1. Key terms and concepts

Change: different way of executing tasks. Doing it as it has previously been done, but in a more efficient and productive way. Change uses external impact to modify actions

Emotional Intelligence: ability to access, express, and use one’s emotions in an efficient way. It describes having emotional self-awareness and the capacity to manage feelings by directing them toward goals. It also ensures the ability to self-motivate, suppress impulsive actions, and delay immediate satisfaction in order to achieve the goals

Evolution: state of continual improvement through transformation and change. The foundation of evolution is constant adjustments in values, beliefs, and behavior, with the use of internal and external feedback

Social Intelligence: builds on emotional intelligence. It is the capability to identify emotions of other people by not making assumptions, being empathetic, and open to co‐creative actions and new ways of working in order to achieve common goals and build positive relationships. It also includes knowing and using social roles and rules, effective listening, and conversational skills

Systems intelligence: ability to understand, reflect upon, express, and incorporate the wider context of the system(s) a human interacts within into actions. It combines sensitivity about the environment with system thinking. In regards to the ITIL guiding principles, it is based on the ability to think and work holistically, while focusing on value, in the context of adaptive complex systems. It is the capability to see oneself as a part of a system, identify system characteristics, be aware of system rules and patterns, and be able to contribute to a system development consciously

Transformation: different way of working. It involves changes in beliefs, values, and wishes. Transformation results shift in the organizational system and as a result, in personal and organizational behavior. The transformation is based on learning from previous mistakes

2. Purpose

To ensure that changes in an organization are implemented smoothly and successfully, and that lasting benefits are achieved by managing the human aspects of the changes. Organizational change management contributes to every part of the service value system (SVS). It incorporates three premises:

• The practice is integrated into value streams and ensures that changes are effective, safe, and meet stakeholders’expectations
• The practice does not aim to unify all the changes planned and carried out in an organization into one big picture this is neither possible or required
• The practice should focus on balancing effectiveness, agility, compliance, and risk control for all changes in the defined scope

3. Scope

The scope of the OCM practice includes:

• Designing, implementing, and continuously improving an adaptive approach for a developing environment in an organization
• Planning and improving organizational change approaches and methods
• Scheduling and coordinating all ongoing changes through the whole lifecycle
• Communicating change plans and progress to relevant stakeholders
• Assessing change success, including outputs, outcomes, efficiency, risks, and costs

Organizational change and the 4 dimensions and other practice guides:

• Information & technology: usually addressed by change enablement; some elements of OCM to support training, design…
• Organizations and people: the main focus of OCM working with project management, workforce and talent management, relationship management practices
• Value streams and processes: change enablement and OCM will both address the elements/activities here
• Partners & suppliers: OCM will work with supplier management, change enablement

OCM activities are discussed in other practice guides such as continual improvement, strategy management (defining vision and strategic objectives), project management (managing projects), risk management (change risk assessment and control), and others…

4. Value-based organizational change

Value: deeply held principles, ideas, and beliefs that become visible though a person’s behavior

5. Organizational change principles

Requirement	Details	How OCM helps
Clear and relevant objectives	To gain maximum support, improvements require objectives that are clear enough for people to understand and which make sense relative to the target organization	Improvement objectives must be communicated to stakeholders, who should then discuss them. If adjustments are made, their nature and the reasons for them must also be communicated
Strong and committed leadership	It is critical that improvements are actively supported by leaders within the organization. If their commitments are visible, overall buy‐in is likely to increase	Each sponsor and leader should be identified, and their roles and responsibilities communicated to the initiative’s stakeholders
Willing and prepared participants	People may resist a change for a variety of reasons. However, improvements need participants who are willing to change. People are often more willing to change when they feel they are suitably prepared	OCM allows for resistance to identified, understood, and overcome using a resistance management plan. OCM uses a training plan to ensure that people have the skills and knowledge to change successfully, and a communication plan to manage change updates
Demonstrated value	To keep the change moving forward, stakeholders must be convinced of its value before it is achieved, and able to recognize the value after it has been achieved	OCM runs communication programs to share any expected and achieved benefits with stakeholders, solidifying their commitment to the current effort and willingness to support future similar efforts
Sustained improvement	Many improvements fail when people revert to old ways of working. Even when an individual improvement succeeds, organizations can fail to sustain the momentum with more improvement	The OCM practice seeks to continually reinforce the value of the change through regular communication and the support of sponsors and leaders

6. Practice Success Factors (PSF)

A PSF is a complex functional component of a practice that is required for the practice to fulfill its purpose. There are 3 PSFs for OCM:

• Creating and maintaining a change-enabling culture across the organization: to achieve this PSF, ensure collaboration with workforce and talent management, relationship management, strategy management, and continual improvement management
• Establishing and maintaining a holistic approach and continual improvement for organizational changes management: identify improvements to the practices, principles and methods. Use the information in continual improvement management practice
• Ensuring organizational changes are realized in an effective manner, leading to stakeholders’ satisfaction and meeting compliance requirements: utilize and process to manage organizational changes and ensure touchpoints with relevant stakeholders (e.g. service provider teams, users, customers, sponsors, suppliers, partners…), consider stakeholder management techniques.

Key metrics by PSFs:

Practice success factors	Key metrics
Creation and maintenance of change‐enabling culture across the organization	Awareness of the organizational change, principles, and methods across the organization Attitude towards organizational changes across the organization Level of resistance to changes Alignment in attitude to changes at different levels of the organization
Establish and maintain a holistic approach and continual improvement for organizational changes management	Stakeholder satisfaction with the procedures and communications Amount of improvements initiated by the OCM practice Stakeholders satisfaction with knowledge about up to date transformational methods and tools
Ensure organizational changes are realized in an effective manner, leading to stakeholders’ satisfaction and meeting compliance requirements	Change initiators’ satisfaction with change outcomes Change success/acceptance rate over period Compliance with formally stated requirements, according to audit reports Change initiators’ satisfaction with change timeliness Stakeholder satisfaction with realization of individual changes

 

Go back to ITIL 4 Managing Professional Certification Course: Direct, Plan and Improve (DPI) to finish this chapter or to the main page ITIL 4 Managing Professional Certification Course.