Change Management as Driver Towards Operations and Supply Management 4.0

Change management can be defined as the sum of tasks, measures, and activities that are intended to bring about a comprehensive, cross-departmental, and far-reaching change in an enterprise or organization. Change management includes the implementation of new a mission, vision, strategies, structures, systems, processes, and behaviors in an organization. The ultimate goal of change is to obtain a long-term favorable position in the market and to gain a sustainable competitive advantage (Helmold 2020). Synonyms for change management found in literature are Business Process Reengineering, Turnaround Management, Transformation Management, Lean Management, Innovation Management, or Total Quality Management (Vahs 2019). Change is increasingly determining the everyday businesses and activities of companies. In order to manage change in the most optimal way, special change management techniques are required, which can be summarized under the term Change Management (Lauer 2019, 2020). The human factor is at the forefront of all considerations because the implementation of change depends on the active support of employees. Since everyone has their own needs, ideas, and experiences, some of which do not conform to the official company organization, there can be no simple recipe for how to successfully manage change. Rather, it is a complex process that has to start at three points: the organization and individuals concerned, the corporate structures, and the corporate culture (Lauer 2019). Another important element in the context is the technological factor including systems, routines, methods, and instruments (Helmold and Samara 2019). Figure 10.1 summarizes the elements of change management.