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  • Organisational change failure

Investigating narratives of organisational change failure

Organisational change suffers from polarised depictions of success and failure, tending either to be depicted excessively positively as always succeeding or depicted negatively as change initiatives invariably failing. In recent decades, a norm has been established that 70 per cent of all organisational change initiatives fail, and this ‘statistic’ is frequently referred to by academics, consultants and practitioners. This ongoing project specifically investigates the evidence behind espoused failure rates and more generally questions the construction and espousal of organisational change failure narratives.

Project timescale

This research commenced in 2011 and is ongoing.

The influential Harvard Business Review published an assertion by two Harvard professors that ‘the brutal fact is that about 70 per cent of all change initiatives fail’ (Beer and Nohria, 2000). This project asks and answers the question – do 70 per cent of all organisational change initiatives really fail?

Project objectives

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. 

Project findings and impact

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 .


Research team

Dr Mark Hughes

Output

Hughes, M (2015) Leading changes: Why transformation explanations fail. Leadership.

Hughes, M (2014) Who killed change management? Culture and Organization.

Hughes, M (2011) Do 70 per cent of organizational change initiatives really fail? Journal of Change Management 11 (4) 451-464.

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