How the function of change management is structured within organizations

The function of change management is often structured and funded differently across corporations. In that respect, United Nations organizations are no different.

Indeed, change management is spread across a large range of units and departments within those organizations represented in the UN System survey. Formal UN change managers sit in various departments and units and work in teams of different configurations comprising full-time and part-time staff and consultants. A majority of organizations surveyed can also count on informal change makers through change agent networks.

Outside of personnel costs, funding for change management activities is not a given across UN entities surveyed. There is an almost even split among respondents regarding the presence or absence of budgets for activities relating to their change management initiatives. 

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Where do change managers sit structurally?

Change managers surveyed sit in a wide range of structural locations across UN entities. Provided with a choice of answers (see graph), some 40 per cent of respondents said they are located in a transformation office/unit or in a central change management function, whereas 16 per cent are located in programme/operations and 11 per cent in human resources. The rest are distributed across an array of units or departments. Information and technology, which comprises enterprise resource planning, collected by far the highest among “other” responses. 

Which units and departments have change management responsibilities?
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The structural set up of change management functions varies across the UN organizations surveyed, with many units and departments engaging in change management as part of their work.

Some organizations can count on a central change management function, sometimes called Change Management Office (CMO). Ten per cent of respondents indicate the presence of such a function. Two report such a function is being created. One respondent said one is planned. However, from previous internal surveys, we know of more organizations with central change management functions.

In the State of Change Management in the UN System survey, change management is described as unstructured, division-based or varying according to projects or needs, when there is no centralized unit. For example, “change management is driven by organization's needs and in some instances, it impacts only certain units/sections”; or “It's done by unit and in silos. Very much in an unstructured way".

Considering digital and business transformation are the most common ongoing transformations, it is not surprising that Information and Technology Departments are most likely to include change management as part of their work.

What budgets are available for change initiatives and the Central Change Management Function?
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Across all organizations surveyed, there is an almost even split when it comes to whether respondents do (41 per cent) or do not have (38 per cent) a budget for their change initiative. However, it is worth noting that:

  • more change initiatives in larger organizations have a budget (47 per cent) compared to those in smaller organizations (35 per cent); 
  • almost half of respondents from smaller organizations (49 per cent) indicate there is no budget for their change initiatives;
  • only 20 per cent of respondents in larger organizations indicate not having a budget for their change initiatives;
  • and 21 per cent of respondents across all organization sizes indicate they don’t know if there is a budget for their change initiatives. 

 

Of the 25 respondents who answered a subsequent question about the budget size of their change initiative, 60 per cent indicated their budget exceeds $100,000. Almost a third (32 per cent) reported it is lower than $50,000.

What does the distribution of full-time and part-time change management personnel look like?

Change management teams are composed of numerous configurations of full-time and part-time staff and consultants. The size of teams ranges from a few people to a team of 45 full-time people in one organization, according to the 22 respondents who identified as the lead for the change management function for their organization. For a more detailed explanation, go to the chapter on "The people of change management in the UN system". 

How many change agent networks exist and do they have coordinators?

Change agents may not be official change management practitioners, but they are influential people who, regardless of their grade, are called upon to support change initiatives. Change agent networks are a staple of change management success and an indicator of change management maturity. More than two-thirds of respondents surveyed (67 per cent) report the presence of change agent networks in their organization. However, it is hard to ensure their systematic and sustainable presence, as a participant shared: “Networks were established in the beginning of transformation process, but they have all more or less died out. We are now trying to rebuild them and reflecting how to best do it.”

Does your organization have one or several networks of change agents or change-makers? (n=97)

Not surprisingly, 58 per cent indicate that the members of these networks engage in change management activities in addition to their normal tasks. “Building effective change agent networks and keeping them engaged when it's not in anyone's ToRs” can be a burden, said one participant in response to an open-ended question about the greatest challenges facing change management practitioners.

Of the respondents who replied that change agent networks exist in their organizations, a bit more than half (56 per cent) say these networks have coordinators. 

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How much time do coordinators spend on change agent networks?

Of the 50 respondents across all organizations who answered this follow-up question, most respondents (82 per cent) indicate that the network coordinators spend between 5 per cent and 20 per cent of time on network-related activities. Only four respondents (10 per cent) said coordinators spend half of their time supporting the network.