Investigating narratives of organisational change failure

This research commenced in 2011 and is ongoing.

The aims of this research are:

• to identify the origins and supporting evidence specifically for the 70 per cent organisational change failure rate
• to identify academic arguments against the concept of inherent organisational change failure (and success) rates
• to highlight the socially constructed nature of organisational change failure narratives. 

Published and highly-publicised instances which identified a 70 per cent organisational change failure rate were identified and critically reviewed.

• The existence of a popular narrative that 70 per cent of all organisational change initiatives fail is acknowledged yet there is no valid and reliable empirical evidence in support of such a narrative. 

Organisational change research and scholarship enables the investigation of prevalent organisational change failure narratives.

• We question the belief in inherent organisational change failure (and success) rates, in terms of ambiguities of change, the context dependent nature of change, competing perceptions, temporal aspects and measurability of change.
• Similar narratives of transformation efforts failing and requiring leadership and even the death of change requiring the intervention of consultants have been identified and critiqued.  

The benefits of this highly applied project are its relevance to postgraduate teaching and working with external university engagement clients. The project enabled a research informed approach to teaching.

Many university academics cite a 70 per cent organisational change failure rate, but Brighton Business School students are taught that there is no evidence to support this spurious statistic. The main paper (Hughes, 2011) reporting these findings is one of the most downloaded papers since The Journal of Change Management was founded. In a similar way, practitioners welcome these insights within the context of engagement work informing their practice.

Dr Mark Hughes was invited to present on the perceived and real success of organisational change initiatives at the Change Managment Institute in June 2016 .