Unanticipated consequences of planned change can occur when employees react unpredictably, technologies do not work as expected, marketplace changes do not happen as expected, or other actors respond unexpectedly.

Sources of Unanticipated Consequences in Planned Change

Unplanned change sometimes occurs as a byproduct of a planned change process because leaders cannot anticipate all the consequences of a planned change effort. Employees, technologies, marketplace changes, or other actors may behave in unanticipated ways.

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Planned change is an intentional activity or set of intentional activities designed to create movement toward a specific goal or end. Planned change processes often involve large groups of people and proceed through step-by-step or phase-by-phase activities over time.

Planned Change

Unplanned change is unintentional and is usually the result of informal organizing. It may or may not serve the aims of the organization as a whole, and it may be completely spontaneous when employees in part of an organization want to initiate change.

Unplanned Change

OpenStax Principles of Management. Source pages used for organizational culture, corporate culture, and management topics. https://openstax.org/books/principles-management

Principles of Management - OpenStax

OpenStax Organizational Behavior. Source pages used for organizational culture and organizational change topics. https://openstax.org/books/organizational-behavior

Organizational Behavior - OpenStax

Effective leaders usually identify clear objectives for planned change, the specific activities that will achieve those objectives, and the indicators of success.

Leader Activities for Planned Change

Unplanned Change as a Byproduct of Planned Change

Some change models are designed to take advantage of the potential for spontaneous organizing among employees.

Change Models That Leverage Spontaneous Employee Organizing

Unplanned change can be harnessed as a positive force when employees are invited to be proactive about working toward common organizational goals.

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