and assessing cultural risk in managing |
| pressures on organisation to compete in a more global | | | | change and aligning strategy and culture with the |
| arena are leading to different competitive pressures | | | | intended change. Along with managing cultural diversity |
| and more strategic alliances (Papers4you.com, 2006). | | | | during change processes, it has become a standard |
| Furthermore, rapid technological changes are forcing | | | | practice for organisations to publish its core values |
| organisations to embrace new technologies and | | | | defining its organisational culture along with its mission |
| change the way they work and interface with | | | | statements on their websites and financial statements. |
| suppliers and customers (Balogun and Hailey, 2004). | | | | Be it the construction industry or an Aerospace |
| However, the phenomenon is not new and has seen a | | | | organisation strategic change is attracting an increased |
| series of management fads like cultural change | | | | attention from the management. Especially the extent |
| programmes, total quality management, business | | | | of involvement of the people and stakeholders in the |
| process re-engineering etc. Unfortunately most of the | | | | process of strategic has been under a constant |
| change programs launched within the organisations are | | | | debate. There are organisations like the Brazilian |
| below par, evident in the figure of around 70% failure | | | | Semco, where people decide their own targets and |
| (Balogun and Hailey, 2004). Hence, strategic change is | | | | managers their own salaries, which has redefined |
| becoming a highly sought after managerial | | | | strategic change and involvement of people (Crainer, |
| competence. | | | | 1999). The bottom line is that strategic management |
| Moreover, the change management process is highly | | | | has many facets and is developing into an area which |
| complicated and there is no fixed norm that could be | | | | will receive a lot of management attention. |
| followed. However, like most other areas in | | | | References |
| management experts have proposed models for | | | | Balogun, J and Hailey. (2004). 'Exploring Strategic |
| organisational change vis-à-vis Lewin's model | | | | change'. Prentice Hall, London. |
| of change, the planning model, the action research | | | | Crainer, S. (1999). '75 Greatest Management Decisions |
| model and the integrative planning model (Harigopal, | | | | Ever Made'. Amacom, NY. |
| 2006). These models cover various aspects of the | | | | Harigopal, K. (2006). 'Managing organisational change'. |
| change management process enabling planned | | | | 2nd Ed. Response Books, New Delhi. |