ABSTRACT

The challenge of managing change preoccupies management in many if not most contemporary organisations. Its significance is reflected in the burgeoning number of publications that discuss and examine both the theoretical and practical nature of its importance for commercial and industrial society. The apparent absence of explicit and coherent learning theory, however, in much of the literature on change would appear to indicate that understanding, managing and sustaining the change process may produce incomplete and limited results. To explore the connectivity between learning and change, it seems appropriate to examine traditional and contemporary perspectives on the management of change, together with those learning theories currently in use within this arena, in order to trace some parallel themes. Following this, practical approaches to learning and change are explored, taking internal and external factors into consideration, with particular reference to the implications of resistance, power and control.