What makes a good change Agent?????

The management of change is an important discipline in today’s ever changing business environment. Change is never easy, and managing it in a large corporate environment is even more challenging. Organizations that handle change well thrive, whilst those that do not struggle to survive.

 Going through a change process within a company, department or some core group is a truly advanced step that needs a great deal of planning before the implementation of it. Empirical studies show that major change implementations’ failure rates are approximately 70% (Angehr & Atherton, 2003). Change projects share the same characteristics as regular projects with the distinction of that change projects have a big impact on the individuals participating (Canterucci, 1995).

 I have conducted a study to investigate the characteristics of change in context of successful change management. Successful management of change depends on the appropriate transformational abilities of change agents (Inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration) and appropriate transformational attributes (visionary, challenging, commitment, emotional intelligence, self-awareness, creativity, problem solving, coaching, communication, risk taking and trustworthy behavior).

Table below verify the importance of three significant characteristics of change agents emphasized by different authors ranked accordingly

Important Characteristics of Change Agents according to different authors

Research      Studies	Change Agent’s Characteristics and Competencies
Authors	Inspirational/ Motivational	Intellectual Stimulation	Individualized Consideration
Quinn (1980),Lewis (1996), Friedman (2000), Weber (1947), Covey (1992)	ü
James Kouzes & Barry Posner (1995), Quinn (2005), Bryman, (1992), Kotter (1999)	ü
Bass and Avolio (1994), Graham (1987), Grisham (2006), Goleman (1998), Ashkanasy and Tse (2000)		ü
Schein, E. H. (1992), Piderit, S.K. (2000), Walton (1995), Argyris & Stewart (1985), stagich, (2001)			ü
Jung & Avolio (2000), Zucker (1986), Bartlett and Goshal (1995), Kouzes and Posner (1992)			ü
Shani & Lou (2000), Carter McNamara (2005), Lewis (1996), Stone, Russell & Patterson, (2003), Caravatta. M. (1998), Kouzes and Posner (2002)	ü
George (2000), Gosling & Burg (1998), Sosik (2001), Sosik and Megerian (1999), Goleman (2000), Snyder (1974), Tichy and Devanna (1986), Timothy Stagich (2001),		ü
Stake, R. (1995), Schein, E. H. (1990), Kotter, J. (1999), Palmer & Brow (2005), Costa and Garston (2002)			ü
North house & Peter (2004), Nadler & Tushman (1990), Javidan and Walman (2003), Owen (1990)	ü
Harris and Moran (1996), Newman, K (2000), Rumelt, R.P. (1995), Gosling & Burg (1998),			ü

Change agent needs to be competent in the process of change management in terms of his role to facilitate and consolidate the short-term wins achievements to ensure that individuals within the organization accept the changes and make progress towards the long term goals.

My research found that identifying the sense of urgency, preparing the vision for future listening to subordinates, identifying problems, taking proper actions and ensuring participation in decision making are the key elements of strategy for managing resistance against change. Change agents need to build good relationships with diverse people and groups, especially with people who think differently.

Hence successful management of change depends on the appropriate transformational abilities of change agents (inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration), and appropriate transformational attributes ;

1.      Visionary

2.      Challenging

3.      Commitment

4.      Emotional intelligence

5.      Self awareness

6.      Creativity

7.      Problem solving ability

8.      Coaching

9.      Communication

10.  Risk taking and

11.  Trustworthy behavior

Change agent should be a human of remarkable capabilities nevertheless on foundation provided by three dimensions of change agents and various associated characteristics; change agents are the people who can create significant change in both the followers and organization with which they are associated.

Albert A Angehrn and Jill E M Atherton, (2003) Conceptual Framework for Assessing Development Programmers for Change Agents

           Jim Canterucci, Change Project Management-The Next Step, Retrieved on 13 May, 2009 from http://www.corpchange.com