Project Portfolio Management: A View From The Management Trenches

11.2. CHANGE

As mentioned earlier, the exercise of implementing PPM is essentially a reengineering project. Reengineering implies "change". We all know how difficult change initiatives are. Change is mostly perceived as being driven by management. If the purpose of the change and the anticipated benefits are not clearly articulated, you begin to experience resistance. So what does resistance look like? The symptoms are unanticipated delays and costs, and stakeholders' just providing lip-service and not complying with the process. You'll find individuals who engage in protracted arguments or try to change the process into something that's more acceptable to them. Or they might totally disregard the process, thus undermining the implementation. The entire experience will have a negative connotation to it. These symptoms will begin to trigger the resistance to change.

Psychologist Kurt Lewin (Chew et al., 2006) offers one of the most highly regarded descriptions of organizational change, which consists of three stages: unfreeze, move, and refreeze.

• Unfreeze: Show the need for change. Minimize the barriers to change.

• Move: Actual change occurs. Maximize the opportunities to change.

• Refreeze: Crystallize new ideas and recognize the acceptance of change.

Throughout the change, managers need to ensure that accurate dissemination and sharing of relevant information is consistent throughout the organization. It means carrying out change by engaging key individuals within the organization ...