Change Kaleidoscope – Change Management Models

Due to growing of globalization, advance technology, and organizational consolidation, change is nowadays become a crucial part of every organization in order to survive in changing business environment. To handle the change, change management is required in transitioning for both organizational and individual level to attain future desired change. Change at organizational level is related to strategy which will indicate organizational direction and activities. In developing effective organization strategy, both internal and external environments have to be taken into consideration. When the strategy has been changed as adapting to changing internal and external environments, strategic change is necessity to be utilized in change management in order to align change with developed strategy. As individual change is pivotal part of organization change, change management need to be adopted at individual level in order to initiate the change and consequently obtain successful organization change.

Change Kaleidoscope was produced by Hope Hailey & Balogun (2002) to be a method for pulling together and arranging the extensive variety of logical highlights and usage choices that require thought amid change. In this sense Change kaleidoscope is even more a model than a strategy, however it is usable instrument for conceptualizing the way of progress.

By its plan, the model speaks to an exhaustive system which manages the greater part of the variables that the creators regarded noteworthy by the writing. The change kaleidoscope model was utilized interestingly to reflectively investigate a change project embraced in a first pharmaceutical organization. The change kaleidoscope contains an external ring which is concerned with the highlights of the change setting that can either empower or oblige change, and an inward ring that contains the menu of usage choices open to change specialists. Comprehension of the context oriented highlights empowers change specialists to judge the fittingness of any methodology for their specific setting.

The Change Kaleidoscope

Change Kaleidoscope model developed by Hope Hailey & Balogun composes of outer ring and inner ring. The outer ring indicates organization contextual features which are time, scope, preservation, diversity, capability, capacity, readiness, and power. Whereas inner ring provides design or implementing choices which are change path, change start point, change style, change target, change levers and change roles. The details of organization contextual features and implementing choices will be as followings

Organization Contextual Features

1. Time – The period of time which change need to be accomplished.
2. Scope – The degree of change which can be separated into realignment and transformation.
3. Preservation – The organization assets, practices, or characteristics which needed to be retained during change.
4. Diversity – The level of difference among groups of employees and divisions, who/which will be effected of change, in terms of attitudes, values, and norms.
5. Capability – The organization competency to implement change in terms of managerial skills and personal knowledge and ability.
6. Capacity – Organization resources needed for change investment including cash, human resources, and time.
7. Readiness – Employee’s level of change awareness and readiness.
8. Power – The power needed for initiating change.

Design or Implementing Choices

1. Change Path – The types of changes can be categorized into 4 types of change base on nature and result of change which are Evolution, Adaptation, Revolution, and Reconstruction.
2. Change Start Point – Change start point indicate where the change is initiated which can be divided as following;
   1. Top-down change – Change is initiated from top management.
   2. Bottom-up change – Change is initiated from bottom line.
   3. Pockets of good practice – Change is initiated by taking advantage of good practicing in individual part of organization as model for remaining parts.
   4. Pilot sites – Change is initially implementing in only one individual part of organization.
3. Change Style – The way to manage process of change can be divided into 5 styles as following;
   1. Education and Delegation – Small group briefing and discussing of change applied to gain change support from employee.
   2. Collaboration – High employee involvement on decision of what and how to change.
   3. Participation – Limited employee involvement on decision of how to delivery desired change.
   4. Direction – Directing and controlling of change from change leader.
   5. Coercion – Imposing of change with authority.
4. Change Target – There are 3 types of change targets which are outputs, behaviors, and values.
5. Change Levers – The level of levers and intervention needed for organization change. The cultural web can be applied to identify organization culture and current change barrier. From below of culture web, intervention into all components of culture web which are symbols, power structures, organizational structures, control systems, routines and rituals, and stories, is inevitable to develop change successfully.

Uses of  Change Kaleidoscope

To apply change successfully, organization context needs to be analyzed in order to select appropriate implementing options. Change kaleidoscope can be utilized effectively as it provides both available range of implementing options and contextual features analysis. Change awareness from organization aspect is encouraged by using this tool. Organization need to examine contextual constraints and enablers to change in order to evaluate its change ability and consider implementing choices of path, start point, style, target, interventions and roles. Using change kaleidoscope allows organization to understand the reason why design choice is appropriate or inappropriate to particular context. Change kaleidoscope is normally used by change agent group to solve change problem through three steps which are assessing contextual enablers and constraints, determining change path, and selecting other change choices. However, to achieve complete change design, other tools such as cultural web need to be implemented together with change kaleidoscope. Although change kaleidoscope establishes well structure for transition state, challenges of this tool is occurred from interventions of other changes during processing which need to be synchronized over the time. Due to complexity and resource consuming in transitioning, competencies of analytical, judgmental, and implementation skills cannot be deficient for change agent. In addition, even though change kaleidoscope can be implemented in different change circumstance, it is most appropriate to planned change which aims to achieve particular goal.