The Hard Side of Change Management

By Harold L. Sirkin, Perry Keenan and Alan Jackson · Harvard Business Review · 2005 · CP311-101-25

Study guide: Exam CP-311

A Harvard Business Review article of October 2005 (reprint R0510G) on why change programmes depend on hard factors as well as the soft issues of culture and motivation. Studying change initiatives at 225 companies, the authors found a consistent correlation between the outcomes of change programs and four hard factors, which they called DICE: project duration, integrity of performance, commitment, and the additional effort required of those affected. The DICE framework scores a project on each; the lower the score, the more likely the project will succeed.

On the syllabus

• Exam CP-311 — CP311-101-25: The Hard Side of Change Management; outcomes 1b and 3c.

Contents unavailable The full article is behind Harvard Business Review's paywall, and the SOA supplies it as a study note sold through its online store. Only the publisher's summary is public, so this page records the article's citation, that summary and its assignment from the syllabus.

Sources

• The Hard Side of Change Management (Harvard Business Review, October 2005) — the document's record: title, authors, date, reprint number and the publisher's summary used for the lead; the article itself is not free to read
• CP 311 Syllabus, Nov 2026/Mar 2027 (SOA) — the reading (CP311-101-25) and its learning outcomes
• CP 311 Introductory Study Note, Nov 2026/Mar 2027 (SOA) — the study-note code CP311-101-25, its title and its former code SDM-194-22