Continuing to build on the disparity between academic and practitioner in change, a study by Phillips and Klein (2022) explores the alignment between theoretical change management strategies and their practical application. These researchers identified 15 common strategies from 16 established change management models and frameworks, then surveyed 49 practitioners to assess how frequently these strategies are utilized in real-world scenarios.

Their findings indicate that while some strategies like communication, stakeholder involvement, and aligning change with organizational vision and mission are widely adopted by both theory and practice, there’s a discrepancy in the emphasis on middle management involvement (more by practitioners) and the provision of incentives (less by practitioners). Ultimately, the research highlights areas for improved dialogue and mutual understanding between academic theories and practitioner experiences in the field of change management.

Common change management strategies, as identified in the literature and through the survey of practitioners, include several key areas:

Strategy	Description
Communication	Providing all members of the organization with clear communication about the change is a strategy suggested by all models and frameworks examined. It is considered essential for change management and can involve messaging, networking, and negotiating. Communication should explain why the change is happening and be provided throughout the entire implementation process.
Stakeholder Involvement	Involving stakeholders at all levels, including senior leaders, managers, and employees, is crucial. Practitioners highly prioritize gaining support from leaders, listening to feedback from managers and employees, and adjusting strategies based on their input.
Senior Leadership Support	Gaining open support and commitment from the administration/senior leadership is a frequently suggested strategy in models and frameworks. Practitioners also highly prioritize asking senior leadership members to support the change.
Middle Management Focus	Practitioners more commonly than models suggest a focus on listening to middle managers’ concerns, asking managers for feedback to improve the change, and ensuring managers are trained to promote the change. Middle managers are seen as important communicators of change and provide direction.
Organizational Culture	Focusing on shaping organizational culture is a common strategy found in nearly all analyzed models and frameworks, and practitioners frequently implement it. Organizational culture can influence the acceptance of change and prevent a return to the status quo.
Vision and Mission Alignment	Creating a vision for the change that aligns with the organization’s mission is a highly common strategy in models and frameworks and is also frequently implemented by practitioners. This includes considering the organization’s beliefs, values, priorities, strengths, and desired public image.
Encouragement and Incentives	While rewarding new behavior and providing incentives for change are suggested by most models and frameworks, practitioners less frequently provide incentives, though they do often provide verbal or written encouragement. There might be differing interpretations of “incentives,” with practitioners potentially associating them only with monetary compensation, while training could also be considered an incentive.
Short-term Goals	Creating measurable short-term goals is another strategy practitioners use more frequently than what is commonly suggested by models and frameworks.
Training	Providing employees with training and training managers and supervisors to be change agents are also identified common strategies.

Other strategies identified in the literature include distinguishing the differences between leadership and management, preparing for unexpected shifts, creating groups or subsystems to tackle the change, concentrating on ending old habits before starting new ones, and gaining support from opinion leaders. However, some of these, like developing managers into leaders, are suggested more often by models than used by practitioners.

There are also several primary disconnects between academics and change management practitioners, as identified in the study:

Disconnect	Description
Differing Views and Terminology	Academics and practitioners view organizational change differently. This difference leads to communication difficulties due to the use of different terms. Academics typically use terms like “models,” “theories,” and “concepts,” while practitioners prefer “tools” and “techniques”. A “tool” is considered a stand-alone application, whereas a “technique” is an integrated approach.
Gap Between Prescription and Practice	There is a recognized “gap” between what the rational-linear change management approach prescribes and what change agents “do”. This disconnect can complicate the process of determining the suitability and appropriateness of different techniques for promoting change.
Practitioners Ignoring Literature/Abstract Theories	A case study revealed that change managers in companies generally ignored change literature. Instead, they were advised to relate change theories to the specific context of the change rather than using abstract theories.
Uncertainty Regarding Strategy Definitions	A limitation of the research itself is that practitioners were not provided with definitions of the strategies in the questionnaire. This means their interpretations of change management strategies may differ from academic definitions, potentially contributing to a disconnect in understanding and practice.

The identified differences in strategy use between theory and practice suggest a need for more dialog between academics and practitioners. Such dialogues could clarify terminology, help theorists understand current practitioner approaches, promote improvements in the field, and encourage modification of models to include modern approaches. The study does not suggest combining strategies into a new framework or that one model is superior to others based on the number of common strategies it contains.

It is important to note that while these strategies are commonly found in both the literature and in practice, there is little empirical evidence supporting a preferred change management model, as change is often chaotic and a universal approach may not be useful in all settings. The effectiveness of a strategy depends on the specific environment and situation.

Sources:

Phillips, J., & Klein, J. D. (2022). “Change Management: From Theory to Practice”. TechTrends, 67(1), 189–197.