Introduction

Change is an integral part of our society. For business organisations, change often comes so rapidly that they scarcely adjusted, before even more change takes place.

The challenge for management is to recognise when change is necessary and even more important, the ability to make changes when it is necessary to do so. This implies that change is not only something that an organisation should react to, but that organisations could and should anticipate when change is essential, and then implement pro-active or planned changes. Balogun & Hailey argue that organisational change has three components:

• The change context, which refers to the why of change;
• The change content, referring to the what of change; and
• The change process, that refers to the how of change.

In this Learning Unit we will explore the context and meaning of change in organisations. Click here to learn more about what to expect in this Learning Unit.