ABSTRACT
There is an overwhelming number of approaches, improvement tools and theories for change management and we consider some of these in this chapter. Yet there are no details on success or failure rates of change or which approaches are adopted to manage change in the NHS. NHS Improvement similarly has not provided success or failure data for improvement tools. Despite a global review in 2001, no guidance was made available about which approach matched which situation, so that practitioners were left wondering how to choose between the many and diverse approaches. The different approaches are either based in different philosophical approaches or lack a theoretical foundation and some conflict with each other. Although healthcare-based models exist, their number is limited and there is a need for further research into the value of different approaches in health care settings. We consider planned, emergent and improvement approaches to change management in this chapter. Many of the approaches focus on a hierarchical style of change management, mechanistic in nature, aiming to change people’s thinking in relation to the change without regard to emotional responses to change. Cognitive and emotional readiness for change is insufficiently considered in the majority of approaches.
