Overview
This page describes “how” some changes might be approached in the city government of Sallisaw – or other cities. My book’s concepts apply to changes within government – not just business.
Four types of change
The four types of change reviewed here are imperative, compliance, suspect, and provocative change.
(Download or view my 2005 book Provocative Business Change for detailed descriptions.)
Imperative Change
Imperative change involves pre-emptive planning and urgent action. Ideally, thoughtful pre-emptive planning and preparedness lessen the impact of a crisis or other unexpected circumstances.
Predict > Prevent > Prepare > Perform > Post Action
In a perfect world, crises would be rare. Even so, a wide variety of high-impact and urgent needs do arise. These temporarily consume resources that are otherwise allocated elsewhere.
Even with pre-emptive plans, these changes require strong leadership, exceptional communication, internal organizational alignment, and the possible enlistment of external resources. Examples include:
- Natural disasters
- Contamination
- Public health
- Public safety
- Data breach
- Criminality
- Outages
These reactionary changes should emphasize prediction, prevention, and preparedness. Of the 51 steps described in the book, these are the most vital:
Predict
1. Prepare the Team
4. Define Scope
7. Clarify the Objectives
11. Identify the Stakeholders
12. Make a Communication Plan
16. Create a Contingency Plan
Prevent
18. List the Main Features of the Crisis
20. Make a Supply Chain/Logistics Plan
22. Outline Business Processes
Prepare
24. Coordinate Departments
26. List Basic Job Functions
28. Make a Prototype
31. Try out the Prototype
33. Write Procedures and Policies
36. Draft Training Material
42. Make Job Aids
Perform
43. Keep up the communication
46. Perform Procedures (Take action)
Post Action
51. Respond to Organization Transition Issues
Compliance Change
Compliance change is mandatory or required by a law, regulation, ordinance, or code. Compliance changes often stir up resistance and can be caustic if not managed well. Considerations for compliance efforts often include mandatory timelines, changes in approach and processes, and sometimes a permanent reallocation of resources.
These changes likely involve and benefit from legal and practical interpretations early on. If the interpretation of this type of change is wrong, the next steps will veer from what is needed.
These changes warrant caution when implementing different processes without first considering stakeholder impacts, the need for employee training, and thoughtful communication.
Interpret > Communicate > Process Design > Train > Adapt Processes
Compliance change can be recognized in business without a clearly defined business benefit. In government, compliance changes most commonly produce benefits for portions of the citizenry but not neccessarily all citizens. Examples include:
- New federal law
- New regulatory
- New state law
- New local ordindance
These required changes should emphasize communication, training, and process adaptation. Of the 51 steps described in the book, these are the most vital:
Interpret
1. Prepare the Team
4. Define Scope
7. Clarify the Objectives
10. Create a List of Project Goals
Communicate
11. Identify the Stakeholders
12. Make a Communication Plan
13. Make a Project Plan
14. Get Management Approval
Process Design
15. Discover the Issues
18. List Main Features of the Change
22. Outline Business Processes
24. Coordinate Departments
27. Identify Job Relationships
28. Make a Prototype
31. Try out the Prototype
33. Write Procedures and Policies
34. Demonstrate the Change
35. Advertise Test Results
36. Draft Training Material
Train
37. Define Training Program
38. Make a Scorecard
39. Counsel the Stakeholder Groups
40. Identify Human Resource Programs
41. Finalize Training Material
42. Make Job Aids
43. Keep up the Communication
44. Get Approval to Implement
45. Deliver Training
Adapt Processes
46. Put in Procedures
47. Provide Follow-up Support
48. Monitor the Change
49. Examine Business Results
51. Respond to Organization Transition Issues
Suspect Change
Suspect change tends to be discretionary and can be characterized as not having well defined citizenry benefit. In an ideal situation, these changes would not be funded until such benefits are defined and compared to alternative uses of funds and resources. 
Without a clarified and defensible benefit, suspect changes should be shut down or deferred early in the process. While commercial organizations have processes in-place to identify suspect projects, government enterprises are at a greater risk for allowing suspect change (or projects) to slip through the cracks.
Sponsorship > Costs > Benefits > Comparison > Selection
More emphasis on prudence and fiduciary responsibility can result in careless misuse of government assets. These are sometimes called “pork barrel” projects in government. They might be a leader’s personal pet project. Another form of this can be the awarding of contracts to vendors without a fair evaluation of all applicants.
Transparency in sponsorship, accountability, and rationality is not just important; it’s crucial. These elements play a significant role in minimizing questionable project spending. The front end and back end of the change process have elevated importance. Calculating cost/benefit and comparing it to other ways to spend the budget might help shape a questionable initiative into improved benefits at lower costs.
The selection process of outside vendors is also crucial. Sponsors must be separated from selection criteria and vendor appeals. In an ideal world, this would be unnecessary. But in reality, there are temptations to bias a selection toward a favored vendor in several ways.
