Managing Change

‘The implementation of strategic change is likely to be problematic. This is especially likely to be the case in situations where this type of change involves people, and in which personal relationships and emotional responses are predominant’ (Thornhill et al, 2000, p.14)
Discuss this statement, drawing upon what the literature has to say about the nature of change; the reasons why strategic change so often gives rise to problems or difficulties; and the most effective approaches to adopt in order to avoid or minimise those characteristic problems or difficulties.

Introduction
The management of change and the problems presented by change are nothing new despite the more recent focus on such processes. For many years we have associated change management with overcoming personal angst and/or resistance to such change. Perhaps the first to recognise such a connection was the Greek playwright Euripides when his character Iphigenia stated ‘There is something in the pang of chang...