The underpinning theory ______________________________________________________ MODELS OF CHANGE AGENCY Chapter 4 looked at leading change and touched on the particular role of the change agent and defined it in O'Neill's (2000) terminology as: A Change Agent is the facilitator of the change. He/she helps the Sponsor and the Implementers stay aligned with each other. The Change Agent acts as data gatherer, educator, advisor, meeting facili- tator and coach. Most often he or she has no direct line authority over the implementers and is therefore in a naturally occurring triangle among sponsor-implementer-agent. Caldwell (2003), in researching the role of the change agent, recognized the shift over the last few decades away from a planned approach to change, which often required or was exemplified by a top-down approach. He saw different approaches that organizations were begin- ning to adopt to meet unprecedented levels of change ­ for example, the