Revolutionary vs. evolutionary organizational change
June 5, 2013 by John Borwick In IT management, Process improvement 2 Comments
Organizational change can occur quickly or slowly. I’ve found it useful to classify organizational changes into two types–revolutionary and evolutionary–to call attention to two different, valid ways of changing organizational culture. People less familiar with organizational change have a hard time recognizing the validity of both approaches, particularly the evolutionary type. Many frameworks say “you must have senior leadership buy-in,” and people then think the boss should tell everyone and then we’ll do it.
That type of change–a high-pressure mandate from above–is what I call a revolutionary change. Senior leadership says we must do this. Discussion may be tolerated or allowed, but the improvement is going to take place. It could be a day, a week, or a month, but the change will occur. The change occurs because “the boss says so.”
Contrast that with an evolutionary change. Evolutionary changes occur very slowly. A change agent helps the organization, often person by person, understand the change. People comment and the approach is built collaboratively. People have to buy in to the change. Senior leadership still needs to be on board, but they are less the driver of the change and more a coach or cheerleader. (See also my presentation, “Riding the Maturity Model Wave,” which addresses how to conduct evolutionary change.) The change occurs in small chunks, almost imperceptibly.
Let’s examine the advantages and disadvantages of revolutionary change vs. evolutionary change.
Aside: Political Capital
Every person in an organization has what I’ll call “political capital.” This capital is the ability to get people to pay attention to you, follow you, and/or support your decisions. I don’t mean to be cynical; I only mean to present a helpful model for thinking about how people buy into organizational change.
Political capital comes from your reputation. It’s built up when you reach out to people. It’s built up when you “win” (not necessarily at the expense of others)–when you’re right about something, or when you do something good. Political capital is built up when you help people. It’s gained when you give people credit for their help.
Political capital is lost when you annoy people, frustrate them, or otherwise lose face. It’s lost when you “lose”–when your idea doesn’t work out in a helpful way. It’s lost when you take credit for other people’s work.
Political capital is spent–or perhaps, “betted”–when you stake your claim on a new thing. For example, if I say “the future of higher education IT is in plastics,” and other people follow me in that claim, I’m betting that’s true: if it is true, I gain capital; if it turns out false, I lose capital. The thing is, the political capital is “locked up” while you’re pursuing the new thing.
Every person, up to and including the President and the Board of Trustees, has political capital within the organization.
Revolutionary change
Revolutionary change is the change-by-mandate. You will often see this type of change in reaction to (1) a leadership change or (2) a crisis. As examples: a new CIO comes in and reorganizes the department, or the IT department fails an audit.
Advantages
Low risk of the change failing to take effect.
Change will occur quickly.
Change will have any resources needed.
Political cover. For example if another department doesn’t like the change for some reason, and they escalate to their management, whoever mandated the change feels ownership over it and will be unlikely to back down. (Aside: this is not necessarily a good thing if the change is at the expense of the larger organization.)
Looks good on résumés and annual reports.
Feels planned. Mandates that come from the same person often fit together–for example a change this year to create a new Service Desk, followed by a change next year to implement a new Service Desk tool.
Disadvantages
Change may not become part of the culture before focus shifts. The change may roll back a few months after leadership changes focus.
Loss of political capital: because the change was less inclusive up front, political capital is lost.
Job security for the leader: if the change does not provide the benefit expected, or otherwise fails, the people who mandated the change may lose their job. (Aside: setting this expectation is definitely a bad way to manage, as it creates huge incentives for leaders to make the change look like it worked.)
Opportunity cost: other improvements may be needed but everyone is tied up working on the mandated improvement.
Not necessarily a “good fit” for the organization: the current situation was likely not understood well, so the solution applied often leaves pain points or gaps.
Often treats people like robots.