Welp MagazineThe strategic implications are the major consequences arising from not understanding and tackling the multitudinous impact of forces and dynamics of change that can often impact a business from various angles:
- political, regulatory and legal;
- economic and monetary;
- social-cultural;
- technological;
- ecological and environmental;
The challenge is to identify and then balance the various forces and dynamics of change, in order to establish and persist with opportunities by ensuring that the organisation can adequately cope with the consequences.
The momentum of change, the multi-dimensional impact of forces and dynamics of change (many of which are intangible) and the resulting complexity is often causes managers to react, rather than act.
However, the price of inaction is often more expensive than a ‘wrong’ action.
In relation to the management of change, the challenge is to anticipate and then to translate the reality of the short-term into the future.
The introduction of the now customary ‘review and reposition’ construct and activities goes some way to establishing the discipline of allowing for exogenous change to be expected and then actively handled.
Oddly, despite the slow nature of the reorientation periods (typically 3–5 years) it is often the unexpected that severely disrupts the strategic, financial and operational performance of an organisation, the inexactness of change and the major consequences of forces and dynamics of change that tend to frustrate the influence of management.
It takes a long time to discover how subtle change – the forces and dynamics of change – can have major impact on organisations, as individuals and teams are often isolated from the bigger picture.
Although there is a counter argument that change can be accelerating, the forces and dynamics of change also work on a time-lagged basis, so that individuals and teams are often insulated from reality.
Consequently, the challenge for management is to have a long enough time horizon to realise that the organisation is being ‘overwhelmed’ by the sum of the effects of forces and dynamics of change. It also has the vital goal of maintaining its viability and capability as it leads to the effective translation of interactions between internal and external forces and dynamics of change.
This seems to be an impossible task, as the reality is often not recognised as being ‘real’ until it is possibly too late to take a counter-measure.
There is, however, a degree of change management sophistication available to many organisations, which can minimise the risk of failure from the ‘silent’ forces and dynamics of change.
The new framework setting out the search for a new approach to strategy management incorporates a focus on forces and dynamics of change management.
The challenge for management is to bring influence to bear that can shift organisations so that they are responsive to the forces and dynamics of change.
This is a dangerous and delicate task, as business need to be aware that management often has little or no influence on forces and dynamics of change and consequently should learn to accept the resultant disruption of established strategic, operational and management practices.
The framework making it possible to manage the strategy of an organisation in tune with the forces and dynamics of change starts with the challenges of understanding and then managing the forces and dynamics of change.
This is formulated by identifying the key forces and dynamics of change, the relationships between the forces and dynamics of change, and developing a structure that resists ‘silent’ and unanticipated forces and dynamics of change.
The forces and dynamics of change are the interruptions to the consistent state of an organisation, which are caused by a number of factors.
Most of these factors are related to an organisation’s external environment, such as:
- Societal change
- Political change
- Economic change
- Legal change
- Technological change
- Change in cultural values
Strategy Implications for Successful Organisations
The challenge is to combine the various forces and dynamics of change into a framework that will enable an organisation to manage change and then create change.
Business needs to be aware of the competitive advantage – especially a sustainable competitive advantage – which can arise from the forces and dynamics of change.
The ability to anticipate, manage and create – rather than merely react to – a strategic alignment between the forces and dynamics of change and the strategic objectives of an organisation is the real test of management success.
Organisations that are able to anticipate how the forces and dynamics of change might be used to establish their future competitive advantage have an edge over less capable organisations.
A major source of competitive advantage can be created by an organisation’s ability to anticipate, create, manage and then manage the use of the forces and dynamics of change.
A realistic appraisal of the forces and dynamics of change enables management to build a broad corporate profile by logically connecting the forces and dynamics of change from their original sources to the future, for example:
- Economy
- Microeconomics
- General economic improvement or deterioration
- Monetary policy
- Interest rates
- Wealth distribution in the economy
- Measurement of gross national product
- Organisationwide growth
- Education
- Retirement
- Educational development
- Medical care
- Social changes
- Legal changes
- Political changes
- Cultural changes
- Technological changes
- Population and families
- Demographic trends
- Decline in the traditional family
- Religious changes
- Social diversity
- Social class mobility
- Environmental changes
- Urban development
- Circumstances
- Lifestyle changes
- Consumer behaviour
- Buying decisions
- Competitive strategy
- Corporate direction
- Political action
- Legal changes
- Tax laws
- Public opinion
- Single issues
- Fringe groups
The forces and dynamics of change shift the fabric of an organisation, because they are capable of changing everything.
