Change Kaleidoscope was developed by Hope Hailey & Balogun (2002) to be a way of pulling together and codifying the wide range of contextual features and implementation options that require consideration during change. In this sense Change kaleidoscope is more of a model than a method, but it is usable tool for conceptualizing the nature of change.
What is it?
By its design, the model represents a comprehensive framework which deals with all of the factors that the authors deemed significant by the literature. The kaleidoscope model was used for the first time to retrospectively analyse a change program undertaken in a foremost pharmaceutical company.
The kaleidoscope contains an outer ring which is concerned with the features of the change context that can either enable or constrain change, and an inner ring that contains the menu of implementation options open to change agents. Understanding of the contextual features enables change agents to judge the appropriateness of any approach for their particular context. (Hope Hailey & Balogun 2002)
The eight contextual features of the change kaleidoscope are:
| Time: | How quickly is change needed? Is the organisation in crisis or is it concerned with longer-term strategic development? |
|---|---|
| Scope: | What degree of change is needed? Does the change affect the whole organisation or only part of it? |
| Preservation: | What organisational assets, characteristics and practices need to be maintained and protected during change? |
| Diversity: | Are the different staff / professional groups and divisions within the organisation relatively homogeneous or more diverse in terms of values, norms and attitudes? |
| Capability: | What is the level of organisational, managerial and personal capability to implement change? Is there a need to improve this capability before the change process can be started? |
| Capacity: | How much resource can orgnaisation invest in the proposed change in terms of cash, people and time? |
| Readiness for change: | How ready for change are the employees within the organisation? Are they both aware of the need for change and motivated to deliver changes? |
| Power: | Where is the power vested within the organisation? How much latitude of discretion does the unit needing to change and the change leader possess? |
How is it used?
The change kaleidoscope has been used in several case studies as a tool for analysis in industries such as administration and system services outsourcing, IT management consulting, pharmaceutics, newspaper and magazine distribution and banking. There is however no evidence found that this model has been used as a precursor to change rather than a retrospective analytical model (Bulsara 2006).
What does it tell?
The strength of the kaleidoscope lies in its recognition of the complexity of change and the need for change designs to be context sensitive. Because the framework is context sensitive it can be used as a tool even if the context that it will be applied is different of that of the author originally developed it for. Hope & Balogun (2002) suggest that the kaleidoscope is primarily a mechanism for dealing with planned change. They continue that the framework is most appropriate when there is a particular end goal that is to be achieved, and less applicable where change processes are deliberately designed to be open ended and evolving. In other words, change kaleidoscope suits best when change is transitional in its nature.
It has been noted that in order to derive a complete design of the change process, change kaleidoscope needs to be used in combination with other models and frameworks like Cultural Web or some of the multi-stage models.
Download Change kaleidosscope.pdf (123.8K)Read more:
Hope Hailey V, Balogun,J., (2002), 'Devising context sensitive approaches to change: the example of Glaxo Wellcome.', Long Range Planning, 35(2), p.153-178
