Manager Hopefulness When Seeking to Acquire Change Solutions: Buyer Beware! Critical Reflections on “Best Practice” Change Management Consultancy in the Netherlands

Abstract

Within this case history, the authors identify and critically reflect upon the problems of commonly used “best practice” OCD-related perspectives and change management approaches that are sold to managers by many outside-management consultancy firms. These approaches are myopically copied from one organization to another based on their initial success, but often lead to the failure of many OCD initiatives. Based on their experiences as evidence-based change consultants in the Netherlands, the authors subsequently present the advantages and drawbacks of “best practice” change agency and argue the case for EBOCD.