Compounding the complexity is the fact that there is no such thing as a typical organisation.
Each organisation is a unique entity. Consequently, there is no blueprint for management, because each organisation has its own distinct profile and history, run by its own people.
Each manager needs to understand that the forces and dynamics of change impact on their business. Similarly, the organisation’s key forces and dynamics of change can also be influenced by management actions. The management actions that can be taken to manage the forces and dynamics of change consist of (1) identifying the forces and dynamics of change, (2) integrating the forces and dynamics of change, and (3) creating integrated conditions.
A viable individual or team can be understood in terms of the individual’s or team’s own forces and dynamics of change, and the relationships and interactions between the individual or team’s own forces and dynamics of change.
The relationships and interactions between the forces and dynamics of change can be influenced by an individual or team’s management actions.
The management actions that can be taken to influence the relationships and interactions between the forces and dynamics of change consist of (1) identifying the forces and dynamics of change, (2) mapping the relationships and interactions between the forces and dynamics of change, and (3) creating integrated relationships and interactions.
A viable organisation can be understood in terms of the organisation’s own forces and dynamics of change, and the relationships and interactions between the organisation’s own forces and dynamics of change.
The relationships and interactions between the organisation’s own forces and dynamics of change can be influenced by the organisation’s management actions.
The management actions that can be taken to influence the relationships and interactions between the forces and dynamics of change consist of (1) identifying the organisation’s own forces and dynamics of change, (2) mapping the relationships and interactions between the organisation’s own forces and dynamics of change, and (3) creating integrated relationships and interactions between the forces and dynamics of change.
Generally, the relationships and interactions between the organisation’s own forces and dynamics of change are related into subsystems of subsystems, which can be influenced by management actions, such as:
- Choosing the purpose…
- Deciding the tasks
- Seeking the resources
- Contributing as a factor of production…
- Creating the product and its factors
- Selling the product and its factors
- Consuming the product and its factors
- Recognising the customers
- Developing the market
- Managing the boundaries
The management actions that can be taken to influence the relationships and interactions between the forces and dynamics of change consist of (1) identifying the business, (2) mapping the relationships and interactions between the business forces and dynamics of change, and (3) creating integrated relationships and interactions between the business forces and dynamics of change.
Each force and dynamic of change has either an intervention or an influence. The impact of the force or dynamic of change may be positive, negative or neutral.
Each force or dynamic of change impacts on the forces and dynamics of change of the individual, team, organisation and business.
Every force or dynamic of change has a distinct pattern of relationships with other forces and dynamics of change.
The pattern of relationships may be positive, negative or neutral. For example, in our discussion on personnel, we touched on the interface with customers. Outside the interface [the relationship], we also noted the relationship of personnel to management, to impact, to the organisation and to the business.
The relationships and interactions between the business forces and dynamics of change can be influenced by an individual, team, organisation and business.
The management actions that can be taken to influence the relationships and interactions between the business forces and dynamics of change consist of (1) identifying the business forces and dynamics of change, (2) mapping the relationships and interactions between the business forces and dynamics of change, and (3) creating integrated relationships and interactions between the business forces and dynamics of change.
Finally, some insights on how to treat the forces and dynamics of change.
The forces and dynamics of change must be studied, thought about, talked about, recorded, summarised, reviewed, analysed, appraised, contemplated, predicted, and then recognised and understood on their own terms.
Looking only at the external environment can result in a narrow vision and a false appreciation of the true importance of all the forces and dynamics of change.
Managers need to recognise that the effect of the forces and dynamics of change is often both direct and indirect, and unintentional.
A clear understanding of the forces and dynamics of change is essential to identify the unknown and the unsuspected.
The forces and dynamics of change are people driven, business driven or overall systems driven.
Managers need to be able to see the forces and dynamics of change as clearly as their customers do.
Managers need to manage changes in the forces and dynamics of change as they happen. They must not wait for change to happen, and then try to manage it.
