It found that 51% of companies have the most difficulty with this, while nearly a third believe lack of management buy-in is the biggest hurdle.
More then half (58%) of senior executives asked say that half or fewer of their change initiatives have been successful over the past five years.
"The tricky element in change management is always people," says Robin Bew, editorial director at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "Too often, managers think if they get the process and the technology right, the people will follow. This is rarely the case. Successful agents of change are those who understand the art of persuasion."
Despite the frequent failures, as well as the economic downturn, the study finds that companies will increase the number of change programmes launched over the coming years, as well as the investment in them.
