John Austin, Ph.D.
Writing in HR Magazine, John Austin, Ph.D. states ?the disconnect between theory and practice is due to stakeholders? complex, seemingly irrational and often political reactions to new initiatives.?
The key to success, he claims, is anticipating stakeholder interactions and adjusting the actions and arguments to match stakeholder reactions. It helps when change can be linked to strong stakeholder values.
Austin contends that today?s human resource professionals cannot succeed without change management skills. They are in a position to sense employee concerns or disconnects between strategic visions and operations, a key perspective in managing change.
Austin cautions that successful implementation plans involve anticipating the unexpected and being ready to rapidly design a plan B. During change implementation, he cautions, count on something going wrong, or at least the unexpected.