A while back, that unstoppable author on CSR Wayne Visser invited me to write an entry on change management for the updated 2010 edition of his A-Z of Corporate Social Responsibility. What a great opportunity! Not having a very clear picture of the readership, I began by justifying the inclusion of the topic.
Some businesses are very good at CSR. Others find it a struggle or are only just beginning. If you want to improve an organisation, then you want to change it. Sometimes the scale of improvement which environmental champions or others want to see is quite large. So far-reaching organisational change may be desired.
What do we know about how organisations change, and how organisational change can be managed - or catalysed and steered?
The article goes on to contrast ideas about planned organisational change with perspectives which see change as an emergent phenomenon. It also looks at what changes, when an organisation changes, drawing on Schein's three levels of culture.
And as you'd expect, there are signposts to some practical advice.
What did I miss?
If I'm asked to do an update for a future edition, what changes should I make to the article?
Further reading
You can buy a copy here (NB Amazon don't seem to be able to distinguish this 2010 edition from the previous edition).
I've also posted a slide show which develops some of these thoughts, which you can reach via this blog entry.