A meta model of change

The purpose of this paper is to present a model of change which is both academically rigorous and practitioner‐friendly.

A theoretical meta‐analysis is conducted by clustering themes from across a broad range of change‐related literature including: learning; personal, social, situational and emergent change; helping, systems thinking, process improvement and leadership.

Common themes emerge across all the change‐related literature, which suggests the existence of a common underlying “change progression”.

Whilst the literature covered is extensive, it is not comprehensive. The intention is to draw attention to the kinds of variables that need to be conceptualised, observed or enacted when change is studied or implemented.

The meta‐model has already proved a useful guide to implementing change and is presented here to stimulate scholarly debate among those studying it.

The benefit of considering such a broad range of change‐related fields is that each brings a different perspective to the stages of the common underlying journey. As a consequence, the meta‐model offers both a lens, to provide focus on the stages in this common “change progression”, and a prism, to reveal the full spectrum of applicable concepts and activities.