ABSTRACT
In a Nutshell: A Gartner Group survey of Fortune 500 executives revealed that almost 70 percent of change implementations did not realize their full process and systems benefits due to failure to address the people issues. The survey reveals that enterprises that fail to prepare and support their workforces for major and continuing organizational change will miss business objectives by at least 30 percent and will experience turnover rates of at least 20 percent annually for their key knowledge and leadership workers. A very common theme among these failures is a lack of understanding of the power of the collective human system to obstruct or avoid the progress of initiatives. The result has been to reinforce fear, defensiveness, and cynicism among employees toward change efforts. Over the long haul, a failure of change means that business strategies are not accomplished and that resistance to change increases and the organization’s survival is threatened. The success or failure of any change initiatives depends not only on the business demand and strategic decisions of top management, but on attitudes, values, perception, and beliefs of the people and their active participation. In change implementations, human aspects play a crucial role in ensuring that the change really takes root in the DNA of the organization.
