Change Management Iceberg

Explanation of Change Management Iceberg of Wilfried Krüger.

The Change Management Iceberg of Wilfried Krüger is a strong visualization of what is arguably the essence of change in organizations: dealing with barriers.

The top of the iceberg

According to Krüger many change managers only consider the top of the iceberg: Cost, Quality and Time ("Issue Management").

Below the surface of the iceberg

However, below the surface of the water there are two more dimensions of Change and implementation Management:

Management of Perceptions and Beliefs, and
Power and Politics Management

What kind of barriers arise, and what kind of Implementation Management is consequently needed, depends on:

1. the kind of Change

- hard things "only" (information systems, processes) just scratches the surface,

- soft things also (values, mindsets and capabilities) is much more profound

2. the applied Change strategy

- revolutionary, dramatic change as in Business Process Reengineering

- evolutionary, incremental change as in Kaizen

People involved in Change

Opponents have both a negative general attitude towards change AND a negative behavior towards this particular personal change. They need to be controlled by Management of Perceptions and Beliefs to change their minds as far as possible.
Promoters on the other hand have both a positive generic attitude towards change AND are positive about this particular change for them personally. They take advantage of the change and will therefore support it.
Hidden Opponents have a negative generic attitude towards change although they seem to be supporting the change on a superficial level ("Opportunists"). Here Management of Perceptions and Beliefs supported by information (Issue management ) is needed to change their attitude.
Potential Promoters have a generic positive attitude towards change, however for certain reasons they are not convinced (yet) about this particular change. Power and Politics management seems to be appropriate in this case.

Dealing with Change

Krüger says the general management has a permanent task and challenge to deal with change. Superficial Issue Management can only achieve results at a level consistent with the acceptance that is below the surface. The base of Change Management is in both the interpersonal and behavioral dimension and the normative and cultural dimension, and is subject to Power and Politics management, and to the management of Perceptions and Beliefs.

Book: Michael A. Beitler - Strategic Organizational change -

Book: Linda Ackerman Anderson, Dean Anderson - The Change Leader's Roadmap -

Change Management Iceberg Forum

Recent User Comments

    			 
  			   Jon Strickler - USA
  	       
  		     ADKAR Model
  	  		 "The ADKAR model by Prosci (1998) helps to deal with the people dimension of change. It can be used to: 1. Diagnose employee resistance to change. 2. Help employees transition through the change process (coaching). 
3. Create an action plan for personal and professional advancement during change. 4. Develop a change management plan for your employees.

The ADKAR acronym holds that efective management of the people dimension of change requires managing five key elements:

1. Awareness of the need to change

2. Desire to participate and support the change

3. Knowledge of how to change (and what the change looks like)

4. Ability to implement the change on a day-to-day basis

5. Reinforcement to keep the change in place

For example, to prepare any change effort, you can score the status of each of the 5 elements from 1-10 and then focus first on the ones that score the lowest."
  			   
  	  		 -4