In recent years, many nonprofit organizations have been forced to adapt in response to political, social, and economic changes. The economic recession which began during the COVID-19 pandemic required most nonprofits to operate with reduced resources, while the demand for many of the services they provided was increasing.

Organizations have always faced the need to change, but—with the current rate of technological change, intense competitive pressures, shift to a knowledge-based economy, and globalization—change has become more common and even more crucial to success. As such, leading change is an important skill for managers.

While many management experts have estimated that some 70 percent of change initiatives fail, more recent research suggests that finding valid and reliable empirical evidence of such a failure rate is problematic.

Managers are often called upon to handle change in their organizations. Some changes are small and do not require much of a manager. But many are significant, requiring a strong leader to orchestrate the details. Whether it be handling new products, new technologies, new people, or new departmental missions, managers must be able to deal with change in an efficient and non-disruptive way.