STRATEGIC VS. OPERATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT 2

Strategic Vs. Operational Change Management

Business organizations operate in an ever changing environment. Economic, political,
environmental, and technological forces as well as changing customer needs and increased
competition make change a constant aspect of business environment. Whether it occurs in the
internal or external environment of a business, changes often creates a new reality that a business
has to effectively if it is to survive. The response to either current or anticipatory changes within
a business organization’s environment involves the organization making its own change
initiatives. These change initiatives can either be strategic or operational. There are important
differences between the two. They also share some similarities. This article looks at the
differences and similarities of these two main change initiatives in an organization.

Differences

One of the differences between the two is the scope of change. Strategic change touches
on most, if not all, aspects of the organization. Interventions made at strategic level have an
effect on a majority of its departments (Anderson, 2016). Operational interventions, on the other
hand, are more limited in scope. They are generally carried out at the departmental level
(Anderson, 2016). For instance, the change could just affect marketing and finance departments
while the other departments continue operating without any changes.

Another important difference between strategic and operational intervention is the time
frame of the desired change. Strategic change seeks to get the desired results after a long time,
often between one to ten years (Bierema, 2014). The long duration in which objectives are to be
achieved is because of the very broad nature of the objectives. Their long time frame differs from

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operational change whose objectives often take a shorter time to achieve. Objectives of
operational change can be achieved in a matter of days, weeks, or a few months (Bierema, 2014).

The nature of the objectives of the two interventions is also different. Strategic change
seeks to increase the competitiveness of an organization through making it more effective as a
whole (Bierema, 2014). This market effectiveness can be achieved through steps such as making
acquisitions and mergers, overhauling management systems and even introducing new products
and services in the market. Operational change, on the other hand, seeks to increase the
efficiency of an organization so that it performs its operations in a better way or improves the
quality of its services and products (Bierema, 2014). This type of change is usually a response to
changing customer demands or external competition. By increasing its efficiency and service and
product delivery capabilities, an organization benefits by having more savings, less cost of
operations, timeliness, and improvement in quality and quantity of its products and services
(Cameroon & Green, 2015). Some of the changes that are operational in nature include
improving delivery of services and products, introducing new technology, improving
coordination among different departments, and re-engineering work processes (Cameroon &
Green, 2015). For instance, in a healthcare facility, operational changes may involve putting in
place measures that increase the speed at which patients are attended to or introducing a
centralized data management centre. Due to its focus on increasing efficiency, operational
changes mostly focus on the internal environment of an organization (Anderson, 2016). Strategic
change, because of its goal of increasing the competitiveness of an organization, takes a more
holistic view during both formulation and implementation. The changes, therefore, focus both in
the internal and external environment of the business (Anderson, 2016). They take into account

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competitors, the political and economic environment, labor market, suppliers, and many other
factors that have an impact on the success or failure of the organization.

Similarities

Despite these differences, strategic and operational changes share certain similarities.
Chief among them is that they both involve goal-setting (Anderson, 2016). In both cases, an
organization sets goals that are specific, measurable and achievable within a particular time
frame. It then puts in place measures to achieve them. For instance, at a strategic level, an
organization may seek to improve its competitiveness by changing its management systems so
that they are less hierarchical and leaner within five years. At an operational level, on the other
hand, an organization may seek to improve efficiency of its operations by fifty percent in two
months through deployment of new technology.

In addition to goal-setting, the two changes also focus on making the organization more
competitive (Cameroon & Green, 2015). Strategic changes increase the competitiveness of the
organization in the long term while operational changes increase competitiveness in the short
term. Thus, while measures adopted under strategic change are often future oriented, those
implemented under operational change are focused on the day to day activities of the
organization.

In any organization, change is inevitable. To remain competitive, organizations have to
keep up with political, social, technological, and economic changes that occur in their
environment. They also have to respond to internal dynamics within the organization. Thus, for
an organization to survive and achieve its objectives its leadership has to be adept at effectively
and efficiently managing these changes which are broadly classified as strategic and operational.

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Both strategic and operational changes seek to make an organization more competitive.
However, as this article highlights, there are important differences between them. They,
therefore, require different management skills to successfully implement them.

References

Anderson, D. L. (2016). Organization development: The process of leading organizational
change. Sage Publications.
Bierema, L. (2014). An introduction to organizational development. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint
Education, Inc.
Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2015). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to
the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.