Book Review: Making Sense of Change Management

Sixty years on from the creation of the NHS and 25 years on from the Griffiths report, the pace and complexity of change for staff, managers and patients show no signs of abating. If those years have taught us anything it is that there is no single approach, no standard tick box for how to manage change.

The subtitle to Cameron and Green’s informative book is “a complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change” and the text provides a wealth of knowledge on both the theory and application of change across organisations.

The first half of the book addresses the many frameworks for and approaches to change management in a considered but very readable way, including question sets for readers to reflect on their own situation as well as exploring the styles and skills needed to be a leader of change.

With the exception of a rather lightweight section on IT-based process change, which feels bolted on the end, the book’s strength for practising managers is in the second half, where the authors apply several of the approaches to specific types of change.

The sections on restructuring and mergers and acquisitions are strong and relevant to a public sector that often seems to announce structural change with little apparent planning of its impact.

Neither a deep academic textbook - although it is the core text for the accreditation group APMG’s Principles of Change Management certification - nor a superficial top 10 glossy business book, it is an accessible and thought provoking read.

Nick Mellors is lead consultant in change management with DBI Consulting.