![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/change-academy\/files\/2011\/11\/Change-kent-outline1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIt is rather easy to copy the received wisdom about change and how it should be \u2018done\u2019. However it is sensible to challenge many of our assumptions which, whilst perhaps being well-established and apparently plausible, are actually incorrect (Herrero, 2006). We need to take care; if we follow the wrong assumptions, we are likely to make mistakes.<\/p>\n
John MacDonald, a leading management practitioner and writer, who sadly died earlier this month, frequently challenged what he saw as \u2018Mindless Change\u2019 – where each new fad leaves \u201canother layer of barnacles that in time encrust the organisation and impede progress\u201d. His observations remain relevant in the current climate of change in Higher Education – how do we avoid the crush of ‘initiative overload’?. MacDonald tells us that organisations need to get back to managing the ‘business,’ organically incorporating only those changes and practices that can actually improve their operations.\u00a0 For us, this means improving value for students.<\/p>\n
We shouldn\u2019t view the university as a management machine that is impervious to anything other than a major overhaul. Instead we should see things as a human system: people, the work that we do, the interactions we have with each other, the physical environment that we create and use. These are the routes to change.<\/p>\n
Stephen Covey\u2019s famous \u20187 habits of highly effective people\u2019 calls us to think about how we, as individuals, can influence wider change through our own behaviour and choices.<\/p>\n
When we consider change, we need to keep in mind the question:<\/p>\n
\u201cwhy are we doing it like this \u2013 is there a better way?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some helpful sources of reading relating to this blog include:<\/p>\n Covey, S. (1989) 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Simon & Shuster, New York, NY.<\/p>\n Herrero, L. (2006) Viral Change, meetingminds, UK.<\/p>\n MacDonald, J. (1998) Calling a Halt to Mindless Change, Amacom, UK<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018Change\u2019 is a hot topic, sometimes exciting and engaging, but all too often an issue which leads to disappointment, frustration, uncertainty; even suspicion, fear and resentment. \u00a0Concerns may be raised from the direct impact that changes have on people\u2019s work life, but are also often caused by the way change is implemented or the expectations … Continue reading Kick out the old assumptions about change<\/span>