Learning to Change

A Guide for Organization Change Agents

Léon de Caluwe, Hans Vermaak

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 2002
• Print ISBN: 9780761927020
• eBook ISBN: 9781452262895
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

"A good balance between theory and practice . . . it definitely fills a void in the [lack of] texts in the area and the change literature in general . . . a good fit for my graduate class on ?Managing Organizational Change.?"

—Anthony F. Buono, McCallum Graduate School of Business, Bentley College

 

"Like Gareth Morgan?s Images of Organization, this book is a superb blend of theory and practicality. It demystifies chaos and paradox, and it encourages the understanding of organizational dynamics from multiple perspectives. It is refreshing to read a book that presents diverse theories and interventions so even-handedly."

—Andrea Markowitz, Ph.D., President, OB&D, Inc.

 

Learning to Change: A Guide for Organizational Change Agents provides a comprehensive overview of organizational change theories and practices developed by both U.S. and European change theorists. The authors compare and contrast five fundamentally different ways of thinking about change: yellow print thinking, blue print thinking, red print thinking, green print thinking and white print thinking. They also discuss in detail the steps change agents take, such as diagnosis, change strategy, the intervention plan, and interventions. In addition, they explore the attributes of a successful change agent and provide advice for career and professional development. The book includes case studies that describe multiple approaches to organizational change issues.

 

This book will appeal to both the practitioner and academic audiences. It can be used as a text in graduate courses in change management and will also be a useful reference for consultants and managers.

 

Features:

• Discusses the abilities, attitudes, and styles of successful change agents
• Describes five fundamentally different ways of thinking about change
• Presents a state-of-the-art overview of change management insights, methods, and instruments
• Summarizes an extensive amount of organizational change literature
• Supplies readers with useful insights and courses of action that will allow them to design and implement change professionally

 

Learning to Change became a bestseller upon its initial publication in the Netherlands. The color-model on change is very popular among thousands of managers and change consultants and presents a new approach to change processes and a new language for change.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Preface
• 1 - Introduction
• 2 - Why Change Is Complicated
• 3 - Thinking About Change in Five Different Colors
• 4 - The Main Elements of Planned Change
• 5 - From Idea to Outcome
• 6 - Examples of Diagnostic Models
• 7 - Examples of Interventions
• 8 - The Change Agent
• 9 - Epilogue
• Appendix 1: Five Color Glossaries
• Appendix 2: A Color Test for Change Agents
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Authors