Explain the difference between activity-oriented and results-driven change. List the advantages of the results-driven approach to change. Characterize each of the approaches to organizational change presented in the text in terms of their apparent degree of emphasis on activities or results

One of the reasons that organizational change efforts fail is that they are activity-oriented, meaning that they primarily focus on changing company procedures, management philosophy, or employee behavior. Typically, there is much buildup and preparation as consultants are brought in, presentations are made, books are read, and employees and managers are trained. There's a tremendous emphasis on doing things the new way. But for all the focus on activities, on doing, there's almost no focus on results, on seeing if all this activity has actually made a difference.

By contrast, results-driven change supplants the sole emphasis on activity with a laser-like focus on quickly measuring and improving results. Rather than emphasizing changes in philosophy, procedures, and employee behavior, this approach emphasizes identifying and working with easily measurable dimensions associated with demonstrably successful change. As one manager put it, change is a project, not a process. This direct emphasis on measuring and improving results is the first advantage of the results-driven change approach. The second advantage is that managers introduce changes in procedures, philosophy, or behavior only if they are likely to improve measured performance. In other words, managers actually test to see if changes make a difference. A third advantage of results-driven change is that quick, visible improvements motivate employees to continue making additional changes to improve measured performance. Consequently, unlike most change efforts, the quick successes associated with results-driven change are particularly effective at reducing resistance to change.

The text identifies results-driven change, the General Electric workout, and organizational development as different change tools and techniques that can be used to create and manage organizational change. Among these approaches, the General Electric workout is a special kind of results-driven change. It is a three-day meeting that brings together managers and employees from different levels and parts of an organization to quickly generate and act on solutions to specific business problems. At the other end of the spectrum, as an activity-oriented approach, would be organizational development. Organizational development is a philosophy and collection of planned change interventions designed to improve an organization's long-term health and performance, which clearly places greatest emphasis upon process, philosophy, procedure, and behavior.