The Importance of Change Management in Supply Chain

A ccording to Wikipedia, change management is a structured approach to shifting/ transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. It is an organizational process aimed at empowering employees to accept current 5Copyright © 2012 Journal of Business Forecasting | All Rights Reserved | Summer 2012 and embrace changes in their business environment. In supply chain, advancing technology, tremendous growth rates in developing countries, and a global perspective are all resulting in rapid changes. Thus, the importance of managing change well is at the forefront of today’s supply chain challenges. Figure 1 | Triad of Operational Excellence From a macro perspective, two things occur when we do not manage change well. First, we do not receive the expected ROI (Return on Investment) for the efforts we put in. Second, without a change management process, the benefits we receive from a change are short-lived because as soon as the focus is removed, people tend to revert back to the old ways of doing things. Therefore, to better manage change, we must first understand the key components in the overall approach. Figure 2 | Supply Chain Value ...