CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Importance of Change Management

Change happens all the time and at many levels in an organisation. The nature of humans causes them to generally resist change. Management plays a key role and must guide and support workers to adapt to and accept change.

Change management involves:

·         Identifying a crisis.

·         Planning a response.

·         Responding to a sudden event that poses a significant threat to the business.

·         Limiting the damage.

·         Selecting an individual or team to deal with the crisis.

·         Resolving the crisis

 

Theories of Change Management

1.        Business Process Re-engineering (BPR)

BPR concentrates on new ways to get work done. This includes logistics, manufacturing and distribution. By implementing better processes, the business becomes more effective and cost effective.

·         Business processes need to be improved in order to deal effectively with change, even if individuals are motivated and prepared to work hard and deal with change.

·         A small change in processes can have dramatic effects on cash flow, service delivery and customer satisfaction.

The disadvantage of this theory is that it does not necessarily take the people aspect of the organisation into account. People’s attitude towards change should receive attention.

 

2.        Total Quality Management (TQM)

The goal of TQM is to ensure consistent high quality products/services at all times. In South Africa, businesses ensure high quality standards by adhering to the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).

·         Management and employees of a business work together to improve processes, products, services and the culture that they work in.

·         If all the business processes are done right the first time, it will minimise defects and waste.

The disadvantage of this theory is that it lacks the ability to evaluate people since it only concentrates on existing processes.

 

 

 

3.       ADKAR Model

The ADKAR model was designed to focus teams with specific activities that will have an impact on results. ADKAR comes from the following:

·         Awareness of the need to change

·         Desire to participate and support this change

·         Knowledge of how to change (and what this change looks like)

·         Ability to implement change on a day-to-day basis

·         Reinforcement to keep this change in place.

This model has the following advantages:

·         Evaluates employee resistance to change

·         Helps employees transition through the change process

·         Create employee-specific action plans

·         Develops a change management plan by engaging with employees.

 

4.       Kaizen Model

Kaizen is a concept referring to business activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from top management right down to the assembly line workers.

The Kaizen model is based on the following five elements:

·         Teamwork- teamwork is necessary

·         Personal discipline- personal discipline of each employee ensures that a team stays strong.

·         Improved morale- Strong morale among employees is an important. Managers must keep in constant contact with employee morale

·         Quality circles- Quality groups meet to discuss levels of quality in their divisions.

·         Suggestions for improvement- these should be from all employees.

 

5.       John Kotter’s Change Model

This model sets out the 8 key steps of the changes process, arguing that neglecting any of the steps can be enough for the whole initiative to fail.

Eight steps that need to be taken in order to manage change successfully:

·         Create urgency: Establish a sense of urgency among employees to deal with the change.

·         Form a powerful collation: Management and employees must work together.

·         Create a vision for change: Create a clear vision for the business.

·         Communicate the vision: Communicate and explain the vision to all employees.

·         Empower others to enact vision: Make it possible for all employees to respond to the vision.

·         Generate short term wins: Plan and create short-term goals and successes.

·         Consolidate improvements: Combine all improvements and produce even more change.

·         Anchor the changes: Make new approaches part of the business’s standard procedures

 

Managing change

Managing change is not easy. Real change requires a people to adjust their behaviour, and this behaviour is often beyond control of management. Management can make decisions about the distribution of resources/ restructuring of the operation, but people cannot be ordered to use their imagination or to work together as a team. People and teams need to be empowered to find their own solutions and responses with the support of managers.

It is important that managers manage employees through the change process. The following change process is a guideline for managers:

1.       Assess the environment

Scan the environment and collect information that will signal a need for change. E.g. the need for technological change could ensure higher productivity, better quality assurance and decrease production costs.

2.       Determine the performance gap

With information collected, determine the gap between what a business is achieving and what a business needs to achieve.

3.       Identify problems or opportunities in the business

Problems need to be identified, so opportunities can be created in response. E.g. if sales drop, it could be a result of incompetent staff or products no longer appealing to consumers, so management should identify opportunities to solve problems.

4.       Identify reasons for resistance to change

When people are confronted with a need to change, they tend to resist and fear the change. The following reasons for resisting change have been identified:

·         Conflict of interest: if organisational change result in downsizing and cost cutting, employees might be retrenched or transferred to other areas

·         Misperception: people sometimes resist change when they aren’t involved in the change process from the beginning

·         Labour contracts: when a merger takes place, it’s common that new labour contracts are drawn up and this is generally resisted by employees.

5.       Reduce resistance to change

This can be done by communicating early and openly with employees, providing clear and definite direction to employees, inspiring employees and stakeholders of the positives of change and providing feedback to employees which will enable them to accept the changes.

6.       Set goals

Management must set goals which are realistic, measurable and achievable.

7.       Develop a plan of action

A plan of actions ensures that everybody is aware of their roles and timeframes in implementing change

8.       Implement action plan

Throughout the implementation of the action plan, employees need to be rewarded for their efforts towards change. This will create a positive climate in the workplace.

9.       Monitor change

Change managers need to monitor the results to ensure that change process was conducted successfully.

Last Edited by: Ms Kheswa