The reduced defence expenditures caused a consolidation of firms within the industry. The division under study was acquired and became a core business area for the acquiring firm in the mid-1990s. Additional acquisitions created a de facto market of internal engineering organisations, all vying for the same corporate resources to fund both product improvements and new product development. A critical imperative for the divisions internally, and the company externally, was to learn how to adapt more quickly to this changing environment. The munificent environment of the 1980s was being replaced by a more parsimonious context in the 1990s. Given this environmental shift, it became imperative for 'our' division to have an effective change management program-me. Two of the authors became involved with this project, one very directly and one in a consultative capacity. .
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Figure 1 .
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Figure 2 .
The paper will explicate 12 steps that are recommended when one wants to implement change. These 12 steps are based on lessons learned from the change models discussed above filtered through the actual experience that occurred throughout the late 1990s. These 12 steps are shown holistically as visual metaphors (Morgan, 1998; Davenport, 1999) in Figure 2. They are detailed in what follows. .
A FRAMEWORK FOR CHANGE .
Step 1: The idea and its context .
It is important as the starting point of a change effort to highlight the idea for what needs to be changed or what new product should be introduced or what particular innovation might bring a significant lead over competitors. A source for ideas for improving the organisation can arise through creative tension (Senge, 1990). Senge notes that creative tension evolves from clearly seeing where we want to be, our vision, and telling the truth about where we are now, our current reality. The gap between the two generates a natural tension.
