Change capability in the agile organisation

IES Perspectives on HR 2018

With organisations being encouraged to embrace 'agile', this IES paper considers the challenges of large-scale change, and how organisations can become both change-ready and change-capable, in order to thrive in today's fast-paced environment.

With recent examples of large UK organisations that have struggled to adapt effectively to changes in both internal and external environments, the paper highlights that, for employees in many organisations, change fatigue is a reality. Only by engaging the human aspects of change will organisations be able to become change-ready and change-capable and ensure their ability to respond effectively to change.

The paper analyses the latest evidence on change and change-readiness, encouraging the view that, in order for large-scale change initiatives to succeed, organisations must engage the human, emotional aspects of change. It considers questions at the heart of a joint research project between IES and Henley Forum which is exploring how to develop change-capable teams.