Change is always a difficult and expensive proposition for any organization, and yet the ability to change - to adapt to rapidly shifting demands and developing technologies - is an essential ingredient for success in today's fast-paced business environment. Change is so important and so risky that it cannot be left to chance. This book offers a systematic plan of action for initiating, implementing, and dealing with change. Using a case study of a manufacturing organization's challenge to change its engineering processes, it gives you the practical knowledge and skills you need to implement change successfully for significant improvements in efficiency and quality. You will gain an in-depth understanding of all the critical change factors, including the process of change and its impact on people within an organization. You will learn how to cope with the "delta," the chaotic transitional stage between the status quo and the future, and will come to understand the role of change sponsors, agents, and targets. Numerous tools that facilitate change are discussed in detail, and a comprehensive example demonstrates how all of these factors come into play. Most important, you will develop a new perspective on change - not as a one-time phenomenon, but as a continual process of adaptation that can become an integral part of the way your organization operates. Change is always a difficult and expensive proposition for any organization, an and yet the ability to change—to adapt to rapidly shifting demands and developing technologies—is an essential ingredient for success in today's fast-paced business environment. Change is so important and so risky that it cannot be left to chance. This book offers a systematic plan of action for initiating, implementing, and dealing with change. Using a case study of a manufacturing organization's challenge to change its engineering processes, it gives you the practical knowledge and skills you need to implement change successfully for significant improvements in efficiency and quality. You will gain an in-depth understanding of all the critical change factors, including the process of change and its impact on people within an organization. You will learn how to copy with the "delta", the chaotic transitional stage between the status quo and the future, and will come to understand the role of change sponsors, agents, and targets. Numerous tools that facilitate change are discussed in detail, and a comprehensive example demonstrates how all of these factors come into play. Most important, you will develop a new perspective on change—not as a one-time phenomenon, but as a continual process of adaptation that can become an integral part of the way your organization operates. "This is a great book packed with a balanced mixture of behavioral insights, practical wisdom, and change processes for winning. Anyone who is or should be pursuing change should have this book within easy reach." —H. Barry Bebb, PhD Barry Bebb & Associates Jeanenne LaMarsh is president and founder of LaMarsh and Associates, a consulting concern that helps companies worldwide achieve effective change. Internationally recognized for her work in the field, she appears in the Who's Who in Contemporary Achievement , has worked with thousands of changing organizations, and is a sought-after consultant, speaker, and educator. Jeanenne LaMarsh is president and founder of LaMarsh and Associates, a consulting concern that helps companies worldwide achieve effective change. Internationally recognized for her work in the field, she appears in the Who's Who in Contemporary Achievement , has worked with thousands of changing organizations, and is a sought-after consultant, speaker, and educator. Preface I have been a student of change for many years. I have watched companies, governments, and individual people struggle with change. Change can cause pain, and it can bring great joy. Because change is becoming an increasing force in our lives, I am convinced that the companies, governments, and individuals who understand and cope with change will take us into the future. If this book helps, use it. My knowledge of change and the change process comes from a rich variety of thinkers cited in the following pages. This knowledge has been expanded, challenged, and enhanced by the people and companies I have worked with over the years. The lines between the teacher and student are often blurred. That is as it should be: understanding change is a constantly changing process. This book is written to share with you what I know about change and how it can be managed. For many of you, incorporating this understanding will require a change in the way you have managed change; for others it will validate and help to organize what you have learned from your own experiences. For everyone, it will be an opportunity to determine how your companies are going to deal with change in the future. The body of knowledge about change can be best u