Return-on-Change (RoC): Operative Perspektive

The research ‘Return-on-Change (RoC) – Practitioner Perspective’ focuses on the tools and formats that work best with practicing managers to facilitate acceptance and thus achieve successful organisational change. The focus of this research is on the hands-on practitioner dimension of organisational change. The impetus that gave rise to this study was the question which interventions work best and which activities high-performing organisations are deploying in different change contexts. Furthermore, there was little evidence regarding the strategies, capabilities, formats and tools needed to generate sustainable change. Moreover, the link between change management and business results has generally been under-explored. The research study was sponsored by PwC People & Change practice lead Till R. Lohmann and deployed in cooperation with WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management with the involvement of Professor Dr. Peter-J. Jost and Dr. Miriam Zschoche. The study sample included 250 of the largest industrial companies as well as the 25 largest banks and insurance companies in Germany. The research framework was based on change management maturity stages(i.e. singular, integrated, programmatic and normative). The result showed that the effectiveness of change management depends on the maturity stage and the degree of professionalization of the change management discipline within an organisation. Moreover, the results pointed towards the importance of a well-rounded suite of change management activities clustered along the lines of (1) involvement, (2) communication,(3) enablement, (4) measurement and (5) mind-set. In addition, the findings indicate that it is important to create transparency about the ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘why’ of the change. Change Management provides ‘intensive care’ to the organisation to adopt change without jeopardizing the running business. Overall, the study established change management as core competency and key value driver of high-performing organisations.