Why is Change Management important?

Virtually all projects need people to do something different before they can realise their benefits. This may be to use different technology, follow different processes, cooperate with new people, or behave differently.

Experienced project managers know that this can be one of the difficult aspects of a project, and, yet, many project management methodologies are silent on this or take a fairly superficial approach. PRINCE2™ admits that it does not cover this area at all.

Some recent studies have confirmed the importance of Change Management.

• A 2002 McKinsey study showed that the Return on Investment for a project was over four times higher when Change Management was included in the initiative. This study covered about 40 organisations.
• A 2004 survey by PriceWaterhouse Coopers, revealed an undeniable correlation between project performance, .... and change management. This study covered about 200 organisations.
• Discussing a 2007 survey of over 400 organisations across the world - “Projects with excellent change management programs met or exceeded objectives 88% of the time, while projects with poor change management met or exceeded objectives only 17% of the time." - Tim Creasey, Prosci's Centre for Change Management

These three surveys come to a remarkably similar conclusion. The return on investment for a project that uses Change Management is about four times higher than one that doesn't.