Signs of a questionable (suspect) change include:
- Unclear community benefit
- Uses non-objective criteria
- Muddied sponsorship
- Unclear accountability
- Poor project management discipline
- Resistance to status reporting
- Inadequate notice to potential vendors
- Deflection or misdirection
- Encumbering important efforts with earmarks
Clarification of “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves” sometimes get confused. Justification of any “must-haves” deserves discussion and critique. Weighted criteria with concrete definitions of vendor scores help make competition fair and unbiased. Develoment of RFI and RFP documents should NEVER be influenced or originated by a vendor.
These questionable changes should emphasize transparency, cost/benefit comparisons, and vendor selection. Of the 51 steps described in the book, these are the most vital:
Sponsorship (reject or defer if these are not clarified)
1. Prepare the Team
2. Make a Vision Statement
3. Find Business Opportunity
4. Define Scope
Cost & Benefit (reject project until these are satisfield)
5. List Cost and Benefit
6. Quantify Cost and Benefit
7. Clarify the Objectives
10. Create a List of Project Goals
11. Identify the Stakeholders
12. Make a Communication Plan
13. Make a Project Plan
14. Get Management Approval
Comparison (reject or defer if these are not performed)
15. Discover the Issues
16. Create a Contingency Plan
18. List Main Features of the Change
20. Make a Supply Chain/Logistics Plan
23. Draft User Wish List
24. Coordinate Departments
Selection (stop project until previous steps are achieved)
25. Promote the Project
28. Make a Prototype
31. Try out the Prototype
34. Demonstrate the Change
35. Advertise Test Results
38. Make a Scorecard
44. Get Approval to Implement
48. Monitor the Change
49. Examine Business Results
Provocative Change
Provocative change represents the most common operational change in most organizations today, including the government. These changes account for a significant portion of budgeted project expenses in a fiscal year. They are sometimes broad and sweeping, but they are often contained within one or two functions of the organization.
Too frequently, a change of this type tries to communicate itself as an organizational imperative—one that has a clearly defined benefit and is also required for “survival.” These changes are provocative for several reasons—most significantly, often there are winners and losers–or the perception of such. Even when everyone wins, some win more than others.
While these changes may not be imperative, they are sufficiently justifiable with clear sponsorship and a potential for significant benefits. It’s important to remember that a provocative change, while not a required set of actions, could still yield substantial advantages. The time, effort, and resources could alternatively be used toward an alternative project.
Define > Design > Develop > Deliver
However, in a provocative change, several different approaches could frequently be taken to achieve similar results. The triple constraint of time, cost, and quality comes into play.
Aggressive timelines often negatively impact either cost or quality. Demands for the highest quality either cost more or take longer. Insistence on the lowest cost jeopardizes the length of completion or quality of the results. Defining and agreeing on these constraints can be difficult discussions. Almost always, it is unreasonable to have the lowest cost, in the fastest time, with the highest quality. In business, this is called “pick two.” The third constraint has to be sacrificed somewhat.
These changes can be broadly categorized into internal changes, which occur within the government enterprise, and external changes, which can impact segments of people, portions of geography, physical features, and the use of cultural symbols.
- On-going process improvements
- Putting accounting controls in place
- New employee evaluation methods
- Installing new technology
- Succession plannning
- Most Human Resources actions
- Deciding which equipment to purchase
- Relocating departments
- Changes in work area arrangements
- Constructing community facilities
The complete list of 51 tasks apply to a provocative change. But several of these steps are almost always appropriate:
Define
1. Prepare the Team
3. Find Business Opportunity
4. Define Scope
5. List Cost and Benefit
6. Quantify Cost and Benefit
7. Clarify the Objectives
Design
9. Adopt a Methodology and Team Process
10. Create a List of Project Goals
11. Identify the Stakeholders
12. Make a Communication Plan
13. Make a Project Plan
14. Get Management Approval
15. Discover the Issues
17. Learn About the People
18. List Main Features of the Change
22. Outline Business Processes
23. Draft User Wish List
Develop
24. Coordinate Departments
25. Promote the Project
26. List Basic Job Functions
27. Identify Job Relationships
28. Make a Prototype
31. Try out the Prototype
32. Find Organization Design Opportunity
33. Write Procedures and Policies
34. Demonstrate the Change
35. Advertise Test Results
36. Draft Training Material
37. Define Training Program
38. Make a Scorecard
39. Counsel the Stakeholder Groups
40. Identify Human Resource Programs
41. Finalize Training Material
42. Make Job Aids
Deliver
43. Keep up the Communication
44. Get Approval to Implement
45. Deliver Training
46. Put in Procedures
48. Monitor the Change
49. Examine Business Results
50. Have a Celebration
51. Respond to Organization Transition Issues
Conclusion
The page describes different types of changes that can occur within a city government or other governmental organizations. It outlines four main types of change: imperative, compliance, suspect, and provocative change.
Imperative change involves urgent planning and action, such as in response to natural disasters or public safety issues.
Compliance change is mandatory and required by law, often involving changes in processes and resource allocation.
Suspect change is discretionary and should only be pursued if its benefits are well-defined and compared to alternative uses of funds and resources.0
Provocative change involves making deliberate and bold changes that challenge the status quo and traditional practices within government organizations.
The text emphasizes the importance of careful planning, communication, and consideration of stakeholder impacts for successful implementation of these changes.
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(c) John A. Honeycutt, 2024 All rights reserved.