Ready or not

Abstract

Several authors argue there is a clear correlation between the level of an organization's change readiness and the successful management of change. Based on primary data, collected through a series of interviews with managers representing the UK tourism industry, this article provides a critical evaluation of Armenakis and colleague's change readiness framework. Although supporting many of the main suggestions made by Armenakis and colleagues, the article complements the original framework. It suggests a fourth message conveying strategy (implicit communication), a stronger emphasis on the importance of continuous change management and a more explicit link between change readiness and the successful management of change. Furthermore, the article argues that change management should focus on performance rather than conformance. Thus, it suggests there are only two approaches to organizational change management: the conscious and the unconscious. The former approach, which can consist of any of the conventional approaches to change management, advocates continuous change readiness.