Tag Archives: Change

Change Management Risk Assessment – The Context of Risk Vs Readiness

Change management risk assessment is complex and multi-dimensional and thus transcends what is traditionally understood by the concept of “risk assessment”. Risk assessment of a change management initiative is based on the premise that “organisational risk” is the inverse of “change readiness”.

In other words, the more ready the organisation is to change, the lower the risk of failure of the change initiative. So if we can establish some useful means for defining and calibrating change readiness then we can take steps to mitigate the likely causes of failure.

An appropriately selected change readiness assessment tool not only informs an initial change management risk assessment, but it also forms a baseline and be can re-administered to measure progress in change readiness – and thus reduction in change management risk – over time.

For a project management based change initiative, these assessments will help to reduce project risk.

The results of these assessments will shape key areas of the change management strategy and plan – specifically the communication strategy.

However, many companies – particularly in North America – do not stop and evaluate lessons leaned from past change initiatives before launching the next one. In recent interviews a key piece of advice that John Kotter offers is for organisational leaders to take the time to get themselves informed about what does and doesn’t work – before launching into action with a change initiative. As he says: “If you get that knowledge upfront, it can save you great grief and money later on.”

But before getting into the mechanics of tools that can be used to undertake a change readiness assessment we need to be understand the context of change management risk assessment and appreciate the significance of a number of inter-related factors:

(1) The marginal rate of change is increasing – and continues to do so

We used to believe that change occurs in cycles and waves that ebb and flow. This may be accurate over long time spans of hundreds of years, but in the present the rate of change is continually increasing and this has a significant impact on any change management risk assessment.

Based on his latest researches, Kotter says: “Many organisations just can’t keep up with the speed of change.”

This is profoundly important because it is closely linked to another major and frequently overlooked factor…

(2) The emergence of the flat world and horizontal management

I was tempted to headline this point the “death of command and control” – but that is not strictly true as there will always be situations where there is a need for firm direction and senior management edicts for compliance with the legal requirements related to the management and governance of organisations, and also in crisis situations.

However, in the “horizontal world” we now live in, information is available to all and the current and emergent technology infrastructure coupled with the proliferation of social media channels and tools allows for almost immediate dissemination and comment of gossip, opinion and factual information.

The days when decisions affecting many were taken by a few and then imposed on the many are dying – if for no other reason than people want and expect to be involved and they resist change that is imposed upon them. This is self-evident in the failure of 70% of significant change initiatives.

One of the keys to change management risk assessment lies in understanding the extent to which the change leadership are engaging directly with the “informal organisation” – sometimes referred to as the “shadow organisation” – from the outset – from the planning stage right through to implementation and beyond.

(3) Recognition of the importance of the emotional dimension of leadership

Many thought leaders in the world of change management and change leadership are now speaking vociferously about the importance of the emotional dimension of leadership and the need to address the human dimension of change.

These people include Daniel Goleman with his focus on primal leadership; John Kotter emphasises the need to motivate people by speaking to their feelings; Jon Katzenbach highlights the value of personalising the workplace; Andy Pearson emphasises how people will respond to their leaders efforts to connect with their emotional side; and of course William Bridges’ says that “A change can work only if the people affected by it can get through the transition it causes successfully.”

(4) The importance of the informal networks

Jon Katzenbach and Zia Khan, Authors of “Leading outside the Lines” make the important point that organisational leaders struggle to recognise the importance of the informal networks within their organisation, and the need to engage with them and mobilize them as a key method of accelerating the efforts of the formal (management) elements of the organisation.

Neil Farmer – a leading UK change expert and the leader of 5 major and successful UK corporate change initiatives – points out that whilst the formal organisation determines all routine aspects of what takes place, and in so doing provides the necessary “glue” of stability and repeatability, the shadow or informal organisation largely determines the scope and pace of change and is thus a major factor in change management risk assessment. He says that where the informal and formal organisations come into conflict, the informal nearly always are the most powerful.

(5) The answers are (almost) always at the frontline

With the exception of technical, financial and legal issues, the answers to issues relating to successful change planning, change impacts, change implementations and most importantly benefit realisation are to be found at the frontline.

In my own work I have found time and time again that the answers to the most challenging business issues, project and programme failures and performance problems always – without exception lies with the front line staff – those directly involved in “doing it”.

Also, the creative solutions to issues identified via change management risk assessment are to be found there as well.

All it takes, in my experience is the time, courtesy and empathic listening to the people at the “coal face” to find out what the issues and impacts are and also to discover what the solutions are.

(6) Stuck in Jurassic Park

The first and biggest step to making all this happen is one that can only be taken by the CEO and senior management of the organisation, and that is to relinquish (or at least relax) “command and control” sufficiently to empower the change leaders to identify and work in collaboration with the informal networks.

In my direct and observed experience, this still seldom happens. The dinosaurs still stalk the corridors of corporate power. The DNA of the leaders and senior management of most organisations (especially large ones) seems to be hard-coded to resist this – thus resistance to truly effective change management risk assessment starts at the top.

Here in the UK at least, this resistance to change in management style reflects the myopia that results from a general business culture fixated on short-term results.

All too often, the only conditions that encourage directors to relax command and control are either the appointment of a new CEO and/or senior management team, or the threat of a fairly major exposure i.e. an issue that is severe enough to create a personal accountability and potentially one that could be politically exploited to the personal detriment of the individual executive.

