Conclusion

Learning how to develop your own change project is a key skill for all managers. It is highly likely that whatever context you work in, you will – at some point – be tasked with implementing a change process. Alternatively, you may find yourself passionate about a particular idea and decide to build a base of support to launch your own change initiative. Either way, drawing on existing literature, research evidence and change management tools in a reflective and critical way will support your future endeavours in managing change.

You will remember from the video at the beginning of the course that Vivian compared the way her management style has changed to different styles of cooking. She talked about starting off like Delia Smith, following a recipe really strictly, but said that nowadays she is more like Jamie Oliver, adding ‘a glug of this and a dash of that’. This free course has allowed you to explore different ingredients for managing change – now you can decide whether you are more of a Delia or a Jamie in your approach to change management!

The following references are a useful guide to further reading, and you can access them through a library or suitable online resource.

1. The change management literature is vast, and you may want to do further reading to follow up on some of the key concepts. These references are a good place to start:
   • Cameron, E. and Green, M. (2009) Making Sense of Change Management: A complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change, 2nd edn, London, Kogan Page.
   • Dawson, P. (1994) Organisational Change – A processual approach, London, Paul Chapman Publishing.
2. Staff resistance to change has been recognised for many years to be a huge issue for managers. The following references suggest some ways to understand and overcome this. Although they were written some years ago, they have become ‘classics’ and are well worth reading as so much later work builds on their ideas.
   • Kotter, J.P., and Schlesinger, L.A. (1979) ‘Choosing strategies for change’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 106–14.
   • Lewin’s force field analysis is a seminal tool for exploring change. If you enter the term ‘Lewin’s force field analysis’ into a search engine, you will find links that will tell you more about it – but remember to assess the reliability and source of the web pages you find.
3. In the ‘Managing change in health and social care’ reading in Activity 2 you were introduced to Joan Simons’s change project on a children’s hospital ward. If you are interested in exploring Joan’s experiences and research further, there are also two published journal articles available to read:
   • Simons, J.M. and MacDonald, L.M. (2006) ‘Changing practice: implementing validated paediatric pain assessment tools’, Journal of Child Health Care, vol. 10, no.2, pp. 160–76
   • Simons, J.M. and MacDonald, L.M. (2004) ‘Pain assessment tools: children’s nurses’ views’, Journal of Child Health Care, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 264–78.
4. You could explore some websites specifically designed to provide access to practical management tools, guidance and research literature in health and social care, which contain information about managing change:
   • Social Care Institute for Excellence [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]
   • Social Care Online for links to extensive resources