Failed change efforts are commonly blamed on inadequate change management competence, which in turn drives the search for, and selection of, change management solutions — in the form of tailor-made programmes, specific actions, or sets of skills (supported by an emerging industry of approaches, methodologies and technologies). Organisational change, however, cannot be 'managed' in this way, any more effectively than individual change can be 'managed' through psychotherapy. In both cases, a process can be initiated, but its outcomes cannot be guaranteed. Attempts to achieve certainty of outcome arise from the wish to avoid pain: but they are likely to result — paradoxically — in more permanent and serious damage to the people involved.
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