However, as Kotter’s observed rate of change gathers momentum these people will be exposed to ever increasing exposures and will either adapt or follow the fate of their Jurassic predecessors…

So the common thread running through all of these factors is the people dimension and the paramount need for change leaders to base their change readiness assessments around a detailed, direct and early engagement with the informal aspects of their organisation.

Automated Forex Currency Trading Software Can Change Your Life And Make Your Fortune

The allure of currency trading market is almost impossible to resist for common people because the market has immense potential to bring heavy gains to forex investors. It is also the fact that traders can earn lots of profit in forex trade by using automatic forex trading software. Since the market is highly volatile, therefore, the risk of losing heavy amount of capital is also involved in it. Selecting the best forex software will not only enhance your chances to earn profit in currency exchange market but it will also cut down the risk of possible loses as well.

Traders can use automated forex software to track down their trades and to design their own forex trading system as well. Forex trading software comes in huge variety. Most of these automatic trading programs build your trades on the base of technical analysis indicators. Forex trading software can perform account equity management, stop or limit trade orders and can make automatic trailing stops. These characteristics make it possible for forex investors to execute their trades immediately in the forex trading market at any time.

If you want to design your own trading system based on forex trading software then you have to follow plenty of indicators. These indicators include exponential moving average, mounted limits and stops, quick moving average, weighted moving average, variable moving average, tailing stops, triangular moving average, standard deviation, time series moving average, vertical horizontal filters and wilder’s average. Forex trading system automatically follows these important indicators and it can automatically study forex rates and can automatically place forex trading orders for you. Unlike stock exchange market, by using automated forex trading software, traders can quickly start their trades and close it in few seconds.

In forex trading online, automated forex trading software provides you greater trading diversity. With the help this system you can not only effectively trade in your local currency exchange market but you can also carry out trades in international currency exchange markets as well. This software can also assist you in examining the short term data so that you can easily predict forex trading trends. This software enables you to build more trades at the same position then with manual forex trading system.

Forex trading software can not only improve your trading skills but it can also help you to learn the secrets of making profit in currency exchange market as well.

Forex Defining Rate of Change

This term of rate of changes is a technical analysis tool that is used to identify the momentum of the Forex trade at the market.The velocity with which any variable fluctuates in a given span of time is referred to as ROC. It is the ratio of change in one variable in relation to the change in other variable.A mathematical expression makes the comparative analysis of changes in two variables. The sloping trend line can represent this ROC graphically.

It is expressed by a Greek letter delta that measures even the small changes in two trading points trading in a specific Forex trading period.The traders consider the change in one variable against other attentively with the intention to study the rate of change in the price value of one option against other and that is why it is sometimes called options delta.The basic concept that lies behind this ROC is the study of momentum that is change in the currency price levels that occurs with the passage of time that can be configured from the sloping Forex trends.

However, it differ from momentum in the interest of the traders that is the value of momentum depends on the tend lines it forms on the chart selected by the Forex analysts while the ROC depends on the time factor.It is calculated by taking into consideration the existing closing price of specific trade divided by some price variable taken from the last trading interval and the difference so obtained is multiply by 100. This expresses the ROC value in percentage.

The typical ROC value is ten but it can be changed with the changes in the values of the considered variables. The value can be increased or decreased depending on the greater or smaller variables.In Forex market, it becomes difficult for the traders to calculate ROC as there are different values at different intervals of trading.That is why closing price taken for calculating the ROC is referred from the NYSE as soon as it closes the trade starts dropping off.

It is used to induce trading signals in similar manner of momentum. If ROC is increasing then short-term buying strain is induced in other case if the ROC is decreasing then short-term selling strain is induced.The article gives Forex info about the term of ROC and its significance in the trading market. This tells the implementation method of ROC at the Forex trading platform.

Trading Tips Can Change The Destiny of Any Online Investor

If you are a novice then irrespective of you profit or lose from this market place, you will gain some innate experience. Without procuring some intricate basic know how about the share market, plunging into it can have disastrous effects on your financial portfolio. It is highly advisable to take the assistance of proficient stock broker firms which have experience and expertise in imparting accurate and pertinent tips and calls such as stock market tips, nifty tips, option tips, intraday tips and a lot more. The sheer number of fraudulent and con web sites which indulge in scams and scandals on the Internet can take a toll, so it is wise to make a well balanced decision. Thus hurrying into investment alternatives should be avoided and relying on the informative and resourceful trading tips from stock broker firms is highly advised.

With a bit of research on the World Wide Web, you can find that there are stock brokerage firms out there which continually proffer nifty tips, intraday tips etc. with precision to the tune of 99.99%. It is imperative not to fall for them and do a research on your own as to the profile of the stock brokerage firm, its history, accuracy of its trading tips testimonials of satisfied clients and overall discipline of the organization. The volatile and impulsive share market can bring about huge profits or huge losses (the risk associated with investing in shares is high which can sometimes back fire).

But before you plunge into any major decisions pertaining to choosing of a specialist stock brokerage firm, you should take some time researching into the assortment of factors that will prove if your verdict is a well versed and a balanced one. Thus it is imperative to take the help of expert share broking firms to lay your hands on precise and pertinent share nifty trading tips, option tips, stock tips, share tips etc. to make sure you are in the right path of huge ROI (Return on Investment). So it is utterly imperative to do a bit of intricate research on the World Wide Web pertaining to the stock broker firm’s profile, its history, proven track record, list of satisfied clients and the accuracy of their calls and tips to make sure they are the best out there. But as there is no certain guarantee, it will be foolish of you if you invest more than you can afford to lose in the unpredictable share market.