Change management practices: Impact on perceived change results

a r t i c l e i n f o Management literature frequently proposes the use of a set of managerial practices in order to facilitate the management of organizational change processes. This paper analyses differences in perception in the use of such practices, between change strategists and change receptors, and the impact these practices have on the outcomes of organizational change programs and on organizational results, in a sample of 90 organizations in Chile. Results show that, for the same change processes, change strategists report a higher use of change management practices than change receptors. Results also show that, during organizational change processes, firms use more frequently practices related to the change preparation stage in comparison to practices related to the change implementation stage. Finally, results show that, after controlling for organizational size, change program intensity, and service versus manufacturing industries, the use of change management practices has a significant impact on the accomplishment of the change program objectives and deadlines, but results do not show an impact on perceived organizational outcomes (changes in sales, financial results of the firm, operational productivity, and employee performance). Today's organizations experience frequent, diverse and intense change through practices such as processes redesign, restructuring, mergers, acquisitions and total quality programs. Organizations put these programs into practice in an attempt to anticipate or adapt to external forces such as new technologies, markets or legislations, or internal forces such as changes in staff, or tuning of policies and procedures. Academic and professional literature propose a set of managerial practices that better support the enactment of organiza-among others). Nevertheless significant gaps in the understanding of both how these practices work, and in their effectiveness exist (Doyle et al., 2000; Lewis et al., 2006). This study is an empirical research on change management practices (CMPs) which expands current literature in three ways. First an analysis is made of the differences in the perceptions of two groups of employees about the use of CMPs during organizational change processes: Those in charge of planning the change program (change strategists) and those employees who receive the impact of the change program (change receptors). Second, previous research results (Raineri, 1998), that show that firms use more frequently CMPs related to the change preparation stage rather than CMPs more closely related to the implementation stage of change processes, are tested. Third and finally, the paper assesses the impact these change management …