Don’t Search for Organizational Change Examples – Search for Case Studies Instead

If you’re searching for “organizational change examples,” you’re researching the wrong topic.

Below, we’ll explain why this is a bad idea…

And what you should look for instead.

Don’t Search for Organizational Change Examples … Search for This Instead

“Organizational change examples” is not a good focus for your research.

Here’s why:

• “Organizational change examples” will typically bring up articles about world-famous organizational changes
• These are often written by third-parties who weren’t directly involved in those changes
• Therefore, the information can often be superficial, unless the author has directly collaborated with the organization in question

This means that, from a business perspective, you won’t get much value from this type of research.

If you are serious about researching organizational change, then here’s what you should look for instead:

Case Studies

“Organizational change examples,” as mentioned, will typically bring up some quick reads about widely-known organizational changes.

And this can be useful if you are brand new to change management.

Or if you just need some quick examples to understand the gist of the topic.

But if you need really substantial information, you should search instead for case studies.

You can certainly find case study articles online, which can be very informative.

But be sure to also read actual case studies by solution providers.

These are documents written by an organization to showcase their products, services, and solutions. 

Case studies are more useful than “organizational change examples” for a few reasons:

• They offer more specific “from the trenches” details about an organizational change – not just high-level information accessible to everyone
• They focus on a wide variety of companies and industries, not just the big companies that everyone knows about
• Case studies come directly from the two organizations that matter most – the change management provider and the client organization

Naturally, not all changes are managed externally.

So there are some types of organizational change you certainly won’t find online.

But if you want down-to-earth, detailed information about an organizational change, then case studies are a much better resource.

What’s In a Case Study

The anatomy of a case study typically includes:

• The client organization’s problem
• Challenges or obstacles that need to be overcome
• The provider’s solution to that problem
• The outcome of the project

At a minimum.

The length of case studies can vary, depending on the provider and the service provided. But typically they are no more than a few pages.

This makes them just long enough to include solid, in-depth information (which you won’t find anywhere else). 

But they are still short enough to read in a couple minutes.

The bottom line is this: reading a few case studies can be much more valuable than reading examples of organizational change written by third parties.

And this brings us to another set of questions – where can you find case studies?

Also, which case studies should you look for?

How to Find Organizational Change Case Studies Online

There are countless case studies available online.

Let’s look at a few ways to find the right case studies in the shortest amount of time:

• Include “success stories,” “case studies,” or “case study” in your search. The most basic search is “organizational change case studies.” This can bring up specific case studies or blog posts about case studies – both of which can be useful and informative. But it pays to narrow this down further, since it may not bring up the most relevant results.
• Use search operators to focus on specific topics, industries, or companies. Search operators can help you refine your searches. “Filetype:PDF” will bring up only pdf results. “Site:walkme.com” will only bring up results from WalkMe’s website.
• Target the right companies. When conducting your searches, you will want to focus on companies that offer change management solutions. 

If you are new to change management or organizational change, here are just a few companies to get you started:

• WalkMe – WalkMe pioneered the digital adoption platform (DAP), an essential tool for companies undertaking organizational change, digital adoption, and digital transformation.
• Jabil – Jabil offers a variety of solutions focused on the manufacturing industry, ranging from change management to supply chain transformation.
• Accenture – Accenture helps businesses with digital transformation, organizational change, technology training, and more.
• Deloitte – Deloitte offers change management, financial advisory, auditing, risk assessment, and more.
• Prosci – Prosci is one of the world’s leading authorities in the change management space, offering consulting, change management certification, and more.

All of these businesses offer case studies that are in-depth, relevant, and useful.

And, as mentioned, they give you much more detail about the services rendered, the approaches taken, and the project’s outcomes.

Examples of Organizational Change Case Studies

Here are just a few of the valuable case studies – that is, real-world organizational change examples – that you can find online:

• By partnering with Jabil, Optelian was able to accelerate its product release timelines, reduce product costs, increase operational efficiencies, and meet stringent deadlines for its products. 
• Prosci helps the Colorado Department of Transportation integrate change management as a top strategic priority. Using Prosci’s ADKAR model, CDOT decreased contract review time by 40%, an saw a 55% lower error rate of the oversize and overweight permit division. 
• WalkMe helped Clarizen increase product activations by 25%, decreased support requests by 55%, slashed costs, and improved the customer experience.

This bullet list, of course, only covers a few data points from each case study.

To learn more about each approach, visit the links above and read each one in more detail.

After all, reading case studies is the best way to learn from real-world organizational change examples.

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