What is Change Management in Project Management? 

Change management in project management is the process of managing transition in the project relevant to the people, process, and resources. For instance, a team is working on a project and they have to finish the project within 12 months. After working on the project for a few weeks, the management changes the timeline schedule and reduces it to 8 months. It is a great example of change management in project management. Today, we’ll discuss what is change management in project management; the key steps involved, and integrating both.

Now, the project team has to change its schedule and working routine in order to meet the new timeline and finish it with the necessary resources without jeopardizing the quality of the results. It is significant to mention here that project management and CM are completely different, and they rarely go hand in hand. You can employ them in a single sentence, but both terms are completely different.

Change Management vs Project Management 

The objective of project management is to finish tasks and attain results for the specific project. Change management follows the same methodology of employing people, tools, and software so that the employees could complete their work. However, the change managers and change leaders should find a solution to the change program that would impact other people rather than focusing on achieving the goals and objectives of their jobs only. When you go into the details, then you would find so many differences in the process of them.

Key Steps in Change Management 

Some of the key steps involved in the change management process are as follows;

Recognizing the Scope of Change

Businesses and organizations keep on changing relevant to the industry trends. It is the responsibility of change leaders to make sure that the change plan should go as smoothly as possible. So that everyone on the team could complete their jobs.

Discussing the Need for Change

When employees hear the rumors of the change program, they want to know what is happening and how it would impact them. A well-defined communication plan is necessary to successfully implement the change program.

Establishing a Plan

Performance evaluation, and measuring objectives, and goals are some of the key elements of the change program. A well-detailed and precise plan helps you to know whether your change program is moving in the right direction or not.

Implementing Change Plan

Successfully executing the change plan is the most critical task. Change managers and leaders should be there to facilitate and support their employees during the implementation of the change program.

Analyzing Performance

Evaluating the performance of the change program comprises analyzing the reaction of people and their performance to observe whether the change plan is delivering the required results or not.

Key Steps in Project Management 

Some of the main steps involved in the project management process are as follows;

Identifying Stakeholders Requirements

Project managers have the responsibility of managing all the team members involved in the project; other stakeholders and people that have got a vested interest in the project. PM has to make sure that he recognizes the needs and wishes of all the team members. Otherwise, they would disrupt the flow of the project.

Establishing Goals

While establishing the goals and objectives of the project, you should make sure that they’re SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time). Other than that, you can’t measure the performance of the goals and objectives.

Setting Deadline

After setting the goals and objectives, you should set a proper deadline for your goals. It would help you to make sure that you have got a proper deadline to complete your routine task at a specific time.

Scheduling

It comprises specific checkpoints, progress, and stages to make sure that the project is moving in the right direction to meet the deadline.

Roles & Responsibilities

Project managers should clearly define the roles and responsibilities of every team member involved in the project in terms of their jobs and duties. Otherwise, it would cause conflicts by jeopardizing the performance of the entire project team.

Estimating Cost

Project managers have got the obligation of managing the project and creating the budget estimate for the project. It would help the project manager to stay on track with the budget.

Communication Plan

A communication plan plays a significant role in the smooth running of the project. The team members would know what types of tasks and duties they have to perform. You can deliver the information and procedural details to the employees without having a proper communication plan.

Tracking Performance

In order to keep the process flowing in the right direction, it is significant that the project managers should track various processes involved in the project.

Integrating Change Management in Project Management 

 The process of project management and change management can overlap in harmony for some projects, but they both are completely different. When you integrate CM into PM, then it would help you to achieve your goals and objectives. It would comprise of the following steps;

• Developing Change Control System
• Setting Procedures for the Change Control
• Predicting the Impact of the Change
• Scheduling tasks relevant to the project
• Following the Steps of the readymade template

Conclusion: What is Change Management in Project Management? 

After an in-depth study of what is change management in project management; we have realized that they are completely different from each other. If you are learning about change management in project management, then you should keep in mind the abovementioned tips and guidelines.