Survey and Research Data 

Piecemeal reorganisations common in UK

In a 2003 UK survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, some 800 private and public sector CEO's and HR Managers reported the following concerning recent reorganisations:

• 85% involved a reduction in the workforce
• 66% lead to the recruitment of new employees
• 40% failed to show any real improvement in performance
• An average of seven corporate-wide reorganisations had been experienced by respondents over the previous three years
• Piecemeal change was common
• Reorganisation processes involved significant changes for individuals however commonly no adjustment was made to career and reward structures
• Only 40% of reorganisations were completed on time, and 60% were within budget
• 27% of organisations offered training to those involved in reorganisations
• 70% reported that the attitudes, behaviours and capabilities of senior management were enablers of change, while 25% reported that these were a constraint. [13] 

Change management priorities

In 2006 results from a survey of 181 senior-level executives from the U.S. heavy manufacturing industry were published.  Respondents were asked to identify a successful change initiative with which they had first-hand experience. In connection with this they were asked to answer the following question, "Based on your experience with the successful improvement initiative, what were the specific factors that you believed were critical to the success of the endeavour?" The following replies are ranked in order of preference; the percentages of responses for each factor are also recorded: [14 ]

Organisations spend more on change management

In response to a Cedar 2003 Workforce Technologies survey  [15] concerning Human Resource Information System (HRIS) practices, findings from the 328 respondents (90% of which were North American organisations) included the following comparisons between the spending in 2002 and 2003:

a) Organisations spent 150% more money on change management in 2003 than in 2002 in response to increased workforce technologies.

b) HRIS technology investment averages over all respondent organisations for 2003:

• Implementation Services - External $ 267,280 (up 22%)
• Implementation Services - Internal $ 267,717 (up 16%)
• Marketing (employee communications) $ 155,825 (up 162%)
• Total HRIS technology investment average over all respondent organisations between 500 - 999 employees was up by at least 261% in 2003 at the time of the study.

 Change management - reasons for change

A 2005 survey concerning change management which involved 197 Singaporean SME executives revealed the following:

A. Percentages of organisations implementing change over the previous 3 years

• Restructuring of operations (57.7%)
• Expanding/decreasing workforce (51.8)
• Incorporating new technologies (51.8)
• Change of mission (51.8)
• Major collaboration (50.0)
• Engaging professional consultants (49.7)
• Change of market/products (49.0) 

B.  Percentage of organisations planning to implement changes over the next 3 years

• Restructuring of operations (57.4%)
• Expanding/decreasing workforce (53.8)
• Incorporating new technologies (51.8)
• Change of mission (44.3)
• Major collaboration (54.4)
• Engaging professional consultants (46.9)
• Change of market/products (51.3)
• 94.4 % took 2 years or less to plan changes, (36%) took 6 to 11 months, and (29.2 %) took less than 6 months. [16]

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