Business Environment – The only constant is unrelenting change

The only constant in today’s business environment is unrelenting change.

Amid mounting complexity, the old playbook no longer works. Although known concepts might appear from a distance to need just an update and a bit of adaptation, organizations that take this approach risk becoming wrapped up in a never-ending stream of change that soaks up management capacity and weakens the company.

The old procedures and approaches no longer work for a host of reasons:

• Increasing demands from top management and other stakeholders
• An increasingly complex regulatory environment, especially internationally, which often affects not just HR but also other parts of the company
• More cross-border coordination among social partners, as well as increased professional support for them
• Streamlined HR organizations that have no additional capacity to handle extra projects
• An increasing number of projects, with a correspondingly higher number of interdependencies

Data from the European Monitoring Centre on Change shows that the number of transformations in Europe continues to increase, rising by as much as 17 percent from 2010 through 2014. (See Exhibit 1.) Yet many experts argue that most transformations are not successful—a view supported by our own data. That’s all the more reason to start thinking about how transformations can succeed.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at bcg.perspectives – The Transformation Trap: The Smart and Simple Way to Avert HR Risk