The Theory and Practice of Change Management

by John Hayes

This is a core textbook for all courses in change management. It examines all of the key theories on organizational change and applies them to organizational settings to demonstrate how strategies can be devised and employed to help manage organizational change and the issues it precipitates. Taking quite a practical approach, students are helped to apply theory to real-world scenarios through the use of experiential learning and cases.

Genres: Business, Management

401 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive textbook on change management

The preface to this book says it was “originally written for practicing managers and for M.B.A. students and others who have considerable experience of working in organizations.” That is a great goal, but make no mistake: this is a textbook, with all the good and bad that term implies. On the positive side, it means that author John Hayes is extremely expert, complete and methodical. He defines all the terms, summarizes all the research, and breaks all the chapters into units complete with case studies, diagrams and concluding summaries. On the negative side, it means this book can be very slow-going in spots, the style is sometimes academic and, especially in the early chapters, the author tends to emphasize broad theoretical frameworks rather than tools you can apply immediately. Hayes does get to specific suggestions later in the book and they are quite useful, but getAbstract recommends his comprehensive tome primarily to students of change management and to patient practitioners. Those who want to learn change management will come away far better informed, but not without working at it.

[Richard Newton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very solid book, and well written. If you are after an encyclopaedic review of lots of change materials, all properly referenced then this may well be the book for you. It is certainly more accessible than some other academic books on the subject. However, if you are after practical guidance of delivering change then I think this is less likely to work for you - it is not that the advice is not here, there is lots and lots here, but it is hard to make it into a cohesive view for a change manager of "so what should I do now?".

[Wilbert Mutoko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book with specific illustrations

[Dr Mohamed Ibrahim, MBA, Ph.D · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is very thoroughly; not easy to read and understand the ideas clearly. If you are at the beginning of reading on Change Management topic, so it will not be your first choice; it is dedicated to the professionals in the field. I've read it as part of my MBA program at the GUC Egypt.

Mohamed Ibrahim