Managing Change: Key Aspects

Organisations are constantly faced with the need to change as a result of the changing operating environment, changing competitive landscape or internal imperatives within the organisation. Moran and Brightman (2001) defined change management as “the process of continually renewing an organization’s direction, structure, and capabilities to serve the ever-changing needs of external and internal customers”.  They further suggest the following process:

• Understand your current situation (How many times have you seen changes being implement with not a single clue of the current situation).
• Determine the desired state  (Interesting how we see situations where the target destination has not been identified - as the Americans would say "if it an't broken, don't fix it").
• Develop a change plan - it requires critical analysis.
• Enlist others and develop a critical mass -  surely this must be out of sheer respect for fellow human beings.
• Track and recognize results - simple tracking tools help. The need to celebrate success cannot be over emphasized.

Central to the change process are the change agents (normally management/leadership) who Ford at el. (2008) define as “those who are responsible for identifying the need for change, creating a vision and specifying a desired outcome, and then making it happen" They are the people responsible for the formulation and implementation of the change”.  The change agents must take greater responsibility for change, including possible resistance, which is mostly blamed on change recipients. Change agents responsibilities therefore include the relationship with recipients, as well as the tactics of change implementation.

Communication is central to organisational change. The biggest stumbling block in a change process arises out of fear of falling victim to change. Communication is therefore important in order to ally those fears and get buy in and support. As observed by Ford & Ford (1995) “the key roles communication plays are providing and obtaining information, creating understanding and building ownership”. 

Indeed, communication in a change process must never be one way but  there must be a dialogue. This highlights the need for flexibility in change management in order to respond to any emerging issues/context. (Fiol & Lyles 1985). In the absence of good communication, Morrison and Milliken (2000) argue that there is a possibility that the dominant choice within many organizations is '"for employees to withhold their opinions and concerns about organizational problems” : the silence treatment! Sound familiar?

In a company set up, managers must have sufficient technical know-how to be able to identify and use appropriate tools to diagnose problems, such as Benchmarking, The Six-Box Organisational Model, The 7-S Framework, the Star Model and Congruence Model (amongst other models). These offer a more holistic approach to the problem. Burke and Litwin (1992) warn organizations about rigidly adhering to one model as every model has its own inherent weaknesses.

Indeed, managers must be aware of the broader stakeholders, and be able to identify these. Using the RASI tool, stakeholders can be categorised depending on whether there are Responsible, for Approval, Support or Informed.  I have had supposedly respected managers contending that they are accountable to their head-offices only! How myopic! Managers must be aware of the stakeholder concept and its dictates on modern management.

Johnson and Scholes (as cited by Palmer et al, 2009) suggested that in order to diagnose change, one needs to understand the ‘cultural web’. This is the heart of the change process. What is the organisational culture; have you spent time analyzing it.

One of the most difficult aspects for a manager leading change is the anticipation of possible resistance and the ability to deal with such resistance should it occur. del Val & Fuentes (2003) viewed resistance to change as “any set of intentions and actions that slows down or hinders the implementation of change”.  Bouckenooghe (2010) weighed in by contending that resistance is based on the “intentional/behavioral component as a driving force behind maintaining the status quo, and hindering successful implementation of change”.

Indeed, resistance can take many forms, including circumventing the proposed changes, excuse after excuse.It can also manifests itself through poor results, absenteeism,  increased number of standard operating procedures breaches, increased costs, etc. Dealing with such requires special tools and skills, which must be underpinned by a high level of emotional intelligence.

In conclusion, the objective(s) of the change must be clearly defined. There is need for a holistic approach in analyzing the problem, with both the hard and soft issues needing considerations. Stakeholders must be clearly identified and a communication plan put in place. Management must be vigilant to possible resistance to change.

I would like to hear from you about your successes as a manager in charge of change management or your observations as an employee. Leave your comments below!

Organisations needing assistance in change management can contact my management consultancy firm, Northern Consulting Services,  at:  jshoniwa@nppsrecruit.com.