Title: Creating support for a change in strategy

Authors: Johannes B. Crol

Addresses: Bankaplein 1A, Postbus 85690, 2508 CJ's Gravenhage, Holland

Abstract: People are the heart of the organisation. ||They make things happen, they make things better||. Therefore it is vital that as many employees as feasible are involved and participate in a change of strategy. Other stakeholders could even be involved; customers, suppliers, and shareholders. Three cases will be described where the involvement of the employees from the beginning was crucial for the outcome. The success in all cases began with taking people seriously, with listening to their ideas, valuing their creativity, with taking actions and showing that people count. In changing strategy it is necessary to go beyond the standard approaches, if the goal is to obtain new ideas and support for the changes. In the article, some practical methods are described to do so. Thinking about the future of an organisation with a broad group of people is a more and more accepted and used method. An additional advantage is that one will usually find new and better solutions. The creativity of people is used and valued. Scenarios are a way to open up minds to think about unthinkable situations and to find solutions for them. Better preparation for the future is another very positive effect. Thinking about core competencies focuses even more on the value of people in an organisation.

Keywords: change of strategy; core competence; creativity; people; scenarios.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2000.002833

International Journal of Technology Management, 2000 Vol.19 No.6, pp.586-596

Published online: 07 Jul 2003 *

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