Page 31 - Service Delivery Review_Volume 14_Number 3_2022

KM CoP Case Studies

How a Change Management strategy can

be used to drive organisational culture for

effective KM

In this case study Ricardo Plaatjies talks about change
management in the context of the Department of Transport
and Public Works (DTPW) of the Western Cape Provincial
Government.

Introduction: Identifying Change Agents

When we started with implementation of our change man-
agement strategy in the Knowledge Management Directo-
rate some years ago, there were a couple of prerequisites
for it to be successfully implemented. First, we had to iden-
tify our change agents. These are people who had certain
qualities about them, the most critical of which was the pas-
sion and drive for seeing KM through. Secondly, and as im-
portant as passion and drive, is that they had to have the
conviction that what they are doing will end in a positive
outcome.
Passion, drive and conviction are essential, but we acknowl-
edged that our change agents would have knowledge gaps
in driving implementation of the Change Management
Strategy. Their knowledge had to be improved through ed-
ucation and training. One of the easiest and most effective
ways of doing that was to send them for training in some of
the basic and more advanced change management meth-
odologies that we were going to use. Finally, the last factor
that we had to consider was the experience of our change do not understand is that these processes have hidden KM
agents. We found that many less experienced officials in value. In a nutshell, therefore, the goal of any KM involves
the department did not have the same influence as their the use of the three enablers, process, people, and technol-
more experienced KM colleagues. So, experience was an- ogy, to drive a culture and practice of KM in achieving the
other important factor that we looked at when identifying objective of an organisation. However, getting to this point
our change agents. requires the development and implementation of a change
management strategy.
KM Strategy
Change Management
The Change Management Strategy was devised to drive
the kind of organisational culture at the DTPW that would The Change Management Methodology is one that the KM
ensure that KM thrives. First, let us briefly touch on the KM Director of the DTPW adapted from Prosci, an international
Strategy itself. The KM Strategy has three enablers, namely, change management consultancy and training company.
(1) people; (2) process; and (3) technology, which are familiar Their definition of change management is as follows:
to most KM practitioners. These enablers indicate the areas
where Change Management ought to take place. The discipline that guides how we prepare, equip and sup-
port individuals to successfully adopt the change to drive
organisational success and outcomes.
It might seem like stating the obvious that most organisa-
tions have processes that drive their work, but these need to
be continuously strengthened. What we think many people

Volume 14 No.3 of 2022 | SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW 31