Confusion about the difference between a Change Management methodology, tool, framework and model

Confusion about the difference between a Change Management methodology

, tool, framework and model

It is quite amazing to see the confusion that reigns among experienced change practitioners about the concept of what a Change Management (CM) methodology really is.

The terms used in a haphazard fashion includes methodologies, tools, frameworks and models. Now there is a vast difference between these concepts and it will be to our advantage as change practitioners if we clear up this confusion so that we all talk the same language.

I will therefore start the process of clearing up any confusion by quoting a passage from my newly written e-book called "Change Management Critical Success Factors and Best Practices" that was published last week.

Here follows an extract:

"METHODOLOGY consists of processes or procedures to guide actions over time.

Wikipedia offers the following definition:

"Method can be defined as a systematic and orderly procedure or process for attaining some objective.

Methodology doesn't describe specific methods; nevertheless it does specify several processes that need to be followed. These processes constitute a generic framework. They may be broken down in sub-processes, they may be combined, or their sequence may change. However any task exercise must carry out these processes in one form or another."

A methodology may be rigid or flexible with opportunity for customization and adaptation. It is the flexible and customizable type of methodology that is required in change management.

Examples of change management methodologies are:

Prosci Change Management Methodology

Change Leader's Roadmap from Being First Inc

Kotter's 8 step process

Change Acceleration Process (CAP)

Creating, Accelerating, Sustaining (CAS)

Accelerating Change and Transition process (ACT)

Rapid Continuous Improvement (RCI)

Accelerated Implementation Management (AIM)

And many others

TOOLSaccording to Wikipedia are devices that can be used to produce or achieve something, but that is not consumed in the process. Colloquially a tool can also be a procedure or process used for a specific purpose.

In change management tools usually address particular interventions that form part of, or are under guidance of, the methodology and often address people or culture issues, but could also be pragmatic exercises for getting the work done on the ground.

Examples of tools could be:

Appreciative Inquiry

Prosci's ADKAR tool

Open Space

Future Search

Kuebler Ross Grief Cycle

Force Field Analysis

Etc

Or practical exercises, questionnaires, analyses, etc. in support of the specific action actions implemented through the methodology.

FRAMEWORKS on the other hand are static representations of reality at any given moment, and are conceptual. They are great for diagnostics, great at helping people understand what areas they should focus on, and lousy at guiding changefor they do not guide actions over time and that is exactly what change is. (Definition by Dean Anderson of Being First Inc)

Examples of frameworks are:

The McKinsey 7-S Model

The Burke-Litwin Model

Etc.

Models are similar to frameworks. Here is a one definition of a model:

A schematic description of a system, theory, or phenomenon that accounts for its known or inferred properties and may be used for further study of its characteristics

(Source: www.FreeDictionary.com)

The important thing is that a model is NOT a methodology!"

More about this in the e-book "Change Management Success Factors and Best Practices"

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