Change is identified as the behavioural shift of “the organization as a whole, from one being to another”. One the other hand management of change has been identified as “the process of continually renewing an organization’s direction, structure, and capabilities to serve the ever-changing needs of external and internal customers”. In general it can be stated that change in an organisation becomes necessary when the organisation is no longer aligned to its external environment and its survival is threatened [4]. However, organizations are constantly faced with harsh competition, and therefore they are under pressure to adjust strategies, technology, processes etc. to survive. Change is a steady on-going process, and not an one-off situation. Change Management thus is the area of study that aims to facilitate the transition of individuals, teams or the whole organization by managing them. The purpose is thus to lead and guide the process from the current state to the intended future state by managing and controlling the different difficulties (especially the ones originating from the human side) in order to overcome resistance [5].

۲٫۱٫ Types of change

Change can be classified based on a number of different perspectives. Indicatively it can be characterised based on the scale of change attempted to radical and incremental change, thus it ranges from the change of a single business process to the transformation of the whole organisation. Furthermore, change can be core or peripheral. Balogun and Hope Hailey [6] classified change based on the intended outcome (transformational vs. small change) and as a function of the change process (rapid vs. incremental) in order to assess the ease and likelihood of achieving the change. Based on the matrix shown Fig. 2, change can thus be characterized as evolution (large scale change carried out over a long period of time), revolution (again large scale change that however is carried out in a very short period of time, usually as a result of externally imposed changes), adaptation (a small scale change that is brought about gradually) and finally a reconstruction (a small scale change rapidly carried out). In a similar way, Huy and Minzberg [7] classified organizational change as organic, systematic and dramatic. Fig. 2. Types of change (based on [6]). Alternatively, change can be categorised through the closely related scope and scale of an initiative. The scale defines ‘who’ or ‘what’ will be changed, whereas the scope is defined by the number of people affected. Increasing scale of a change can be described as fine tuning, incremental adjustment, modular transformation and corporate transformation [8]. Alongside this the scope can be categorised into individual, group or whole organisation. Alternatively, the view of categorising the change initiative into three classifications which merge scale and scope offers an alternative approach [9]. 1. Transformational Change – Typically takes years. embarking on a change to improve customer satisfaction 2. Bounded Change – Scope is more limited than transformational with clear boundaries. 3. Deliverable-led Change – More closely aligned with the description of a project, but can take from days to years. Depending on who originates the change and how it is introduced, change can be defined as “bottom-up” and “topdown”. Obviously, the bottom-up change originates at the lower levels of an organization and the top-down change is driven by the senior levels. Both of these present specific advantages and limitations. Bottom-up due to the fact that is designed by practitioners has credibility and can be more easily accepted by other practitioners. On the other hand though, it can take quite more time in order to be introduced and adopted across the organization, with not always predictable outcome. On the other hand, top-down change can be considered to be more structured and systematic as the whole organization is considered from the planning phase. It involves usually consultation with the responsible for implementing change. The key success factor is engaging practitioners, negotiating and agreeing the terms of change.