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Abstract:
This paper identified the most recent focal themes on change management from 2011 to 2016. The fundamental aim of this paper is to identify common themes from a broad range of change management literature as published in peer reviewed international journals. In its content it seeks to provoke thought within the profession in order to better understand current trends, basic principles and dimensions of the change. Ultimately, it is intended to inform practitioner actions and stimulate scholarly debate on the common underlying themes in change management. The approach and design of this paper identified 100 studies on change management from peer reviewed journal publications. The studies identified formed the primary data. These journal articles were searched through the internet, and classified and coded based on: Source of the journal, year of publication, key words, purpose of the study, approach design and methodology, and major findings. The approach and design of this paper identifies recent and significant developments documented as empirical studies in the field of research and learning on change management. Analysis and findings of the studies identified 10 major thematic areas: Change readiness, communication, corporate governance, culture, critical success factors, human resource functions and people issues, leadership, models, design and approaches to change, resistance and theoretical analysis. The findings revealed the top three thematic areas as: models, designs and approaches to change (56%), human resource functions and people issues (38%), and theoretical analysis (26%). Change readiness, communication and corporate governance constituted less that 10% in their respective thematic areas equally. In its quest, this paper has examined topical change management themes, focusing on the distinction and typology thematic areas on change management studies in the last five years. By and large, this study highlights core areas of change management as a profession and evolving discipline. The major perspective this paper brings is in the area of professional practice development and a consolidated overview of body of knowledge in change management in the recent past (five years) and contributes to the concept of knowledge management, defined as the sum of knowledge generally accepted on a subject for a particular discipline that would be expected of any professional within that field (Hacker, 2009).
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