New book examines the role and effects of change management on institutions during unprecedented times

Publications are an excellent, low-cost way to provide awareness on current economic issues and resolutions. Which is the purpose of my new book published by IGI Global: “Change Management During Unprecedented Times.”

For example, a benefit of the publication is its impact potential for organizational leaders who cannot afford $100,000 in management consulting contracts to have someone come in to assist with corporate strategy or digital transformation to keep the doors open during times of crisis. Gaining customers, new payment solutions, and how to manage taxes are needs that need to be resolved immediately. After assisting an organization, then perhaps they will come back around later when they have the monetary ability to invest in larger-scale consulting projects that need to be implemented.

For the Change Management During Unprecedented Times text, we will examine organizational change management through the lenses of research and innovative practices contained within the fields of leadership and organizational change. The benefit of the publication is to enlighten communities through the efforts of a research perspective that amplifies practice-based potentials in applying theory, models, and/or frameworks to real-time issues. Henceforth, solutions companies can implement to successfully solve a problem, move in a new direction, grow, innovate, and/or enter a new market.

Additionally, the reason the book should be published is because of its purpose, and how it will impact organizational leaders. The purpose of the book is to substantiate change management in organizations (specifically during unprecedented times where digital transformation is critical), discuss the practical experience of change implementation, and to measure the effectiveness of a change initiative implemented. Chapters to be hosted in this book are also intended to be used as part of course/training material in various professional development settings. Presenting resources, tools, scientific and methodological perspectives, and various change management models or frameworks organizations can apply to assist them with being effective during crises or unprecedented times.

The book brings value to the audience of organizational leaders because it is aimed at professionals and professionals of organizations who want to improve their understanding of change management. Including change management processes, the specifics of change management models, and the advantages of applying change management in organizations or entrepreneurship to survive challenging times. Or for general company transformation to scale, transition to new business models, processes, systems, or resources, successfully adopt or use some sort of change, or to remain competitive. Including while encountering unprecedented times. Yet, while also highlighting the challenges, solutions, and opportunities within change management. Comprehensively, the theme of the book will impact the field of organization research.

To exemplify, during the COVID-19 pandemic, 41.3% of firms reported they shut down temporarily because of the pandemic (Bartik et al, 2020). In the United Kingdom, 32.5% of entrepreneurs stated they were still able to work during the pandemic, in comparison with entrepreneurs in Norway (58.5%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (81.6%), North America (55%), and France (55.9%) (Stephan et al., 2021). Within a global survey for the World Economic Forum, a variety of industries were surveyed, from entrepreneur startups to music festivals, manufacturing companies, and automotive enterprises (World Economic Forum (WEF), 2020). Seventy percent of startups reported they had to terminate their full-time employees since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (WEF, 2020). Only 40% of new enterprises reported they have sufficient earnings to endure three months of operations (WEF, 2020).

Meanwhile, CNBC advised, because of the pandemic, women lost 64 million jobs and $800 billion in earnings globally. To compare, Boesch and Phadke (2021) at the American Progress Report presented since the pandemic women lost 5.4 million jobs while men lost 4.4 million jobs. From private experience, with consultation clients in almost 50 nations, working with investment forums, world leaders, presidents of nations, and business owners, Cuyper et al.’s (2020) claims closely resemble what various entrepreneurs stated, even though Bartik et al. (2020) and Stephan et al.'s (2021) claim is necessary too.

Crises in economies possess the capability to bring about hardships for both businesses and markets, as well as developing additional institutional voids. For example, Bartik et al. (2020) conducted a quantitative survey on the North American small business ecosystem within the Alignable Business Network of 4.6 million companies. Bartik et al. (2020) stated out of all the sample, 7500 businesses replied to taking the resilience survey, where 41.3% of firms reported they shut temporarily because of the COVID-19 pandemic, as mentioned above. Businesses help economies not only to exist but to survive and thrive. They also play a role in addressing global social, environmental, and economic issues, impacting all of our lives. Gargi (2019) postulated entrepreneurship regards contributing to economies by employing people and is connected to modern technologies and innovations that have the potential to create additional employment for markets. The new innovations and technologies also possess the ability to be profitable (Gargi, 2019).

Conclusively, resilience, education, financial inclusion, digital transformation, strategic partnerships, and particularly change management are needed when crises occur, to save and advance organizational ecosystems and economies. Therefore, knowing about the ideation and processes of change management to improve a company's negative circumstances are crucial to know. To innovate, improve performance, execute strategy to increase revenue, address risk, implement new systems, processes, or digital transformation to scale, and help stop companies from closing and filing for dissolution. As a result, the aim of this book is to provide scholars, organizational leaders, practitioners, and even key stakeholders of economies with different avenues to address important challenges companies encounter that impact the global economic landscape. Particularly, to assess the role and effects of change management on institutions, during unprecedented times.